Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles, Cliffside villa ~

November 17

That afternoon, there was a barbecue party in the garden.

Emma and JoAnna wheeled Aiden\'s bed (with him on it) outside.

Jeff, Steve and Bridgette arrived and joined Sophia, Felix, Jesse, Haru, kids and the staff. They all helped in making the garden look festive with balloons and garlands.

Aiden always liked these gatherings in the open. Everyone likes barbecue. And last time they gathered like this when they had their boy-girl talk.

Oscar and Elanor arrived with Stella and Edward. And they brought presents as well.

"Really, I told you no presents.", Sarah complained.

"They are not for you.", Stella responded while keeping the boxes next to Aiden\'s bed. "When he wakes up, he can open them."

Edward was staring at Kitty who didn\'t leave Sarah\'s side. "It\'s a leopard cub!"

Sarah was amused by Edward\'s expression. She never saw him so excited. "I told you but you didn\'t believe me. Call her Kitty."

When everyone gathered, Sarah stood on the chair and addressed everyone: "Thank you for coming. Today is Aiden\'s birthday and I didn\'t want him to miss a chance to be surrounded with friends and family on this important day. Unfortunately, he is unable to participate actively today, but we have our drones recording the event so that he can watch it later. There is also a booth set up…", Sarah gestured toward the side. "In there you can record whatever you want to tell the birthday boy. I\'m sure that when he wakes up, he will say his thanks in person."

Elanor hugged Sarah and held her for a long time.

"Thank you for doing all this for him.", Elanor said with a trembling voice.

JoAnna saw that Emma absentmindedly is standing on the side.

"Hey, what\'s weighing on your mind?", JoAnna asked Emma.

Emma wanted to ask how does JoAnna know, but then she realized that her expression is easy to read. "I had an almost argument with Charlie this morning."

"About?"

Emma shrugged. "I don\'t know. He asked me to stay longer after the treatment… and I was frustrated that he asked me that, when I know that he has only few minutes before his company for the hour arrives. And he asked me why I don\'t treat him as a friend, and I snapped…"

"Snapped?"

"Yeah… I told him that I can\'t be his friend if he is not treating me as one. I mean, really… do you have friend who will wait for you the whole day and fill in ten minute gaps between people who come to visit you?"

"No. But didn\'t you allow him to treat you that way from the start?"

"I admit, I did. But I was living there, and it was not strange for him to call me to join him for a chat… I was available and he was stuck in a bed, and then a wheelchair. That aside, I was frustrated that he is treating me like a servant while talking about friendship. He brought up how I don\'t come to visit him, and he didn\'t visit me once since I moved out."

"You want to be friends with him?", JoAnna continued probing. She still is not able to gauge if Emma has any feelings for Charlie or not.

"It\'s not about wanting or not. You can\'t force a friendship and I feel that while staying there, I was too available, and he got used to it. At the same time, he is talking about being friends while his actions say otherwise… and he even asked if I see him as more than a friend."

"Do you?"

Emma snorted. "Didn\'t you listen what I said so far? Friendship is not working out, how can anything more than that be possible?"

"It is one thing what is possible, and another what you are thinking… or what you are feeling."

Emma frowned. "He is a nice guy… but his emotional intelligence is negative. If I allow any feelings to grow toward him I will just cause myself to suffer. He does not need a friend, I told him to get a dog. But that was probably a bad advice. Even dogs need more time than what he is willing to give. As for more than friends, there is an endless queue of young misses with good family backgrounds lined up while waiting for his schedule to open up. And this little respect I have for myself is not allowing me to stand at the back of the queue."

"What if… you are at the front of the queue?"

Emma grimaced. "You should know me better than that. If a guy wants to show his sincerity, he needs to make sure that there is no queue. I have no intention to fight for spending time with my man. If his attitude is right, he will let the world know that I am his only one, and everyone else needs to scram."

Emma wanted to add how that was also a point why things didn\'t work out with Brian, but she decided not to bring him up. It\'s another endless topic, and this is not the time for it.

"It seems that Charlie wants to be friends.", JoAnna pointed with her chin toward the entry into the garden area where Charlie was. He was wheeling himself in slowly toward two of them.

Emma held her breath. "I can\'t believe that he actually came. Especially after everything I told him."

"You didn\'t tell me it\'s a birthday party.", Charlie awkwardly said when he arrived. "I would bring a present if I knew."

With a sigh of relief, Emma concluded that Charlie does not want to bring up the point of her temper raging that morning. It is not like her to lose her composure, and she is embarassed that she spoke out of line.

Emma forced a smile. It will take her more than few minutes to adjust to the fact that he actually came. "Don\'t worry about it. I\'m sure Aiden will not mind, and Sarah said not to bring presents."

Emma turned to JoAnna just to see that JoAnna silently left! Ah, isn\'t Charlie her patient as well?

Charlie looked around and he saw Elanor and Sarah standing beside Aiden\'s bed and chatting.

He noticed Kitty moving around Sarah\'s legs and Edward desperately trying to get Kitty\'s attention, but he didn\'t comment on that.

"Don\'t you think that it\'s unusual to have a patient in a coma outside, attending a party?", Charlie reluctantly asked Emma in a low voice.

"Shhh…", Emma gestured him to stop talking. "Don\'t say that in front of Sarah. She does not allow anyone to say that Aiden is in a coma. We use the term that he is resting."

Charlie raised his eyebrows while his eyes didn\'t leave Sarah. "She is having a hard time accepting the reality?"

Emma looked at Charlie. "What is the reality? Don\'t we all have our own version of reality? Aiden\'s body is not responsive. We don\'t know if he can hear us, but Sarah believes that he can. And she believes that he will wake up. Do YOU find that difficult to accept?"

"I guess not.", Charlie admitted.

"Hey, I didn\'t know you are coming.", Sarah told Charlie when she approached them.

"I invited him. I hope it\'s OK.", Emma quickly explained.

"Not a problem. I already told you, as long as they are not a danger to anyone living here, you can invite whoever you want. This is your home now." Sarah ensured Emma.

"Did you come with bodyguards?", Sarah asked Charlie.

Charlie confirmed. "Two of them, they are waiting by the car."

Sarah told Genie to call Charlie\'s bodyguards to come and eat with everyone.

Charlie noticed Sarah\'s previous comment to Emma that she can invite anyone. Emma didn\'t have any visitors while she stayed at his villa. Is it because he never said that it\'s OK? He wondered if he would be bothered if she brought any people in his villa.

He saw that Genie returned with his two bodyguards, and they all sat together to eat. Genie introduced them to the rest of the people at the table. Only then Charlie noticed that the house staff is present... eating and chatting with whoever is nearby.

"Charlie, feel free to help yourself with drinks and the food is yummy. We will have a cake later.", Sarah\'s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. She glanced toward the bed with Aiden. "I know that it might look strange at first, but you can think of Aiden as a good listener. If you have something weighing on you, he is the perfect person to hear you out. He will not judge you or interrupt."

Charlie nodded in understanding and could not help but ask: "How is your arm?"

Sarah saw him look at her left arm.

Besides slightly being stiff, it looks fine.

"Day eleven. Heavy painkillers make this bearable…", she curled fingers into a half-fist and flexed her wrist.

Charlie\'s eyes widened. "A successful procedure?"

Sarah placed her hand on Emma\'s shoulder. "The surgery was a success, and the rehabilitation is impeccable due to my amazing Emma right here."

After food, kids gathered at the rink which is next to the garden. Of course, Jesse, Haru and Felix joined. They started pairing up each other and sparring.

Bridgette saw Steve stealing glances at the rink, and she nudged him. "Go, no need to stay here."

She rolled her eyes when she saw Steve walk toward the commotion with a big grin on his face.

"Then never grow up, do they?", Sophia asked Bridgette.

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