8 Truth revealed

Aidan's point of view

I stayed there for a while, rethinking the grave sin I just committed. I must have scared her, perhaps traumatized her. From her numb eyes, I know she will never forgive me. She is someone with strict boundaries. She hates it when people even accidentally touch her. 

All of this I remember, but why did I do that? 

I sighed deeply and walked out of the hotel. I could not go back inside, not when I messed up her reputation like that. She might have gone back to her father to complain about me. I don't blame her. I deserve it. 

"Aidan!" A strict and firm voice called my name. 

"Uncle Zayed?" I was surprised to find him, it must have been my father who invited him. The man wearing a white suit and black customized shoes is my mother's cousin. He had always been strict with me, we hardly met, but he used to give me deep life lessons. 

"Do you know what you just did?" He asked me straight away. 

"I..I am sorry." I barely uttered those words, when he questioned me, I could only be reminded of Raven's tears. 

"Where is your car?" His eyes searched for my car, but I left it on my way. It probably reached home. However, why was he asking me? Was he going to confiscate? 

"Sir, your car is here." My driver waved his hand, he must have heard my uncle's loud voice. 

Uncle Zayed rolled his eyes, walked straight to the car and asked my driver to open the trunk. He knew him and thus obeyed without any objection. 

"Uncle, what's wrong?" I approached him and asked, trying to look for what he was searching for in the car. Soon, he found a ragged doll with hair tied to it's waist and needles pierced in the chest. 

My eyes widened from shock, "What's this? How did this end up here?" 

"I don't have to tell you." Uncle Zayed untied the hair carefully, chanting something. That's when I recalled that he once told me that he had been studying spells and stuff. 

"It's a voodoo doll?" I spoke in a hushed tone. Someone tried to trap me in this kind of thing. I could not stop wondering about the reason. 

"It is to make Raven and you fall in love…" Uncle Zayed said, as his fingers proceeded to the needles. My jaw dropped. Why would anyone want that? 

"But…it is also to be destroyed in the name of love." He completed his sentence. 

"Uncle, tell me more; why would anyone do this?" I asked, and he handed me the doll. He then held my shoulders, looked into my eyes and said, "I suspect that your father is behind this." 

"No way!" I immediately jerked his hand away. I can believe in aliens but I would never trust anyone who says that my father wants to harm me. 

"Listen to me, kid." He took a deep breath and spoke, "I suspect him to have commissioned the love spell, and I believe the person who took the job added this destruction spell on his own." 

"Uncle, first of all, not many people believe in voodoo dolls and this kind of stuff. And my father is one of them." I defended my father, however, the way it was found in my car, and the way it had my hair, I had a pinch of suspicion. 

Meanwhile, I had not noticed the pale expression of my driver. He had been standing frozen, his skin was paler than it should be. It was as if he saw a ghost. I glanced at him casually but he fell to the ground and began to stutter. 

"Sir…I have something to confess." He blurted out. 

"What nonsense!" I turned to him, gritting my teeth, I would hit him if he dared to tag the blame on my father. 

"Let him speak!" Uncle Zayed said, placing his hand on my shoulder. 

"Say!" I had to agree. 

"Few days ago…Old master asked me to get your hair." He said. 

"No wonder you rushed me to the salon the other day. Telling me I need a change of style." I connected the dots, and it made me angrier than ever. 

"Then, yesterday, he handed me this doll and asked me to place it here." He confessed. 

"Liar!" I slapped him. 

"I swear! I am speaking the truth!" He trembled. 

"Kid, don't be mad. I think it must be your Uncle Jay who is behind the destruction spell. I understand that your father wanted you to get close to Raven before marriage. However, it seems Jay was jealous and took advantage of the situation." Uncle Zayed explained, and it made me more puzzled. 

'Marriage?' 

He sighed deeply and asked me to sit in the car with him, and as soon as we settled, he began to speak freely than before. 

"Jay has a mistress who is expert in voodoo. I guess your father approached him to get this love spell. However, he must have played dirty and added another spell of his own." 

If his assumptions are correct, that would explain why I behaved wildly. However, I had more questions and that irked me. 

"And why would my father do this?" I asked, logically, love spell has no harm. It would be a harm to me if that person would be other than Raven. She is a reasonable person after all, and she might understand the situation if I explain her properly. It would be easy to get her forgiveness then. 

"Because of that deal." Uncle Zayed looked outside the window and said. It was as if he was regretting blurting out the truth. 

"What deal?" I asked curiously. 

"Your father had been looking for a daughter-in-law, but none of the good families wants their daughter to marry you. So, he approached William Rain. The person he had stopped talking to due to their differences in opinions." 

He looked at me, stopped for a while, and continued, "William Rain, I guess he doesn't love his daughter as much as he pretends. He agreed right away on one condition." 

"What condition?" I wondered. Did he ask for money in exchange for this marriage? A heat of disappointment filled my heart. I had not expected this twist in my life. My father paid someone to put on a love spell and he was swindled. 

"William is going to sell the biggest plot of land. He wants to partner with Azure Group." As soon as he said that, I turned to him and let a soft chuckle escape my lips. "That's it? He is marrying off his daughter to a bastard like me for a partnership." 

"Don't underestimate your father and his friend William; your father has a way of dealing with people and William is good at predicting things. The project must be huge. And for that, William needs stable support. Who can be more reliable than an old friend and a new relative?" Uncle made his point and it sounded reasonable. 

"But why did he need to stoop to this level?" I asked. 

"It's because he doesn't trust you!" He flicked my forehead, as if I were a kid. "Ouch! Uncle, I am not that bad!" I protested. 

"Let me see, what I heard about you last time? Yeah…it was how you destroyed the K group. Sent an artist to jail for scamming you. Slapping the shit out of a paparazzi." Uncle counted on his fingers. 

"Tell me they are not true, at least some of them." He then turned to me with mischievous smile. 

"I will have to let you down." I chuckled and placed my finger on lips. 

"Don't tell me that murder…" Uncle Zayed widened his eyes and asked. 

"Yeah, that bastard was getting on my nerves." I said in a serious tone as the incident flashed before my eyes. 

"This much violence is not good." He started nagging me, and I had no choice but to listen to him. He was right. It was my behavior that led my father to a miserable state and forced him to put a spell on me. 

"…I think that lady won't ever forgive you." As soon as I heard him mention Raven, I turned to him, my eyes darkened. He was right. Again. I needed to explain all of this. I can't keep her in the dark and let her hate me. 

Ever since my uncle untied the hair, I began to feel light-headed. That weird boiling of blood halted. I was now present in the moment. Not in a haze. 

"Uncle, how about I let my driver bring you home? Stay there while you are here." I proposed. 

"No need, I need to go back to C country. My tea business is finally taking off, I came here for some investment. Guess, it was just a waste of time." He said, opening the door to leave. 

"You need investment? Why didn't you come to me?" I was shook, ever since my business reached it's peak, all sort of relatives and friends approached me to get investments and loans. If I wasn't strict, they would have plundered me. 

"No, no…I don't want anything from you. My business is very clean. If others knows I am your uncle, I might do well, but I won't be satisfied. I will be clear, I don't like your illegal means of resolving issues." He left after dropping the most heart-breaking statement.