He wanted to see the sadness hidden behind that smile.

"....!?" Lucas was shocked after receiving this response from Aiden, "He regrets saving me?"

Lucas took a second look at Aiden as he thought, "We have met before?"

...

Aiden opened the car door for Maya as she got in. As Maya sat in, she started to search for some place to keep her stuff.

In the meantime, Aiden came from the other side and sat on the driver's seat, "What are you looking for?" He looked at her, she had a cold drink glass in one hand, while something that looked like an ice pack in other.

Earlier he had not seen it because of the rush, but now, when he clearly saw Maya, it seemed that the left side of her cheek looked a bit bruised!

"You are hurt!" Aiden said with concern as he instinctively touched Maya's face.

*hiss!* Maya flinched at his sudden action as she looked away from him.

"Shoot! I am so sorry! Did I hurt you?" When he had touched her face, Aiden had been fully aware and had tried to be as gentle as possible, his touch could be considered as a feather light one but he had not expected that even this could hurt her.

"No it's not that bad, it doesn't hurt that much on the outside. It's just that the inside part of my cheek has suffered a bit, there's a slight cut. hahaha!" Maya laughed embarrassedly, "Side effects of having sharp teeth!" (^_^;)

She tried to laugh it off and put the ice-pack on the left side of her face. Aiden saw that she did not want to talk about it but he also wanted to tell her, that since they were in the hospital already, she could get some treatment gel here itself.

When he saw her being a bit embarrassed talking about this, he did not say his thoughts out loud.

"So...? Where should we go? Should I drop you off to your hom-" Aiden stopped himself before saying 'home'.

"Ugh! I'm so stupid! This is a different city! How can she have a home here!?" He reprimanded himself and continued awkwardly, "Umm.... Should I drop you off at the hotel your parents are staying at?" Aiden remembered Sofia telling him that she would come at the gathering after she had dropped her parents off at the hotel; it might be the same place Maya was also planning to stay at.

He looked at Maya expecting some sort of an answer from her, but she was just sitting there with a blank face as she took a sip from the cold drink she had.

It seemed as if she had not heard the second sentence said by Aiden and was stuck at his first, half spoken sentence. "Home....? I don't have a home, Aiden. Not anymo-"

Realizing something all of a sudden, Maya woke up from her stupor and continued in a perky voice, "And my home is in Zed city! What are you talking about!? Are you going to drive me all the way back? A road trip!! haha I guess it would be fun!!" It was as if the depressed Maya from a few seconds ago never existed!

Aiden looked at Maya, his heart ached for her. He knew that she had suffered a lot from a very young age... He did not want to see her sad, he liked the perky smile she had. But right now, the same smile made his heart ache.

In moments like these, he wanted Maya not to consider him as an outsider and hoped that she could pour out her sadness to him. Although he loved to see her smile, he did not want to see one which was a coverup for her sadness.

"You want to go for a road trip? Then we shall go for a road trip!" Aiden looked at her with pure tenderness in his eyes.

Maya looked at him, "...What!?" When she realized the way he was looking at her right now, she immediately looked out of the window and said, "Whatever!"

Aiden thought that she had gotten angry with him but when he noticed her reddish ears, he understood that she was just shy. He laughed as he started the car, "Well you can't call this a road trip exactly, but.... a long drive maybe? I don't know. Anyways, let's go!"

...

Aiden's Bentley Mulsanne Speed sped through the highways as Maya looked out the window sipping her drink.

Soon, she was looking at her empty glass and the icepack which had almost melted and then, she looked at Aiden.

Even she herself didn't know why was she looking at him.

Aiden looked at her and exclaimed, "Oh I'm sorry I didn't realize this earlier! Yeah, I think this car had an mini refrigerator in it, there might be some drinks left in it. You can check it out."

".....!?" Maya scoffed. "You have a refrigerator in car!? Oh god hahaha! Now that I see, you have a thing for luxury cars, don't you?"

"Um... yeah, it was optional but Liam said that it would be fun so I had them install it. And yes, I really like collecting cars! I guess you can say that's the perk of being rich? Is it a bad thing?" Aiden asked Maya doubtfully and then continued telling her about his car collection.

This time, it was Maya who looked at him, although he was talking to her, he looked straight ahead as he drove the car skillfully. Maya had a beautiful smile on her face as she looked him talking about his hobby so passionately.

It was already very late night, Maya's eyes were drooping but Aiden was still driving.

"You want to sleep? You should, it has been a long day for you."

"No- no." Maya declined his offer, he was the one driving and that too mainly because of her silly wish, how could she just fall asleep while he does all the work? "Can I roll-down the full window?

"Yeah sure, whatever you want!" Aiden responded. There were not many cars now on the road, so it was mostly safe if she wanted to look with her head out.

*Wooosh!*

As soon as Maya opened the entire window, great amount of wind rushed in, it was now that she realized that the speed they were driving in, was very fast.

Aiden decreased the original speed of the car, as Maya carefully took her head out and shouted in the wind, "Oh my God!! Aaaaah - oooooh!!!"

After a few seconds of enjoyment, she came back in a looked at Aiden who cracked up upon seeing her. Her hair was just so messed up at the moment.

But Maya seemed unaware of this as she excitedly looked at him, her previous drowsiness was nowhere to be found, "This is so fun!! I always wondered why people liked long drives and all, but today I understood it all!"

After saying her piece, Maya popped her head out again and repeated the stuff she was enjoying.

Aiden looked at her being so happy, just like a child and laughed. "I am increasing the speed a bit, make sure to hold on tight!" And they sped off on the empty roads.