Sage felt an odd comfort while he followed Aria.
Aria led him to a library. She was quiet for a little bit, looking around the library. It took Sage time to observe his surroundings too. The shelves were tall and filled with books. Mainly textbooks that had a good amount of age to them, and there were even books that were clearly personal and handwritten rather than being stamped with ink in a printing factory. A wide and mahogany colored desk sat in the center with a dark grey center placement mat and a short black cup filled with a couple of old fashion pens paired with a small jar of ink. The smell of fresh paper and burnt sandalwood inhabited the air.
"My mother studied medicine," Aria finally said. "I thought you might be interested to look through a few of her books she left. Go ahead. Look through whatever pops out to you," she offered.
"Thank you," Sage said. He would always be drawn toward medicine, so he walked to the tall shelves and began to look through the books.
Sage was correct. Most of them were handwritten documents. The penmanship was gorgeous. And all the information was worded carefully and true. They had said Madam Song passed away a decade ago. It was devastating that someone so talented had already gone from the world.
"Your mother was quite brilliant," Sage complimented. "It's a shame I never got the chance to meet her. I would have been honored to."
"Thank you," Aria said with a sad smile. "I'm sure she would have loved to meet you as well."
Sage felt glad to hear that. Honestly. Looking through the books, Madam Song was no doubt a wonderful doctor. He was intrigued by her writing and studies, getting lost in the pages quite easily. As he looked at the books, he had no idea that Aria was closely observing him.
"You know, Sage," Aria began to say, "you go by 'Doctor Gannon' too, correct?" she suddenly asked. Upon the question, Sage glanced up at her. Aria leaned against the desk in the center of the library, and she looked directly at Sage. She was a cute young woman, with long blonde hair and striking dark eyes that bore into the soul very deeply. Almost like they were carving. Sage felt a strange feeling of nervousness; the same nervousness from before began to claw at him yet again.
"I do," he confirmed, but how she knew was a question that flashed red in his mind. He had never said his own family name, only Rowan's. They were supposed to be married, after all, so why should Sage's family name have mattered? Yet, Aria knew it.
"So, 'Gannon' is your family name, I presume," Aria said.
"Correct."
"I always do some investigation of the people we work with," Aria said, quickly answering Sage's unmentioned suspicion. "At first, I thought: 'Doctor Gannon is married, so I wonder why he goes by 'Gannon' rather than going by 'Doctor Mayle' which would be his remarried name.' Then I realized, my mother had also gone by her family name when she worked." The words seemed pointless at first, but Sage still felt a strange feeling. Aria continued talking: "I began to wonder, though, if that was also your reasoning behind it or if it was something else entirely."
He stared at her for a few moments, but he couldn't help but feel like everything in front of Aria Song was already all over. Underneath Sage's feet was glass, and he was standing directly on top of it. He swallowed and carefully picked his next words. "Do you, what are you implying?"
"I think you know," Aria said seriously. She either correctly figured them out or thought she did. Considering there was a chance of it being the latter, Sage remained vague in his words.
"How do you figure?" he asked.
"The looks, for one. You never looked at each other like a couple would," Aria pointed out first. "And then at the event last night I could see the way that he carefully tended to you, as if he was afraid of overstepping boundaries that he had never crossed before. It was too distant."
So, she could tell. Sage laughed softly under his breath and asked, "So, Rowan wasn't comfortable enough around me and that was what gave it away?"
"You too," Aria swiftly answered. "You're too hesitant with him."
Sage and Rowan had hardly been in front of Aria, yet she still could note their subtle movements that sold out the fact they were merely acting to be a married couple. Still, he felt a little relieved that someone knew. Finally, someone knew. There was a break; he could take a deep breath and momentarily feel free. He began to unwind and tell Aria the truth.
"Rowan broke up with his wife a week before the business trip, but he didn't want to deal with the talk that would start if he showed up without her, so he needed someone to step in."
He had to say that Aria was quite smart. It was not hard to believe that the woman who wrote the impressive medical records that he had looked over was her mother. She was very attentive to detail.
At first, Aria had wanted to ask about medicines; she originally searched for a way to get close to her deceased mother. The only way she could do that was through the old books in the library. When Sage, an expert of medicine, showed up, she immediately wanted to talk to him.
However, as a journalist, she had a very keen knack for observing people. Aria picked up on things quickly. Like a hawk's eye. There was how she spotted Sage at the party for only a few seconds and noticed that something was off, so she told her father to invite the two so that she could have a closer look for herself. And her guess was correct: Sage and Rowan were acting. Rowan's horrible acting skills did not help. Maybe if Sage had been there to help, but he had left too soon.
Following her interrogation skills by making the person she questioned incredibly nervous and her incredible eye for behaviors, Aria would make an excellent journalist, or even detective.
Mr. Song was very open and trusted his daughter despite Aria not giving her reasonings as to why she wanted Rowan and Sage to visit. He listened to her request to bring the 'couple' to their estate and prepared their invite instantly. When they showed up, she figured out almost right away, which is why she pulled Sage separate from Rowan to confront him in private. With his secret exposed, Sage immediately relaxed around Aria to which she was able to ask him more questions.
"Why not another woman?" Aria asked. "Why did he pick you?"
"I—don't actually know the answer myself," Sage admitted. He frowned.
Isabella was one of Rowan's close friends, so Sage had assumed Rowan went with her suggestion because he trusted her. However, three months was a long time to spend with someone who a person was not acquainted with at all, not to mention awkward. He truly had no idea why Rowan easily agreed to let Sage tag along. Maybe Rowan was simply that nice of a guy and agreed to help Sage with his profession by allowing him to experience being a travel doctor because he wanted to do good for someone.
"Rowan knows a lot of people. There's no way he doesn't know someone who would have fit this position better than me," Sage pointed out.
"So, you two aren't really dating?"
Sage felt his face get hotter. His lip curled inward, itched the skin with his teeth, and then released it before he said, "We are not, nor are we married."
"That's unfortunate," Aria mumbled.
"Sorry?"
"So, you work as a travel doctor?" she changed the topic.
Sage did not have the energy to touch back on what she had meant. His heart skipped for a moment, and his stomach nearly fell off a cliff, so he cleared his throat instead and answered her change in topic: "Yes, I am. I planned on heading to the hospital after this."
Since Sage now felt comfortable around Aria, he offered his expertise: "So, before I leave, I can help you decipher some of your mother's studies if you'd like." Aria immediately felt a wash of glee overcome her. She agreed in a heartbeat.
"I had no idea there could be so much to medicine," Aria said in amazement as Sage explained some things in her mother's books that she had no clue what the real intentions behind the words were.
"As I said before, your mother was brilliant. There's much more to these books than you can even imagine," Sage said.
"Do you admire her?" Aria suddenly asked. The question was abrupt considering that Sage only knew the other's late mother for a couple hours through her books. Still, he had an answer.
"I do," Sage honestly admitted. "I do. She's incredible. Her work is incredible."
Aria's face went red, and she said shyly, "I admire her too." Her eyes suddenly lit up, and she grabbed Sage's sleeve. "Do you want to meet her?"
Sage was taken aback for a moment. Aria was usually very composed, but the more she spoke about her mother and how passionate she was about knowing more about her, she lost that composure and fell to acting like a young girl. He felt that Aria, having dealt with her mother's passing at such a young age, never got to experience being a kid.
He nodded. "I would."
The two of them retreated to the living space where Mr. Song and Rowan were speaking. Rowan instinctively turned his head when people entered the room.
In front of Aria, Sage felt free. He did not have to pretend to be married to Rowan. However, she explained how her father did not know. She did not tell him about her suspicion. If they were caught lying, it could show a fault in Rowan's character, and she did not want to damage Rowan's reputation, so she never informed her father. Sage thanked her.
That did mean that Sage still had to pretend in front of Mr. Song. Somehow, it made it harder to do while one person knew, and one person didn't know. Still, he had to fight through it. He made his way over to the back of the couch and leaned over toward Rowan.
"I'm heading out."
"Huh?" Rowan raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?" At least Rowan seemed to get better at acting. His words felt more genuine. There was that.
"I'm fine. I'm heading to the hospital for my shift."
"Do you want me to pick you up afterward?"
Sage had not felt embarrassed before, but the way Aria stared at the two of them was horrifying to him. He wanted to react differently, but he mentally sighed and instead calmly shook his head. "No need." He offered an intimate move by placing his hand on his head as he stood up straight and said, "Try not to drink too much. If you do, eat beforehand."
"Mm. Okay, Sweetie Sage."
The worst moment to say it! Sage did not look toward Aria. Nope! He refused to. Sage passed Rowan a weak smile before he left.
Aria found out about Sage and Rowan's lie at the worst time. The two had finally fallen into a routine of sharing the single bed in the couple's inn. Now, Sage felt awkward doing so. With the clawing reminder that their marriage was fake, Sage questioned why they continued to play a part behind closed doors. He had come to terms with that they were sharing because they were friends, but Aria's comments still continued to slowly eat away at Sage's sanity. There was no way he could admit to Rowan that the young woman knew.
So, he ignored it completely. At least the best he could. However, Rowan was unaware of it, so he acted casually and was how he had always been. Rowan felt no awkwardness like Sage did. It had made things easier for Sage too, distracting him from the fact that there was a bigger picture elsewhere.
"Wait, you have something to do Saturday?" Rowan stood in the doorway of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He stuck a toothbrush in his mouth and began brushing.
"Yes, I do. Will you put some clothes on?" Sage muttered from the bed, flipping through one of the books he borrowed from Aria.
"You seem interested in Aria," Rowan commented, his words a bit muffled with a toothbrush and paste bubbling in his mouth. However, Sage did not look up at him, so he missed a hint of jealousy and a small tinge of fear that was on Rowan's face.
"I wouldn't say that. I would say you're an idiot," Sage deadpanned.
Rowan frowned and left for the bathroom to finish up. When he came back, he shut the lights off, leaving only the lamp by Sage's side lit up. He walked over and tossed himself on his proclaimed side of the bed, laying on his stomach. With a smile, he looked at him. "You're really going to go?"
"Unless you need me for something?" Sage asked.
Rowan shook his head. "Not particularly." He crawled up on his elbows a bit to get closer and said, "But I do want to take you out before we leave."
Sage raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?"
"A husband is meant to treat his husband."
For some reason, the doctor's words got caught up in his throat for a moment. He cleared it away and spoke, which came out in a whisper, "Okay, we can go out."
It appeased Rowan. He happily smiled like a puppy and even made a humming noise with approval. Rowan shifted up properly on the bed, sitting beside Sage, and snatched up the television remote. His side gently rubbed against Sage's side. Sage did not move.