Is this destiny?

Several days passed, and Sarah and Aiden settled into a routine of an early morning run, during the day they would work for White corp. while sitting next to each other on the sofa in the living room, and in the evening they would search for information related to Philip, his family and accomplices. Other than morning run, all other activities were occasionally interrupted by them kissing and often doing much more than that. No one complained, because both of them enjoyed… Sarah and Aiden agreed that the best thing is to move from living room sofa to bed in the bedroom when they work for White corp. It's more convenient when they decide to… take a spontaneous break from working.

Aiden was happy to see that except for the morning run, Sarah didn't mention going outside the apartment. In this way, chances of her running into Philip are almost non-existent.

...

Sarah got a notification of a large deposit to her checking account. She looked into it and recognized the amount. It was the amount that she paid for her car, 2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo. 'It seems that dad finally decided to admit he went over the line, and he wants to make up. But just to make sure...' Sarah called her mom. "Hi mom."

Stella's voice chirped from the phone, "Hi, sunshine. Are you doing well?"

Sarah was happy to hear her mom's voice after a while. "Yes, mom, I'm fine. I'm calling you because I want to confirm something..."

"Tell me"

Sarah thought for a moment before continuing. "Did you get an OK from dad before you deposited money?"

"What money?", Stella was confused.

"Uhm... on my account.", Sarah could tell that something is not right based on Stella's response.

"Sorry, my love... I'm not sure what are you talking about. Can you clarify?"

"I got a deposit today on my account, for the amount I paid for my car. You don't know anything about it?"

"No, I don't. It must be that your dad deposited money by himself.", Stella was honest.

"Hmm...", Sarah thought 'Why would dad deposit the money without telling mom?' And after few seconds, she realized. 'He feels guilty about not giving me money, but still he doesn't want to accept that I have my own mind and right to make my decisions.'

"You are not happy with that? It means that he wants to support you financially.", Stella tried to explain Edward's action.

"But that is not what I wanted."

"I know sunshine, but one step at a time. Be patient with him."

"It's already more than a month. He had a lot of time to think things through... and what one step at a time? There is only one step that he needs to take.", Sarah's temper was rising.

"What do you expect him to do?"

"To admit that he is in the wrong!" Sarah sighed, and her voice became softer. "Mom, I don't need this money, I need him to admit his mistake, to accept that I have my own opinion. He does not need to agree with it, but I want him to respect it. The fact that he sent me money secretly, means that he is not willing to openly admit he made a mistake."

"Oh, sunshine...", Stella thought that sometimes Sarah is too smart for her age. 'If she is not so smart, she could just let this go and they could make up. Right?'

"I will return this money. I don't want him to think that if I accept his money, I accept his behavior." Sarah was stubborn.

Stella took a deep breath. "Do what you must... I understand what you want to accomplish with this. I will not try to change your mind."

"Thank you." Sarah hanged up feeling sad. 'Why is so difficult for him to accept that I don't agree with him?'

After returning money to Edward's account, Sarah was in exercise room, assembling last piece of equipment that arrived. She was doing final checks that everything is tightened up properly, when Aiden got inside. He looked at the strange contraption that Sarah was busying herself with. It looked like an exercise dummy, about seven feet high with multiple 'limbs' covered in rubber sticking out in every direction from top to bottom. He inspected it closely, and observed four 'limbs' towards the top, three in the middle, and three towards the bottom. "What is this?" he asked Sarah.

"It does not have name..."

"Show me, how do you use it?", Aiden was curious.

Sarah quickly kept the tools aside and assumed position in front of the dummy. She extended her leg and number of rapid kicks flew toward the dummy's limbs landing on areas covered with rubber. When each rubber covered limb got exactly one kick, she lowered her leg. "Like this... You first determine order of your targets. As you change angle in which you approach it, your strategy will need to change also."

Aiden looked at the dummy and got lost in thoughts.

Sarah looked at him. "What is it?"

He shook his head... "Nothing. It just reminds me of a thing I used long time ago. Even the instruction to pick order of targets in advance is familiar."

Sarah shrugged and pointed at the dummy, "You can use this one. It's good for improving speed, control as well as strategy..." She looked at him and thought how they are in this apartment for a while, but he never asked for any accommodation to be made for him. Sarah cleared her throat and spoke, "I never asked you, but I assume that you know: if you want to add anything to this room or anywhere else to the apartment, feel free to. I hope you don't think that this is my place and you are just crashing here, temporarily."

"Don't worry about it I'm fine. As long as I have a spot to sit and work, and a place next to you, I'm not going to complain.", he hugged her and kissed her forehead.

Sarah laughed, "You are low maintenance... talking about spot to sit and work, how about we add a second work desk in the study? And we can get a PC for you to work from. Additional monitors are helpful... and if you are there working, I will use my PC more often as well."

Aiden thought about it and nodded.

"Great! I will try to find a desk that is matching with existing one... if I can't find, we will get rid of this one, and get two new matching ones."

"I will leave that up to you.", he laughed seeing her enthusiasm.

Sarah beamed thinking that finally there will be a furniture piece in this apartment that is for him. 'Every day we are making a progress in our relationship and getting closer.'

"I hope you see this place as OUR apartment… that is how I see it." She looked up at him expectantly, waiting to see his reaction.

He smiled and gave a small nod before kissing her again.