CHAPTER 5
1112 Words
Andrew’s POV
The first thing I noticed was her sweater, and now, it is all I can think of. She left two minutes ago. Enough time for me to get back to the glass of whisky in my hands. Yet, I find myself staring at the spot she stood, right beside Callum, her voice still lingering in my head.
I bring the rim to my lips and tell myself to stay put, just like I did all through tonight. The diapers are still being passed around, and their laughter hasn’t ended. They all think Aurora is going out with Professor Alaric.
I don’t even want to know what I think.
I tip my head back to take a sip when Cassandra saunters over to me, where I stand leaning against the wall in the shadows. Her hands wrap around my waist, and she presses every inch of her body into me.
“Where have you been all week?” she whispers, looking up at me. “I tried reaching you. I even called Margot, and she said you have been keeping away from her too. What is the problem?”
“When have I ever not kept away from my mother?”
“Andrew…”
“You don’t have to do this here, Cassandra.”
“Do what?” she murmurs.
“Act this way. My parents and yours aren’t here to see if their investments are yielding any profits, so you might as well just stay away from me. Put up this shitty act in front of the Rousseau family.”
Cassandra pulls away from me. “I don’t know why you keep doing this, Andrew. Why do you keep acting like my feelings for you aren’t genuine? I told you a hundred times already. I love you. This isn’t about what our parents want. It is about us.”
“That makes it one-sided.”
A frustrated groan slips from her lips. “Is this about her?”
“Not again, Cassandra.”
“Because I feel like I am literally in a competition with some ghost. Andrew, Elara walked away from you two years ago without deeming it right to inform you. She disappeared because she wanted nothing to do with you. And you know it. Guess who was there for you when she broke your heart into a million pieces? Me!”
“This isn’t about Elara.”
I try to act like I feel nothing when her name is brought up. And maybe, to an extent, I have begun to accept it. But all of my progress seems to have been thrown out the window when she walked in this morning.
Aurora.
It is practically impossible. I know that my mind is playing games on me. I mean, Elara had really long dark hair and grey-green eyes. Aurora cannot be any different.
But yet…
“Is it?” Cassandra blurts. “If Margot hears about this…”
“I have had a long day, Cassandra,” I mutter, leaning away from the wall. “I am going home.”
“But you only just got here!” Her tone has dropped to something friendlier, more amicable. But I have known Cassandra my whole life, and one thing she does effortlessly well is put on a show.
People tend to fall for it.
But not me.
“Goodnight.”
Turning out through the back, I walk out of the mansion, telling myself the reason I am taking this route isn’t the fact that it is faster. Still, my steps are hurried as I make it down to the sidewalk, my head darting across the street.
“Hey,” Callum says from behind me, tapping my shoulders. “Are you waiting for someone?”
“Where is she?”
“Who?”
“Aurora?”
“Andrew, I don’t think…”
“Where the f**k is she?”
Callum steps back slowly, his eyes wary. “Andrew, you need to calm down.”
“You need to answer my question.”
“Look, she was upset and didn’t want me to walk her, so I let her go.”
“You let her what?” The only thing I feel right now is anger coursing through me. Unfounded anger. I see it in Callum’s eyes as he watches me.
“I pissed her off, okay? I shouldn’t have invited her when Sophia asked me, but I thought…I didn’t know…”
“You should have known!” My tone is oddly calm, such a far contrast from the rage inside. “Why else would Sophia ask you to invite her to a party at Cassandra’s place? Weren’t you thinking?”
Callum angles his head suddenly. “Is there something you are not telling me?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” He shakes his head. “You are always unbothered about everything going on in your life—maybe even borderline apathetic. But this… Aurora… I saw you looking at her in class today. What was that about?”
I can’t answer that. Not when I know I’ll sound like a fool. So, I turn around and head into the dark, leaving Callum standing there, watching me retreat.
I feel his eyes boring a hole into my back until I disappear from view. My parents’ house isn’t far from Cassandra’s, so I don’t bother driving when going this distance. With the night air teasing my skin, I slide my hands into my pockets, heading home.
But my feet halt when I hear a sniffle coming from the roadside. It is dark around here, with the street lamp only casting a dim glow. I see a figure huddled on the sidewalk, head buried in hands.
And at once, I know it is her.
I should cross to the other side of the road and head home. This could be nothing. This is nothing. It has been so long that everyone else has moved on. I should too, rather than dwelling on the past.
Yet, I stop in front of her, my feet scraping the ground to get her attention.
Aurora stops sniffing as her head snaps up. Tears stream down her face, and suddenly, I am filled with the strange and compelling urge to pull her up against me—to hold her close until the tears cease.
Instead, I allow my eyes to roam every inch of her, a stoic expression on my face. I allow the anger I have felt for the past two years to simmer through me.
“Where did you get that sweater, Aurora, and why is there a bloodstain on the arm?”
- Writer
