THE SHADOWED MATE

CHAPTER 2

But this was not where it started:

When she looked into the mirror, she almost didn't recognize herself. Sometimes she wondered whether this version of Aurora was the real one or whether the real Aurora had disappeared a long time ago. The cold reminded her of another morning, her new norm. Before everything fell apart, well before her mother died. Back then, she never woke up inside a van; it was only waking up on the forty-second floor of the mansion Penthouse. She was blessed to be born in a family of stinky wealth; their house overlooked the entire city, where the sunlight poured through the glass before the curtains opened automatically. Her nanny made sure to prepare ‘breakfast in bed '; her father never missed breakfast. No matter how busy he was, he always sat at the dining table with a newspaper in one hand and coffee in the other, stroking his wife’s hair and rubbing his fingers round her perfect n*****s. She didn’t give a damn about what her parents thought. She was the complete opposite, always on the phone, always answering emails, always rushing to parties with her bae’s. SPOILT! But it was the school’s normality. No one cared.

"You'll be late,"

her mother always yelled. Aurora would smile every time , well, being late wasn't a problem when your family's driver was waiting downstairs. Life had been too simple. School for her was the best part of her week. Easy, you’d say, because she was a popular kid! At Elysian Elite Academy, Aurora was known by everyone, because attention naturally followed her. Number one, she was captain of the junior cheer squad; all the teachers trusted her. Students admired her, and even seniors knew her name.

“AHH, I wanna be just like her. Even her body is so tea! BREASTS PERFECT! FACE PRETTY! LEGS SKINNY! What more …” They ranted to each other. On the other hand, Selene Drake, her closest friend, thought otherwise. ”NYA NYA NYA , you're not even pretty, ugh. But the two were almost impossible to separate. If Aurora walked into class, Selene wasn't far behind. If Selene skipped lunch, Aurora skipped too, only for her to eat hers later in the locker room. HA! So much for a best friend, or rather frenemy! Everyone joked that they shared the same brain. Mia and Ivy completed their circle. Then there was Rufus, the G.O.A.T of the damn school. He wasn't just Aurora's friend. He was everyone's friend, of course. The girls called him their unpaid therapist because he somehow solved every argument before it became serious. Whenever Selene and Ivy argued over cheer routines, Rufus settled it, somehow. “HE MAYBE GAY, that’s how he is able to keep up with all the drama”, Everyone thought whenever Aurora forgot an assignment; Rufus already had an extra copy; whenever someone needed help, Rufus appeared before they even asked. They were simply grateful. Friday afternoons belonged to cheer practice. The gym echoed with music, laughter, and complaints from exhausted students. Aurora always reminded everyone to have fun and mostly reminded them to shake what their mama gave them! It balanced the team. Coach Harris often joked that together they made the perfect captain. After practice, the group usually stopped at a café across from the academy and to catch up with the school’s latest DRAMA! Most of the time they laughed until sunset.

Aurora truly believed those friendships would last forever, only She was wrong.Looking back, there had been signs, Small ones. Her mother had started coming home later than usual. Sometimes she disappeared for days because of "business trips."Her father never questioned it in front of Aurora. He simply smiled and pretended everything was normal. ”That’s weird, where is mum at nowadays?”. One evening, she walked into her father's office without knocking. He was sitting alone, no laptop and definitely no paperwork. Just silence. It was the first time she had ever seen him look afraid. He quickly smiled when he noticed her.

"Everything okay, Dad?"

"Of course."

"You look worried."

"I'm just tired." She accepted the answer. A few days later, strange people began visiting their penthouse. Some wore expensive suits, others never gave their names. Whenever Aurora entered the room, the conversations stopped. Her mother would quickly send her upstairs."It's adult business." She trusted her parents. She didn't know her mother was carrying secrets that could destroy everything they had built. Whatever those secrets were, they followed her everywhere. Even Dr. White, years later, would remember her name with a look no ordinary teacher should have carried. Then came the illness, from no one who knew where. It started with headaches. Her mother blamed stress. A week later, she began collapsing without warning. Doctors couldn't explain it.Now she started skipping school in the name of seeing her mother; something was wrong, though. Every test came back normal, yet she grew weaker every day. The woman who once controlled boardrooms could barely climb the stairs. Aurora watched her father cancel his daily meetings to see his no-longer-dying wife! He stopped smiling at breakfast. The newspapers stopped writing about company success and started asking uncomfortable questions; he watched as all Investors pulled away; business partners disappeared; friends stopped calling. His father disappeared. The family that once seemed untouchable began falling apart piece by piece. Aurora didn't understand how quickly life could change; she only knew that one morning she left for school as the daughter of one of the city's most respected families......and months later she was sleeping inside a van, hoping no one at Elysian would discover the truth. Only one person knew, Rufus, because He never judged her nor had he ever asked questions she wasn't ready to answer. He simply stayed. And in a world where everyone else walked away, that loyalty meant everything.

Aurora stared into the mirror one last time before picking up her school bag. She forced a smile. Another day at Elysian awaited. She had no idea that her life would turn over AGAIN sometime.

But all in all, she tried to keep her guard up, even though her classmates noticed that the S- class that always pulled over to drop her off and pick her up wasn’t in the vicinity anymore. Well, now, she just lived, or rather survived, life