A & A

[25]: the truce

________________________

25

the truce

"A different intent

but a shared truce,

a reluctant relent

that you let loose."

________________________

The peace and quiet he was able to steal for a few minutes was instantaneously broken by the loud noises Aurora was making.

He lifted his head from his palm as he looked at the woman opposite of him with burning annoyance. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to actually say something that would even imply that she's making too much noise. He would lose the unofficial bet they had started and he would rather claw his own eyes out than do something that would let her win. It would have been easier if he did something like that and he would have gotten the silence he has missed, but his pride and competitive side wouldn't let him. Losing to Aurora was something that he'd rather not do at all.

A sigh of irritation escaped his lips as he kept his gaze on her, a lingering jibe dancing on the tip of his tongue but he held it in. Instead, he asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

Aurora looked up from the papers she was working on, only noticing now that she had a companion all this time. She blinked her eyes in surprise a couple of times before she released a sigh of her own and rested her head against her open palm. "Computing and calculating the expenses and sales." She answered. "You know, you shouldn't be sitting here. You should be in the kitchen, supervising the kitchen staff."

He knows that what she's saying is true because he really should be in the kitchen, looking over all the things the kitchen staff are doing and telling them what they should be preparing. But, he also knows that he would only cause more harm and trouble from the inside than from the outside. Him and a kitchen being thrown together is not exactly the greatest idea there is. Either the kitchen would end up being all messy, or he would end up cursing and complaining about why kitchens are made in the first place. He’s positive as well that that little detail wasn’t overlooked by any of the staff. After all, they were the ones who got to witness his blunderous and inept attempt at playing kitchen expert.

As usual, he ignored her reprimand. "Don't computing and calculating mean the same thing?"

She rolled her eyes, already knowing what his actions meant. Of course he would try and do something that would make him not do what he was supposed to do. That's just how he is. As intelligent as the guy is, he's still the most proficient procrastinator she has ever known.

"Alex, seriously."

"I am being serious." He puffed out a breath. "Calculating and computing literally means the same thing."

As motivated as she is to make sure nothing distracts her from what she's doing, her attention was instantly captured by his words. There's just something about what he said that sparked the defensive side of her and makes her want to justify her usage of words--even if doing that wasn’t necessarily needed, nor should it be what she prioritizes to address. And so, the fire in her eyes alighted as she squared her shoulders, looking more than ready to defend her words—as minuscule as it is.

"No, you i***t. Calculating could also mean prudent analysis. Obviously, you're clearly lacking competence since you didn't get that one right." She didn't let him speak when he opened his mouth; merely continued on with her jibe and pretended like he wasn't just about to say something. "So yes, your comprehension level isn't up to par."

He wasn't just going to sit there and let her win the argument. She has a good point, but so does he. All he needs to do now is prove that he is right about his own argument.

Wetting his lips with his tongue, he looked at her in the eye and told her, "It actually depends on your structured sentence, you know. In your case, your sentence wasn't all that clear." He ignored her narrowed eyes as he laid out his points. "It was stated like you meant you were merely calculating the sales and expenses instead of it sounding like you were both computing and analyzing the current sales and expenses."

Irritation flashed in her azure eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. Are you deaf or something? My sentence was perfectly structured."

"No it wasn't. Seriously, I think there's something wrong with you. You're starting to become delusional." And then, as an afterthought, he added, "Well, not really. You were already delusional to begin with."

"Just like how you're incredibly full of baseless assumptions?"

"How am I full of assumptions?"

"You just are."

"See? I think you're confusing things. Clearly, it's you who is incredibly assumptive. Your assumption of me is even a baseless one!"

"How is it baseless? I've known you all my life! My assumptions are clearly well back-uped."

"I'll have you know that for the last three years that you have not known me, a lot of things about me have already changed."

She let out a scoff as she crossed her arms against her chest. "Hardly."

"Fine. Since you insist on saying that you know me that well, tell me all the things you know about me."

"Why should I justify myself to the likes of you?"

"Kind of ironic you saying that, don't you think? You were trying very hard to prove your point to me earlier about two similar words."

As she continued looking at him with narrowed eyes and flared temper, she started thinking if it was possible to want to smother someone so bad that your whole body starts trembling. Because if it is, then that's exactly what's happening to her right now. Well, what happens to her during most days, if she’s being brutally honest. The way Alexander goads her and argues with her ignites a flame deep inside of her that has been laying dormant for a long time now. Maybe it was because of how familiar things are or maybe it was because of the way they argue, she doesn't really know. All she knows is that Alexander just pisses her off so much, enough to make her blind.

There are times where she thinks that the way she reacts to Alexander’s nonsensical antics and foolish attempts at making her irritated is just ridiculous since the reaction she gives off comes out as extremely strong, but she guesses it just comes with the habit of being held on to the invisible chains of his words that enables her to react as such. Although she can’t deny as well that at this point, she’s basically just used to reacting that way it almost seems instinctive on her part.

She should really do something about that before she falls victim to her own raging and blinding flames.

"How many times do I have to keep telling you? Calculating and computing could mean different things!" Aurora exclaimed, her azure orbs swirling in vexation as she kept her gaze on the equally vexed steely gray orbs staring back at her.

"I know that, you stubborn wench. What I'm saying is that the structure of your sentence was not right!" Alexander is slightly glaring at her now, not really getting why they’re even arguing about something as trivial as this. Although he supposes it’s his fault for bringing up such a topic to light, but it’s not like this was something worth bantering over this much anyway. Aurora is just being difficult--like how she always is.

"How was it not right, you stupid i***t? It clearly—" She stopped herself and heaved in a breath to calm herself down before releasing it all in one go. "I am not going to have this conversation with you. It's repetitive, nonsensical and frankly, stupid."

At this point, Alexander was already way over his annoyance that he just couldn’t help himself when he said, "You know what's stupid? Your pointless arguments!"

"What the hell is wrong with you? Do you ever not listen?"

Edward, who was standing idly by near the arguing past lovers, watched in pure mirth as the both of them clearly looked like they wanted to rip each other's throats out. It was something that he witnessed often years ago, and the feeling of nostalgia burning inside his chest made him want to peer at the sight in front of him just a little bit more. A small smirk appeared on his lips while he crossed his arms as he allowed his ears to listen in on the ongoing conversation his cousin and his friend are having, knowing full well that the subject of argument is another pointless thing.

"These two are so incredibly stupid in their own horrific way." He muttered under his breath, chuckling when Aurora pinched Alexander on the arm. "Should I make my presence known?"

Back at the table, Aurora glared at Alexander as the latter winced and rubbed the part of his arm that was pinched by her. She honestly couldn't comprehend how someone could actually be this stupid and annoying at the same time; almost like being annoyingly stupid is part of who he is. Not that that certain detail isn't something she doesn't know, but there's just something about it that still makes her incredibly pissed off despite the fact that she's completely aware of how Alexander is.

"Are you even aware of how undesirable and misguided you are?" Aurora questioned.

Alexander puffed out a frustrated breath, eyes trained fiercely on the woman sitting opposite of him. He knows that the only way she would ever shut up is if he says something that will knock her off her shoes, something that she definitely wouldn't expect. His response to her rebuttal would no doubt arouse another violent feeling from her, but he'll take what he can get—even if it means pissing her off to oblivion. He really doesn’t care at the moment; he’ll deal with the consequences later on. Right now, he just wants to feel that familiar triumphant feeling in his gut whenever he wins something over his blonde, blue-eyed companion. "If I was undesirable, surely, you wouldn't have been attracted to me and end up making me your boyfriend, now would you?"

With eyes turning darker each passing second, she gripped the papers lying in front of her tightly in her hand all the while keeping her gaze on him and refusing to look away even when she can already feel her cheeks starting to burn. It also doesn't help that he knows that what he's saying is absolutely true, thus the smug expression currently plastered on his face that she just wants to punch away.

"Fine, I admit I was attracted to you." She forced herself to say, growing all the more annoyed when his expression turned more smug than it already is. "But that's the point: was. Was meaning past tense; not anymore." His smug expression dropped in an instant. "I don't even know what the hell I was thinking when I actually made you my boyfriend."

"You were obviously thinking about how lucky you are to be able to steal my heart." Was Alexander's instant reply, not allowing himself to feel dejected about the fact that she just spoke once again about how her feelings for him are not anything less than the current dislike she harbors towards him. "How could you not? You were the only one who was able to do that."

"Was?" Came Edward's chorused reply.

Upon hearing the new voice joining their conversation, Alexander and Aurora simultaneously looked at the source of the voice, faces instantly morphing into a blank look once they saw that it was only Edward. The both of them turned away from him and went back to what they were previously doing, trying to tune him out.

But Edward, already used to their dismissive and rude behavior, continued walking towards them and took the empty seat beside his cousin. Eyes going back and forth between the two previous lovers, he said, "I believe that Alex means you're still the only one who is able to steal his heart." He turned to look at his glaring cousin, unperturbed by it. "Right? You even told me how you Aur is still the one after all this time."

If Alexander could cut his cousin's tongue off, he really would. There's only so much he could take from Edward constantly spewing out things that he shouldn't. With a silent fire burning behind those stormy grey eyes, he said, "Shut the f**k up, you stupid i***t. I have no interest in that anymore."

She knows that it shouldn't break her heart, considering how she's already convinced herself that she's over him, but to her dismay, his words still affected her in a way that shouldn't. Her eyes gazed at him with a look on her face that only a broken heart could do, but she quickly masked it with a look of indifference. The pain, the slow crumbling of her feigned tough exterior; she knows that anyone would be able to identify it with just one look. It isn't really hard to do since she's so used to wearing her heart in her sleeve.

With how much of a danger it is to still keep it that way, she should really learn how to cover up her feelings more, especially since she’s dealing with two people who knows her absolutely well; the other knowing her just a tiny bit better than the second Giovanni to enter her life and left a permanent mark. The fact that they could easily unravel her in ways unimaginable to her terrifies her more than having to face them with a facade on her face everyday.

"Well good." She cleared her throat once the two cousins snapped their heads to look at her. "Since I have no interest in that as much as you do, let's forget about our silent animosity and start anew."

"Start...anew?" Alexander asked, a confused expression plastered on his face. He already has an idea where Aurora is going with her words, but he’s still having a hard time comprehending the words that came out of her mouth.

"Yes." She replied, the indifference on her face still intact. "Let's forget about what happened in the past and become friends once again." But as an afterthought, she added, "Well, as much as a friend we both could be."

Alexander honestly couldn't believe what he's hearing, much less understood his current emotions. He knows that her offer of friendship is for the better and that he already promised to himself that he would rebuild their foundation first before anything else but actually hearing her offer him a friendship makes him feel all kinds of emotion. Almost like her offer officially signifies the end of their previous relationship, like there's ever not a chance that the both of them could rekindle their lost and broken love.

And it broke his heart more than he thought it would.

More than he expected.

"I guess being friends isn't that bad." Alexander finally replied after a long silence.

Edward stared at his cousin for the longest time. At that moment, he was overcome with a great need to shield his cousin from anymore heartbreak than he’s already experiencing. It might not be visible to everyone, but he knows that the guy is just as soft as he is hard on the outside. It also doesn't take a genius to know that despite the way Alexander presents himself as an aloof, cold-hearted person, he has a vital weakness that will always stay no matter the time or the circumstance—the very being that both broke and thawed his heart: Aurora Crover.

He released a sigh and leaned back on his chair. "Of course it isn't. Beggars can't be choosers after all."

The glare he received from Alexander right after that was immediate. It certainly amuses him how his cousin thinks that he would be intimidated by the glares and scowls he sends his way when he’s already used to it in more ways than one. With how much he’s seen that growing up, it was only natural that he would develop some kind of resistance to it.

"Seriously, what are you even doing here?" Alexander asked, the frustration in his tone of voice clearly palpable.

"Annoying you, obviously." Aurora chorused, looking at Edward right after. "But why the sudden visit though? You never come in here unless you want something."

Edward shrugged in response. "I was just going to hang out here with the both of you since I have nothing else to do. Great argument, by the way. What normal people argue about someone's sentence structure?"

The blush that appeared on Aurora's cheeks made a small smile to etch on Alexander's lips. "You heard that?" She queried.

"Of course I did." Edward scoffed. "The both of you are so weird."

Aurora rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to the papers on her hand. "That's what you always say."

"That's because that tidbit is true." Edward replied with a smirk. He turned his gaze to his blank-faced cousin. "Hey, you want to hang out with me? Let's go and get some smoothie! I know a place that's just near here."

The thought of drinking a smoothie in this hot weather is rather tempting to Alexander, especially since he hasn't really had one for a very long time. However, he also knows the exact reason why Edward only invited him and not both him and Aurora—the sly bastard probably wants to talk more about what happened earlier and hear more about his side of things. It's rather strange how you can already anticipate what would happen when you're with one of the people closest to you; almost like they're completely transparent to you and vice versa.

He cleared his throat, his mind thinking of reasons that would be able to not let him go to the said smoothie place and would be passable enough for Edward. Thank goodness for my quick wit, he thought. "Maybe next time. I'm actually quite busy." He looked at his watch, acting like he's actually reading the time. "Oops, I actually have to be in the kitchen right now. You know, supervising s**t and all that."

All the while, Aurora kept her stare on Alexander, eyebrows raised in a sardonic manner. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but quickly bit her tongue when she came eye to eye with Alexander's pleading, luminescent silver orbs. The instant those eyes landed on her she instantly knew what it meant—that was all she needed to get back to what she was doing and act like she wasn't just about to ruin Alexander's plan.

"Oh come on." Edward stated with a scoff. He did so in a way that almost seemed like he actually knew the truth behind his cousin's words. "I heard yours and Aur's conversation earlier. It honestly seemed like you were avoiding groundwork at all costs."

"You misheard." came Alexander's instant reply. "I was obviously about to do my job when Aurora thought that it would be a good time to challenge me into a verbal sparring."

At that, Aurora looked up from her papers, eyes dark and dangerous as she looked at the guy across him. "Who ever gave you the impression that I was challenging you to a verbal sparring? All I did was remind you of the work that you should have done but you went and criticized my sentence structure instead." Alexander opened his mouth to say something, but Aurora was having none of it. "So in retrospect, you were the one who challenged me into a verbal sparring and not the other way around."

"You know, you could have just said something that doesn't contradict to my words or just nod in agreement and we wouldn't be having this pointless and nonsensical argument right now." He stared right back at her with the same intensity, his steely eyes filled with unmasked indifference.

Aurora let out a sarcastic laugh. "Sure, because that would have been so much better."

"It actually would have."

"Don't try me, Giovanni. My patience has been growing dangerously thin because of you and your stupid retorts that makes no absolute sense." Hands slowly curling up in a fist, she let it rest atop the table in front of her, all the while keeping her own eyes locked on the guy beside her.

As Edward gazed at the two people in front of him arguing once more and feeling like his presence was already forgotten, he let out a loud sigh and muttered, "Here we go again. The boring highlight of my everyday life for the next month."

Turns out, his presence isn't all that forgotten. Despite the ongoing argument Aurora and Alexander found themselves entangled in yet again, the two of them were still highly aware of the fact that Edward is currently with them.

As two pairs of eyes, ocean blue and stormy gray, turned to look at the astonished guy who was so kind as to grace them with his presence, Edward thought about why it had to be this time that he had to be proven wrong. Entertaining as it is, he doesn't really want to get caught up in an argument between his cousin and his future (or permanent former) cousin-in-law.

"You know," Aurora started. He looked at her. Just one look and he already knows what's coming. "Your words are highly contradictory. How can you say that the highlight of your day is boring?"

One thing he also doesn't like is being the center of attention of the both of them. Who would, really?

"So?" He replied. "I can be contradictory if I want to. Just because you're a walking grammar corrector or some s**t like that, doesn't mean that you can do that to just about everyone."

"But I don't do that to everyone. Just you and Alexander mostly."

"Gee, that makes me feel so special." The sarcasm that laced in his tone of voice didn't leave either Aurora or Alexander's attention.

The latter turned to look at Aurora with a raised eyebrow. "Is that supposed to make us feel better? Or justify your actions in any way?"

"If you don't like my answer, then shut the f**k up. I didn't ask for your idiotic opinion." She turned her eyes at him. "Nor your undesirable and less than satisfactory attitude."

Alexander released an exasperated sigh, as if saying that he's sick and tired of all the things coming out of her mouth; like he could care less about the things she says. That would have been true if it wasn't for the fact that he actually does care. However, he knows better than to show his hidden feelings about the things she says since she would make sure to never put it past him. 

"Are you really not aware of how incredibly stupid you sound right now?" Alexander countered. "Wouldn't really be a surprise if you didn't because what do you expect from the mighty Aurora Crover?" He released a deep breath as he took in Aurora's menacing glare, the newly formed truce now slowly becoming null and void—well, as null and void as it can get anyway. "Anyway, I'm off to the kitchen to do my job. If you need me for anything, you know where to find me."

And with those words, he calmly stood up and made his way towards the kitchen with as much finesse as he can muster, heart beating loudly against his chest. It took everything in him not to look back and tease Aurora about how he was able to get the last word—it would just ruin everything and it would lead to no doubt another argument. He's had enough of an argument for one day despite the fact that that's what he usually does everyday. Silently berating himself for even thinking about doing something so ridiculous, he stalked towards the kitchen with renewed determination and successfully avoided another round of argument—for now.