Once Upon A Time Cinderella Meets her Stepbrothers

Chapter 4 – The Slippers

(Aiden’s POV)

This is what I don’t particularly appreciate about staying in dad’s house, the Internet connection.

Caleb and I tried living here for a while after he decided to build this house for retirement. Despite our plea that he should just relax and travel the world, he still pursued his dream, having this mansion house by the beach for him and his future partner, and someday, my twin and I would give him lots of grandchildren to fill the house with laughter once in a while. We never thought he would be marrying again, and the woman he chose would bring two beautiful daughters.

We have a bird sanctuary near the house, and dad, being a strong advocate of protecting the environment, didn’t want the birds to be affected, so putting up a cell tower, which he believed to have harmful effects on their biological system, was a no-no for him.

Instead of worrying that I got disconnected while listening to our HR manager’s report, dad found it funny that I lost my connection in the middle of his presentation. Although my presence was not needed in the meeting, it still pissed me off that I lost my connection. Just imagine, the CEO himself lost his connection. Ava, my secretary, had anticipated it already, recording everything about the meeting, so just in case technical problems happen, she would be ready to report every detail to me.

My eyes fix on the door when I hear soft knocks. As expected, it was Hernan. He opens the door, bringing me a coffee pot.

“The technician’s almost done, Sir Aiden,” he says while pouring coffee in the cup. He looks at me with interest as I lie on my bed, just staring at the ceiling.

I shook my head. “It’s okay, Hernan. When he’s done, the meeting would be over anyway.” I got up when he gave me the cup. Hernan worked with us before I was born, and his family before him has served my mother’s family for a long time. For Caleb and me, he is not a butler, but an uncle who spends most of his time with us rather than our parents.  

“The guests?” I asked curiously, wondering what the two girls on the other wing of this floor were doing.

“Miss Belle is with her mother, and Miss Elle, she’s talking with a friend,”

I got up, brought my cup, and walked to the balcony of my bedroom. My forehead creases, seeing a familiar figure running on the beach. “Is that Cinderella?”

“You mean Miss Elle, sir?” he corrects me, walking towards the balcony. He smiles and nods at me. “She’s looking for a signal, Sir. She wants to send her friend a funny picture of her and Belle.”

“Funny picture?” I gaze at him, and he nods, smiling at something he has seen. The corners of my mouth lifted when I heard her scream and laughed excitedly as the waves touched her feet.

“Yes. It’s been a while since I heard laughter in this house, Sir Aiden,” he smirks at me as if wanting to tell me that he has been lonely after Caleb, and I decided to move out and live in our own homes.

I watched Elle playing with her feet in the sand. “She’s beautiful.” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, too late for me to take my words back because he had already heard it.

“She is indeed a beautiful lad,” Hernan agreed, walking back inside my room and taking the tray outside. “I know I’m not in the position to say this, Sir Aiden, but as a gentleman, you might want to apologize. She seems hurt after your encounter during lunch,”

I smirked, silently agreeing with him. “I’ll think about it, Hernan.”

He nods slowly and closes the door behind him, but I remain on the balcony, watching Elle as she talks to someone on the phone.

Hernan was right. Elle didn’t deserve what I did a while ago, and like what Caleb said, I acted like a child, arguing with her. I smirked as I remembered what she said. “This is what I wanted to do with you!” Watching her rip the lobster apart made me want to burst out laughing. She looked adorable as she harassed the poor lobster, but hated the fact that my twin brother seemed to have enjoyed the moment.

Neither Caleb nor I have seen Mitch, but dad talked about her a lot, and he failed to mention that she had two beautiful daughters. Hernan didn’t know I was going to the beach when they arrived that morning. I was relaxing in the hammock when I first saw her.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw Elle for the first time, walking and sitting on the balcony as she enjoyed the beauty of the sea. The funny thing was when I saw her and heard her name, the person who came into my mind was Lily James from the Cinderella movie. They have the same features, except her face was heart-shaped, but they both have the exact near-perfect facial symmetry. Beautiful. Sexy. Perfect.

But something kept flashing at the back of my mind.

Stepsister.

I don’t like Elle to be my stepsister. I want her to be somebody else in my life. Thinking of my dad, who decided to be happy and thinking of himself aside from us, letting Elle hate me is much better.

I groan at the thought, yet I know she deserves my apology. Sighing and hating the idea, my feet dragged me outside my bedroom, and I walked outside the beach. I stopped a few feet away from her because she was still talking to her friend. I didn’t mean to listen, but her voice was like a melodic sound, but her tone seemed sad. I leaned on the tree, somewhere where she could not see me.

“Just imagine my jaw dropping when I first saw them,” I heard her say, giggling but sighing.  “Well, Billy’s filthy rich, Apple, and it worried me that we don’t fit in his world.”

Filthy rich? I wonder why she said that, but she seemed to have answered my question when she talked again.

“I was wrong. The bagger owned the store,” She sounded embarrassed. My eyebrows knitted, wondering what he thought of my father. Yet, I knew him, and he would never brag about how wealthy we are. He loved wandering around the city without security guards or worrying about getting mugged when bad people found out he was rich. When my mother was still alive, this was their simple pleasure, escaping from their real world, going out in simple clothes, pretending to be somebody else, and enjoying the city.

Elle scoffed at the person she was talking with. “As if I have that much. I bet the butler was getting more salary than my monthly allowance from Dad’s insurance.”  

I rolled my eyes, feeling crazy as I asked questions in silence. What is the problem, then?

“Living with them is the problem. Billy wanted us to have like a trial family thing, living together for ten months until their wedding. Apple, I don’t think I could do that without killing one of his sons,”

I bet it was me. So, then, it was true that she imagined me when she was ripping the lobster apart. I walked in her direction, standing beside her as I listened more.

“I’m not a violent person, and you know that I’m a big supporter of peace talks, but I really hate Aiden. Grrr!”

I winced at the thought. Does Elle Miller hate me?

“I know, right? Maybe if I had to save only one, Aiden or the cockroach, I would choose the latter.”

What? My forehead furrows, and my eyes narrow, irking at what she said. She would instead save the cockroach. Does she hate me that much?

“He started it, Apple. He said he couldn’t live with me, and he didn’t like me.”

This time, she turned around. “As if I wanted to live with --” Her mouth opened in surprise, squinting her eyes on me. “As if I wanted to live with him… I hate him.”

I could just let it pass, pretend that I didn’t hear anything, but she had just said it, she hated me. She didn’t want to live with me… with us. I didn’t know why I felt so hurt about it that my blood boiled in anger. Wishing to escape, to avoid me, my hand caught her upper arm, gripping it to stop her.

 “Where do you think you’re going, young lady?” I asked furiously.

“Staying away from you,” Elle answers as she tries to brush my hand off, but I hold her tightly. “Let go of me, Aiden,” She begs me, her eyes well with tears.

“Better do that, Elle,” It was better that way.  “Stay away from my family and me.” I released her arm. “You don’t belong in our world. If you don’t, I’ll make sure to bring hell into your life, Cinderella.”

I know I hurt her feelings, but I am too furious at her right now. When our eyes met, I saw the pang from my words, but she started it. She was crying as she ran back to the house.

When I turned around, Caleb was standing behind me, holding her slippers.

“Cinderella left her slippers, prince charming! Is it midnight yet?” My twin brother chuckled.