010
1107 Words
AURELIA
I stared at the fifteenth dress Mom held out for me. In the past hour, I’d changed dresses nine times. Some, she picked and assumed would fit me perfectly, and the others, I had to test them.
“Seriously, Aure, I really thought you were never going to change,” she clicked her tongue.
I sighed, glancing at her. I also didn’t expect that she wouldn’t change until I did. I wish I could tell her everything she did to me, which killed my self-respect and confidence, but she would never understand.
I knew she would never even believe she could do such.
“Let’s say, for example, Mom, I never pursue the company and focus on art…how would you feel?”
“That would be crazy,” she said immediately. “Well, unless you are planning to open an art gallery or something, but still, we’d always been leading in the food industry for the past fifteen years, Aurelia. Hales Food is in our blood. You should pursue that.”
See? I said it. Her character changed with whatever move I made.
I stopped checking out the dresses as I fully turned to her. “How would you feel if Theron and I broke up? If we don’t get married?”
Her fingers stopped as she turned, her eyes narrowing at me. “That’s simply a question, right?”
“What if it’s not?”
“Aure, don’t mess with me tonight. How would you and Theron break up? You were head over heels in love with him. Why is that changing?”
She’s throwing a tantrum. My life doesn’t revolve around Theron, at least not anymore.
“I will work in the company and grow Hales Food into a conglomerate. Do I still need Theron?”
“You don’t get it, Aure. Money is not the problem. Connection is. The Draixs have been billionaires for years. Their family was built on money instead of rocks. Do you think we can beat that just because of a fifteen-year scheme? We are nothing when it comes to them,” she paused, “and stop gripping the dress so tight, you are going to rip it off.”
I pulled my hand away from the dress I didn’t even know I was holding. My palms felt empty at that moment. No matter how good I become, I didn’t think Mom and Dad would sit still if I didn’t get to marry Theron. Not that I was thinking about it anyway, but asking made it easier for me. At least, I knew what she thought now.
It doesn’t matter if they have a 100-year legacy in their family; I would never marry him. This time, I would make sure to expose him so that even his mother would advise me to marry someone else.
“Aurelia, move.” My mother said with irritation as she watched me.
~~
“Would you like to hang out with me this weekend?” Tony asked.
“I’m sorry, Tony. I have to watch the last football match with Freya before graduation.”
“When is grad?” He asked.
“Next week Friday,” I sighed, flopping on the bed. It was filled with all the new stuff Mom had gotten for me. It was Sunday night, and I had yet to arrange them all.
“Do you want me to accompany you?” He asked.
I blinked. Memories tugged at my brain as his question settled in.
“Theron, would you like to come with me for the last match before graduation?”
“I’m busy, Aurelia.” He’d given a flat response. But on that same day, he’d appeared…with Mireya.
If I were smart enough and didn’t trust so blindly, I should have seen the signs. But I hadn’t. I had simply thought he wanted to surprise me.
“Heiress?” Tony’s voice came again.
“Yeah, if you have the time. I’ll text you,” I replied absentmindedly, sucking in a deep breath. “By the way, why do you call me that? Heiress?”
“You are going to take over Hales Food, aren’t you? It’s right for me to start acknowledging that. Besides, the name sounds nice. Heiress,” he added with a lower tone at the end.
I chuckled, rolling on my stomach. “You can call me that at any time, at least it will remind me what I’m having to stake.”
Silence responded from the other end.
“Tony?”
“Everything is okay in your home, right?” He asked, calmly. Like he’d known all along that my house and family were pretending to smile, every single time. Inside, we are all throwing thorns at each other with a smile on our faces.
“I believe…” I paused as the door to my room opened and Mireya stepped in, “…so.”
“That’s fine then—“
“I’ll call you back later, Tony,” I said immediately and ended the call.
“We have to talk,” Mireya said without batting an eyelid.
“About what?” I raised my brow innocently. Playing trick or treat with Mireya was a bit of a hurdle.
“Are you seriously coming to work at Hales food? I know you don’t even like business or food stuffs?” She slouched on my bed.
I smirked, pointing at the shelf opposite me. “Business books, food nutrition, and I have a talent for food tasting, isn’t that enough?”
“Running a business isn’t an easy feat, Aure,” she insisted.
“I haven’t started running one, “ I stared her in the eyes, “yet.”
Her eyes narrowed, her composure slipping for a moment. She was beginning to lose it. I felt that from tonight, things weren’t going to stay the same.
“Why don’t you just stick to pursuing the one thing you’ve wanted all your life? Things are going to be easier that way.”
It was a threat; I caught it from how low her voice went. Still, she had a blank expression on her face.
I looked between her eyes before I folded my legs on the bed. “We broke up.”
Mireya’s face whitened as she’d just seen a ghost. “Wh…what?”
“We…no, I, specifically broke up with Theron. It’s been about five days now?” I shrugged.
Her mask slipped as her voice notched higher in a split second, “Why?!”
My heart leapt out of my chest, and in a moment of shock, our eyes locked with each other.
- Writer
