Chapter IX - Aurora
1299 Words
«I hope you haven’t been assholes and used up all the best stuff.»
I immediately recognize the mellifluous voice coming from the entrance: it’s the same one I heard on the steps that first day.
In an almost automatic gesture, my head snaps in her direction, and my confidence—the little confidence I manage to scrape together—shatters in an instant.
Up close, her delicate features stand out in all their beauty, framing a porcelain face. She’s petite, but her curves are sinuous, elegant, unmistakably feminine.
Her emerald-green eyes land on me at once.
A flicker of curiosity crosses them, but it vanishes in the blink of an eye the moment she notices how close I am to Tom. The smile stays perfectly in place, but that spark shifts—sharper now, almost… predatory.
She folds her arms and leans against the wall as if she’s owned that spot forever.
«Oh, good. Did you bring fresh meat, Tom?»
She tilts her head, smile unfazed.
Tom sighs but ignores her, turning to me instead.
«Would you like some bread?» he asks gently, his hand resting lightly on my lower back.
She fires back instantly, irritated by how casually he brushed her off.
«How long is this one going to last, TomTom?» she chirps, her voice pitching up.
«The last one evaporated in two weeks. A shame, really. I liked her… at least until» — she points slowly, finger grazing her chest — «she realized who she was dealing with.»
Yeah. Insecurity isn’t something she struggles with.
Tom’s fingers tighten around the plate; his jaw locks.
«Ada,» he growls. «Not today.»
Oh.
The brief satisfaction of finally putting a face to that name evaporates instantly.
And not just because she’s beautiful: it’s that confidence, that quiet dominance she radiates without even moving.
A graceful panther, already bored of the prey she’s about to toy with.
Me.
«So… who are you?»
She strides toward us with purpose. Every detail of her outfit screams money: a white Elisabetta Franchi suit, Valentino Garavani Rockstuds, and a full set of tiny, immaculate diamonds.
She stops right in front of me. She’s shorter, but you’d never guess it: the way she looks at me makes me feel small.
«What’s wrong? Afraid I’ll eat you?»
Only then do I realize the room has gone completely silent.
Some people are chewing slower; others have even stopped breathing just to catch every word.
Tom steps between us, one arm out, gently moving me back.
«Ada. I’m not doing this today. Leave us alone.»
She stares at him, incredulous and amused. «Leave us? Are you two already a couple?»
«And even if we were?»
The defiant edge in his voice—directed only at her—hits me in a way I wish it didn’t.
Ada tilts her head back and bursts out laughing.
«And even if it were, it wouldn’t last long.»
She steps in even closer, her chest almost brushing Tom’s, and the tension between them is so palpable it leaves me speechless. God. It really does look like there’s something unresolved between them.
I step back, my heart sinking, my stomach twisted into a knot that hasn’t loosened in minutes.
Tom notices. His shoulders tense, and he turns to me, pulling away from her as if only now realizing how close they were standing.
And the fact that it feels so natural for him to be that close to her… makes me feel like a complete i***t.
«Let’s go,» he says to me, as if Ada no longer exists.
He holds out his hand, that usual cheeky smile flickering across his face—a silent request for me to take it.
I hesitate. Not after what I just saw.
I bite the inside of my cheek, undecided, taking a moment to respond—then suddenly Ada is in front of me.
«Wow, Tom, have you sunk so low you’re picking a lunatic now?»
He snaps his fingers in front of my eyes.
«Hey, doll? You there or stuck in standby?»
«What the hell are you doing, Ada?» he growls, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her back.
«Relax, relax. I was just trying to get her moving.»
Then she turns toward me.
«Although…» She flares her nostrils, almost disgusted. «Judging by the look on her face, it seems there’s only a tiny monkey banging cymbals in her head. Cute, but hopelessly empty.»
What is her problem?
I hear a growl rise in Tom’s throat, but I stop him before he can speak.
«I’m just trying to think before I open my mouth, to avoid saying useless things,» I reply. «I know it sounds hard, but really—you should give it a try sometime.»
I take a step forward, eyes locked on hers.
«It may not help you, but trust me, you’d be doing everyone a huge favor by keeping that irritating voice down.»
I may be kinder and less explosive than my sister, but that doesn’t mean people get to walk all over me.
Dad taught us both better.
Tom turns to me, surprised at first—but then something shifts in his gaze. It turns molten gold, and the intensity, the heat in his eyes, sends my stomach plummeting.
Ada stiffens but doesn’t lose composure. She lifts her chin—the posture of a queen—and stares at me as if I’ve just issued her a challenge.
«Do you really think the words of some random extra could affect me?»
She steps closer, grabs my shirt between two fingers—as if it were something filthy—and lets it go with a grimace.
«God, you’re poor—inside and out. How dare you talk back to me?»
Her gaze drags slowly over me, lingering on my clothes—on the simple stitching, the cheap fabric, every detail that betrays where I come from.
And for a moment, I feel exactly what she wants me to feel: out of place, inadequate, too low on the social ladder to even look at someone like Tom.
«And try to behave, really. You’re drooling over him like a b***h in heat.»
«Enough!»
Tom’s voice erupts, and the way he slams his plate on the table makes the ceramic clatter. Everything around us slows, the whole room swallowing a heavy silence.
«Ada. Come. With. Me.»
I’ve never heard him sound so stern. So cold.
Ada snorts, pretending to be annoyed, but the wink she throws me is unmistakable: she got exactly what she wanted.
Tom brushes my hip with his fingers—a quick touch, but enough to knock the air from my lungs.
«I’ll be right back, okay?» he murmurs. «Can you wait for me?»
He looks at me with that warmth in his eyes and—despite everything, despite her—I nod.
He gives me one of those smiles that turn me inside out, then turns away.
«Let’s go,» he says, and disappears through the door.
«Bye-bye, doll.»
Ada wiggles her claw-like painted fingers in a fake wave.
«I hope you know how to enjoy fleeting moments. Because that’s all you’ll get.»
She smirks and walks off, chin high, dripping self-importance.
I stand there, motionless. Like a total i***t.
An i***t for falling into her trap.
An i***t for giving her exactly what she wanted.
An i***t for believing that today, with Tom, something… ours might happen.
Instead he dragged me here, into a room full of privileged people, and then left with her.
Her, who knows him, who touches him without hesitation, who looks at him like he belongs to her.
I keep telling myself it’s just friendship, that it’s fine.
Lies.
The hollow ache in my stomach hits me with the truth—the exact opposite.
Like all the others.
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