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Chapter 4
On Sunday morning, Aurora woke up to stormy clouds on the horizon. Feeling exhausted as she had a disturbed sleep, plagued with strange dreams. She decided to stay home and work on the new article she wanted to submit for Cosmopolitan. Normally, she would write in Mr. White’s coffee shop but today she just didn’t have the energy for it.
Ethan had left early in the morning for a road trip to his friend’s summer house. He was expected to come back late into the night. Aurora wondered if Aiden had gone with him. Surely, he wouldn’t have left his aunt behind alone?
Why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?
Aurora had to focus on her writing. She needed to get a better job more than anything so she could get out of this place and be independent. It did feel like she would be abandoning Dad if she left but he had promised her he would be fine, and he really wanted her to pursue her career.
Aurora forced herself to start writing the article. Once she had written a paragraph, she fell into a rhythm and kept writing. That was what Aurora loved about writing, the words just kept coming to her.
When Aurora went downstairs for a snack, she realized it was already evening. She had spent the whole day working on the article and she was glad it was almost finished. That was a new one for her. Lately it took her a week to get anything written, as was her state of mind.
At around 5pm, she got a call from Ethan. Ethan wasn’t one to call especially when he was out with friends. She hoped everything was okay as she answered the call. As it turned out, Aiden had gone with Ethan and their friends on the road trip. Aunt Katie needed help fetching her heating pad from upstairs since her hip was giving her a lot of pain. Aiden had hired a nurse who had left last minute due to a family emergency. Aiden was on his way back but Ethan wanted her to go check up on Aunt Katie because it might take Aiden a while to reach.
Aurora immediately rushed over to Aunt Katie’s place. Outside, the weather was windy and the stormy clouds hovering since morning indicated that there was going to be a storm tonight. Aurora just prayed it wouldn’t start raining before she got home.
As soon as she entered the house, using the key left under the pot outside the door, it started raining. Aunt Katie was in the living room, asleep on her couch. Poor thing must have slept in pain, waiting for the heating pad.
Aurora’s heart ached for the poor woman. It would be soon that Aiden would leave for New York again. She would be left all alone, without family. Aurora knew the pain of loneliness, maybe that was why she was quick to rush over to help her.
She went upstairs to search for the heating pad, letting Aunt Katie get some sleep before the pain woke her up again. There were two doors upstairs. She opened the door to the first room and found herself in the cleanest bedroom she had ever been. The walls were painted black, there was a bed with skin-colored bedspread and a round mirror in the room. There was also a white closet in the room. She couldn’t find the heating pad, so she closed the door and went into the second bedroom. Aurora was sure that this one belonged to Aunt Katie, mainly because of the homely feeling it had. There was a wooden bed with a blue woolen blanket on it. There were pictures on the wall of Aunt Katie with her husband Roberts in the room, and a couple other people she couldn’t recognize. There was one picture by her bedside with a young boy that looked like Aiden with a couple. They must be Aiden’s parents, Aurora realized.
Then the other bedroom must have belonged to Aiden. But had it always been like that? Surely, as a teenage boy he must have had game posters, books, or musical instruments in his bedroom? Maybe he had given his childhood room a whole makeover.
“What are you doing in here?”
Aurora jumped at Aiden’s voice. She turned around to find him standing right behind her. She had been looking at his picture and got so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even hear him coming into the room. His expression was one of displeasure. She had been caught snooping.
“I was just looking for the heating pad. She fell asleep so I didn’t want to wake her up.” She replied, looking around the room for the heating pad.
“It was in the kitchen,” came Aiden’s curt response, his eyes boring into hers. Instead of being grateful that she had come on what was most probably his request, he was giving her an attitude. That ticked her off in the worst way. She was tired of his behavior.
“Right. I’ll get going then,” Aurora answered, and started heading towards the stairs. Just then, she heard a crash of thunder outside.
Just great. How was she going to get home now? Stopping only for a brief moment, she continued walking down the stairs, not wanting to let Aiden know that she was worried about the storm.
When she reached downstairs, she heard rustling from the living room. The thunder must have woken up Aunt Katie.
“Aurora?” Aunt Katie asked as Aurora stepped into the living room.
“Hi, I came to find the heating pad, but you were sleeping and I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“This weather makes me sleepy.” Aunt Katie laughed, then winced a little in pain.
“Is Aiden home?” As soon as she asked, Aiden strolled in with the heating pad in his hand.
“I’m here. I’ve got the heating pad.” He helped her adjust the heating pad.
“Oh, I’m so sorry you had to cut your trip short,” Aunt Katie said to him, seeming distressed.
“It’s fine. I can’t believe the nurse ditched last-minute. That is such unprofessional behavior. I’m going to report her to the clinic.” Aiden’s voice was angry. She looked at his face, which was contorted in disgust. That pissed her off even more. Why did he even leave his aunt alone for a road trip if he was here specially to take care of her? Then he had the audacity to be rude to her.
“Do you want me to wheel you to the bed?” Aurora asked Aunt Katie, motioning towards the bedroom downstairs where she had mentioned sleeping in last time.
“Thank you, dear.” Aurora did not look at Aiden as she wheeled Aunt Katie to her bedroom. She helped her get into the bed and gave her the heating pad. Aunt Katie was asleep even before Aurora had turned off the lights.
When she closed the door to the bedroom, she wondered how she was going to get home. She caught a glimpse of the outside from the window and it was raining heavily. Great, now she was stuck with Aiden for God knows how long. She was contemplating her dilemma standing in front of the window when Aiden walked up beside her.
