Chapter Six

Aurelia’s POV

I woke up to mum’s voice over my head. She was saying something I couldn’t understand.

I pushed the sheets off my body. The curtains had been thrown apart and the morning sun was creeping into the room, invading my face. I squinted and frowned.

“It’s just 8 in the morning,” I said when I glanced at the time. “I had night’s shift yesterday, mum, fr goodness sake.”

“There’s a package outside for you,” she told me.

A package? I wasn’t the type to receive a  package. And I wasn;t expecting one.

I yawned. “It must be for the lady on the next block.”

I was returning my head to my pillow, ready to shut my eyes and sleep my morning away, when her voice cut through my doze. 

“It’s for you,” she said. “Don’t keep the poor man waiting.”

I exhaled and forced myself off the bed. My eyes were heavy from lack of sleep. Last night, I couldn’t sleep. Not when certainties filled my head. I was scared that I would wake up and realised that Kieran had found somebody better.

Dimitri had been the man of my dreams. It had almost looked like our fate was carved in the stars and we would be together, forever. But he had left for me for another woman within just two years, tossing aside everything we shared. Even his promise. 

How could I trust that Kieran, a stranger that I had met, would not leave me?

And this was worse, because I was pregnant. I hadn’t even told mum yet. 

He said he wanted me and the baby, but what if he changed his mind later on? How could I care for the pup? I was tossing and turning with these thoughts up until 3 am before sleep caught a hold of my racing mnd.

Now, I was waking up to hear that I had a package outside.

I slipped into my slippers. “I’m sure it’s a mistake. No one gets gifts for Relia.”

No one, except dad. 

And they had taken him away from me. Right before my very eyes, father had given me the greatest gift of his life for mine. 

The past two years hadn’t taken sway the horror and the pain. It almost felt like I had been cursed that night o lose every man in my life. First, my father. Then Dimitri, who had loved me so much. 

What were the chances that I wouldn’t lose Kieran? 

Mum followed me as I walked towards the door. I caught the car before I saw the gift bearer. He was not someone I recognised.

“Maybe a grateful customer from the bar.”

But the bar and my house were two separate lives. They existed mutually exclusively. No one knew where I lived, Nd no one knew where I worked. 

The site of the black Rolls Royce was already scary enough and the stranger bearing a gift and walking towards me scared me to my bones.

“You’re mistaken,” I said with the best smile I could muster before he said anything. “I’m not expecting a package.”

He nodded like he understood. “It’s from my boss, Kieran.”

The way I became quiet after hearing his name gave my mum ideas.

“You know him, don’t you?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes and collected the package. “Don’t start getting any ideas, mum. He’s just…”

I stared at the content. “...a stranger.”

A stranger indeed. If he knew me too well, he wouldn’t be sending me chocolates. I was mad allergic to them. But he was a stranger, wasn’t he?

The man was gone before I could say anything. It was almost as though he knew I would reject the gift.

“I don’t want this,” I said as I watched the car drive off.

“What’s that?” Mum asked, peeking into the basket. 

I brought out the box of chocolate. “Chocolates? Brown chocolates for that matter. I told you he’s a stranger.”

“But he got the roses,” mum said. “You love roses, don’t you?”

I rolled my eyes. “That was a simple and easy guess. Every lady loves roses.”

I shut the door and walked in, tossing the basket on the table with a sigh. My mum and whoever that guy was, had successfully ruined my plans to crash all morning. 

My eyes caught a note and I reached for it. I read it, fighting the urge to smile. One break of smile on my face and my mum would think I was in love.

She had wanted me to move on after Dimitri’s betrayal but I didn’t know how to move on from someone I had loved so deeply. 

Something to brighten up your day while you plan to say yes to my proposal. 

I squeezed the note before my mum would see it and that was when I noticed the bottle of wine tucked under the flowers.

A bottle of wine, really?

Was he trying to kill me?

First, he got me a box of brown chocolate, whose scent I couldn’t stand, much more eating.

Then, he hid a bottle of wine to drown down my death sentence.

I was livid.

If he didn’t want the pup, there were other ways to say it. He must have suddenly eveloped cold feet and realised I wasn’t worth spending a lifetime with. 

At least, it wasn’t too late.

I stood up, ignoring my mum’s piercing gaze and reached for her sticker note. I yanked a page out and found her pen. Scribbling as much as the page could contain.

Thanks for the gift. It tells me you had me in your mind all night. First, I had brown chocolates…and a bottle of wine? Really? You could have just said you don’t want me tor the pup? Why would ou send a bottle of wine to…

I stopped, staring at the remaining space. 

It wasn't that I couldn’t continue writing, I was scared to admit it, especially when mum’s eyes bore through me. She was holding her novel in her hand, but was barely reading it.

“You look mad,: she said.

I nodded, returning every item back into the basket with my note. “I am, mum,” I said. “I’m sending the package back.”

She dropped her book. “Why? It's just the chocolates you don’t like. I could help you with that. Something to keep my mouth busy while I read.”

I shook my head, “I can’t let him have ideas that I’m interested.”

The truth?

I was mad about Kieran.

Who wouldn’t?

He was goodlooking, tall, tattooed, and his command of dicion was enough to make me wet. But I was scared that he would leave just like Dimitri.

And he second truth?

Dimitri still occupied a large part f my heart. A part that was now broken. 

All I felt for Kieran, beneath the erratic heartbeat and cold surges running through my spine, was a feeling of insecurity. A fear that griped me so tight from his reaching hands of love and blinded me to his attempts, only seeing his faults. 

“You’re still hung over Dimitri, aren’t you?” Mum's voice called me from my thoughts. “He’s moved on, Relia. I suggest you do to.”

I bit my lips, trying to hold on what I was about to say, but I was too mad to be quiet.

“Just like you moved on when dad died?”

I turned away, too ashamed to see her facial reaction. But I couldn’t stop her voice.

“Aurelia!” It said. “I’m disappointed that you could say that.”

I was wrong. I shouldn't have mentioned dad. It was still a sensitive topic between me and mum. Just the thought of how he was severed right in front of me opened the floodgates of my eyes. I could never hold back the tears.

Mum knew.

She stood up and walked behind me, kneading my shoulder. 

“It’s not eh same thing, Relia,” she said. “I have been blessed to live a couple of years with your father and I have you already. But you…you’re young. And you don’t deserve to close your heart to love just because of a man who doesn’t deserve me.”

I wiped the tears. “And what if he’s just like Dimitri? Or worse?”

She shook her head. “You;LL never know if you don't give him a chance.”

“I’m struggling, mum,” I cried. “Not now…I’m still trying to get over the hurt from the past years. I can’t do this.”

Yet, I was carrying his up and dreaming about him. I was losing conrol when he stood beside him and thinking of hte night we had together. 

I was a mess. 

A mess that shouldn't be in love.

:I have to send this back,”  said, sniffling. “I need some time to sort out my emotions before making a  huge mistake.”

Shouldn’t you be sorting out the pregnancy issue? I heard my inner voice ask.

I tied the package. “I have to return this…I don’t even know where the lives.”

I knew nothing about this man that I had shared more than a kiss with and carried his seed in me. It was utterly devastating to think of how terrible my life was at the moment.

If I could blame anyone, it would be Dimitri.

If he had mustered the courage to tell me that he was moving on instead of me finding out, I wouldn’t have gotten drunk and had unprotected sex with a stranger.

“What's his name?” Mum asked. “This is New York. There’s no one you cannot find.”

“Kieran,” I said. I didn’t know his surname. Just that he was Kieran and looked like a billionaire.

I reached for my phone and typed Kieran. The search results were too much for me to go through.

“I would spend days going through this,” I muttered.

“Maybe you don’t have to send it back to him.”

I needed to.

I needed him to understand my disappointment with the wine. 

That was the one item in the basket that riled me up the most. And mum couldn’t understand because I couldn’t tell her that I was pregnant. 

“Maybe add other keywords that relate to him?”

What? 

One-night stand? Pregnancy terminator?

I chuckled at my own misery.

And then, the gift of wisdom finally landed on me.

I took my phone and added to the search. Billionaire. New York.

The result shortened and his image was the first I saw in the search details. He was in a suit, smiling with that blue eyes that drew me in.

“That's him,” I said, pushing the phone to mum.

Mum stared at the screen with a pride smile. “Invite him over for lunch this weekend.”

I frowned. “Mummmm.”

“I’m only looking out for you.” She passed the phone back to me. He’s good looking.”

I ignored her comment, knowing she was trying to set a trap. 

Of course, he was good looking. 

Did she know how much he stole my breath away when he was close to me?

I fight so hard to stop my heart from beating to his hearing. 

And then, I found what I was looking for.

“An address.”

It was his office address. 

CEO. He was a CEO. I wasn’t surprised.

I was certainly not up to his league and had little chances compared to the corporate chics that flooded around him. 

“Are you going to deliver it yourself?” Mum asked.

And get entangled in complications?

Nah, I’d pass.

I had so much complications on my plate right now. 

“I’ll use a dispatch company, mum.”

A few minutes later, I grabbed the package and sent it off to his office. In a small part of my mind, probay where the truth was loud enough but silent, I didn’t want to let Kieran go.

If I listened much to that part of my heart, I would realise that I had fallen in love with the stranger, Kieran Armstrong. But the most part of my heart were cracks. And they spoke louder than the whispers of love did.