Chapter 4: ARRANGED

"At least you were adopted!" Aurora told her, but quickly shut her mouth. She knew that someone such as Avena would never understand what true pain felt like.

Aurora watched as Avena's eyes grew wide. For the first time, she had raised her voice at any member of the Russo household but she had finally had enough. Avena always had her way and when she did not, she cried wolf.

"Do not raise your voice at me, I am a Russo and you are a—" she stopped herself but till pointing her index finger at Aurora. Aurora was not blind to the truth; there had been countless times when Avena had pointed out that they were from different worlds, Aurora's world being the lesser than.

"Say it" Aurora dared Avena, her voice trembling with all the emotions flooding through her body.

"Just because I call you my friend that does not mean that you should take advantage of my kindness" Avena gave Aurora the last stern warning before she turned and walked towards her window. However, Aurora was not done with her.

"Are you angry because I have told you the truth?" Aurora told Avena, who in turn angrily turned to face Aurora; her eyes filled with so much rage that it were as though she wanted nothing less than to rip her apart.

"You better watch your mouth when you speak to me otherwise—"

"Otherwise what, Avena? I have always taken the blame for you whenever you did something wrong and I was always punished for your mistakes" Aurora stood her ground.

"I never asked you to take the blame for me"

"You never did but if I had not taken all the blame for you then I am sure that you would not be your mother's angelic daughter anymore" Aurora knew that her words had stuck a nerve with Avena.

She had meet Avena when the pair were only eight years old, Avena was adopted from the orphanage home a year after Aurora was sent to the Russo household, after her mother had passed away and they had been best friends ever since then.

Growing up, Avena had made things very difficult for Aurora. Her childish antics always got the pair into trouble and Aurora was always the one to blame for it.

"I think it is best that you leave me, it is not my fault that your mother passed away and you were discarded while I was adopted" Avena taunted her. Her words cut through Aurora's heart like a knife, her mother had entrusted her with to the care of Signor Giovanni Russo who had been a close friend of Aurora's father.

"Yes you are right; it is not your fault that my mother passed away and my father ran away as soon as I was born. Enjoy your night, I hope you are ready to start taking responsibility for your actions" she informed Avena before walking out of her room.

Her walk towards the kitchen was a sad walk, all the words that Avena had said to her had truly hurt her and even as she held her tears, she was still broken. She walked into the kitchen; she avoided everyone and went on preparing the dough for the pies.

"Now I know that spoiled girl said something to you that hurt you" Aurora paused kneading the dough. Signora Meta, a follow maid like Aurora herself told her.

"It is not her fault; she is just upset that's all" Aurora defended Avena even in her absence.

"There you go, making excuses for that spoiled girl again" Signora Meta told her irritably as she loaded the dishwasher. Just like the rest of the employees, Signora Meta disliked Avena's entitled attitude.

"She just had a hard life growing up"

"Of course she did! She was adopted into a wealthy family at the age of eight, grew up with a silver spoon stuck up her—"

"Signora Meta, language!" She reprimanded her before she could cuss further but the older woman she kept muttering under her breath, which made Aurora smile.

Aurora was done with the dough but before she could move from her place, Signora Meta stopped her by taking hold of Aurora's arm.

"You need to stop taking the blame for Avena, yes she had a hard life growing up in an orphanage but so did you, with the loss of both your parents"

"But—But nothing Aurora, we cannot change what had happened in the past but we are responsible for our choices in the future" Hearing Signora Meta's words, touched her heart but she simply smiled at the older woman. Aurora knew just where she stood; she was nothing more than a maid, housed by the Russo family as a favor to her deceased mother.

"Gracias Signora Meta, I appreciate your kind words but I have to get these pies ready otherwise—"

"That wicked witch would lose her mind before dinner is served" Signora Meta joked and that got a chuckle out of Aurora.

"You see, I like to see you smile like this my angel"

"I have to go now" She told signora Meta before leaving the older woman in the kitchen as soon as she left the kitchen, a tear ran down Aurora's face. All the pain from the words that Avena had told her was coming back to haunt her.

**

Even though Aurora had her head down, she could still see Signora Mia's feet pacing the interior of her room, trampling on the rich Italian carpet beneath her feet.

"You may lift your head up and look at me" Aurora did just that, to her surprise, she saw that Signora Mia was smiling. "Come here my dear, come sit down on the sofa" Signora Mia's request had come as a shock to Aurora, never had her employer offered her a seat or even showed kindness towards her.

"Yes Signora Mia" She responded, curtsied and took a seat opposite Signora Mia.

"I apologize for what happened earlier. I had to call you to my room to talk to you about something"

"Yes Signora Mia, I am listening" She responded, deep down she feared what her employer would say to her.

"I need you to talk to my daughter; she listens to you after all"

"Wh—what should I talk to her about Signora Mia?" Aurora asked, a very pleased smile appeared on the older woman's face.

"See, that is why I like you. You see, Avena was very upset this evening but did she tell you why she was upset?"

"No Signora, we never got to speak of it but I assumed that she was just being herself" Aurora pointed out and tried smiling to rid her of the uneasy feeling that she felt in her stomach. Crossing her legs over each other, Signora Mia's smile grew wider.

"Well Signor Giovanni and I spoke to Avena yesterday about something and she was upset about it, we need your help to speak to her about it"

"Si Signora Mia, what is it?"

"I am sure you know that the Russo family is very wealthy, right?" she asked Aurora who nodded her head in agreement. She was used to Signora Mia bragging about the Russo family's extensive wealth, they owned properties across Sicily and some of those lands were well sought after.

"Si, I am aware"

How can I not be aware, when you make it a point to mention it at every turn? Aurora thought to herself as she smiled at Signora Mia.

"This family has not just become rich through our hard work but through marriages, you see we rich people marry amongst ourselves. The reason why Avena was so angry is that she found out that she is betrothed to the son of an old family friend" Signora Mia told Aurora.

Aurora could not hide her shock, never had she experienced an arranged marriage before and she quite understood why it was that Avena was so upset with her parents.

"Oh I see" Aurora managed to respond, making sure that she did not upset Signora Mia even more.

"No, I am sure you do not understand, this is rich people problem, you would never experience this in your life but I do not blame you because we are not all fortunate like this"

Without realizing it, Signora Mia had hurt Aurora's feelings but there was no use pointing it out as her feelings and the feelings of other staff never mattered to Signora Mia.

"Si Signora" she agreed with her employer.

"I have a proposition for you, you convince my daughter to get married to this young man from this rich family and I promise to sponsor your education. I mean you have been saving for all this time and I would hate for you to never achieve that dream" Aurora's eyes shot wide open in disbelief. She was being offered the opportunity of a lifetime and all for the price of betraying Avena.

"But—"

"But nothing, think about it Aurora, you have been saving your entire life and you have not gotten close to your target but here I am offering you the opportunity of a lifetime"

Signora Mia's words had struck home. Aurora knew that she needed all the help she could get with paying her tuition. Her mother had died and all Aurora wanted was to become a doctor and save lives.

"You have just two weeks to convince my daughter and I know that you are the best person to get through that thick skull of hers"

"But signora—"

"But nothing!" Signora Mia raised her voice at Aurora, the sweet woman that she appeared to be earlier was gone and she became the very same dictator that she always was, yelling at people to establish her authority.

"Just make sure that my daughter accepts this young man and if she does not then I will have your head" Signora Mia threatened her once more.

"Yes Signora Mia, I will convince her" Aurora told her boss, knowing anything other than that response could trigger her to react negatively.

"That's good, now leave my room and get dinner ready" she ordered Aurora, without waiting to be scolded for not moving fast enough, Aurora stood up from the chair and ran out of the room.

Even as she walked down the passage, her heart beat rapidly in her chest. She was tasked with the impossible task of convincing an already stubborn Avena who had her eyes set on no one other than Tommasa, her boyfriend.

"Hey!" one of the other maid shrieked in pain as Aurora knocked into her.

"My apologies, I was not looking where I was going" Aurora apologized and continued aimlessly walked away. She was tasked with an impossible task, the task of convincing the most stubborn girl in the world to marry a man other than the one she wanted for herself.