ALWAYS COMING BACK

Ava peeked around the room; the room looked like a modern girl’s room.

The wall was painted in pink and light colors and there sat a kid on the white princess bed.

The curtains had ribbons on them and there was a round-shaped girly-looking dressing table.

The cupboard was filled with dolls and there was another closet which Ava presumed was probably containing the kid’s dresses.

Every corner of the room was decorated fondly.

“Hey, what’s your name?” Aurora suddenly asked blatantly, almost startling Ava.

Ava giggled nervously while she forced her attention onto the pretty girl on the bed; her dark brown hair was tied into a low ponytail with a pair of big round eyes and white skin.

Ava admired how her decently toned body emitted under her denim dress.

“My name is Ava, dear,” Ava responded, ensuring that the sweet smile on her lips was radiating over her face.

“She’s as stubborn as a mule, Ava, but if you think you can’t handle her, please don’t hesitate to tell me,” the man told Ava lucidly.

Ava’s smile grew and she looked up at his face, “You have nothing to worry about, sir. I’ll take care of her,”

The man then nodded softly and turned out of the door.

“You don’t plan to keep standing there, do you?” Aurora enunciated, rose from the bed, and sauntered toward the dressing table.

“You haven’t invited me, dear, and I don’t want to appear bad-mannered, you know,” Ava spelled out word by word, fixing her eyes on the kid.

Aurora was suddenly rendered speechless as she gazed up at Ava with interest.

“Anyway, would you help polish my nails? We should begin with,” she grabbed two different nail polishes from the table and went back to the bed.

Ava’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened in disbelief, “You…you polish your nails?” she stuttered while walking wholly into the room.

“Of course, Ava. Is there a problem with that?” Aurora asked humbly with her little eyebrows raised.

Ava’s face immediately wreathed in smiles, “Not at all, dear. I’m just surprised,” she said her last words in a small voice.

“So, blue or red? Choose for me,” Aurora lifted the two polishes to her face and said keenly.

Ava stared at the nail polishes and then back to the little girl’s face.

If she was not mistaken, this girl could not be more than six or seven and she was already familiar with this stuff? Who taught her?

Gosh, rich kids of these days.

“They are both cute, dear.”

Aurora nodded dynamically and gave the blue polish to Ava, “Blue isn’t as bright as red, don’t you think? So let’s use blue because I don’t want my uncle to see it, he would definitely go wide again,”

Ava slowly sat beside her on the bed and opened the little bottle, “Why would your uncle go wide?” she asked curiously as she picked Aurora’s fingers in her hand and then began her first assignment.

“He seemed not to like how my mommy had raised me so he had promised to stop me from doing some things, such as polishing my nails and which I love so much,”

She put emphasis on her first words but completed them with a tired sigh, loving the way Ava was careful with what she was doing.

Ava blinked her eyes twice before raising her head, “So you mean your uncle mustn’t see this?”

Aurora nodded pompously while blowing out some air to her nails.

“And what if he sees it? Don’t you think I might suffer for it?” her voice inevitably trembled without notice and she adjusted her sitting position on the bed.

“Don’t worry, Ava, I’ll make sure Zac won’t be able to even catch a glimpse, okay?” Aurora put on a smile and Ava admitted the little girl sure had a sweet smile.

Ava was pleased to hear those words from her so she reciprocated her smile with a tremendous one.

She couldn’t imagine what would happen next if her uncle sees it. He would blame her for it and might even fire her.

Aurora suddenly jumped to her feet and paced across the lush burgundy carpet placed on top of the ceramic tiled floor.

“Moreover, my uncle only visits once in a week,” she began again, crouching to the closet and bringing out a board game under it.

“And he already visited yesterday. So…” she returned to her previous position and lowered the game on the bed. “Ta-da!”

“What’s this, Aurora?” Ava asked with a big mess inside her heart.

“It’s an interesting board game, Ava. I’m sure you’ll love it,” Aurora proclaimed while she arranged the game tools.

“This is an adult game, Aurora. How could you play it?” Ava’s brows were tightly knitted, giving off the impression of annoyance.

Aurora chuckled softly, “That means I’m an adult then. And just so you know, I’ve been playing this game since I was four,”

Ava’s brows furrowed even deeper, “Are you being serious right now?”

“I’m fucking serious. Now let’s play,”

Ava’s hand crept to her mouth. Over her hand, she stared at Aurora with total puzzlement.

On top of everything she does, she uses the F word too? Oh, no. I really can’t handle this kid.

“Come on already, Ava. Don’t worry, I’ll teach you,” she pouted, blinking her golden eyeballs cutely.

Ava found herself drawing a deep breath and gave in at last.

Aurora’s voice rose to an excited shriek, “Yay!”

“Okay. Now this is the first rule,” she was saying again but some voices and footsteps that came from the lobby interrupted her.

“Is she inside with her now?” this gravel baritone voice was distinguishable amidst the murmur of conversation and it seemed Aurora recognized the voice because she jumped out of the bed nervously.

“He’s almost here, Ava. Hide the game now,” she tugged Ava’s dress and instructed with impatience and before Ava could ask or register what was going on, she had flown to the door and slipped out of it.

Just then, her uncle, Nick, and the same man who had accompanied Ava to her room earlier had reached the door.

“Hey, Zac,” she greeted cheerfully, bringing a small smile to Zac’s lips too as he crouched to her height.

He found his little niece adorable each time he set his eyes on her, “What’s up, girl? I came to see your new babysitter, I hope you like this one?”

“Yes, Zac. She’s so beautiful and to top it all, she has good-mannered behavior. I’m sure you’ll like her Zac, lemme go call her,” she said with a big grin and disappeared into the room.

“Just when I had thought Ava will never come back after today. Whoa,” Nick uttered with amusement and Zac slowly stood up and turned his face toward him with raised brows, 'Ava?'

The door opened again right then, revealing Ava and Aurora.

“Here, Zac. This is Ava,” she introduced.

“Ava, this is my uncle, Zac,”

“Hello, sir,” Ava greeted warmly, without lifting her head.

Zac stepped back to inspect her properly and looked at her from her head to toe then back up.

“Tinkerbell?” he called out in a low yet husky voice.

Ava lifted her head and she felt the blood in her whole system boiling, her heart hammering in her chest and she couldn’t help but cringe.

What? Zachary Gonzalez was Aurora’s uncle?

Aurora’s small face wrinkled as she stared from Zac to Ava’s face, “Zac, do you know her?” she asked quietly.

Instead of responding, he made a flip and pressed Ava onto the rails and she felt her heart shake terribly inside her chest.

She stood nervously opposite his brown delinquent eyes.

His sturdy was crouching above her and his hands were put on both sides of the rail, giving her no space to move as her eyes locked with his.

The more he leaned closer, the more her heart heaved violently.

She nibbled at her lower lip, no matter how hard she tried to avoid him, he was always coming back.

“Why do you keep chasing after me?” She asked quietly, struggling to sustain her composure.

She seems to lose her breath at just his sight. Just as expected, he didn't say a word as his cold eyes persists to linger on her face.

“Do you like me?” She further raised a question, neglecting the indifference on his countenance.

This time, he tuts as he picked a strand of hair at her ear, twiddling at his fingertips.

“Don't you think like is a big word, Tinkerbell?” He whispered, leaning close, so she could feel him. However, his eyes were still dim and empty, devoid of emotion.

She discreetly gulped, not knowing what could be running through his head.

“It's natural Snow White; it just occurred to me that you're the first female I acknowledged as a lady”

Hearing these, her eyes and mouth widened in surprise and she swallowed hard over the lump of emotion lodging in her throat.

With a soft smile touching his lips, he gently clasped her hand and walked away.

By now, not only Aurora’s jaw had dropped but Nick’s and the other man’s mouth.

These six pairs of dilated eyes stared after them in shock.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing, Nick?” Aurora asked but Nick was still in a daze to respond to her.