Chapter 14- ALONE

'This looks just like it did in my dreams" Aurora whispered beneath her breath. Leonardo heard what Aurora had said and looked, she looked like a kid in a candy store which only made him want to know more about his new wife.

Aurora feeling his gaze on her, turned her head and their eyes met.

'Why do you like staring?"

'I just find it so amusing that someone like you would find such a place beautiful"

'So in essence you are saying that I am too much of a snob to appreciate good architecture when I see it?" she asked him, Leonardo stared at her in silence and then cracked a smile from the corner of his lips.

'You said it not me" Leonardo told her, smiled and walked into the beach house. Aurora stood at the entrance almost smiling herself, for the first time, she noticed that Leonard had some sense of humor.

She followed after Leonardo, entered the house and once more, she was in awe. The interior was the perfect imagine of what a beach house was. The fireplace in the corner of the room, the furry brown rug and the right kind of coastal sofas. The white, baby blue and brown decoration mirrored the ocean.

Aurora stood at the entrance of the house in disbelief; this was exactly what she had dreamed of when she was younger.


*Flashback*

'Momma, I will build you a beach house, it will face the ocean that way we can see all the dolphins when they come to visit us. Oh and we will have a swing outside, would you like that Momma?" The seven year old Aurora looked at her mother, even though Signora Sofia was ill, she always made a point to listen to her little girl speak about her dreams and aspirations

'And then what else?" she gathered the last of her strength to ask her daughter more about her dreams and the smile on her daughter's lips grew wider. Aurora jumped onto the crooked couch and looked down at her mother.

'And we will have a fire place"

'A fire place momma, that way we do not have to freeze like we freeze in the cottage" Aurora told her mother and even though it saddened Signora Sofia, she was glad that her daughter wanted more than the life they now lived. Signora Sofia half listened to her daughter and half looked around the cottage.

The cottage was old, the roof leaking and the fierce cold making its way through any opening that it could get into. Most of their nights had been cold and most of their days had been humid.

Her days of working in the vineyard were over and her illness had come to stay, looking at her daughter with so much dreams and aspirations was enough to give her hope. She wanted the best for her little girl at any cost.

'What would you like to be when you grow up?"

' Un Médico!" Aurora told her mother excitedly, still standing on the couch, placing her hands on her hips as she answered her mother. Her answer had come as a surprise to Signora Sofia.

'A doctor, why a doctor?" she asked her daughter. Aurora slowly got off the couch and slowly walked towards her mother. The smile on her face had faded and Signora Sofia was concerned. Aurora took her mother's hands into her little hand and looked into her eyes.

'I want to be a doctor so that I can help people and make them feel better, just like the doctor made you feel better the last time" Those words coming from her seven year old daughter touched her heart. Ever since the day she held Aurora in her arms, Aurora had become the most important person to her, even more important than her father had been.

'I will get better just for you, mi princesa" she told her daughter and raised her hand to brush her daughter's hair"

'You promise?" Aurora asked her mother, Signora Sofia smiled at her daughter and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

'I promise, mi princesa" Signora Sofia promised her daughter, the smile on Aurora's face widened. Signora Sofia's heart hurt, as she knew she was making a promise that she could not keep for long.

*flashback ends*

'Avena!"

Aurora turned her head in the direction of the open kitchen where Leonardo was stood, staring at her.

'What?" She asked him, well aware that Leonardo had caught her in her moment of weakness.

'I have been calling your name for quite a while but you did not seem to hear me" Leonardo explained, he was caught out and she needed to find a way to fix it.

'Oh that! I was just thinking of my mother" Aurora told Leonardo, hoping that Leonardo believed her.
Leonardo turned away from Aurora, choosing to look into the fridge for something to eat as he was hungry.

Aurora looked around the beach house, trailing every piece of fine wood work done in the house. He poured them both glasses of grape juice and walked up towards Aurora.

'Here you go, Avena" Leonardo handed her a glass and Aurora took it and drank"

'Wow grape juice" she looked at the glass, not hiding the look of surprise on her face from Leonardo.

'Where you expecting anything else?"

'No—Well I figured that since your family owns the best vineyard in Italy, I figure that—"

'That I would serve you wine? If that is the case, then you are free to take some in the fridge"

'Won't you have some?"

'I do not drink" he answered her plainly, Aurora raised her eyebrow at him, not believing a word he said. 'Believe what you want but I do not drink"

'You do realize that one day when your parents… pass on, then you will have to take over the vineyard." Aurora pointed out to him, Leonardo took a sip of his juice and looked away from her.

'Well then I guess they would have to find someone else, I love my job as a teacher" Leonardo confessed quite proudly.

'Wow, a teacher" Aurora asked, surprised that someone a wealthy as Leonardo Romano would opt for a teaching job rather than manage the biggest vineyard in all of Italy.

'I suspect that you think me being a teacher is below what someone of my social status should be doing" Leonardo pointed out, offending Aurora by assuming that she thought that about him.

'I know you think that I am a snob but—"

'And you aren't? Avena please save me all the drama, it is bad enough that the whole of Sicily know that I am married to you"

'What is wrong with me? If you did not like me that much then maybe you should have said no at the altar" Aurora pointed out. Leonardo opened his mouth to say something but he quickly stopped himself as he found no need to explain his pain to someone like Aurora.

'Avena, people like you would not understand"

'People like me?"

'Yes Avena, people like you that have grown up with a silver spoon stuck up your—"

'Enough! You are quick to talk about me but what about you?"

'Me?"

'Yes Leonardo Romano, the only child of Metteo and Carina Romano who is set to inherit a vast fortune. You too were spoilt so do not make it about me" Aurora pointed out to him. Leonardo could not deny that she was right, although he was fully dependent on himself , he had still grown up around money.

'So we have an agreement that we were both spoilt"

'No we do not, I had to work for everything that I have and more" Aurora told him, just then she wished that she had shut her mouth. Even though what she was telling him was truth, she had to remind herself that she was no longer Aurora Florence but she was now Avena Russo.

Leonardo crossed his hands over his chest and smiled at her, trying his best not to laugh at Aurora's preposterous claim.

'You work hard? You literally got adopted into royalty. I might not know much about you but I know enough to tell me all I need"

'Oh yeah!"

'Yes I do Avena and let me tell you if it were not for this arranged marriage, then I would not have even looked twice your way" Leonardo rudely replied to her and his reply left Aurora furious.

'Oh and you think you are so handsome? Well let me tell you that you are not that handsome. I have met men that were far more handsome than you" Aurora lied. Truth being that she had met many handsome young men that have graced Signora Mia's parties but none of them have ever seemed to look her way.

The written rule had always dangled in their air, the staffs were never to fraternize with the visitors and men like them, rich and powerful could only marry women of their social circles.

'Yeah it explains a lot"

'What do you mean?" Aurora asked, confused about Leonardo's assumptions about her.

'I mean all those men that you were pictured with and all those times where your parents had to pay off reporters to cover up for your mistakes, how rich of you" Leonardo spat out. Aurora tried retaliating but she stopped.

Leonardo was right about all that he had said about Avena and Aurora could not argue with it. Avena had lived the life of the party with gossip after gossip and Aurora could not argue with that, she was pretending to be Avena and therefore she has to take all that came with her name.

'I do not want to talk anymore, where is my room?" she lowered her voice as she asked Leonardo.

'Second door on your left" he told her. Aurora took wheeled her suitcase and made her way in the direction that Leonardo had pointed to her. He watched her leave and again he felt like slapping himself.

In as much as he hated being married to her, Leonardo knew that Aurora too did not want to be part of this marriage. He had seen the hurt in her eyes as she mentioned her past and being the daughter of the Russo family.

'Avena Russo, how am I going to live with you without wanting to end my life" Leonardo told himself. He took the last sip of his grape juice and made his way to his room, where he shut his door behind himself.

The entire night he could not sleep, wondering if he should go over to her room and knock on the door to make sure that she was okay.

Do not do it Leonardo, she always thinks the worst of you remember? Leonardo fought with his inner self on whether to knock onto her door or not.