Chapter 29- POND

'It's always the beautiful souls who hide who they truly are and the hideous monsters on the inside that do all the flashing" Cory's words rang loudly in Aurora's head.

'Yeah, they sure do"

'I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable" he apologized, his apology coming as a surprise to Aurora, so much that she turned to face him.

'No, you do not have to apologize to me for anything"

'If you say so. I brought you here for you to see how beautiful things were and I just felt as though I have ruined things"

'No you did not; I needed to step out too" Aurora sat on the grass, carefree and not worried that she would ruin her perfect designer dress by sitting on the green grass.

'Aren't you afraid that you would ruin your dress?"

'Nope, I hate the dress anyways" she joked and just then Cory took a seat next to her on the grass.

'Hope you don't mind me asking but where is your husband?" Cory's question had taken Aurora by surprise; she had not expected him to ask her that. Carefully gathering her composure, she smiled. Aurora's response earned her a questionable raised eyebrow from Cory.

'Well, where do I begin? Let us just say that he is not into these kinds of events" Aurora confessed, not knowing whether she was right or not.

'That is strange"

'What is strange?" Aurora asked, nervous that she might have said something wrong.

'Well if I had a wife as pretty as you, I would not have let you out of my sight even if it meant I'd have to spend time with some spoilt rich people" he confessed and all Aurora heard was his voice praising her and his eyes glittering as he spoke to her.

'Sir!" Cory shut his eyes tightly as someone called out his name, Aurora turned around and there was a man dressed in a suite coming towards them.

'Yes!" Cory answered angrily.

'Your grandmother is requesting your presence"

'Why is that"?

'She wants you to be present during the bidding"

'Why can't she bid for me?"

'Please sir, you have to come with me otherwise your grandmother will take her anger out on me" the man begged and Cory's face softened.

'I will be there soon"

'Thank you sir" the man responded and then left, leaving the uncomfortable silence between Aurora and Cory.

'I apologize for the disturbance"

'No need to apologize. Your grandmother is just like my mother in-law, they won't stop until they see us, by the way, thanks for showing me this pond" she thanked him and he smile, a smile she was getting used to as the hours went by.

She watched as Cory stood up from the ground and reached to help get Aurora up from the grass.

'Thank you" she thanked Cory as she got off from the grass and dusted the dirt off her dress.

'Let us leave before the old hags start yelling at us" he joked.

**
'Are listening to me?"

'Yes mother in-law, I am listening" Aurora lied as signora Carina was giving her the rundown on who was a part of their circle and who was not and it depended on money and status… a circle that she would never have been part of if she had simply been Aurora and not Avena Russo.

'Well that is all, hope you remember. I just do not want you mixing with the nobodies, otherwise that can do some serious damage to our family name" signora Carina reminded Aurora, the same thing that she had been telling her for the past few days.

Although Signor Carina was her mother in-law, Aurora felt uncomfortable with the advice that she was receiving, all signora Carina ever talked about was money, power and influence. Slowly but surely she was becoming it, the person she had sworn never to become.

**

The room was silent with Leonardo nowhere in sight. Aurora removed her expensive Jewelry and placed it onto the table, looking at her reflection in the mirror and not liking the woman she was becoming.

'Mother, I need your help" she spoke to her reflection whilst thinking of her late mother.

'I never pictured you as the type that will miss your mother" Aurora shut her eyes and gripped the sides of her vanity desk. After a stressful day with her mother in-law at the art gallery, she did not want to deal with Leonardo.

'If you are here to ask me about your mother, I would like to inform you that she did not drink any alcohol and I made sure of that" Aurora answered plainly, all to get him off her chest.

Instead of saying some sly remark, Leonardo kept quiet, the only thing she could hear was his footsteps walking towards her. Her hands tightened around the sides of the vanity desk, her body heating up as she sensed him close enough to her.

'I know" he answered, his answer surprised her so much that her jaw nearly dropped to the floor. She turned to face him, not hiding the look of shock on her face.

'What?" she asked him.

'I know that you were making sure that my mother did not have a sip of alcohol" he smiled as he informed Aurora.

'What if I'm lying?"

'Well if you were lying, often your eyes would twitch" he answered her, his observation of her surprising her that he would go the extra mile to figure her out.

'Oh" she straightened herself and faced him.

'Anyway, I want you to follow me somewhere" he requested, his request surprising her.

'Where are we going?" she asked, nervous that Leonardo might change from the relaxed man standing in front of her to a complete stranger. She had met men that had tried to take advantage of her before and she had always promised herself never to be a victim of that life.

'Are you scared"? He asked her, carefree and not a hint of worry in his tone of voice.

'Yes I am scared, my mother always told me not to go anywhere with strangers"

'Well I am not a stranger, I am legally your husband"

'Legally married men kill their wives too" Aurora reminded him and to her surprise, he flashed a smile at her. His smile was unlike Cory's, because Leonardo's smile made her weak to the knees.

'Well I doubt I will get away with that, mainly because you are following me to the garden and it's not that dark.

There are also workers in the garden so no need to worry about anything" He smiled, reached for her hand and walked her out of the room.

'Wait! I need to put my shoes on" She told Leonardo who looked at her feet, seeing that Aurora was barefooted; he smiled and removed his shoes too.

'Now we are both barefoot, let's go" Aurora followed him but in her mind she tried to figure out what was wrong with him. The Leonardo before her was unlike the one she had met before, this man walking her to the garden was different and cheerful.

The walk to the garden was short, even though the house was clearly a mansion but when she arrived at the garden, Aurora froze. Before her was beautifully decorated garden with red roses and table for two neatly decorated.

She turned to face Leonardo who was smiling at her as her mouth was left wide open in shock.

'But—"

'I just thought that I should do something for you, I upset you when I blamed you for my mother's drunken state and for that I apologize" Leonardo told her, even as she looked into his eyes, she could tell the sincerity in her voice.

'I don't know what to say to you"

'Maybe forgiving me would be a great start" the glitter in his eyes softened Aurora's heart, but she knew that getting close to him was not a good thing. No matter how much she pretended to be Avena, she was still Aurora.

'I forgive you" she heard herself say. Forgiving Leonardo had brought peace to her and the relief on his face when she had forgiven him was priceless.

'Well, would you care to sit down?" he asked Aurora. He walked Aurora to her sea, pulled out her chair and pushed it in again but all this felt like some dream.

'Why all this?" She asked plainly.

'I offended you without really knowing you at all, I should not have done such a thing"

'But you obviously heard crazy story's about the things that I have done" she tried trapping him once more.

'Well you are my wife and it is my job to figure you out, not the world's job" Leonardo's answer had left Aurora speechless and even as they ate their food, she could not quite figure out what had brought about the change in his behavior.

One moment the two of them were fighting and the next, he was making her dinner and serving her in their garden, topped with roses and the works. Carefully placing her utensils besides her plate, Aurora cleared her throat and she looked straight at Leonardo.

'It was a nice meal, I must say that I truly enjoyed it" She told him, hoping that she that her words would bring about a conversation between the two of them. She carefully watched as Leonardo deposited his own utensils onto the table and looked right back at her.

'Yes it was… you can ask me whatever burning question that you want to ask"

'How did you know—"

'That you wanted to ask me a question or questions? Avena, I am teacher and in my line of work it's paramount that you learn to read people" he explained but Leonardo's answer made Aurora feel nervous.

'Did I say something wrong?" He asked Aurora, his face showing signs of worry.

'No! I was just—Never mind" she waved it off but Leonardo's steady gaze on her made her feel as though he was stripping her down to her underwear.

'Avena, I find it hard to crack you but no need to worry, I always understand people" he told her, his words coming out as a promise rather than Leonardo's curiosity and that made Aurora nervous.

'What if I don't want you to figure me out?" she asked, surprised that she had even gathered the courage to ask Leonardo such as question but her question seemed not to have bothered Leonardo at all.

'Often people that hide and are afraid of people finding out who they are hide secrets. So tell me Avena Russo, who are you?" Leonardo's question startled Aurora, her mind running around in circles as her brain told her that she was caught in her lie.

Stay calm Aurora, stay calm. She told herself, taking a deep breath with the hopes of composing herself. Taking the glass of water besides her plate and raising it up to her lips as she drank her water. The entire time, Leonardo watched her.