Chapter 45- HORSE

'Have you ever ridden a horse before?"

'No, I have never but it has always been my dream to ride on one. When I was younger I always used to—Forgive me, I had not realized that I was blabbering too much" Aurora apologized. Embarrassed that she was about to tell a complete stranger the story of her life…her true life.

A life when she was younger and would look through peep holes to look at the privileged kids ride their newly brought horses and all she had ever wanted was a little pony. All those times when she would ask Santa for a pony and with every year, she would be left disappointed.

'You were not blabbering, you were just telling me a story" Cory stared at Aurora, his eyes not moving away from her one bit.

'Well it's a boring story" Aurora told him, whilst rolling her eyes and smiling at how ridiculous he sounded.

'I would rather hear stories about you than hang around with old women at the club speaking about—" Cory stopped and smiled, his reaction left Aurora with more questions than answers.

'About what?" Aurora asked, wanting to know more.

'Honestly, I don't even know what they talk about. Most nights I'd zone out when they begin to speak" He laughed. His laugh so infectious that it had Aurora laughing too.

'Well then, I am glad that my sob story brought you some sort of comfort"

'It surely does, now let's go"

'Go where?"

'I promised you a ride and I am a man of my words" Cory grabbed hold of her arm and walked Aurora towards the barn. It was a long walk, so much that Aurora was nearly out of breath when they had arrived at the barn house. Up close, the barn looked bigger than she thought it was and when she turned to face Cory, he was already looking at her.

'You could tell that you do not get out a lot"

'How would you know that?"

'You are completely out of breath" Cory pointed out whereas he did not look out of breath or even as he had broken one sweat.

'Oh please, you are probably tired too"

'Nope I am not. I wake up at the crack of dawn and walk to and forth this barn every morning, my horses need feeding"

'Well, congratulations for keeping your horses fed, because if they were mine… well, we all know how they would end up" She cracked a joke, only for Cory to smile and just as quickly as he smiled, he stopped smiling.

Aurora felt strange that Cory was staring at her and then he quickly looked away and walked into the barn without her.

'I might not know you well enough but I am quite sure that you are too kind to let any animal die, Aurora" Aurora proceeded to walk after him but then she stopped as she realized something.

'You just called me Aurora" she pointed out to Cory as her body went numb. He turned to face her, just like clockwork, he smiled at her.

'When we first met you lied to me that your name was Aurora and quite frankly, I like that name better than Avena" He told her. Her heart rate decreased as she realized that she her secrets was safe and Cory had no idea of her true identity.

He likes my real name better than he likes the name Avena. Aurora thought to herself, she had never loved her name as much as she did now.

They both walked deeper into the barn and the further they walked, the more horses she saw until they stopped in front of holding block twelve.

'Here she is" Aurora moved from behind Cory and she saw what he was pointing at and her heart leaped.

'A pony!" she squealed.

'I know I promised you a horse but I think its best that we start with something small" Cory unlocked the enclosure. Aurora stood frozen on the spot, she had never before been surprised like this.
Turning to face Cory, her eyes glittered.

'Thank you, no one had ever done this for me. It had always been my dream to ride a pony" she confessed, spilling her heart out to Cory.

'Well that's strange, I thought your father has one of the biggest collection of horses in Sicily?" Cory questioned, his question dragging Aurora back to who she was supposed to be and that was Avena Romano.

Aurora think of something quick! Aurora kept thinking to herself.

'Yes my father does, it's just that it was never this special" Aurora answered quickly.

'I see, my parents were the same. They always threw money in my face therefore I can understand your predicament" Cory lamented. For just a split second, Aurora saw a reflection in his eyes, a reflection of a child yarning for his parents love but never truly receiving it, so much that he carried it into his adult life.

Cory quickly looked away, once again hiding a part of himself that he wanted buried away. Over the years he had gotten used to hiding what he felt and coupled with a grandmother such as his, who had always made it a point to remind Cory that a true man never displays his weakness for the world to see.

As though gathering himself together for his next big act, Cory looked back at Aurora with a smile on his face but she could see past the façade.

'Are you ready to ride?" He asked, anything to deviate from his show of emotions a few minutes prior.

'Yeah… sure" Aurora answered, her voice lacking the enthusiasm that it had a before. She grabbed onto the horse's reign and just as Aurora was about to lead the pony out of the barn, Cory stopped her.

'Wait! You forgot something" He called out, his deep voice breaking through the silence of the barn and like instinct, Aurora responded to his voice. Her body turning at an angle and facing him.

‘What did I forget?" she asked, concerned that she might have forgotten something important. She quickly looked at herself, scanning if she had lost something of hers but found nothing.

Aurora then turned to Cory, who smiled at her whilst holding a leather saddle in his hands. Realization this, Aurora playfully slapped her hand against her forehead.

'My apologies, I forgot—"

'No need to apologize" He walked towards the pony and placed the saddle onto the pony.

'No I should, I mean that is one of the most important things to remember when one wants to ride a pony" Aurora joked, although inwardly feeling as though she had let herself down by forgetting such a crucial part.

As soon as Cory was done saddling the pony, he turned to Aurora. His six foot frame towering over her small frame. This time there was no smile on his face as he raised his hands and crossed it over his chest, flexing his muscles as he did that movement.

'What?" Aurora asked, looking up at Cory like some child caught doing a bad act.

'Why do you do that?" he asked, his voice calm, collective and yet domineering as he looked at her.

‘I do not know what you are talking about?"

'You apologize for the simplest of things even when it's not your fault, you're always trying to please people. Sometimes I feel as though such behaviors were drilled into you or something" Cory told her. Even though he was simply saying what he thought, Cory was not far from the truth.

She had been trained her entire adult to serve the Russo's and to please them and when she failed at meeting their high demands, it meant that she would be reprimanded, always.

Thinking about such a time hurt her, as she realized that she had not only been a servant to the Russo's but she was their slave and for years she had accepted that title unknowingly.

'Aurora!"

'Yes!" she snapped out of it, only to realize that Cory held both her shoulders and his steel grey eyes were looking into that of hers. She had never seen him this worried before and in some way she felt warm inside that someone cared about her enough to worry.

'Where were you? I have been calling out to you and it seemed as though you had travelled to a distant planet"

'No… I was just thinking about something. But it's nothing, can we go out and ride?" Aurora asked, hoping that her pretend enthusiasm would dissolve the tension hanging above them.

'Anything for you my lady, come on and get up" Cory helped Aurora onto the pony whilst he held onto the reigns, guiding the horse out of the barn and onto the open the open field.

Cory could not remember a time where he had seen a brighter smile, a genuine smile of someone whose face was not brightened up by seeing expensive diamonds but rather the raw excitement of being out in nature. He watched as Aurora spread her arms wife, allowing the cool wind to hit her face and although the pony was not riding fast, Aurora seemed thankful for the ride.

They rode for what seemed like forever with Cory walking besides the pony, watching Aurora shriek and squeal like a little child lost in some never land island. He was simply glad that he could share such a moment with her… even if it meant that he would ride besides her only.

'Sir!" Cory pulled the reigns, stopping both the pony and himself. His heart broke as he looked at Aurora who seemed as though she had just had her childhood dreams crashed. He angrily turned to his hand, trying his best to mask his anger for Aurora's sake.

'What is it?" He asked, his tone of voice laced with anger as he asked his farmhand.

'Sir, Susie is foaling" The farm hand informed him and even as happy as Cory was to be adding another member of foal to his heard, he was quite upset that it would mean that he would have to spend time away from Aurora.

Turning his attention towards Aurora, Cory was stunned that he was met with a smile as Aurora got herself down from the pony, her act of bravery forcing Cory to run towards her in the hopes of catching her if she were to fall.

'Be careful my lady!" he stopped. Just a few centimeters from her but luckily for Cory, Aurora landed on her two feel and clapped her hands together.

'I know that you are probably busy right now but maybe we can do this another time"

'I wish I could have stayed with you a little longer" Cory regrettably informed Aurora who responded with a smile.

'No need to apologize to me, I had more fun than I have had in ages and besides, it's getting late and my mother in-law might start talking" Aurora explained herself and Cory was truly in awe of the woman standing before him.

'Okay Avena… I mean, Aurora. See you when I see you. Please take Mrs. Avena Romano to the door" Cory instructed his farmhand and just like that Cory watched the woman who had his heart tied in knots walk away from him once more.