Chapter 48- PACK

Having no idea where Leonardo was taking her, but knowing one thing in her heart, that she trusted him.

Shortly during the time in which she packed their bags, her mother in-law had come to their room, banging on their door because she too was in tears. Aurora had stopped packing, exited their walk-in closet, only to find Leonardo sitting on their bed and ignoring his mother's please.

Without being told, Aurora knew that it was best that she did not interfere in matters between mother and son. Aurora slowly slid back to the walk in closet and continued packing their bags.

Upon exciting the room with their bags in the hands, Aurora did not dare look at her mother in-law in the face but her sorrowful apologies run in her ears. Even as she stepped her feet out of the house, she felt like she had left a part of her within those walls.

She badly wanted to turn back and question her mother in-law, just because she needed answers. But she stopped herself as she realized that for Leonardo to take such a drastic step, he must have had good reasons to take such a drastic decision.

The car ride to wherever it was that they were headed, was long. Leonardo had not stopped driving and neither did he converse with Aurora. She was worried about his mental state and every time she almost said something, she would stopped herself.

Aurora had slept and awoken multiple times and they were still on the road.

'I think you should take a break" she told him, but Leonardo's eyes was still focused on the road and his hands gripping onto the steering wheel. Time passed and still he did not respond to her, once again, they were back where they had started.

'We are almost there, there's no need for us to stop now" his response, straight to the point and then he was quiet again. Aurora's phone rang, she pulled it out of her bag and looked at the caller ID and she froze.

'It's my mother right?" he asked, the tone of his voice was of that of a man that had been broken.

'Yes, it is your mother" Aurora responded.

'Answer her, I don't control you" he told her, all this while not looking at her. Aurora carefully returned the phone into her hand bag.

'Why didn't you answer the phone?"

'Because I know you to be a sensible man and your mother must have done something really bad for you to decide to leave the house like that" she answered.

Their drive continued in complete silence and to her surprise, Leonardo placed his one hand onto her leg. Leonardo's hand placed onto her leg brought her some comfort, although the only thing that she needed now was some reassurance that he was alright.

**

Seeing his tiny apartment come into view made Leonardo happy. After being here less than a day ago, he missed being back. He turned his attention to Aurora and he smiled at himself. Seeing his wife sleep like an angel made him smile.

Even with the world falling around him, he glad that he had someone like Aurora by his side. With his garage door open, Leonardo drove in and killed his engine.

'We're home" he whispered to an already sleeping Aurora. Exiting his car, Leonardo unlocked the passenger door and carried Aurora into his house.

As soon as he laid her onto the bed, Leonardo stepped back, admiring his beautiful wife, counting himself lucky that he was blessed with a woman with not just beauty but brains as well. The look of his mother flashed before his face and Leonardo quickly brushed it away.

His father had always been the betrayer but he had never thought that his mother would ever be involved in manipulating him like she had done. Removing his wife from the Romano mansion in a rush was something that he had to do, staying would have meant that he would have lost his mind.


**
Aurora woke up as the sun shorn through the window, someone had already opened the curtain and she was in an unfamiliar room. The room was plan, walls white and bed nothing like the king size bed at the Romano mansion but she did not mind, she was raised in worse conditions before.

The first thing Aurora noticed was her phone on the bedside table. She picked up her phone and looked at the screen, thirteen missed calls from her mother in-law. Aurora thought of calling her mother in-law but she decided against it, remembering just how upset Leonardo was before they had left the mansion. She put her phone back down and got off from the bed and walked out of the room, everything was white, the hallway was not as long as the hallway at the mansion.

The closer she walked towards the end of the hallway, the sweet smell of food caressed her nose and her stomach grumbled. She smiled as she heard Leonardo mumbling to a song that she was not aware of, she took a few more steps and there Leonardo was.

With his back turned to her, dancing and mumbling to a song, Aurora watched as he cooked something on the stove.

'I see someone has learnt to cook" she joked. Leonardo turned to meet her smiling face, in his hands he held a pan and the other a spatula.

'Good morning my love—I just figured that you would be hungry and that I should make you something to eat" He told her with a smile on his face. Even with a smile on his face, Leonardo was lost for words.

Even though Aurora looked tired and her hair messy, Leonardo could not keep his eyes off her.

'Are you still on earth?" Aurora jokingly asked him as she noticed that Leonardo's thoughts had drifted away.

'Yes—I was distracted" He answered, trying to conceal his smile but failing at it miserably.

'Distracted by what?" Aurora asked and watched, her hands crossed over her chest as she waited for his answer.

'Nothing, it's nothing" he answered, still smiling.

She was his distraction… she was always his distraction and forever will be.

Leonardo walked Aurora to the dining room table, pulled out her chair and sat her down. He returned to the stove, his reaction leaving Aurora confused.

'Why are you not eating with me?"

'I will eat with you but I first have to serve you" he informed Aurora, bringing a plate of food and placing it on the table before her.

'But we can cook together" she offered to help but once again, Leonardo declined it. Coming behind her as she sat, leaning over to kiss her shoulder. Aurora shut her eyes as the smell of his body filled her nose and as his lips touched her skin.

'No need for you to get up, I am here to serve you my queen" his words touched her heart, a few months ago she would never had thought that Leonardo and herself would have gotten to this point in their marriage.

He pulled himself from her and just like that, Aurora felt the cold hit her. Leonardo had provided her with the warmth of a loving partner and a friend. He was her family now and she was his.

She watched silently as he placed his own food down on the table, sitting right next to her but yet he still felt that he was far away from her.

'You have not touched your food, eat, otherwise it would get cold" Aurora looked down at her plate, for the first time Aurora saw just what Leonardo had prepared for her. Two sunny side up eggs as eyes, bacon as a mouth and two sausages on the plate and two toasted bread.

She looked up at him and she caught him smiling back at her.

'I thought that I would make you smile after the hectic day that we had with… with my mother I mean" The smile on his face disappeared as he spoke about his mother and so did hers. Anything that affected him, affected her as well.

'I think we should eat before we talk about anything" Aurora suggested. The nodding of his head, an indication that he agreed.

They ate their breakfast in complete silence but once in a while they would steal glances at each other and smile. They finished their breakfast and just before Leonardo could pack the dishes away and he stopped her.

'Leonardo!"

'No, I will put the dishes away"

'Why?" Aurora asked stubbornly, placing her hands on her hips, upset that Leonardo was not allowing her to have her way.

'Relax my love, it's your first day in my— I mean our house and I simply just want you to relax" He informed her with a smile so warm and infectious that Aurora was drawn by it.

'Just for today?"

'I can't promise you that I would allow you do any chores, I mean, you are my queen and therefore queens don't work" he teased her, stealing a kiss from her.

'Hey!" she playfully slapped him on the shoulder and the two shared a moment, looking into each other's eyes until all seemed to fade away.

'You have beautiful eyes" Leonardo complimented her, inwardly feeling terrible for not telling her that sooner.

'Thank you, you have nice eyes too" she complimented him to but Leonardo could simply not get his eyes off her lips. It had been long since he had kissed her beautiful lips and now that he looked at them, the pull was even stronger than before.

'Go ahead, kiss me" she welcomed him. Without needing more words, Leonardo kissed his wife passionately as though he needed every kiss to keep him alive.

Grabbing her and wrapping his hands around her waist, he pulled her closer. She was his and he was hers and together they were starting a life away from their parents.

Their kisses were more passionate than it was before and even as he gripped her and pulled her closer to him. His need for her increased and his hunger grew the more he looked at her.

'I need you, do you want me?" Aurora whispered to him, her eyes glittering and hungry for him just like he was for her.

'You don't ever have to ask me because I will always want you" he answered, looking at his wife from head to toe, his heads drawing up all the ways that he would devour her in their bed.

'Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked nervously and he smiled.

'Because I am about to unwrap this gift before me and devour what is in it" he answered, smiling down at his beautiful wife as he placed a kiss on her soft lips and lifting her up from the floor.