❝How desperately we wish to maintain our trust in those we love! In the face of everything, we try to find reasons to trust. Because losing faith is worse than falling out of love.❞
    

                                              ~ Aurora ~  

I woke up to the sound of people yelling outside. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as to where I was, then I remembered coming for the wedding and staying for the night. I looked to my left to find Aaron sprawled on the bed, hogging most part of it. I pushed him away and stood up stretching. When I checked my phone it showed 6 am. Wow, aren't they all tired from yesterday's event. Why are they up so early? I walked towards the washroom and washed my hands and face, after using the toilet.

I wanted to stay inside the bedroom because, if they are yelling at each other, it's their personal matter and I'm sure, they don't want an outsider like me to know about it but, something felt very wrong. My guts were telling me to go there and stop whatever was happening out there. I looked back at my sleeping brother once and step out of the room to walk towards the commotion. I don't know, if it's the right time to let them know of my presence, so I waited. Leaning against the wall, I could clearly hear their argument.

“Who's idea was it?” Uncle Xander's voice boomed, making me flitch. “Dad, we're all drunk. Even if we wanted to tease Rick through the stripper, it was never our intention to let it go that far. The booz got the best of him.” said Turner, with a defensive voice. “Yeah, and look what kind of trouble that "Booz" has gotten all of you into.” Uncle Roman said, with a manacing voice. What the hell happened? “Rick, son, give Tia some time, she's is in shock and depression right now. She loves you and I'm sure, she didn't mean, what she said.” Aunt Maya said, sniffing.

Rick and Tia were supposed to be in Italy for their honeymoon right? What is he doing here? I'm sure, something big has happened for them to be back so soon. “No Aunt Maya, I know her. She's disgusted with me right now. She's was very serious when she demanded a Divorce.” Rick's statement made me pushed off from the wall I was leaning in. What? Divorce? What in the name of god happened? “Its not your fault Rick, it's ours. We force you into it and solely responsible for ruining your love life.” said Titus, with a regrettable tone.

“Im so disappointed in you all right now, boys. I never stopped you guys from enjoying your life. You always lacked sympathy and empathy for others, which I brushed away lightly. You guys used women like toys, and we ignored your lack of interest in them as a learning process, till you meet the right one. But...I never thought, you would use your best friend and play with your sister's life, for your own entertainment. You guys are hopelessly wasted and I'm not sure anyone can bring you out of your dark path. I don't even want to see your faces right right!” yelled, Uncle Grey.

“Dad? We are sorry. We completely take the responsibility of our actions. It was very wrong of us to not think of twice, before assigning the stripper that night. We are the one that kind of ruin their love life. It was unintentionally done, I promise you that dad. We didn't think, it would go that far. We love Tia and would never, even in our dreams, try to do anything to hurt her. I give my words, I would do everything in my power to fix this. I promise.” said Duke with a broken voice. I have heard enough to know that, the brothers have done something bad, which they can't fix right now and they said 'drunk', that means...O my god, did they force Rick to cheat on Tia?

I closed my mouth with my hands and walked away from them. I decided to wake Aaron up and leave this house as soon as possible, but before I could enter the guest bedroom, I turned and looked towards the room at the end of the hallway, which I believe is Tia's. An urge to go and console her started bugging me. That poor thing. I clearly understand, what she's going through. What if..She tries to harm herself in depression. No! Automatically, my steps moved towards her room. Once there, I took a deep breath and knocked at her bedroom door.

I waited for a while, without getting any response from inside. If it wasn't for the sniffing sound coming from inside the room, it could be mistaken as an empty room. I give up on getting inside and tried to talk to her from here. “Tia, it me.. Aurora. Can you open the door please?” I waited for a response and tried again. “If you don't want me to come inside, it's fine. I just want you to know that, I'm here for you. I'll not let you suffer there alone, you hear me? I'll sit right here, untill you feel like, you can talk to me. There is no hurry, take your time.”

I don't know, what bullshit I'm talking right now, but if it makes me feel better to know that, she is doing fine in there, I'm ready to sit here and blabber the whole day. “I heard what happened. Not the full story, but something about your stupid brothers forcing Rick into doing... Stuff.” I didn't want to use the word "cheating" because, I know it'll hurt her more than she already is. I saw from the corner of my eyes, few figures approaching this way. When I slowly shift my gaze, I was met with six figures, the brothers and Rick.

I thought this is the time, I should let the boys know, how inappropriate their actions were, towards their own sister and how much love and pain I can see, Rick is in right now, because of them. “Tia? Running away or hiding from your problems are not going to solve it. Come out and face it.” Now the boys have the decency to look shamefull. Bastards. “Don't turn your back from something so pure you have with Rick, Tia. I wish you could see, how much of pain he is in right now.” I said, looking at Rick, whose tears are about to fall.

I could hear sniffing sound from inside. I'm sure she's crying her heart out. “Tia, listin to me. Love is not easy. I know you feel cheated and hurt and I'm not going to pretend that, I can understand, how you feel right now but, think about it Tia, you're trying to end something so beautiful, which has not yet started. Your new life. This is just the beginning Tia, don't give up on each other yet. Give Rick another chance. I don't even know him and I can feel how much he loves you, how could you be so blind? Don't punish him for the crime, he has never committed. If there is someone to blame, it's your brothers.”

I gritted the last part, with much disgust and disdain. I turned to look at each of their faces. They all look broken, remourceful and pleading? Pleading for what? Forgiveness? Oh, I'm not the one, they should ask for it. But, if I had a choice, I would never forgive them. They are most heartless and emotionless men I have ever come across. I can't believe, I was having a crush on them. When they can't care about there own sister, how would they respect any other woman. Just forget about it Aurora, like a bad dream. I warned myself, determined.

Duke was about to open his mouth to say something but froze when the click sound of the door came, from behind me. I took a breath of relief. Rick wiped his eyes in a hurry to remove the traces of his tears but failed, as the redness of his eyes says it all. When the door slowly opened to reveal the broken girl behind it, I gasp audibly. Her hair were spread in different direction from her ponytail, like she had been pulling on them constantly. Her undereyes were dark due to the ruined mascara and eyes bloodshade, because of crying. She looked lost.

I couldn't help myself from pulling her into a hug. She didn't say anything but hugged me back. After sometime, I pulled back and looked behind me, Rick called out for her. “Tia, baby, please give me another chance. I swear, I'll spend the rest of my life, making it up to you, for bringing tears in your eyes today.” he said, looking at her longingly. I can see, how much they crave for each other. So I did the only thing I felt like doing right now. I pushed her slowly toward Rick, who didn't waste a single second before closing the distance between them and kissed her fiercely.

He kept apologising to Tia and she kept wiping Rick's tears with a smile. Finally, I thought and decided to leave them to sort it out on their own. But when I turned, my happy face fell. I saw the boys smiling at the love birds behind me. When I faced them, their attention turned towards me. Their smile fell immediately, when I didn't reciprocated their gestures, and tried to walked past them. I was least expacting one of them to catch my arm to hold me back. I turned around startled and furious at the same time, when I saw who was holding my hands. Duke. He is the last person, I want to speak with right now.

“Aurora, we can't thank you enough for what you have done for us.” Another time, I would have blushed, looking into his eyes but, not today. “No need to be so thankful. I didn't do it for you guys. I did it for her. If my brother would have done something so sinful, I would have spit on his face and cut his balls, only to shove it into his mouth. Anyways, go deal with your sister because, I didn't do anything to repair your relationship with her, I did everything in my power to bring them together.” I spat and pulled my hand out of his grip.

When he let go of my hand, I lost the warmth but, I have already made up my mind to stay away from the brothers at any cost. My heart was aching for some reason but my brain was warning me to keep the distance from them and that is exactly what I will do. But again, Turner snaked his hand around my waist to stop me. “Aurora, can we talk, please?” he said, holding me closer to him. Our face just inches away. You guys used women like toys. Uncle Grey's words rang like a record in my mind. His touch was burning me. I wanted him to let go.

“Take you disgusting hands off me.” I said, looking into his eyes. Instead of letting me go, his grip tighten enough to leave a bruise. His jaw clicked, as if he's holding himself back. Oh, so not only he likes to play with women, he also enjoyes inflicting pain on them. I wanted to yell at him to let go but, before I could raise my voice, Aaron's voice startled everyone. “She asked to let go of her!” He turned to face Aaron, me still in his grip. I struggled in his hold to get free but, he was reluctant to let lose.

“Let her go Turner!!” It was not just me, who was shocked by the voice. Everyone was looking at a furious Aryan in surprise. What is his deal? Does he think, if he act as an avenger for me, I'll fall for his act? Tough change, hulk. Turner smirked at him. “Why brother? Does it bothers you, if I touch her?” what? What is he trying to pull? Before I could register, what was happening, Turner's hand was ripped away from me by Aryan and they both are engaged in a glare game. I can't take it anymore. I walked away from them, where Aaron was standing.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the guest room. Once inside, I asked him to get dressed. “Get ready, we are leaving. And Aaron? Don't let mom and dad know anything about today's event. Ok?” he sighed but nodded his head. I sighed too and got dressed in what I came in here yesterday. After two minutes, we both walked out of the room. It would be rude to not let the elders know about our departure so, when we spotted Aunt Maya, we said our goodbyes and thanked her for letting us stay the night.

“Atlest, you could stay for the breakfast? It's served already.” she insisted. I felt really bad to deny it and walk away but I can't bare the presence of the assholes of brothers even just for a second. Just then Aaron's phone buzzed. “Hello Dad...Yeah we are about to start...Oh, come on!...Ok...Ok...Fine.” he said, passing the phone to Aunt Maya. “What happened? I asked.” he just clenched his fist, pursing his lips. Then I heard Aunt Maya.

“...Evan? You don't have to ask, ok? They can stay here as long as they want. Don't worry about it. Bye.” said, Aunt Maya, disconnecting the call. “So, it seems like, your Mom left her keys at home, while your dad has the other one so, you're staying here untill they pick you up tonight. Now that it's settled, how about we go and have the breakfast together? Come on kids, it's getting cold.” she said, dragging Aaron behind her. I offered her a small smile and glared at Aaron to behave, who was frawning.

It's not the parents fault, if their all too grown up sons lack a lot of brain cells. The only thing going through my mind right now is, how do I avoid the brothers till my parents come back in the evening? Aaron is more pissed than me. I can make it out by his face expression. I'm more worried about him because, if the brothers try something like they did earlier, he gonna flip. I can tell that, he's on edge. I closed my eyes in silent prayer, for this day to get over soon. I can't deal with any more drama today.

“How did you kids find the bed? Was it comfortable?” asked Uncle Xander, with a kind smile. It was just Aunt Maya, uncle Roman, uncle Xander, uncle Greyson and we both on the table. And I'm really thankful that, their sons are not here. “It was great Uncle Xander, but I missed my bed.” I said, reciprocating his gentleness. Why are they acting so nomal, which is quite opposite to how they were early this morning. Maybe because, they don't know, I heard their conversation. Yes, ofcource. I smiled and took my fork to dig into my plate. I saw Aaron was not eating so, I nudged him, to bring his attention towards the food. He sighed and started eating his food too.

Just when I took the second bite, I heard foot steps huddling towards the dining table. I know whom they belong to already. I closed my eyes and chanted in my head for the god to give me strength. Someone came and sat beside me. “Good morning Aaron. Good morning doll.” greeted Rihan, with the greatest smile, he could ever offer, I guess. I gave him the dirtiest look, I could. His face fell. Like I care. I hate Flirts. If it was Aaron, instead of me, his face would have been unrecognizable. Yeah, you guessed it right.

But it's me, so I did what I thought was appropriate. To greet him back. “I hope, you have a great day ahead.” I said. “Im sure it will be, if you spend it with us.” he smiled back. I so much wanted to roll my eyes at his sassy comments but, hold it back. The others were watching our conversation with interest. God! Someone save me from this embarrassment. Just then Aaron came to my resque. “Yeah, we are actually staying back for the day. So, I was wondering, if there's a place, I can practice my kick boxing.” he said, with a double meaning.

Rihan cleared his throat, completely understanding my brothers warning. I shaked my head slowly. This is going to be a loooonnngest day of my life. Urrrr!