5. Rich but not rich

"Halley, that's enough."

Aster yelled at her. He never thought that this young miss would react like this. She had pestered him before but later she stopped because he stopped coming to such parties. He thought that she had changed her target.

"Brother, how could you yell at me for an outsider?" She cried.

her tears glistened and she looked like a pitiful kitten. Lia almost wanted to clap for her acting skills. but Aster seemed unbothered.

Lia felt that the dramas weren't wrong. This crying, these similar dialogues, wow. Halley was the second female lead, right?

"Halley, I never liked you. Nor did my brother. You should stop this nonsense."

Halley then cried on the spot. The previous one was just acting but this was real. No matter what, having your heart broken hurts. But having your heart broken in front of everyone including your competitive peers and maybe enemies, it's just like death. Halley sobbed now. Lia almost felt sorry for her but she stopped that feeling because Halley still remembered to glare at her in between crying.

And all the other people looked at Lia like the culprit. Now this was unscientific, right? No one blamed Aster? She should be the most innocent one for being targeted like this. She didn't know all these entanglements. Aster was the one who yelled at Halley in front of everyone else. And he was the one Halley liked. It wasn't Lia's fault that he gave her money to act like his wife.

"Halley, go back." 

A grandfather took her away.

She took a look at Aster's stern face and then left crying.

Aster was still frowning.

"Don't be sad."

He told Lia.

The people close to them were astonished. People in love are really blind. Which eye of his saw that Lia was sad? She was almost excited like a puppy watching the scene.

The lunch was grand. Lia had to eat many foods she hated. She didn't know hate at first sight could be still possible.

Aster smiled like a perfect gentleman.

When the guests all left, he undid his tie and slid down his seat.

"They take away all your energy like vampires."

She didn't see this. She saw him like a social butterfly fluttering among everyone. He didn't spare her from this. He took her everywhere and made her recite stuff from the book he gave her.

"Lia gives me surprise gift every day. She knows all my preferences. Yesterday, she bought me magoes. Today, apples."

"Aster, boy, those are your favorites."

"Yes, she also plays me music so i can rest while driving to work."

Gasps.

"I think he should be given flowers too. That's why I was planning to decorate his garden with rain lilies."

Lia also lied. She didn't know what flowers Aster liked. But she liked rain lilies. To watch. Particularly, she had no favorite flower.

She never thought he was acting. This superior skill of his should be used in the entertainment industry.

"Do you want to get out of here?"

He pulled Lia to a hidden grove. It was a small garden carefully hidden and you would need a keen eye to notice it.

"My mom used to sneak here whenever we went to such parties. My mother used to bring us here and leave my father alone. But I later realized that he knew this but still didn't say anything. He loved my mother so much that he took her family's debts on him and then died together. Love like that comes only once in a millennium."

He sighed. Lia didn't know how to comfort him. She didn't have any fond memories like that to share. All their family did was fight for food everywhere. Picnics, family outings, and even at home. She didn't remember much but when her father was gone, they stopped going out.

"Your parents? When did they die?"

"After my tenth birthday. My brother was eighteen then. He took over our group and made it this big. He also slowly erased the influence of the clan. Because my grandfather loved his family, they all had many rights. They were like wood eaters. Eating the place to live. My Brother was retaliated against by them many times. But still, we lived okay."

Lia didn't know what to say. As far as she knew, her family was okay. Her mother's side of the family was a boisterous bunch. They all looked to laugh. She thought her father lost his parents. They never talked about their paternal grandparents.

"My dad took us to the museum when he had a bonus. We loved eating the ice cream there."

She shared.

"Oh, chocolate Ice cream?"

"No, only my brother ate that. We preferred vanilla."

Aster nodded.

"Then how old were you when your father died?"

He asked. She knew he knew.

"I was nine. My brother was five. I only remember my mother crying every night. And my grandparents living with us. We all felt but no one talked. Even now we miss him like crazy. That's why we act like he is still there. We tell him everything. It's like he still eats with us and takes us to the museum, you know."

Aster nodded.

They sat like that talking about some trivial matters for a long time. The sky was dark and when they realized the time, Aster took Lia home.

"Ooo, who was that?"

Her brother teased.

"My boss. He was dropping all of us home. It was a team meeting, and it was late. So, he said it was his responsibility that we reached home safe."

It was true in a way. There definitely was a team meeting and Aster was also her boss.

"Did you eat, sweetie?"

Her mother asked.

Lia didn't want to lie to them but she had to. She wasn't exactly doing something nice. And her family would definitely punish her if they knew.  But she felt that this could solve their problems.

Lia lay on her bed thinking about the day. It was a rollercoaster ride. She observed from a bystander's perspective and she felt that Aster was a little pitiful. Everyone there acted like they had a say in his personal life.

Is that how he lived? That's why he married her, a person out of that circle?

She didn't know but she felt she understood how really pitiful he was now as his brother was not with him.

In his words, he lost his parents when he was a kid. That time should be worse. Luckily his brother had controlled everything and now the same repeated. This time the kid was his nephew.

Was money and status so important that they didn't have basic humanity?

Lia fell asleep in a daze. She felt her brother searching for her chocolate stash but she didn't catch him in the act. She felt that she was lucky to have him. But where did she know that her unknowing act of kindness caused her a big problem later?

Aster visited his brother.

His brother lay there emotionless, in a coma. Aster had lied to Lia. His sister-in-law was also in a coma. They were injected with drugs before the accident. The person who did this didn't want them to live.

But God saved them.

Only he and Lia knew they were alive. He told Lia because he had a reason. He knew that she would eventually find out. He gave her trust so she would not betray him later.

He had actually known about her before she graduated. They were online friends. That's why he was happy to make her his partner.

"Brother, do you know, I'm married."