“You look sad, beautiful lady” Old man Bernie stood next to her, as Aurora continued to study the picture of Old man Bernie’s wife.
“I just missed someone who was close to me that’s all” she responded, her heart bleeding as she remembered her mother and even sadder that she could not openly speak about her mother.
“No need to worry about anything, everything happens for a reason” Old man Bernie told her.
“Yes you are right” she answered, flashing a weak smile at Bernie.
“Now come on, no need to be sad when your husband is with you” Old man Bernie told her as he walked her away from the picture. Leonardo’s eyes held nothing but sympathy in them, something that Aurora was quite uncomfortable with.
“What is that smell?” Aurora asked, smelling a pleasant odor coming from the kitchen.
“Oh! That is my special soup, cowboy soup and you two will love it&r
Do not tell him, he will just laugh at you. Her mind taunted her and just like that, doubt crept into her mind. She looked away from him and looked beyond the window and she looked beyond all that was happening.Leonardo could feel it in his guts that his question had upset Aurora but he knew that he had to push through. He needed to know more about the woman that he was destined to spend his entire life with, the sooner the better.Taking his hand, placing it beneath her chin, turning her face to face him in his eyes and his eyes glittered and so did hers.You look so beautiful. He complimented her but only mentally, the thought of telling her all these sweet words scared him. They were just strangers and the sooner he realized that, the better for the both of them.“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked him and for just a second, he was tempted to tell her how her beauty had trapped him in her web.“N
Leonardo batted his eyelids, he had hoped that Aurora would forget the embarrassing display that he had put up in the morning but here she was, reminding him of the sadness that filled his heart.“Nothing but the truth, please” Looking into her eyes, he knew that he could not lie to the woman who was now his better half, even though he did not see himself as a better half.“I was informed that one of my students had passed on and that is the reason why I was upset” he confessed. Aurora’s face changed, sadness washed over her face and a small part of him pained seeing her worry.“I am so sorry, I didn’t realize that you were—”“No need to apologize to me, everything happens for a reason” He answered, looking away and walking past Aurora to enter into their room. He shut the door behind himself, leaving Aurora outside their room as she wondered how she would fix things between them.&n
Aurora sneaked into the room with the hopes of not disturbing her mother in-law, who surprisingly was on the phone, chatting away.“Oh! I will call you later, my daughter is here with my medications” She ended the call. Aurora walked over to signora Carina’s bed and sat down, grabbing the glass of water on the bedside table and handing it over to her mother in-law.“Here you go” she handed the glass of water and medication to her mother in-law who took them, Aurora watched her mother in-law place the pill in her mouth, followed by gulping a glass of water and swallowing.Nothing made sense at that very moment, the woman in front of her although she had her many demons to fight, was not one that Aurora would consider a liar.You lied about your entire identity, no one would have considered you a lie. Her mind taunted her as she realized how deceiving the face could be.“Avena, is there anything wrong?&rdq
“Open your eyes my love” Aurora heard Leonardo’s whisper and the mint smell of his mouth brushing past her nose for her to grasp the scent. Opening her eyes, she hitched. Leonardo’s face was only a few inches away from hers and his smile was just another dig at her.“Let go of me” she gritted the words through her teeth, inwardly fighting with herself. She longed for Leonardo to touch her like he would touch a wife, one that he was in love with but on the other hand she needed to fulfill her duty.Everything I am doing is for you. She thought to herself, trying to wiggle herself out of his grip.“Stop fighting me” he told her calmly, rolling his eyes whilst knowing that there was no way that she could free herself from his grip.“I am not fighting you, all I want is for you to let me go” Aurora hit his arm, hoping that it would help ease her escape but again, she failed.“Ok
Still upset about last night’s event, Leonardo had chosen to sleep in the guest bedroom rather than in the very same bedroom as Aurora. The night had not been welcoming and warm to her, her eyes failed to shut and her heart heavy. She turned her head countless times to look in the direction of the couch were Leonardo always slept, seeing it empty felt disheartening.With every passing day, their relationship fractured and the communications between the two of them was almost non-existent. The streams of light made its way through the curtains and not even the sun shining could brighten her day, Leonardo was mad and so was she but she knew that they would have to get over their rift.Her door swung open and just like she had expected, Leonardo walked into the room and straight towards the bathroom and not once did he acknowledge her presence in the room.Their marriage being less than a traditional one had made matters difficult as it was and with their con
“I saw your wife sir” Leonardo turned around, facing the tiny female waiter in front of him. He released a breath of relief as he was informed about his wife’s whereabouts, even as he walked through the corridor and up the long stairs, Leonardo could not help but expect the worse of the situation.**Cory swung open the door to reveal what was before them; Aurora’s hands covered her mouth in shock. Her pupils grew wider at what she was seeing. Right before her was a balcony with the most breathtakingly sight of the full moon that she had ever set her eyes on.Without even seeing him, Aurora could feel Cory’s presence behind her.“I brought you here because I remember that even though you were not enthusiastic about the art gallery, you were impressed with the painting of the moon” she spun around, looking into Cory’s eyes as the moon reflected onto them and she smiled.“That is so thoughtful of
Avena!Avena! He had called out to her as he sat on the floor with her limp body, realizing that there was no way that Aurora would wake. Taking her into his arms, Leonardo placed her in the backseat of his car and drove home to the Romano mansion.On his way to his home, Leonardo dialed the family doctor’s number, inwardly hoping that the doctor would be there before he arrived with Aurora. His hands wrapped tightly around his steering wheel, shivering as he stepped onto the accelerator. Looking at his rearview, Aurora did not move or look as though she was getting better.“Aurora you stubborn woman, look what you have done to yourself now” he spoke under his breath, wondering just how fast he could push his car to drive. He continued driving towards the mansion, just as he arrived, the huge black gates opened wide and he drove through.Luckily, for him, their family doctor had arrived before he had. Leon
“What?” Aurora asked Leonardo who was staring at her as though she was some art piece at a gallery, shaking his head left to right with the hopes of snapping out of his say dream, Leonardo then smiled at Aurora.“I was just thinking of something, someone, but come on, open your mouth” Leonardo told Aurora who surprisingly obeyed his orders and opened her mouth. Once more, all Leonardo could think of was how pretty his wife was.He had fed Aurora her entire bowl of soup, watched as she yawned and soon she was back in bed, gathering all the strength that she needed. Making sure to check her temperature once more before he left once Leonardo was satisfied that her temperature had decreased.The warm feeling inside her stomach was one that Aurora could not rid herself of, Leonardo was finally taking care of her and that was more than she had ever dreamt. She had not remembered much of what had happened that night but what she wa
“No! This cannot be true, I am the sole owner of all the Russo properties and I will not share it with anyone” Avena yelled, running down the stage with the intent of attacking Aurora but only for Leonardo to trip her into falling on the ground.Within seconds, the church was swarmed with police officers, the main officer walked towards Avena lifting her up from the floor and cuffing her.“Why are you cuffing me, what have I done?”“Avena Russo, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Rhea, please be quiet as anything you say shall be used against you in the court of law” The officer told her. Before they knew it, Avena was being dragged away kicking, screaming and her mother following right behind her, asking the officers to leave her daughter alone.On the other hand, Ricardo was being arrested for the murder of Aurora’s mother committed twenty one years ago. Leonardo’s parent were arrested as wel
“Oh sorry to disturb this wedding but we have urgent matters that need attending to. We are looking for Carina and Metteo Romano” One of the men in the suite asked, his question leaving everyone to stare at Leonardo’s parents.“Yes it is us” his mother responded, pointing at herself and her husband.“I've just come to inform you that the document that was signed for the land has been rejected”“Why has it been rejected?” Signora Carina asked, stunned by what the man in the suite was saying.“Unfortunately only the true heir of the Russo family is allowed to sign on these papers”“What do you mean the papers have been rejected? I am the only heir to the Russo fortune and I personally signed those papers not so long ago” Avena stepped forward as everyone stared at her questionably.“Yes you did but unfortunately you are not the heir” E
Over the past few days Avena had tried to get closer to him but he had not given her the opportunity to because even though Aurora was gone from his life, Leonardo did not want to move on so quickly. The only reason he was at his own wedding was because he wanted to make his parents happy.Standing on the podium, he looked at the crowd and there was not many people around but his parents and his soon-to-be wife's parents.Leonardo looked at his mother's face and she was smiling at him, yet Leonardo himself could not force himself to even smile. Today was indeed an unpleasant day for him, as he will be marrying a woman that he did not have any feeling for. This marriage had begun just as his first marriage with Aurora had begun but he had no doubt that this match would definitely be disaster and he was sure of it.Over the last few days he could not help but compare his wife Aurora to Avena. Aurora was calm kind and selfless, whereas Avena was vein,
One day later“I should have known that sooner or later you would betray me” Rhea told Avena, who stood in the center of her living room. For months Avena had refused to let Rhea in on the big secret and if it were not for Ricardo telling her the secret, she would never have known anything.The more she spoke, it felt as though nothing she said had gotten through to Avena who had her hands crossed over her chest and was smiling. An action which only infuriated Rhea more. Looking at Avena, Rhea felt as though she wanted to strangle Avena. After all, Rhea had lost her one chance of having Leonardo to herself. She had thought that by working with Avena, she would get Leonardo but only for her to lose him in the end of it all.“Rhea why are you so upset? I thought you said that you wanted to break up Leonardo and Aurora’s marriage? They are over now, so why are you upset?”“Because I wanted Leonardo t
“How did this happen? How was there a switch between the woman I was supposed to marry and the woman that I married to now? I think its best that you start explaining to me because you will not like it when I get angry” Leonardo threatened them. Everyone who sat in the room looked uncomfortable, until one brave soul stood up and it was AvenaIt was the first time that Leonardo had seen her since he had left the altar and now as he looked at her, Leonardo noticed that she was quite a pretty young woman but nothing like his wife. Both women were beautiful with dark-ski but Avena’s beauty was still no match to that of his wife.Avena looked frail and scared of him, looking down at her feet and playing with her hands rather than looking up at him, until she finally looked at him with tears welled in her eyes.“Hello my name is Avena, I know that you do not know me quite well and that was mainly because Avena took my place the altar. I
“From a Distance you look like such a sweet and innocent lady but just like your little girl, you are full of secrets” Ricardo told Signora Meta not holding in any venom in his tone of voice.“You are such an evil man”“At least I do not hide that I am a villain, unlike you and your daughter who hide behind smiles. What do they call it? I forgot the words, oh I think it's called ‘Wolf in sheep's clothing” Ricardo ridiculed Signora Meta whom was not fazed by Ricardo’s words.“When you think about it, it is actually you who is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I mean you have proven yourself to be an impressive liar” She reminded him.“When have I ever lied about who I was?”“Well, you are you walking around pretending to be Leonardo's friend but actually wanting to take his wife from him, Is that not what you would consider a wolf in sheep's clothing? I t
Leonardo wanted nothing other than to run away, he could not believe that his entire life was falling apart. The woman who he had been married to for the past seven months, the woman who was to be the mother of his child and now he was finding out that she was an imposter and the woman that he was supposed to be married to was standing there, a few feet away from him.Leonardo nearly fell onto the ground but luckily Ricardo caught him right before he could hit the ground.“Relax my friend, relax” Leonardo heard Ricardo whisper into his ear.“Please tell me that this is a dream, please tell me that this is a dream” Leonardo begged his best friend as he tried to come to terms with the fact that his entire marriage has been nothing but a hoax.&nbs
“Calm down young man, if you keep shaking like that you might drill a hole through the Church floor” The priest cracked a light earning him a laugh out of Leonardo.As excited as Leonardo was, he could not help but feel a storm brewing and it was one that he could not explain. He knew it because he felt it in the core of his stomach, something is definitely wrong. Leonardo scanned the interior of the church and there was no sign of the blackmailer inside.The pianists began playing, ‘here comes the bride’ and the butterflies in Leonardo's stomach began flying around. Leonardo was truly nervous as he watched his wife walk down the aisle in a white dress and veil covering her face, with Signora next to her. He could not help but to think that his wife did not look happy, it had looked as though something was wrong with both women but he shrugged it off. He put a smile on his face as he watched them walked down the aisle to the altar, where
Two days laterIt felt as though this day was nothing other than a joke, carefully planned out but with a surprise looming. Aurora looked at herself in the mirror of the Old church down town, Leonardo had once again rented out an entire church just for them.She smiled thinking how romantic her husband was, always making sure to make her happy. Her only fear was that, Ricardo was Leonardo’s best man. Signora Meta had kept to her word, the poor woman had done nothing other than to find a way to keep Ricardo’s mouth shut. Aurora had no idea what Signora had told Ricardo but all Aurora knew was that Ricardo refused to look at her ever since then.Looking at herself in the mirror, she smiled. Finally she was a true bride and not a replacement. She had no idea where Avena was but she inwardly thanked her for running away that faithful day. If it were not for Avena running away, she would never have married the man of her dr