Aurora

The next morning, Aurora stood outside his room as she bit her lip. Her hand was raised in the air to knock but she feared that she might wake him, despite that it's a bit late in the morning.

She was hesitant to do so but gaining the courage after a few minutes, she finally knocked on his door. She was met with silence and wondered that he was still sleeping but that couldn't be possible since she noticed that he wakes up pretty early.

She knocked again. Then knocked again this time calling out his name softly.

She frowned at the door that didn't open with Matteo appearing behind it. She blew out a breath through her nose as she touched the doorknob, not believing that she even mustered the courage to do this.

Opening the door, she peeked her head inside and scanned the area, detecting no signs of Matteo in the room. She called out his name as she entered the room, closing the door behind her and the the sound of the "click" was softly heard. She was always taken aback by the dark aura that was present from his room, from how aesthetically pleasing it appeared.

She looked at every corner of the room, observing the dark colors and furniture he had. Her eyes found the french doors that led to the balcony and thought that he must be standing on the balcony. She made her way over and when she got into the balcony, there was still no sign of Matteo there.

Closing the doors, she thought that he must be somewhere downstairs or she probably missed him. He must have left the house since she had someone to watch her now, which was Malinda.

"Good morning."

She jumped as she heard his voice behind her. She turned around to apologize for intruding and wanted to explain herself but the moment her eyes captured him, she was awestruck with her words caught in her throat.

The rose color tainted her cheeks as she felt them warming up from the glorious sight her eyes were blessed to see. Her eyes drank in the sight of Matteo's body glistening in droplets of water dripping down his toned stomach. The dips of his deep tanned abs were close to a deep V-line that was almost entirely hidden by a white towel.

She realized that he was naked and barely covered by a towel, but it was hard for her to look away. She tried tearing her gaze away from his beautiful physique plastered with dark drawings scattered across the top half of his body.

Shamefully, her green orbs lifted up to catch his dark eyes staring right back at her. They were almost hidden behind a curtain of dark hair that stuck to his forehead, and she noticed she he only focused on cutting the sides of his head, in a undercut hairstyle.

But she liked it.

"G-good morning." she managed to choke out.

Matteo was the most beautiful man she had ever seen in her entire life. How she had ever managed to find herself living with him, will forever be a mystery to her.

"You were looking for me?" he asked her.

She nodded. "I wanted to ask-"

She was cut off when her eyes snapped a bit further down to his arms that he brought over his chest. His muscles bulged out as he crossed them over his chest, and more markings could be seen from the side of his arms.

It felt as if all the air had been ripped out of her body. Heat coursed through her blood and spread across her cheeks as she watched him.

"Aurora?" he called out.

She quickly looked back up at him, forgetting that she was saying something to him before she was distracted. She was behaving quite foolishly but she couldn't help it since he was literally dressed in nothing but a towel.

"S-sorry. I-I wanted to know if there would be a chance for me to also see Cordelia." she asked, forcing her gaze to stay fixed on his face.

"Of course." he replied taking a few steps forward.

She gulped as he came closer to her. Her head lifted the closer he came, blaming his height for making her appear smaller than she already was.

His eyes examined her face. "You seem a bit...flustered." he said, a bit of humour detected in his voice.

It's your fault, you dummy.

When he said that she could feel her face get even more hotter. He was so close to her that she could smell his aftershave and it smelt really good. She was really behaving like a creep right now.

"I-I'm not." she lied.

Her eyes once again looked down at his tattoos. She was lost in how beautiful they were. It contrasted beautifully against his tanned skin, and especially when his body glistened with the water, it was a magical sight to witness.

"Do you like them?"

"Yes." she whispered.

He released his left arm and held it out for her, showing her his forearm. Starting from his wrist there were a bunch of tattoos, it looked like a code but it was clearly in Italian because she couldn't understand.

When she saw the small paragraph written in cursive on his left chest, she had no idea when she did it but her hand reached out to touch his skin. The tips of fingers grazed his skin where the tattoo was and she trailed her fingers over it, outlining the passage that was carved onto his body. She could've sworn she heard him inhale a sharp breath, clearly not expecting her to touch him like this.

She could feel him watching her every move.

What captured her attention the most was the tattoo that was in the centre of his chest and came down to the centre of his ribcage to where it stopped. Her fingers, without leaving his body, travelled down to the drawing. She outlined the drawing of a sword with the tips of her fingers, and the snake that was coiled around the blade of the sword.

"What does this mean?" she asked him, her gaze still focused on the drawing.

He was silent for a few seconds but eventually replied to her. "The snake is my mother. My father made me believe that she was nothing but conniving, just like a snake. The reason the sword is there is because she tried to come back into my life many times, and all those times I denied that wish of hers. The sword represents the connection and bond I cut off with her."

They looked at each other as he told her this. It was truly fascinating how he expressed their terrible relationship in just one drawing, but it was sad at the same time. To have him permanently etch this onto his skin must be a clear indication that what he wanted was for his mother to never be in his life, and his hatred for her.

Matteo's hand captured her small one that was planted onto his chest. He lifted her hand to his face, the both of them still watching each other closely. Her breathing increased as he slowly moved the palm of her hand towards his mouth, not breaking eye contact once. She could have sworn her knees almost buckled the moment his lips touched her palm, the softness of them against her skin sparking a warm feeling in her heart.

He pulled her body closer to him using her wrist, as his lips were still against her hand. He closed his eyes as he leaned into her hand, and Aurora could see his walls crumbling down from his tough man demeanor.

"You're not like her." he said, his voice softer than normal.

"I am not. You can trust me." she told him.

He opened his eyes. "Even if you can't do that, I trust you. I trust you with my life." she said firmly.

He cupped her face with his hand, and placed a sweet kiss against her forehead muttering the words "Perdonami, agnello." (Forgive me, little lamb)

Aurora swung her feet back and forth as she watched Malinda dish the food onto the plates. She had her chin resting on the palm of her hands, her head tilted to the side as she observed.

"I wonder how long still." she groaned softly.

It has been about a few hours since Cordelia had arrived, and Matteo only gave them about fifteen minutes of time together before he took Cordelia away from her. She really wanted some company especially Cordelia's since they could gossip and she could learn more things from her.

It was evening and the two were still in his office talking about who knows what. She was too scared to offer them anything since they couldn't impose and Malinda had already gone up. That was the reason why Malinda was preparing this supper, it was because Matteo instructed her. Cordelia will be having supper before Matteo's driver would take her home.

"They catching up, no?" Malinda asked, dishing out the asparagus.

Aurora shrugged. "He didn't say what is was about. He promised that I would spend time with Cordelia." she whined.

"Oh hush child. Siblings need time for each other and they don't see each other much. All his time is for you now."

"That's not true. He works a lot and hardly has time for his meals."

Malinda gave her a stare. "But time for you, no?"

Aurora glared back playfully and giggled.

"Need any help?" she asked.

Malinda looked around. "Could you please put cutlery on table? It slipped my mind."

"Of course." Aurora replied.

Aurora took out enough knifes and forks for each of them and made her way to the dining room and set the table. The perks of being a waitress was having the skills to do things like this, and she felt nostalgic as she stared at the set table.

She smiled to herself and spun around on her heels to walk back into the kitchen. She was startled to see Cordelia already standing there with Matteo right behind her. An image of him in nothing but a towel from earlier flashed in her mind and it caused her face to turn beet red.

Matteo must have noticed the change of color to her skin when she looked at him, because she noticed that he had a ghost of a smirk on his face. That alone was shocking to her and it made her blush even more.

"Aurora you-"

She looked at Cordelia who had a bit of glossy eyes fixated on her. She was confused by many things at that moment. Cordelia had suddenly stopped talking and looked as if she could cry at any minute now. She saw that Matteo had whispered something into her ear and Cordelia, with her eyes still on Aurora, nodded at his words.

Cordelia's words were a bit shaky and she wondered what it was that she wanted to say, but Cordelia said nothing further concerning that. She tilted her head to the side with furrowed brows, showcasing her confusion.

Cordelia forced a smile. "You were blushing."

And just like that her eyes flit up back to Matteo and she blushed even further. She flicked her head to the side, her hair shielding her rosy cheeks from them.

"Was not." she said quickly.

Cordelia chuckled, and she peeked through her hair.

"You're so cute. How are you twenty?" Cordelia said jokingly.

"S-shut up."

Cordelia laughed again.

It was time for Cordelia to leave since they had finished supper. They spoke to each other for about ten minutes before Matteo announced that driver was ready to drop Cordelia off at her home.

Aurora and Cordelia walked outside with Matteo trailing behind the two of them. Aurora sensed something off about her since she would be talking her ears off or laughing about something random, but today she was silent which was unusual.

Cordelia stared at the ground as they approached the car, the driver had already opened the door for her. Aurora wanted to say her goodbyes which she didn't want to do but when she wanted to say so, she felt someone pull her body into their arms.

She was shocked when Cordelia suddenly wrapped her arms around her, a bit too tightly. She wanted to ask what was wrong with her today but Cordelia had already spoken up.

"You're my first friend, Aurora."

Aurora couldn't believe what she had just heard. It was something out of the blue but also very unexpected given that Cordelia had a bubbly personality and seemed like she was liked by everyone.

"I want my first and only friend to stay." she whispered, her voice a bit shaky.

"Of course I'll stay. Where else would I go?" she said, laughing a bit.

Cordelia chuckled. She pulled back a bit still holding onto Aurora.

"You won't leave and I won't leave. I will make sure of it."

Aurora, still very confused by her words, was taken aback. Cordelia was speaking so seriously that it made her wonder what was going on.

Cordelia's face changed as she smiled softly at her. "We should go shopping this weekend."

"Didn't we already go shopping?"

"That was weeks ago! We need a closet upgrade, don't you think?"

Aurora was gobsmacked. "Uhm-"

Matteo appeared behind Aurora. "It's time for you to get going. You're making the driver wait."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "He can wait for a few more minutes."

Aurora couldn't see it but she new that he must have been glaring at his sister because she gulped when looking over Cordelia's head. She smiled at her and Aurora smiled back, knowing that they had to say goodbye for the night.

"Shopping this weekend?" Cordelia wiggled her eyes.

Aurora smiled at her. "Shopping this weekend."

I was listening to cigarettes after sex while writing this chapter.