Aurora

Aurora walked towards the library thinking that it would be the best place to find Matteo. He had been working all day and she only saw him during lunch when they ate together. She knew a man of his status had to be very busy, and that was what she respected.

The light was on and the yellow hue of the light peeked through the opening of the door. She pushed it open and stepped inside. She immediately spotted him sitting on the sofa with his right ankle resting on his left leg, swirling a glass of alcohol in his hand.

She found him extremely beautiful doing nothing but sitting on the sofa in his sleepwear, but wearing his reading glasses. It was unfair for him to look this good with no effort put in his appearance. She stepped closer towards him and alerted by her presence, he looked up at her.

She stopped suddenly. "Am I interrupting you?" she asked carefully.

His eyes did a quick once over on what she was wearing, making her squirm in her place. What she wore was very comfortable but at the same time revealed a bit too much of her legs and her chest area. It had become her favorite type of nightie to wear to bed, but this made her seem as if she was trying to be seductive.

He shook his head.

"Come here." he removed his right ankle from his leg and patted his lap.

She walked over to him and sat down on his lap. He used his arm to make her sit more comfortably on him and she felt herself relaxing into him.

"How was your day?" he asked her, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

"It was okay. How was yours? You seemed a bit busy."

He sighed. "There is just a few complications but nothing too major. I have been missing you all day."

She giggled. "You saw me at lunch."

"For what? Two seconds?"

She laughed at him and snuggled closer against his chest. She took his hand that rested on her hip and played with his fingers. She rotated the rings on his fingers and smiled when she saw the one she gifted to him on his ring finger.

She then noticed the book in his right hand.

"What are you reading?" she asked.

She felt him shrug his shoulder. "It was a gift from Reggie. I didn't have time to read it but now I have some time to read it. I should've known he would buy me something like this." he blew out a breath.

She looked up at him confused. "Something like what? Do you not like it?"

He looked into her eyes. "It's not that I don't like it, it's just...very mature."

"Mature?"

He looked at her deeply. Aurora didn't understand what he was talking about since they were both mature. Maybe not her but he was and a mature book should be about grown adults.

He smiled softly at her, placing a kiss against her forehead. "It's nothing, baby."

She frowned at him. "Please, tell me. I don't understand."

He shook his head. "It's just not a good book, okay?"

Mature wasn't good? Aren't those books for people who became adults and are now smart? For people who can understand big words?

"Mature is bad?" she tilted her head to the side.

"Mature is bad." he repeated.

Maybe he was lying to her. Maybe the book was very silly and he didn't want her to see that Reggie have him a terrible book. Maybe it was about science and that's why he said it's mature.

"Can I read it?" she asked him hopefully.

"No." he told her. "I can't have your pretty little innocence ruined by this."

She felt even more confused. "But I'm a big girl, Matteo. Shouldn't I be able to read mature books?"

Matteo placed the book down onto the coffee table that was in front of them. When he leaned back into the sofa he positioned her onto his lap so that she was now fully facing him. She felt her nightie slide up a bit and revealed more of her thighs, and also exposed more of her bottom.

He gave her a small smile before leaning in to peck her lips. He pecked them again, then again and then again which caused her to giggle at his silliness.

He lifted her chin with his thumb and index finger. "You are my sweet little girl. I cant have you reading these sinful books, do you understand me baby?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and instantly, his hands found her tiny waist. "I understand, Matteo."

With him being like this and with her feeling so much for him, she would listen to anything he said. Even if she didn't understand why he was against her reading the book he was reading, if he said it was bad then it was bad.

She did it because she trusted him.

Her eyes flit down to his lips and then back into his eyes. "May I have a kiss now, please?" she asked him sweetly.

His eyes softened at her and leaned down to capture her lips with his in a sweet kiss.

"So when do I get to see you now?" she heard Cordelia whine on the other side of the phone.

She smiled to herself. She missed Cordelia terribly and so badly wanted to be in her company once again. The last time she had seen her was on Matteo's birthday and that was nearly a week ago.

Cordelia was yearning for details about what had transpired on the night of his birthday. She had called her to know if anything had happened between them and she was reluctant to tell her, but eventually she had spilled about the park incident. It would have been better to tell her in person but Cordelia was a bit too impatient and demanded to know everything, without leaving a single detail.

"I don't know." she answered truthfully and sadly. "When will you come over again?"

"And risk seeing you swap saliva with my brother? I would love to not witness that, thank you."

Aurora blushed at her impure words and coughed uncomfortably. "Cordelia." she groaned.

Cordelia laughed. "I wish I could see your reaction right now. You are probably as red as a tomato right now."

"Whatever." Aurora grumbled but eventually smiled to herself.

"But honestly, we need to have another girl's day or even a girl's weekend! But it has to be at my house so that I could avoid walking in on something I wouldn't want to see."

Aurora giggled. "That sounds good to me. So your house again?"

"Yes. My dad would be okay with it."

Aurora was still not used to being around Matteo's father. He never spoke to her unless it was a greeting and she didn't understand what she did to make him dislike her that much. She was still a bit upset with him for humiliating her in front of Matteo at their home, but she wished she knew what she did wrong to him.

"Okay. I'll have to talk to Matteo about it."

"Ah. Getting the boyfriend approval, huh?"

Aurora bit her lip. "He's not my boyfriend." she mumbled.

"What?!" Cordelia yelled. "But you told me you guys kissed."

Aurora sighed. "We did but he never asked me to be his girlfriend."

Cordelia groaned over the phone. "I swear men are so stupid." she said in frustration.

Aurora just laughed at what she said. She heard a bit of a commotion on the other end and heard Cordelia say something on the lines of "yes dad". Her father must've called her downstairs or something.

"Look Aurora, I'll call you later okay? I forgot I had a doctor's appointment in ten minutes."

Aurora's ears perked up at hearing that. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"

She heard Cordelia cuss over the phone. repeatedly. She was confused when she heard her laugh a bit nervously.

"I'm okay. It's just uhm I, I have a really bad stomachache and I probably ate something bad. It's nothing major." she laughed at the end. "Anyway, I got to go. Bye, love you!"

Before Aurora could say goodbye she heard the call end and stared at her phone confused.

That was weird.

She walked out of the kitchen and went into the living room. She sat next to Matteo on the couch and blew out a long breath.

Matteo looked at her. He was sitting on the couch watching TV while scratching Kitty's ears who rested on his stomach.

"Everything okay?" he asked her when he saw her confused face.

"Yeah." she answered. "Cordelia is going to the doctor. She said she has a stomachache."

She saw his eyes widen a bit. His face went back to its neutral expression before turning back to the TV and Aurora found it a bit weird.

"Oh." was all he said.

She had a very odd feeling for some reason.

That night Aurora was asleep in Matteo's arms but she felt herself waking up when she heard him talking in a hushed tone. She could detect some frustration in his tone but she kept her eyes closed, and although it was wrong she couldn't help but listen in on what he was saying to whoever he was talking to.

"...when it will be ready?"

There was silence before he blew out a breath. "Why the fuck did it take you so long? Do you know how little time we could possibly fucking have?"

She wanted to comfort him and ask him what was going on. He would only ever cuss this much when something had made him very angry and she wondered who was speaking to him. It could probably be someone from the mafia and they must have done something to upset him.

"You could save her." he said. "I don't know what I would do if this doesn't turn out good."

Save who?

What was going on?

"Fine. I'll wait. I'll fucking wait but I swear if you're not a match I'll fly to every goddam country to find at least one." he said.

After a long few minutes of silence she felt something cool glide against her cheek. She realized that he used his fingers to caress her face and she unconsciously leaned further into his touch, not being about to resist the close contact between them.

She felt herself drift further into the darkness as she began to fall back asleep. However, before she was totally engulfed in the dark the last few words she heard from him was,

"I won't let you leave me." he whispered. "God, I won't."

I changed Cordelia's age to fifteen because I think thirteen was too young.