~An Unsightly Sight~

Nicolas shuffled between the living room and his bedroom, setting things in order for the date he had later. Aurora had arrived a few minutes ago and went up to her room but not after teasing him with kissing sounds and making faces as she did so. He honestly could not wait for her to finally be done with highschool and move to college. At least, he wouldn't be feeling ridiculous in the baby pink apron he had thrown on. Speak of a cute house husband.

There was a brief rap on the door which made him pause for a moment. It would have been ignored if there wasn't someone he was expecting. He held back for a beat while still trying to figure out who the guest was. Dolores wouldn't knock if she was the one at the door right now. She had familiarized with walking right in and ushering herself upstairs. But it wasn't even time for her arrival.

His father was upstairs in his mother's old room which they converted into a small office. Despite the man's stubborn will, Damian made sure to set him something up for him. Since he began working in there, he rarely stepped out when he was busy in the office. The possibility of him being the one at the door was ruled out too.

"Who else could it be?" Nicolas wondered aloud to the empty room.

He walked towards the door, peeling the kitchen gloves off his fingers and dropping them on the counter. The knock came again, impatiently this time.

"Hold on. I'm right--" The rest of his words died on their way out as he pulled the door open and locked onto orbs mirroring the same grayness that his eyes had.

"What do you want?" He asked, rather coldly.

The woman rushed forward to embrace him, almost tearing down his wall of defense as his fingers itched to wrap themselves around her and feel. Catching himself, he wiggled out of her uncomfortable hold.

"What are you doing here?" He asked again, putting enough distance between them. He didn't even bother to inviting her in despite him and his sister being carried in her womb for nine whole months. According to Aurora,  she only did that because it was her duty to and not because she sincerely wanted to. Anyone else in her shoes would have done same.

As he stepped back, he observed how sophisticatedly dressed up she was in her dream outfit; outfit that could send his family into debt forever if Aurora tried to buy them. Her entire face had been delicately taken care of like a little doll. The little wrinkles that used to gather at the sides of her eyes were all gone. Not even a strand of her hair was out of place as it used to while she still lived with them. Her whole appearance spoke nothing short of class and wealth. Nicolas also observed there was an air of superficiality around her as she stood in the doorway.

The woman's eyes raked all over Nicolas in anxiety. An emotion he hadn't seen in God knows how many years. She reached out to take his hand but he pulled back, stepping further out of her reach.

She cleared her throat awkwardly. "How's your arm? And your face? No bruises anymore?" Her eyes continued to watch him keenly as she dished out questions.

Nicolas scoffed. "What do you care if I'm injured or not? Sadly for you, I'm doing better than I expected. Now can you leave the threshold so I can shut the door?"

"Wait!"

He held the door halfway open as he gritted out, "What?"

"I was the one who saved you that night. The night you were attacked by those hoodlums."

The memories of the night of the attack came flashing back. He remembered seeing a woman right before he went into blankness and she looked like her. He tossed her a curious look. "How did you know that I was going to be attacked by that time and how did you even know where I was? Don't get started on coincidence and fate interfering in shit."

She took in a deep breath. "Can I at least come in? I mean, if you like nosy people trying to find out what's going on, then you don't need to."

That seemed to get to him. With an annoyed huff, he stepped out of the way so she could come in before closing the door with a bang. He turned to find her staring at the framed photo of the family of three.

"You three look really good in that photo, you know." She commented. She didn't take a seat but stood in the center of the living room in a sandal six inch heel whose straps went above her calves. She looked as out of place as a milk cow in a classroom.

Stalking over to the photo, he placed it face down and pinned her a grave look. He couldn't help the iciness that oozed out of his demeanour. "That wasn't what I let you in here for. Are you ready to speak up or say goodbye?"

"Have you gone coconuts already, Nick? Why are you speaking to your--" Aurora was bounding down the stairs two steps at a time when she saw the one person she hated with so much passion. Her shocked expression was quickly drowned by a look of aversion at the sight before her.

"What is she doing here? Why did you let her in?" She fired her questions at Nicolas but kept her eyes pinned on her mother.

"Aurora--"

"Don't you dare call my name." She warned with venom in her voice. She turned to Nicolas. "What does she want here?"

Nicolas looked back at the woman whose face registered blankness. She was either too hurt for anything else to matter or she had gone as cold as when Elsa accidentally froze the village of arendelle. He went with the latter since her past inexcusable action was proof enough.

"I wanted to check in on you and your brother. I was the one who actually brought him home after he was beaten up. I overheard Carlos speaking about it. Putting two and two together, I figured it was Nicolas in danger. Apparently, I couldn't get to the scene fast enough." She said calmly, oblivious to the storm raging within her young daughter.

"I don't understand it. Check in on us? Like you're our mother or what? Alright, not to sound rude but saving Nicolas wasn't that much of a big deal. Anyone in their sane minds would do the same because he needed the help obviously." Aurora fumed.

"Isaias." The woman uttered breathlessly instead.

Her eyes were no longer on them but were now fixated on the staircase. They looked in the same direction to find their father standing with a solemn face. A more suitable synonym would be gloomy because he wasn't in the slightest chance happy to behold his ex wife once more.

She left the teenagers, stepping closer to the man. "I'm so sorry I--"

Aurora stepped in front of her father, preventing her from coming close to him as she stared the woman down with distaste. "Save it. We don't need your apologies. Thank you for saving Nicolas and bringing him home to us. Any other person would have done the exact same thing, so don't think that little heroic act will have us crawling back to you. It won't. Get out."

Nicolas had never seen his sister so pissed at anyone before. If it was in a movie, wisps of smoke would be emanating from her apoplectic form at this point. Her face was set hard, her jaw locked in anger.

The woman turned to look at Nicolas in the eye. Her mask of indifference seemed to have cracked a little at Aurora's undisguised display of animosity for her. "I'm sorry, Nicolas." She turned to Aurora, "I'm sorry, baby."

Aurora hissed as her Mom stepped closer to enfold her in her arms. "Do not come near me. Leave. It's what you have gotten fantastic with anyway. Just leave us alone and get the fuck out to whichever hole you crawled out from." She barked.

A loud slap resounded throughout the room sparking with tension and Aurora's head whipped sharply to the right. The air around the four of them sizzled right before their mother lost it. Nicolas held her hand before it could connect with the other side of his sister's face.

"How dare you lay your finger on her, Jovita?" Isaias asked, hurrying down the rest of the stairs. He stood towering over the dark haired woman as she breathed heavily. "What has gotten into you?"

For a few unsettling seconds, Aurora's face remained bowed as she held both hands to the side she was hit. Nicolas was already at her side, with the disturbing feeling of hate for the woman that birthed him. It was gnawing deep into him. Deeper than when she first set foot in the house some minutes ago.

As he spared his mother another glance, he wondered if he would ever be able to forgive her.

~~~{•}~~~

An epic close for this chapter but I promise you, it's not over until I say it is.
Stay tuned for the next.

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~~Chignature~~