Chapter 3 003

AURELIA

"Are you out of your mind?" my mother shouted. "A breakup? Do you think...you have the right to break up with Theron? The marriage is just in three days, why exactly do you have to ruin things?"

I bit my lips, fisting my fingers into balls. My sister stood beside me, her eyes filled with all the warmth my parents had failed to give me.

"Find a way to fix all of these by tomorrow," my father said simply, without mincing words. To them, my only job was to get married to Theron and to help them out in expanding the business. I had no other purpose.

I wasn't like Mireya, who knew how to speak and draw partnerships, whose smile made even the hardest of hearts crack. I didn't have all A's during high school and college, and I most definitely didn't have the brains to get into Yale University. But Mireya had, and at a young age of 26, she had raked in more money than mom and dad had ever.

As for me, hope had been lost even before it began. I was the black sheep of my family, the one who ruined the beautiful family package. Maybe that was why I had chased after Theron religiously. The news of the marriage had at least made me feel some entitlement. If I wanted something, then marriage to Theron was proof that I could get it, but even that, I failed.

My fingers clenched and unclenched by my side.

"Why can't you be like Mireya?" Mom said, like she always does. Comparing me, trying to make me a better person by my sister's standards. Trying to fit me into a box that wasn't mine. She was the constant voice in my head that reminded me of the failure I had and will become.

"What does Mireya have to do with this? This is my marriage with Theron we are talking about." My tongue finally came loose.

My mother scoffed. "If Mireya had been the one to get married to Theron, she wouldn't have been stupid enough to break it...three days to the wedding."

"Did you ask me why? If I really broke up with Theron, aren't you supposed to ask why first instead of comparing me?" My voice shook. "You always do this. You treat me like I'm an outsider instead of your daughter. Even at this time, you are more worried about your legacy, your image, than me. Have you ever stopped to think of how I have felt all these years?"

I didn't know if it was sadness or anger...however, whatever emotion it was that was flowing through my veins was ruining me. By tomorrow, I would regret everything I said, so tonight, I wouldn't care. I'd spill it out.

"Why didn't you give birth to a child like Mireya if you love her so much? I never asked to be given birth to...you could have just dumped me in the trash when you knew I wouldn't be up to your standards!"

My father's palm connected with my face the moment the words left my lips. He had never slapped me before, no matter how much he'd been angry. But this time around, I guessed neither of us was in our right senses.

Behind him, at the threshold of the dining room, Madam Camila flinched. But I didn't feel anything. Not now. I've exhausted all that emotion of anger and incompetence. After all, I'd lost the only thing that kept me important to Hales: the marriage to Theron. Truthfully, somewhere inside me, I knew. That if it was Mireya who had the marriage proposal, she would have somehow managed to steal Theron's heart, and maybe that fact...hurt more than my parents' lashing.

"Aurelia..." my father's voice came. But I didn't let him finish, I turned up the stairs and ran into my room, banging the door behind me.

"Aurelia," Mireya's voice came behind the door as she knocked quietly on it, "Open up."

"Leave..." I said, pressing my head on the pillow. "I don't want to see you."

"I just want to talk," she said again.

If we spoke, I would get madder. I would think about how calm she was in this situation, while my own feelings were all over the place. I would wonder why I wasn't like her but like...this. A bubbly, happy princess who never seemed to care or get anything right, but deep inside, I was just a broken girl. The one bullied at high school, the one who went for drawing and art, because I couldn't keep up with business or food nutrition, the one who did not know what went on in my father's company. It had always been like that; I was always the clueless and unserious one. And even though Mireya was adopted sixteen years ago, she had outshone me in a matter of time. Just like that, I'd stopped being my parents' favorite, the Hales heiress, and everything that I should have. Just that way, I started to fight for my own rights in my family.

I loved Mireya too much, but I didn't want to be irrelevant. I didn't want to be an angry living bird.

Pressing my forehead into the pillow, the tears rushed out, muffled. I shouldn't cry, but I couldn't keep it pent up inside. So I cried, pouring out everything into my pillow.

~~

My eyes lazily peeled open the next morning. I groaned, pulling the curtains close to the shelf to block the rays of the sunlight that spilled into the room. It was morning already, and the sun was up, which meant everyone in my family was already awake. Yet again, I was the one black sheep that would spoil their perfect aesthetic.

I walked into the bathroom, pouring water over my face, highlighting the slight headache that had accompanied me when I woke up earlier. That was the reason I shouldn't cry; it seemed to tear apart every layer I had in me.

The dining room was quiet and empty when I walked downstairs.

I walked towards Madam Camila, "Where's mom and dad?"

"They went to the Draix's mansion this morning. They said they would be back soon, but it has been an hour already."

I bit the inner part of my lip slightly. They were trying to mend the relationship when they didn't even know the source. I imagined them begging for Theron to accept me back, no matter what mistake I had made. Consequence of not listening to your own daughter.

I turned, walking back up the stairs. Mireya's room door was slightly open, and I walked towards it.

"Mireya?" I called, getting into the room. Her table was right next to the door and on it-

My heart shattered into a million pieces as I stared at it. The same ticket. Same flight. Same location.

I blinked. What was going on?

Her phone vibrated next to it, and I stared at the contact. Theron Draix.

I slid green.

"I'll be leaving today, Mireya. The house is getting suffocating with mom pestering me about Aurelia. Your parents are here too, trying to shove her down my throat. I don't just understand why they keep crossing boundaries."

My throat burned. I tried to speak, but the words simply didn't form.

"The ticket is slated for Tuesday. Are you still coming? This is the time we have to explore the city."

I had thought Theron just didn't love me. Turns out, he was in love with my sister instead.

My lips parted. "Theron."

"Mireya, are you ok-" He paused. "Aurelia? Oh shit..."

The call ended, and the door pushed open. Mireya stared at me, her eyes shifting between me, her phone, and the ticket. "You found out."

"Yeah," I bit back a quiver, "I did."