" what was that?" She asked.
" What?" He replied looking confused. What had he done. He hadn't even confronted her about the arranged marriage, and here she was bombarding him with questions about a possible wrong doing he knew nothing about.
" Don't you know?" She asked
" About what!"
" Our marriage" she blurted out.
" Woah we are not getting married yet." He said. " Why did you set this up." He added.
She panicked, she wasn't ready, she couldn't say, didn't know how to. But thinking back to his words ' set up ' she didn't like it. He didn't seem to like the arrangement either. So she did the one thing she had being doing on multiple occasions for years. Avoiding.
" I didn't set it up, my dad did." She said ' because I asked him to' she added completing the rest in her mind.
Francis was frozen, he still held little hope. Maybe, she just didn't know how to care. There were a lot of maybe's, but it being all about both their estates, that never crossed his mind.
He laughed out loud a bit dejected. Ever since he had discovered his feelings for her about two years ago after that party, he also had to get used to how her cold treatment hurt him. He knew she was like that, but he thought if he could be close to her after a while she'd accept him. That was until...
" So you don't care?" He asked looking upset.
She was shocked, she didn't mean it that way. Wasn't her reaction enough to show that she did. " Francis...
" Don't explain." He said cutting her of too, his gaze becoming detached. " Because I don't care as well, I refuse to. And I have someone I'm with now." He said blurting out the last part out of hurt. She was still the same. She'd do all the things I'd rather she would not.
Here he was worried about how to go ahead with Aura, she had someone she admired now. That made things easier for him, he thought it was fated, the arranged marriage. It gave him a chance, but now he felt ridiculous. Two years... His heart hurt.
Avery broke, she felt a bit despair. No, no, no. Not this, is he in love with her? Does it not matter to him? She couldn't breathe right. Everything was off, this conversation was not going how she'd like it too. Was she too much? She just panicked.
Francis walked out back to class trying to forget this conversation ever happened. When he arrived at class he forced a smile before pushing the door open.
He sat back on his chair. Smiling but it was forced, and his close friends could tell. Including Aura who proceeded to have a chat with him.
" What's wrong?" She asked looking concerned.
He narrated their conversation to her with grievance.
" She doesn't care. I haven't touched her at all " he said looking like a rejected puppy.
Aura sighed, that was deep. She could see that this wasn't a casual arranged marriage to him. He had some affection for Avery, possibly he loved her.
" Don't worry, give it sometime. She couldn't break it up yet anyway." She said patting his back.
" Thanks for listening to me." He said with a smile. " Hey... You think we could go out. Have you been to the latest bar, it doesn't even look like one." He said with anticipation " I just want to forget what happened." He added.
" Okay but I don't drink much. You shouldn't either, it's not healthy, and come with your driver." She said in acceptance.
Francis gave her a hug in appreciation.
" So when are you gonna tell me about your own crush?" He asked with a smirk.
" When we go out " she said a bit embarrassed
" Didn't know you were capable of blushing " he said teasingly.
" Stop" she replied as he burst into laughter.
He was back to normal, she didn't like seeing him so down. He was a good guy.
Avery opened the door and sighted this scene, she was there long enough to know that she'd definitely break even more upon entry. So she turned back, she was tired, broken and heading home.
Meanwhile on Ethan's side...