Our Little Things

His Return

"Tom?" exclaimed Audrey with sorrow and tears in her eyes as she came closer to him and looked at him with hatred, despise and a broken heart.

She was already betrayed by him enough to only know, that now he had some sort of relationship with her younger sister Aurora.

Thomas had been gone from her life for nearly three years and now here he was again in front of her eyes, kissing her own sister. Audrey couldn't handle it. Anger was coursing through her veins as she, for the first time shouted at her sister "What were you both doing? Tell me Aurora. I need an explanation for it. Now and right now! Aurora, please, I have a right to know."

Audrey was pleading when she had finished her last sentence. Aurora could not see her sister in a condition like that and so she held her shoulders with her hands and said

"Come to my chambers, dear sister. I give you my solemn word that I would tell you everything about Thomas and me. And I also promise to speak only the truth that was hidden from you, all these years. "

Audrey followed her sister and they entered her chambers. "So, you were the one, were you not dear Aurora? You betrayed my selfless love for you, for who? Thomas? What was happening when I barged in the door sister? Tell me, please!" said Audrey as she couldn't control her tears when flashbacks of her and Thomas were flashing like black and white screens in her mind.
"Audrey, sister, I wanted to tell you before but I just couldn't," said Aurora as she tried to give her best explanation.

"Remember the day of your marriage sister? Thomas never showed up and to a coincidence like you always said, neither did I.
That was for all intents and purposes, the day Thomas married me. Sister,
we fell in love. Of course, I did not desire for it to happen for I knew how dearly you loved him but we just did. I apologise to you for everything sister. Truly, I do. But please, do not throw me out of your life sister. Please!"

And as soon as her explanation was over, Audrey was disheartened. She was just blank. No expression, no emotion, nothing.
Audrey was speechless. She was mum to know that the one person who'd ever betrayed her, would turn out to be her own sister, stepsister.

"What?! No that cannot be. You couldn't have betrayed me. No Aurora. Do you even realise the depth of the words that you just spoke my love? This is all false, all just a mendacious story. I do not believe it." said Audrey as she paced around the room left to right and vice versa, holding her head with her hands as she tried to unaccept the truth, and tried to believe that it was all nothing but a facade.

"I despise you, I despise the sight of you, Aurora. You're forbidden to ever come into my life ever again. Do you understand that? You have no right and no love to be cared as my sister and now, it is you, who would perish the consequences of betrayal in a family." shouted Audrey as she couldn't help but cry her heart out.

She left Aurora's chambers only to glance at her sister's teary eyes and say something for perhaps, the last time "Do tell me Aurora, did our parents know about this? Did they know?" at this, Aurora denied which led to Audrey leaving her chambers and now heading towards Thomas Smith for a heated confrontation.

--------------------------------------------

"Audrey!" said Thomas as he saw her melancholic face with red watery eyes and a look of deception.
"Do not 'Audrey' me right now, Mr Thomas Smith. You know you have no right to call me that anymore. You had lost that right when you married my sist-- Aurora." Audrey was so furious and disheartened at the situation that she had come upon the decision to never forgive them or love Aurora as her own.
There was an inner conflict between the family members of the Miller and the only people who knew and would know about this were Audrey, Thomas and Aurora.
"Audrey, hear me out once. It just happened so suddenly. After I had proposed to you about our marriage, I realised my feelings for your sister as well. I tried to pull them out, stop confusing and looping myself into it, but it just occurred.

I know I have done an unforgettable and unforgivable sin but I beg of you Audrey, do forgive your sister in time. And I also must make a request to you, to keep Aurora and my marriage a secret until we reveal it ourselves to everyone which includes both your parents and my father. I must take a leave now. Though I would be back soon to see her and perhaps if life would desire, become an old friend of yours too. I hope you forgive us." And that was it.
Thomas left in his carriage that night, unbeknownst to anyone in their household, including their parents who had been gone to the church for a small wedding ceremony.
The both sisters were broken apart. Aurora had betrayed her and as much as she loved Thomas, she couldn't help but wonder about her sister's pathetic condition after she witnessed the truth behind her past.
As far as Audrey was concerned, she settled upon the fact, to finally let go of her past and live in the present. It pained her to acknowledge that her sister, whom she infinitely loved had tore her apart into a million pieces but decided to act as if nothing had happened in front of anyone except the two others who knew, Thomas and Aurora.

When her entire world was lost to the sight she had witnessed, a last glimmer of hope emerged in her heart and told her as if they could give her the solace she deeply desired for.
And that glimmer of hope was none other than
William Brown.