Tangled Hearts

Chapter 1

Aurora Woods

My feet stopped moving on the last step of the stairs, as my eyes landed on the scene ahead of me. In the backyard were the both of them, picking flowers from the flower bed as he placed a small daisy behind her ears.

The look in his eyes while looking at her held nothing but love, as if to tell everyone that she was his world. This was not the first time I'm witnessing such scene, but yet I still could not get used to the feeling of heartache. I have to get rid of whatever feeling that was left as soon as possible, for he was going to become my brother-in-law next week. I took one last look at them before turning away and headed for the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Lauren was busy flipping pancakes at the stove as she turned back the moment she heard footsteps.

"Morning, Aurora." She smiled as she greeted me. Lauren is my step mother, Amelia's birth mother and also the first wife of my dad.

"Morning, Lauren. What can I help here?" I replied, as I walked over to the sink to wash my hands. Lauren was nothing like those evil step mother we've read in story books, she was far from that. Although she was angry and disappointed to know that she was cheated on, she took nothing against me. She welcomed me into the family as my birth mother abandoned me the moment I was born.

She took care of me like her own, until she got pregnant with Amelia, who was 2 years younger than I was. In my heart, she was a mother to me more than the one who gave birth to me. Even Amelia treats me like her real sister, despite knowing that I was the result of our father's infidelity.

"I guess you could help with making a fried egg for everyone. Thank you for your help, Aurora. Gosh, if only Amelia was half as helpful as you are, I wouldn't have to nag like crazy everyday." She sighed as she shook her head a little.

"Amelia's still young, she will learn it along the way." I replied as I took out a pan from the cardboard as I proceeded to pour a little oil over the pan before heating.

"Young, you said. She's getting married next week but yet she can still behave like a spoilt kid at times, I'm really thinking how in the world did Grayson put up with her sometimes." Lauren chuckled as the thought of them getting married got stuck in my head. None of them knew that I was close with Grayson when we were young, they just thought that we had met a few times but never interacted much.

We always made sure to keep it a secret whenever Grayson came over to our house with his aunt, Isabella. He lost both his parents in a fatal car accident when he was 11, so his aunt took over the responsibility of bringing him up.

After the accident, he lost his sight and stopped speaking ever since he woke up. The doctors diagnosed that he had suffered from severe trauma that stopped him from talking. He refused to speak for 6 months until the day when he first came to our house. It was even more meaningful because it was his birthday that day.

-15 years ago-

Grayson's parents and our dad had been long term business partners for years, and now Aunt Isabella became the one leasing with dad to run the business ever since their death. On the day when she first brought him over, his face was void of expression.

I was hiding at one corner because I initially wanted to get myself a cup of water but found out that we had guests over. I had fallen down the stairs the day before so I managed to take a day off from school while Amelia was in school.

While the adults were talking, Grayson suddenly stood up from his seat as Aunt Isabella looked at him in concern.

"What's the matter, Gray? You want to use the washroom?" She asked softly, as he only nodded his head after a second or two.

"Come on, I'll take you there." She grabbed his hand but he shook his head. Looking at him with worry, she lowered herself a little to his height and said, "All right, you may go yourself. But make sure to shout for help if you can't manage, okay?" He nodded at her words as dad told him to take a turn to his left for the wash room.

He took out a guiding stick as he treaded the path slowly, with Aunt Isabella watching him closely from the back. She only heaved a sigh of relief when he managed to take a turn.

Seeing that he was approaching, I concealed myself further into a corner of the wall until I saw him walking into the bathroom. After a short while, I could faintly hear something fell over in the bathroom as I peeked my head out to the living room to see if anyone heard it. The adults were busy talking about something and paid no attention to the sound.

Worried that he might need assistance, I stepped out from the corner as I softly knocked on the door twice to indicate that I was going in. I closed my eyes the moment I pushed open the door as I assured him, "Don't worry, I have my eyes closed. Where do you need help?" I waited for a response until I remembered that he does not speak.

Just as I was about to open my eyes, a soft but hoarse voice came, "My stick fell, and could you please hand me some tissue paper?" I abruptly opened my eyes upon hearing his voice, but immediately turned my head away.

"You can speak?" I asked in shock, as I continued keeping my head at the opposite direction and fiddled around on the ground to 'search' for his guiding stick.

"A few days ago, just not so used to it." He replied, softly coughing a little after speaking. I moved myself a little forward until I could feel his presence near me and I handed the stick over to him.

"You should tell your aunt about it, she would be so happy." I continued the conversation because I did not want any awkward tension while I'm still here in the toilet. I grabbed a bunch of paper and stuffed it into his hands.

"I know, I'm thinking about how to break it to her. And thanks for your help." With one hand over my face, I slowly turned over as I peeked through the slit of my fingers. The side of his lips tugged up a little as he looked at me, wait, he can't see me that I'm looking at him now, right?

"Maybe you want to excuse yourself now?" He asked softly, as I could feel all the heat rushing towards my face. Shit. This is embarrassing.

"Shout for help if you need!" I reminded him, not before I dashed out of the bathroom as fast as I could and closed the door tight.

He wouldn't take me for a pervert, right?