Bad Desire: New Beginnings - Fast Forward

Chapter 70

                  

"I know this is going to seem really fucked up, but can you wear this?" Aaron held out the engagement ring he had previously taken from Sophie.

She was looking at him in disbelief for a moment, unable to form a response due to the shock of what he was asking.

They were going to visit Aaron's family for the weekend considering they hadn't seen them in an extremely long time and also due to Aaron's mum's pleadings. She lived in Bournemouth with Aaron's twenty-four year old sister Bella and the rest of Aaron's siblings lived around the area too, all except his twenty-seven year old brother Mason who actually lived in Brighton.

This meant he was the only one out of all of his family that he got to see on a regular basis, while all of the others had to either wait for rare visits from Aaron, or travel to see him themselves.

Therefore, when they had found out about the proposal, his family had been over the moon for him; especially his mum Richelle and Bella. After everything that had happened in the past leading to his strong negative beliefs regarding it, they were glad he was finally moving on from it. This lead to them insisting they needed to see them, to which Aaron gave them his word.

However, when he agreed he had not been expecting the abrupt end to his engagement and therefore, didn't want to disappoint them when they arrived.

"You want me to lie to your family and pretend we're still engaged?" Sophie tried to clarify and Aaron looked back at her with an uneasy expression on his face.

"I already told them it happened... they were so happy, I don't want to ruin that. My mum will just worry and ask questions." Aaron tried to explain and Sophie couldn't help but feel extremely sick.

It was hurting her enough that the engagement and idea of marrying Aaron had been shattered, that having to wear the ring for the day and pretend it was still happening was a painful thought.

She did understand why Aaron had reacted the way he did and knew his fears of marriage were so sensitive that it would only take something small to send him into panic. However, she wished it wasn't like that and that instead he could trust her enough to overcome them.

"Okay." Sophie sighed, reaching out her hand and letting him drop it onto her palm.

There was a clear uncertainty flowing within the room, as neither knew where they stood. They both knew this whole situation was painful and they both wished the incident with Elliot had never happened, but it had and they had to deal with it.

Alongside that, the surprise appearance of two of Sophie's ex's had caused even more discomfort between the two of them. Aaron was trying to remain calm about it, knowing they didn't need to add anymore arguments into their relationship however, it wasn't the most comfortable situation.

...

Once Aaron had left the room to put their bags into his car, Sophie sat on the bed with the ring in her hand. She was running her thumb over it and admiring not only the beauty of it but also what it represented and it brought tears to her eyes.

She didn't want to be wearing it for show, she wanted to be wearing it for real and part of her wished they had never made these plans to visit Aaron's family in the first place.

Just as thing had been looking up for them, it was only a matter of time before they were once again teared down. It was as though they were constantly fighting against all the external factors that were screaming at them for it not to work.

*

"Come in, come in, come in!" Richelle fussed with pure happiness when she opened the door to Aaron, Sophie and Phoebe.