To Be A Bougainvillea

Chapter 9

When Aurelia collapsed on her bathroom floor, she knew she was having another cataleptic attack. 

As her bare hips slid on the surface of her chilled floor, Aurelia felt all her muscles being stripped from her bones as lethargy attacked her like a ruthless wolf. 

"God, please not today," She cried, using every little strength she could muster to get back up only to collapse again. As tears began running through her face, she tried multiple times before her elbows gave out on her and she slumped down, her cheeks pressed against the tiles. Tears were still pooling down but she let it be as her chest heaved with so much emotion that she prayed to feel numb. 

And as minutes passed by, numbness eventually mated with the lethargy as they held her, constricted and choked, to a point where she felt nothing. She knew she had to get dressed, blow dry her hair, have breakfast, practice some sonatas but those thoughts drifted away as she focused on her breathing and lack of thinking.  

A rapt knock grabbed her hazy attention. "Lady Aurelia, your grandmother is expecting you for brunch." 

She remained silent, tapping the floor with her long, manicured nails. She became astounded by how every nail created a different sound. Just like a piano. 

The maid, however, kept talking. "Lady Aurelia, please open the door. This is the first morning with your Aunt Jemima back and-" 

"Where is she?" Hana's soft voice appeared behind the bathroom door. The maid whispered something to her. Then, Aurelia heard the door of her bedroom creak close. 

"Aurelia? Won't you come out?" Hana asked, tenderly.

And like a finger pressed on a trigger, Aurelia began crying again. 

"Lia?" Hana's voice was now alarmed. "What's wrong?" 

"Just give me three hours." She whispered, a lock of hair sticking to her wet cheeks. Three hours should be enough to get myself sorted out.  

"You don't have twenty minutes, let alone three hours." Hana exclaimed, "Please, tell me what's going on, Lia." 

"Just-just give me some time." She winced as she struggled to roll on her back. The fluorescent light hit her eyes and flashbacks of a bright lit piano room burned at the back of her head. 

"Are you sure you'll be fine?" 

"Yes." She rasped, eyes blinking rapidly as she visualised her mother's grand silver piano. But where was her mother? Where was she? 

"Mama, where are you?" Aurelia frantically glanced around the piano room, her heart pounding when there was no sight of her mother's flaming hair nor sounds of her melody, "Mama!" 

"I'm right here, Aurelia."  She whipped around at her mother's chuckle. Drea stood behind her with an amused expression, holding a couple of papers in her hand. "I was just in the garden, thinking about a composition." 

"A composition?"  

"Yes, I've decided to write my own compositions. I want to finish at least one before I die." 

Aurelia's eyes flew open. Why the hell did she have a flashback of that of all things? 

She raised a trembling hand and flexed her fingers - She was starting to gain control of her body again. As she cautiously got up and wiped her face, she realised how fast twenty years had passed since her mother had died.

And no, Drea Lacy wasn't able to finish off her composition.  

_______ 

"I miss Father dearly at times like this." Aunt Jem swirled the wine in her crystal glass before taking a large sip, "Remember what he always used to say?"

No one answered. The air was thickly masked as the Princeton family had their late brunch in the formal dining room. The most elegant cutlery had been symmetrically laid out on the Italian ebony dining table and everyone, including Aurelia's grandmother, had their poker faces loosely tied around Jemima. 

"If you can't be happy, then at least you can be drunk!" Aunt Jem filled the silence with her boisterous laughter. "Ah, he really was something else, wasn't he?"

That's one way of putting it, Aurelia bitterly thought in her head.  

"Why didn't you bring Richard, Jemima?" Dame Cassandra courteously asked, referring to her husband. "We'd have loved him to be here as well." The Dame's efforts to get into her aunt's good side always bemused Aurelia. 

"He's gone overseas for business," She answered, offhandedly, "so I've decided to stay here for the duration." 

"And how long is that?" Aurelia quipped, clear malign in her voice. Hana softly kicked her leg under the table. 

"Ah, Aurelia, you've been so quiet I almost forgot you were here." Aunt Jem's smile was as fake as hers, "It's been so long I barely recognised you when you came in. Last time I saw you, your hair was still that godawful red. I'm so glad it darkened throughout the years." 

Aurelia's jaw tightened and the atmosphere became even more tense but Aunt Jem still continued, "Now, I don't mean no disrespect to your mother. She had lovely hair, but that shade of red was just an eyesore." 

Hana's hand slipped through hers beneath the table. Her grandmother cruelly stared at her, daring her to talk back to her aunt. Gulping down her fury, Aurelia glanced at her father but as usual, when it came to her mother, he was silent, his head bowed and face expressionless. 

It was dearest Hana who saved her a whole load of trouble. 

"Next week, there's going to be a derby here. Are you a fan of horse racing, ma'm?" She tactfully changed the subject, not having the faintest clue of what it might lead to. 

"Ah, yes, the annual derby! I used to always place first, right, Mother?" Aurelia's grandmother nodded, stiffly. Aunt Jem took a large gulp of wine. "But dear me, what poor representation the Princetons will have with my damaged brother as the head of the family." Aurelia's father didn't even look up.

"I mean, no offence, Charles, but you've tainted our family quite a lot, haven't you?" Aunt Jem leaned back as she haughtily looked down at her older brother, "You bought common, illegitimate blood into our noble ancestry," Aurelia barely felt Hana's squeezing hand as blood pounded in her ears, "and then you can't even hitch yourself a Countess so you buy the second best thing - A dame." Cassandra also glanced down. "It's no wonder the Princetons aren't even respected anymore. We might as well herd sheep and use public transport - whatever the hell commoners do."   

No one uttered a single word in response.  

"It's such a shame I wasn't born a man." Aunt Jem muttered, sounding rather bitter. "I could've been the head of the family instead of my weakling of a brother, Saint Charles." 

Her father's head stayed bowed. 

"You are born a woman. You ought to be proud, Jemima." Her grandmother finally spoke up. 

"It's hard to do that when you live in a man's world." Aunt Jem set her fork down and placed her ring clad hands on the arm rest. Like a tyrant, she looked at her silent family members with her chin held high in distaste. 

"But I have a feeling things are going to change. For better or for worse."