Unspoken (ON HOLD)

Chapter 11

 Ayame was busy putting the final touches on his latest order when a loud knock echoed throughout the space.

Not understanding who was exactly at the door, he paused. It was already past closing hours by now. Who could that possibly be?

The knocking came louder, almost to the point of a pound and Mine shook her head in disgust. "I'll get it Mr. Ayame. I wonder who it could be at this hour?"

Letting her go, he heard the sound of the door open and the start to the muffled conversation, then silence.

Mine came back around the corner and he smiled. "Who was it? Someone wanting to gaze upon my fabulous looks and designs?

But she didn't have the reaction he was hoping for. Instead, she looked at him in worry and spoke. "You need to see this."

Feeling the shift in atmosphere, Aya stood and moved towards the door, unsure what exactly would be on the other side.

But when he turned the corner, the snake's eyes widened.

Standing in front of him was Aria. She was drenched with rain and dirt yet still wearing her school uniform. Her hair was knotted and blown in all sorts of directions on her face and very clear tear stains were apparent on her face. She looked terrible.

Aya took in her appearance and gasped. "Ari!? Whatever happened to you?"

She looked up at his voice, a raspliness apparent in her voice. "Why, why did you tell him? You promised you wouldn't."

Not fully understanding, he could see she was shivering from the cold and carefully lead her inside.

Noticing Mine in the corner, he knew that Ari was probably very dangerous right now with her power and he didn't want her getting hurt. "Mine, could we please have a minute? I'll call you tomorrow about that design."

The girl just nodded her head in understanding, already reaching for her jacket. This seemed serious. "Of course. See you Mr. Ayame."

When she was gone, he knew it was safe to dive a little deeper. "Ari, what's going on?"

She bawled her fists in anger and this and looked at him, betrayed. "I know you told Yuki about him getting out of the main house. Why?! You know how I....how I can't...."

Reaching out for her in pity, he tried to make her understand his reasoning. "Ari, I can't stand the way you two are with each other. My brother and I may have a rift between us but you don't need to. I was only trying to help."

Aria frowned and slapped his hand away from her, letting her eyes glow crimson with her power. "Don't touch me! Since when do you care about helping me? I thought you were interested in the exact opposite?"

Aya grunted as he painfully felt his hand being pulled back forcibly and tried another approach. "Back then, we all did things we regret, you have to know that. I just wanted to fix them for you."

She laughed at this, low and company. "Fix it, huh? Well you made it worse. Good job Aya. I can't go back there anymore, now that he knows."

He didn't really get why she was so against having Yuki understand her methods, even from years ago. She was always so adimate about him not figuring out just what she was doing behind the scenes. "Don't say that Ari."

Aria sighed in defeat and he watched her take in a shaky breath. "Do you wanna know why I didn't want him to know? Because everytime I see him, I think about what I was forced to do, no not forced, what I chose to do to him. His hatred was my punishment. It's what I deserved."