our troubled love ᵒˡᵈ ˢᵗᵒʳʸ

+~seven~+

         Anthony and I walked up the lofty set of stairs in silence. I held my dress up, being careful not to trip on it. When we reached the top, Anthony stopped and turned to me, avoiding eye contact and pressing his lips together in an awkward manner. "Your... Uh... Your dad wanted us to share a room so..."

         I understood why he was acting so uncomfortable—sharing a room with a stranger didn't really appeal to me either. "I'll take a guest room," I offered. "I don't think Jonathan will find out as long as no one sees me." Anthony gave me a puzzled look when I called my dad by his first name, but he didn't give it too much attention.

         I was going to leave—although Anthony was an okay guy, I didn't want to talk to him more than I had to—but Anthony spoke once again. "You sure? If you want, I can take the guest room."

         "No, it's fine. I feel more comfortable in a smaller room anyways." I gave him an appreciative smile before walking off. We headed opposite directions—he went to the room we were supposed to share, and I went to find an open room. I was relieved to finally get away from him. He really did seem like a nice man to me, but the fact that we were being forced into a relationship made me extremely uneasy around him.

         I entered a hallway which lead to a section of the mansion that was reserved for guests, which are usually people who attend important gatherings held there. I was sure there wasn't anything like that going on at the moment since there weren't any parties of people arriving during the day, so I assumed that all the guest rooms were unoccupied. I turned to the first door I saw and twisted the knob, only to find that it was locked. I went to the next one and did the same, but this one was locked too. That's strange, I thought.

         After attempting to open about half of the doors in the guest section and finding them locked, I came to a conclusion: this was part of my dad's plan. I have no idea how I didn't see this coming. Of course, he expected me to try to find somewhere else to stay, and this was his way of showing me that there was no way out of this situation.

         I leaned against the wall, exhausted, desperate for a bed to sleep in. Tired, miserable, defeated, I thought. I had only been there for a day and I was already so sick of dealing with my dad and his plans. I missed being home, and I missed spending my afternoons with Aiden, so, so much. Aiden, I remembered. I gathered my last bit of strength and energy and began to walk to Aiden's room.

         I made my way to Aiden's room, and in less than a minute, I found myself standing in front of the door, contemplating whether or not I should go inside. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Aiden's voice came from inside the room. "Who is it?"

         "It's Jia. Can I come in?" There was no response. I heard shuffling feet approaching the door, then I heard a series of thumps, and a grunt following each one. Finally, Aiden unlocked and opened the door, revealing the chaotic bedroom. There were fallen chairs laying on their side. A bookshelf had also been knocked down, and the objects that it held were scattered on the ground. Aiden himself, though, looked a different kind of messy. His hair was disheveled and knotted, and he was wearing a hoodie with sweatpants. I suppressed a giggle when I noticed his mismatched neon socks—one was green, and the other was yellow. Cute, I thought.

         "Sorry about the mess," he said, embarrassed. "I'm still getting the hang of this room." I stepped inside, shutting the door behind me.

        "I'm so sorry for leaving you alone for so long." I felt guilty for leaving him when I knew he needed me, so I was going to try my best to spend as much of my time with him as possible.

         Aiden dismissed my apology. "It's fine. How was the date?" He spit the word 'date' out like it was a bad taste in his mouth. The idea of me meeting Anthony seemed to irk him, but I could tell he didn't want to show it. He knew I didn't agree to it either, so he probably didn't want to add to my stress.