𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐄𝐃 | 𝟏𝟖+

fifteen; judgmental

A U R O R A

"I said who's that girl there? I wonder what went wrong so that she had to roam the streets."

. . .

A few days later, and I'm standing in front of Riccardo's office. Dad dropped me off, and he'll pick me up again when I'm ready.

I enter and greet the receptionist, who knows me by now. "Ms. Amoretto," she smiles, which I return.

"Hello, Ms. Collins!"

I take the elevator up and arrive at his floor. Greeting his secretary, I walk towards his office and knock. Not a few seconds later, it's being opened by Riccardo himself.

"Hey," he greets me. "Hi," I smile and enter. This is the first time I see him ever since he dropped me off at home.

"How have you been?" he asks. I shrug. "Fine, my parents grounded me."

He raises his brows in surprise while he leans against his desk and watches me take a seat. "Have you noticed any side effects?" he then proceeds to ask. I nod.

"Yeah, I've been anxious a lot," I reply. But maybe it's not because of the drugs.

He nods. "That's a normal reaction. It'll go over in a week," he reassures me. "I hope so. I never thought drugs could have an impact like that on your life," I tell him. He nods.

"It's terrible. You should stay away from it."

"No need to tell me twice," I chuckle. Before we can get any more into it, I hint that we should get to the tutoring, which he gets.

Halfway through explaining a case to me, a knock sounds at the door.

My stomach drops as the thought of Carla passes through my mind. Is she still in town? If so, I wouldn't want to run into her.

But as Riccardo goes to open another door, revealing a man in his late twenties, my shoulders relax and I let out a little sigh in relief.

The man has a slender built and light brown hair. I can see his green eyes from the distance, and he looks surprised when he sees me.

"Well, hello," he smiles as he enters, not even sparing Riccardo a second glance as he walks in. Riccardo throws him a weird glance but closes the door behind him.

"Hello," I smile and get up, extending my hand for him to shake it. He surprises me by taking my hand and planting a kiss on top of it.

"Hello to you too, Alex," Riccardo says before looking at me. "Aurora, this is Alexander Sterling. Alex, this is Aurora Amoretto."

"What does such a young beauty like you with a grumpy old man like him?" Alex asks. I grin. "Learning how to be a better lawyer," I reply.

Alex takes a seat and so do I. Riccardo takes a seat behind his desk and looks at both of us.

"You can do that with me too," Alex tells me, throwing a subtle wink in there. I can't help but giggle.

"I'm satisfied with Riccardo. He's been an amazing tutor to me."

A throat is cleared, and we both look at the man in question. "Why are you here, Alex?"

"Dropping off a file," the young man replies and puts a file I didn't even notice he was holding, on his desk.

He then turns to me. "We're working on a project together. You can always join, babes."

I smile. "I'd love to."