FALLEN FOR A BAD BOY
Chapter 1- The City Remembers
The sun shone brightly in the sky, painting it in brilliant color.
Its rays spilled into a massive bedroom, gliding across the flawless skin of the girl still lazily asleep.
She had forgotten to close her curtains after enjoying the night's scenery, so the sunlight hit her face directly.
She groaned and raised a hand to block it.
Good thing this happened - who knows if she would've woken up otherwise?
Today's important.
Her first day at college.
A fresh start.
Lots of students would be resuming today.
New people.
New faces.
Ugh.
Sloppily, she climbed down from her tall bed and, for some reason, went straight to the mirror. She stared at her reflection with a blank expression.
Her mind wandered back to the moment she told her friends she was leaving.
---
FLASHBACK - HOWARD COLLEGE, CHICAGO
"I can't believe you're leaving us, Auri," Elena said, holding Aurora's hands tightly.
They were all seated in the cafeteria.
"Me too. We'll miss you so much," Audrey added, her eyes brimming with tears.
She was the emotional one in the group.
"Yeah, we'll miss you so much, Kitten," Justin said softly.
Kitten - the nickname he'd given her.
"At least I'll have some breathing space again," Tony said with a shrug.
Justin and Tony were the only two guys Aurora truly interacted with in college. They acted like her brothers - though she always kept clear, serious boundaries.
"I don't want to leave," Aurora replied. "But my parents insisted we return to New York."
"Let's just finish our lunch and not get all emotional, please," she added with a weak smile.
"We'll really miss you."
---
END OF FLASHBACK
"Miss Aurora?"
She turned to see the maid - her nanny - standing behind her.
"I knocked but got no reply," the woman said gently.
"It's fine, Nanny," Aurora sighed, running a hand through her deep red hair.
"Your mom wants you downstairs."
"I'm coming," Aurora replied with a bored tone as she headed to the bathroom.
"For an American girl, that's too much," the nanny muttered under her breath, eyeing Aurora's figure before walking away.
---
In the bathroom, Aurora splashed water on her face, trying to steady her breathing.
Coming back to New York had reopened wounds.
Old memories she wanted buried.
She was trying.
She really was.
"AURI, SAVE ME!!!"
She flinched.
That voice again.
The one that haunted her for years.
"I love you, Auri. I really do. But you don't want to return my love. So suffer the consequences..."
"No... shut up... shut up..." she whispered, shutting her eyes tightly and covering her ears.
She splashed her face again. And again.
Over and over - until her heartbeat calmed.
She exhaled sharply and stared at herself in the mirror.
---
DOWNSTAIRS
"Where is she?" a poised, elegant woman asked the nanny.
"She's coming," the nanny replied.
"Was she acting strange?"
"Not really."
"Hope she didn't fall asleep again," the woman muttered, then waved the nanny away.
She stood there for a moment.
"What if we made a mistake coming back here?" she whispered.
---
Back in her room, Aurora finished dressing and stood before the mirror.
Nothing special. Not to her.
She opened a drawer and retrieved her favorite bracelet.
Her eyes landed on two photo frames lying face down. She picked one up.
It was a photo from high school - her and her friends.
She studied the faces one by one.
But when her eyes landed on a certain person, her expression darkened.
She placed the photo back down and didn't bother picking up the other.
"Back to New York City, Aurora," she whispered.
"Where it all started."
.
.
.
.
.
.
TBC