_______________________________...I felt restless and fidgety the whole night. Shannon, Ashton and Rowan were watching me like hawks. As if they knew that I was upto something. I just hoped that Rowan didn't know that Gabriella was coming back home."I hope you have a great week with us." I shook the hand of Mr. Davidson before finally excusing myself for the night.It had been a long day.It had been a long two months.Gabriella had been distraught so I had no choice but to make her come back. But my prior worries still remained and I did not know what to do about the situation when Rowan would get to know that Gabriella was back.Would he again try to get a upper hand on me and make me dance to his tunes or would he still continue to try to make this marriage work like he had been trying to make me believe all these days?My mind told me he would do the former but my treacherous heart wished with all its might that he would do the latter."Aurora!"I turned to the source of the

______________________________..."Rory!" Gabby started wailing as soon as she saw me.My mom also got up from where she was seated."Oh my god, I missed you!" I hugged her and rocked our bodies sideways."Rowan didn't come?" Mom asked.Gabby went rigid immediately.I rubbed her arms and whispered, "Don't worry. He will not do anything. I promise.""Rowan is exhausted from the cruise, Momma. He said he will come over for dinner tomorrow.""He is?" My mother clapped excitedly. "That's great. My son in law never comes for dinner. I should ask the staff to prepare everything to his taste. What all does he like?""Just make whatever mother. He is not a picky eater." I shrugged as I pulled away from my sister.Mom gave me a flat look but then excused herself to give us sisters some space."He is not a picky eater huh?" Gabriella asked, her face neutral."That's not what I meant. I-" I didn't want to lie to her. Because of what was at stake for her, I needed to tread carefully through th

_________________________________...I stepped out of the bath and changed into a lavender set of pajamas, not bothering to blow dry my hair. I knew good food was waiting for me and I didn't want it to keep waiting for me. I hurried out of the room and stopped when I heard Rowan on the phone. "I don't know what else I am supposed to do. She won't take the bait." I felt my entire body go cold. Take the bait?"What else am I supposed to do? Lick her shoes? Do you know how hard it is to pretend to like someone you loathe? But I need her on my side so I have to do this shit!" He was pacing around the living room so I hid myself away from his field of view. I felt the unshed tears sting at the edges of my eyes but I was not going to cry. He had already made a fool out of me. I was not going to let him make me a pathetic fool. "Ashton, you don't understand. She is disgusting! She is so annoying. I can't. You know I would rather spend my time with someone else." Disgusting? Annoyin

____________________________...It had been exactly one month since Rory and I accidentally slept together again and I wanted to celebrate it because it was a turning leaf for our relationship. But Ashton here did not think it was the brightest idea. "You are not a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl in her first relationship, Rowan. Act like an adult, won't you?" He laughed. "You are making it way too obvious how smitten you are for your wife." I grunted as I sat back in my chair. It was so easy for him to say whatever came to his mind because he had succeeded in using the cruise event to get Shannon to admit her feelings for him. It was not that I was not happy for him. I was very much happy for my best friend to have found his happily ever after. But I just envied him a little. I wanted teeny tiny happy ever after as well. "The first step to getting what you have been trying to get is admitting your own feelings to yourself." He said, his index finger pointed upward as he walked over

______________________________ . . . I paced the waiting room for the nth time before Rory came back out. Thank God she did because I was going to barge in there before I had an anxiety attack if she had taken any longer. "What did the doctor say? Are you okay?" I grabbed her by the shoulders and slightly shook her in the nervousness. "Whoa, calm down Keller. My head's spinning!" She grabbed my arms. She looked a lot paler than she did when she went in and it was starting to scare the shit out of me. "What did the doctor say?" I asked her again. "Over-exertion and sleep deprivation along with shitty food is never a good combination." She said. I paused. I understood the over-exertion and the shitty food but where did the lack of sleep come from? The Aurora Keller I knew always made it a point to get eight hours of sleep. "Sleep deprivation?" I questioned. "I have a Chinese drama addiction. Sometimes I go overboard with it." She shrugged. I nodded, though I did not c