CHAPTER 55: REFLECT

The key clicked in the door hole, and a tired hand pushed the door open.

Elio walked into the room to see Aurora seated on the floor, with her head lifted, staring directly at the ceiling.

"Hey," he lowered his body beside her. "How are you feeling?"

"Murderous," she replied truthfully.

His lips pursed, as his head moved up and down slowly in understanding.

"Why did she have to live?" Aurora questioned in an exhausted voice.

"Ro, I understand how you feel. No, scratch that. I can’t understand how you feel, but I empathize with you."

"That doesn’t answer my question, Elio. I know you care about the girl. You don’t have to tread carefully. I just want your honesty."

He took a deep breath. "I honestly think she is alive for a good reason. Maybe she is supposed to help restore the glory of your father’s name?"

Ro snickered. "Vitto said the same thing. You both really believe that?"

"Nothing is set in stone, like Vitto will always say. But if there is even a possibility that she could help, wouldn’t you prefer she didn’t die?"

She moved her head from the ceiling, and as she turned it to the side, Elio saw a hurting girl.

It was in her reddened eyes, and her puffy nose.

"I don’t know if I’ll be able to forgive her. Yeah I know she isn’t to be blamed for her parents mistakes. But it doesn’t make it hurt less that they have a living offspring."

His fingers reached out to her face, and gently, he wiped off the single tear that rolled down from her eyes.

"I know. You don’t have to do anything immediately. How about you take your time? Valentina is– never mind." He shook his head.

"No, tell me. I want to know. Maybe it would soften my heart towards her. Even though I don’t think that could possibly happen at the moment."

"Are you sure?"

She nudged her head in encouragement.

"Valentina is very polarising. You can’t fit her into a box. Heck, you don’t even know what to expect from her. You either really like her, or really hate her. There’s barely any room for in-betweens. So if you hate her now, I understand it. Hopefully, you have an open mind, just enough for the possibility of hatred turning to likeness."

Aurora stared at him through a squint. "You really like her, don’t you?"

His face spread in a halfsmile. "If you ever get to spend time with her, you’ll see why. I have to go now," he said, rising to his feet.

Elio had reached the door when he heard Aurora’s voice from behind.

"Elio, thank you," she said.

He simply nodded, and walked out of the room.

Elio walked through the quiet hallway of Neravalle.

The silence has stretched for two nights in a row.

It was hard to believe there ever would come a time where the halls would not only be empty, but there also wouldn’t be active voices.

There usually were roast sessions happening at one end. Chants breaking out unprovoked from another end. Brothers challenging other brothers to see who was quicker on their feet.

But now, not even the club was sure to be open, and the weekend was fast approaching.

He walked into the photography room, and went straight to the seat Valentina sat on, moments before disaster.

His eyes scanned the contents of the table, and then he turned on the computer.

Settling into the comfort of the chair, he began to click through the pictures on screen.

"Beautiful," he thought on seeing a close up of flore.

The horse which had been disparaged, and overlooked by all.

Valentina was the only one to bet on her. She saw something no one in the entire arena saw.

He could never believe she was evil. He didn’t care what her parents did. But to him, Valentina was different.

She was beautiful and intelligent. She also had the kindest heart even though she loved to pretend she was a brat.

The door creaked, and he reflexively whipped his head behind.

"Hey, it’s just me," Marcello said, closing the door behind him.

The tension in Elio’s shoulders uncurled, as he returned his eyes to the screen.

"These were taken by her?" He heard seconds later.

His gaze shifted to the side, where he saw Marcello pulling out printed photos.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Wow, she’s talented."

He gathered the printed copies in a pile, and plopped on the chair next to Elio.

"This is the arena," he said with glee.

Elio’s eyes left the screen again to view the hard copies.

"I can’t believe she successfully scored these shots in such a short time," he whispered.

"That’s talent fratello. Raw talent. Look at this." He lifted the photo of them standing in front of the car at the arena parking lot.

"I even look like a half decent model," Elio chuckled lightly..

"Yeah, but not enough to even rival me. Look at my face, and my pose. Maybe she was right. I should look into model–"

Elio’s elbows jabbed him straight on the arms, and he burst out laughing.

Moments later, Elio joined him. "So stupid," he muttered under his breath as he laughed.

"Glad to see you laugh. I stayed away because I heard the mood Luce

is in is not one to be around him. How did you cope?" Marcello grew serious again.

He shrugged his shoulders. "It’s Luce. No matter how harsh he is, you can always tell that it won’t be a long term thing."

"So you think this will blow over soon? I heard the girl is in LaNotte."

"Yep, she is. No one can visit her. Honestly, I didn’t expect him to come down so harsh on her."

"Because he looked smitten with her?"

"What?!" Elio’s head shot up. "What are you talking about?" He asked with a clueless look in his eyes.

Marcello snorted. "Don’t tell me you didn’t hear whispers of how Carpo was supposedly besotted with her?"

His eyes became hooded in thought. "You know I didn’t really let myself think of it that way. I guess I was just hoping he was only being nice to her."

Marcello let out a short laugh.

"What’s so funny, Marce?"

"You didn’t want to think of his possible affections for her because you like her too. I mean the thought of you and Luce as rivals over her? That’s suicide mission." He shuddered at the thought alone.

Elio’s heart squeezed, and absent mindedly, he clicked on the next photo on the screen.

"Luce," Marcello breathed out.

He looked forward, and there he was on the screen.

The way he was captured was different from any other picture he had seen so far.

Maybe because he had seen his twin in action before when it came to photography, but he was captured through the lens of awe.

"You think she feels something for him?" He asked, fearing the answer to that question.

Marcello sighed. "I really don’t know fratello. I don’t know."

The aftermath of his response was silence, as their thoughts went in two different directions.