Aurora POV:-

"The Number you are trying to call is not reachable, please try again later…"

I ended the call and threw the phone away in anger. It's been two hours since I was trying to call him but his phone was out of network coverage. I felt suffocated without talking with him and remembering what I said to him. I felt even more bad and guilty about the words I said to him.

"What happened, babe? You look sad!" Susan asked, closing the door behind her as she sat down on the bed beside me. I facepalmed myself and sighed deeply.

"I fought with Gabe and now his phone is out of network. I don't know what to do, Susan. I just want to hear his voice and apologise to him for the way I behaved."

"Have you freaking lost your mind, Aurora Kings!!" She shouted, making me flinch at the violence in her voice. I gasped and turned towards her, "What?" I asked.

She pinched her like in a thin line. "You are an idiot Aurora. Don't you know the rules of dating a man?" She asked, raising her brows in questions.

I scrunch my nose as my brows pull together. "What Rules?" I asked her.

"What rules!" She put a hand on her chest dramatically. I rolled my eyes at the drama she was doing when I was serious. "Susan, please stop this drama, I am serious and not interested in your acts."

"Girl shut up alright! You are really dumb when it comes to dating. How will you survive in this patriarchal society of dating if you don't even know the basic rules! But don't worry, Susan is here to guide you in every step of your life…"

She patted her back, "well I think I could make a career as a Love Guru but of course that's the talk for some other time now I have to focus on you. Now, Listen to me carefully, Aurora."

She made me look directly into her eyes. raise my brows in curiosity over what she would say.

"There are certain rules in the dating world which every girl must know. Rule no. 1: When you fight with your partner, Never and I mean never apologise to him first. It boosts their ego and once you apologise you have to do it every time you fight."

"Are you telling me that I should not apologise to him?"

She nodded. "Yes, dumbo! You should not."

"But it was my fault that he asked me to leave, Susan. I said such mean words to him that even I would not forgive myself let alone him. I should apologise to him… no I will apologise to him as soon as he accepts my call."

She showed me her hand, "girl, you will not call him anymore. Stop giving him such importance when he didn't give you the same. He could have called you but he didn't because of some mean words c'mon Aurora!! we say mean words to each other all the time. Big deal! We still talk to each other."

I sighed, slumping my shoulders. It will take me a whole life to make Susan understand the depth of the situation. She thinks that my relationship with Gabe was like her but unlike her, I am serious about Gabe when she is anything but serious about her nth number of boyfriends. She won't understand the pain I was going through right now. So I just sat there silently and listened to the rules she told me about dating.

Even her bickering was better than me sitting alone and thinking about Gabe. My pain doubled thinking about what he was going through right now. Mrs Dolan was right when she told me that I should think before speaking because sometimes words cut more sharply than a sword.

"Are you even listening to me, Aurora!!"

I heard Susan's loud voice and flinched. "What! I mean yes, I am listening." I closed my eyes in annoyance as she continued her chatter.

"Susan, I am not feeling well, you know that time of the month. Would you mind if I sleep for a while?" I asked when I couldn't tolerate her endless chatter anymore. She raised her brows and stared at me for a whole minute. "Stop lying Aurora Kings, you just had your periods last week."

And here goes my sanity. Now she won't spare me with her melodrama of I thought we don't lie to each other. "I am sorry…"

She showed me her hand. "Stop it, and sleep, if you want me gone then say so no need to lie." Saying that she stood up and walked out of my room but not without throwing the door so hard that it hurt my ears.

I sighed, wow! Now I have an angry friend to coax as well. What luck I was born with. I picked my phone from where I put it on the bed and dialled Gabe once again and just like last time it was out of network. With no other option left I sent him a voice message.

"Hey, Gabe. Hope you are fine, baby, please call me. I am sorry for what I said. Trust me it was not my intention to hurt you. It's just that…" I stopped because the words on my tongue could make the situation even worse.

"Just call me, please. I love you…" saying that I hit send and a single tick shows which means the message has been sent but was not received by the other party. With no other option left I closed my eyes and tried to sleep and the sleep took over me.

The next day when I came up I didn't wait for Susan to wake up and walked out of the house as soon as I could. Took my car out of the garage and drove to Gabe's restaurant. When I reached there only cleaning staff was there. I walked inside and looked for the manager. He was on his usual seat doing the books on MS Excel.

As if sensing my presence he raised his head from the computer. "Boss is inside his office, in a bad mood until yesterday." He reported the situation here.

I blew him many air kisses. "Thank you so much, George. You are the best friend one can ask for!"

"Is that so, then talk to that hot friend of yours about our date?" He wiggled his brows.

And here goes his cuteness. "Sorry, but she won't agree, anyway let me go inside and check the war room."

He gave me a thumbs-up sign and I walked inside Gabe's office and again he was talking to someone over the phone. He looked angry at first but when she saw me his features calmed a bit.

"Yes, Uncle, I know I don't have a dad but you are just like him to me even if people think otherwise. I will accept your decision…"

Okay! That was a low blow but I understand that he was still hurt by my words. I gulped and waited for him to end the call but he kept talking to his uncle for about fifteen minutes while I stood there waiting for him to acknowledge me. It felt humiliating when he didn't even ask me to sit, so I kept standing there in his office while he pretended that I was not even there.

Those fifteen minutes turned into fifty minutes and I was still standing. I was close to crying, tears gathered in the corner of my eyes. I looked down to control my tears but failed miserably and a sob left my throat.

"Fuck!" I heard him. I couldn't control my emotions anymore as I burst into tears. I didn't know when he ended the call and when he walked to me.

"Aurora, love. Please, stop crying."

I was feeling humiliated by the way he treated me. No one had ever treated me this disrespectful in my life but he did, The man I love humiliated me today. I have been trying to change myself for the past two months for him. He didn't like going shopping with me when I love shopping, so I learned to live with it not only that there are many things which I won't do because he didn't like them.

Going to dance clubs for one, I love going there and dancing my heart out while he likes watching some stupid Football League. I love watching romance movies and he didn't like them. I love talking about fashion events and designers as I am a jewellery designing student but he doesn't like any of those things. Still, I was trying to like the things he likes, I was trying to adapt to his ways but he doesn't see them.

What he saw was I said something which hurt him, it was not like I said those things to hurt him and I am feeling ashamed for using those words.

"Aurora, please look at me…" he spoke, making his voice soft. I shook my head and he held my chin softly, raised my head and made me look at him.

"I am sorry love, it's just that I was angry with you…"

I didn't know what came over me and I started beating his chest with my fists. "I hate you...I hate you…" I sobbed while beating him. "I hate you…"

He didn't try to stop me and when I stopped beating his chest he pulled me in his arms and hugged me tightly. "Calm down, love. I am sorry for the way I behaved with you."

I was still sobbing in his arms. "I hate you."

"But I love you, my darling. I love you more than anything else in this world." He said, caressing my hair with his hand. He scooped me in his arms and took me to the couch. He made me sit on it and held my face, wiping the tears from my cheek. He placed a soft kiss on my head.

"I am sorry again, love."

I hugged him again. "No, I am sorry for what I said but Gabe, it was not my intention to hurt you. It's just that I didn't like the way you were talking about my dad."

Gabe sighed. "I know...but whenever someone mentions my dad I feel as if someone was burning me alive. I couldn't forget the way I saw my dad burned alive by his enemy, Aurora and I am telling you for the last time, don't ever mention my father again. I didn't know what came over me when someone did that."

I raised my eyes and gazed into his. I could see the pain in them and I wanted to share it. I touched his cheek softly. "Gabe, can you tell me what happened to your dad?" I asked him.

He sighed, fisting his hands tightly and nodded. "My Dad was getting life threats from some wrong people sometimes two years ago. But he was brave, I never saw my dad getting feared by anyone. He was the strongest man I knew but one day I lost my strong man, I lost my dad forever…" he took a deep shaky breath.

I held his hand to comfort him. "Gabe…"

He shook his head. "My dad was coming back from a meeting at one of his restaurants. I was going to surprise him but couldn't because some people attacked him, he fought with them but what can a man do against twenty men. They tortured him and burned him alive, I couldn't even give him a proper funeral.

I was stunned to hear him, his body was stiff in anger as he told me about his father's death. A shiver ran down my body hearing how his father died.

"Gabe, who were these people? Why would they do something this horrible to your dad?" I whispered.

He sighed. "As I said, people from the wrong side, My dad denied giving them money and they killed him."

I blinked. "So, what happened to them, did the police arrest them?"

He chuckled. "Ya! Police are in their pockets, Aurora. Unlike what we believe, the police don't work like that. Serving the people is just a slogan for them, they don't stand by it. But I have filed a complaint against them, what else a normal citizen like me could do!"

"I can help you," I stopped and rested my hand on his softly. "I mean I can ask dad to help you with this. He knows the governor…"

Gabe snatched his hand and glared at me with hard eyes. "Enough Aurora, I don't need your dad's help. You don't have to show how powerful your dad is? I get it he is rich and I don't stand a chance against him but I have my self-respect."

Here is the topic again."Gabe why do you get so protective when it comes to my dad. Whenever I mention him you just…"I took a breath to remain calm as I didn't want our talk to turn into an argument.

"Gabe, why are you so insecure with my dad?" I asked him the question I wanted to ask for a long time.

He linked the fingers of both his hands and pressed them hard into a fist, turned his head towards me and spoke: "because I am afraid of losing you, Aurora. I am afraid that he will snatch you from me…"

"Gabe, are you even listening to yourself? He is my dad and he loves me. He will never do something that hurts me." I tried to tell him but he shook his head.

"You don't understand, It's just…" he sighed and added. "It's just you are the most important person in my life Aurora and that's the only reason I am trying to change you. I see my future with you and you might hate me for this but I want you to accept my reality. I can't give you a lavish lifestyle like your father. That's why I tell you to quit doing things I can't afford. I know I sound selfish here but I love you and…" he dropped his hand and walked up to the window. He was staring at the tree outside with his hand's stuff in his pockets.

I was stunned to hear him. He was this scared of losing me and here I was, oh my God! I bit my lower lip from inside. My poor Gabe! Standing up from the sofa I walked up to him.

Resting my hand on his shoulder I placed my head on his neck. "You don't have to fear anything, Gabe. I don't care about money or status. All I want is you. Don't be afraid darling, and as far as my dad is concerned. I will finish this topic once and for all."

I pushed his shoulder a little to turn him towards me. He stared into my eyes, his gaze holding questions.

"Tonight, I want you to join me for dinner with dad."

Gabe's brows pulled together. "You want me to meet your dad?" He asked surprised.

"Yes, and I will tell dad that I want to be with you, forever," I told him, meeting his gaze.

His eyes flashed. "You are serious…"

"Yes, Gabe, I want to be with you only." He picked me in his arms and swirled around. "Oh, darling, you just made my day, you have no idea how much I love you."

"Haha!! " I held his neck for support. "Gabe!" I laughed. "Love, I promise you won't regret this ever. I will always love you and cherish you. Baby, I promise you that."

He said finally putting me on the floor.

At that moment I was on cloud nine. That was the most beautiful day of my life. I was happy that day with lots of beautiful dreams in my eyes but I was wrong. That day I was happy with my prince charming unaware of the fact that a monster was waiting for me at home.

A monster named Liam Knight!

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