Their doll 2

50- One step closer

( Aurora P.O.V. )

Happiness.

As of now, I'm full of it.

For the shortest period of time it felt like, but in fact, it had been over a month now since Ace hired me to babysit his cousins. Mia and Mya. The twin sisters. Two seconds apart. But Mia believed herself to be much older than her sister. Lucky for her, Mya was a bit of a follower. She preferred giving in to avoid trouble rather than argue. Mya is basically a younger version of me.

Children, to me, were a great source of happiness. Though, it broke your heart into a million pieces when they're sick or hurt, they could positively impact your life in the way nothing else could. Either that, or I might be developing a severe baby fever.

Everyday, my mornings typically started with me waking up in one of the guest bedroom. Then, I stepped into the shower, get dressed and then headed downstairs to help out with whatever left to be done in the kitchen. Apart from me, Ace also had three other maids and one butler whom I had grown familiar with over the duration of my temporary stay at his place. They were nice people. Had a lot of respect for Ace. Not because they feared him. But because he treated them like family. Fair and equal. As how it should be.

The atmosphere around Ace's place was exactly how I dreamed my future home would feel like. Cozy. Comfort. Simple. Yet, inviting. The place was decorated beautifully and every square foot of space was utilized wisely. The entrance hallway is my favorite. There were picture frames mounted on one side of the walls. A picture of his family. A picture of Ace alone. A picture of his grandparents. A picture of his two gorgeous younger sisters. A picture of his childhood's pet.

I was honestly jealous. His family seemed perfect. But more than that, I was grateful for their hospitality and kindness. His family had welcomed me in and treated me like one of their own. Even though, Ace was hardly home since his aunt's accident. His parents paid us a visit every other day as soon as they returned from their trip. Mrs. Alonso, or she preferred I call her by her first name, Esme, couldn't stop expressing her deep gratitude toward me; for taking care of the girls. I told her it was no trouble really, and that I enjoyed being around the girls more than running around the club. She thought it was so romantic how Ace and I met. Not at all disgusted by who I was as I thought she would be. She was so positive, polite, charming, self-effacing, and always very considerate of others. Just like her son.

In order to make up for his absence, Ace had made his affection as clear as it could be with a distance being applied to our equation of love. Being in a relationship with him, I never have to question my worth. Every day he would call. Asked me about my day and told me about his. During the night, when the nightmare usually kicked in, I had no choice but to let my guard down and be vulnerable with him. Then, he would insist we stayed on FaceTime until I fell asleep and he did that for me every single night, having no further questions.

It's like a dream. Ace makes me so happy. His family, too. But I hated how there was still a small part inside me, dreading the moment. As they say, old habit dies hard. My life had never been so great for so long. Because how it was back that, when everything was about to get better and brighter, something bad had to happen and it would become darker and worse again.

I could only hope that's not the case this time.

"How do you like your steak cooked, darling? Medium? Medium-rare? Well-done?

I smiled, looking up from the coloring book Mia and Mya had been working on.

"Medium-rare, please." I said, "Thank you, Mrs. Alonso."