What is family?

Chapter 106

Third Person POV

Marino Mansion, Italy

"Who is it?", Vince asked calmly.

Aria stiffened at that. 

In her desperation to talk to her sister, she had forgotten that Vince was sitting right beside her bed.

She looked at him nervously, but didn't meet his gaze. She was restlessly moving her gaze in all directions, but didn't dare to meet his eyes.

She wasn't scared of her brother, no. But she didn't know what action he would take if he knew she's speaking to Angelina and that uncertainty made her anxious.

Aria was a little afraid that Vince would take her phone away and prohibit her from contacting her sister ever again. It was a rare opportunity to be able to talk to Angelina after what happened and Aria didn't want to lose that opportunity.

Before she could find a way to handle the situation, she was a little startled when Vince calmly stood up. 

She assumed he would take the phone in her hand and hence gripped the phone tightly.

She was utterly surprised by what he said next.

"I have some work to finish. I'll come back some time later. If you're done with your call, inform me.", Vince said calmly with a stoic face.

He walked out, closing the door behind him, without waiting for Aria's reply.

Aria was dumbfounded. She didn't expect her brother to give her privacy even without knowing who the caller on the other side is.

She let the matter slide as she was more concerned about talking to her sister than anything else.

"Hello", Aria greeted, but no response came from the other side.

Aria waited for a moment, but still there was no response.

She was puzzled. She didn't understand why Angelina was not saying anything. She wondered if it was because she's angry or if it was not Angelina on the other side of the call.

However, Aria's heart was screaming that it was indeed her sister and Aria trusted in her instincts.

Aria decided to melt her sister's silence by using the method Angelina had once used on her. She took a deep breath and started talking.

"Even if you don't respond, I'm still going to speak, so don't cut the call.", Aria said and waited for the response.

All she received was silence and she took that as her cue to continue.

"Do you remember that time when you sat outside my room and kept talking to me despite the lack of response? It was the first time someone had put an effort to make me feel better. I'm glad that the first person is you. It was funny how you wondered out loud whether I was in the room and listening to your words or I was in the bathroom and you were just talking to the door.", Aria chuckled lightly.

She didn't wait for any response and continued.

"I was indeed in the room and listening to your rambling and it wasn't boring at all. I was just a step away from opening the door, but Ash had to ruin that moment for us. He truly had been a bane of my existence during those initial days!", Aria scoffed in annoyance, remembering Ash's stupidity.

"From there on, many things happened and we did end up being best friends. More so than that, our bond grew up to be of sisters. You know my friend, Leah, right? I was once telling my friends about how we spent the weekend and Leah was whining with jealousy over how lucky it was to have a sister. I was happy about having you as my sister. Between us, it never mattered whether we were related by blood or not. We have always been sisters despite any truth.", Aria said, her voice gently softening by the end.