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17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ❦ AURELIA
A headache forms at the back of my head the moment I slowly blink my eyes open, my brows furrow in confusion as my eyes dazzle around.

This isn't my brother's apartment.

Sure as hell, not Rowan's yacht that we spent yesterday's night at, Jesus, the memories come rushing to me all of a sudden.

"Goddamn it." Another voice meets my ears and my eyes flit around to find the source of it, Vera walks towards me with her hair sticking in different directions and her clothes riled up her body like she was sleeping.

The yawn slipping from between her lips confirmed my assumptions, "Hey, Aurelia, good morning." Good morning? I need cold water splashed across my face right the fuck now.

"Where are we?" I speak the moment I come back to my senses, she sighs and lifts a shoulder, shrugging, "Elias's house, the rest of us are upstairs, only you are sleeping down here." I narrow my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest as I get up from that extremely comfortable bed.

"Why?" I complain and she smiles weakly, shaking her head "No idea." She replies and then her words slowly settle in, "Elias's house?" I repeat out loud and she nods, fuck.

"Where's the bathroom?" I ask suddenly, feeling the urge to puke, I'm almost certain it's from the amount of alcohol I drank yesterday, she gestures to her left and I stroll away.

It takes a moment before I finally find it along this hallway, getting inside, I don't bother with closing the door since I don't exactly have the time as I open the toilet lid and heave.

A couple of beats pass and I realize that someone is approaching me, I'm too busy throwing up to even look at who this is, I feel a warmth behind me as someone holds my hair away, clasping it around his fist, his scent is too recognizable as I slowly brush away my tears and stand up when I feel absolutely empty.

Flushing the toilet, Elias stands up with me, I hurry to wash my mouth, wishing I was in my own house to brush my teeth however, I find him handing me a toothbrush with a paste, no words exchanged.

I welcome them and start brushing my teeth seconds later, wanting to get the disgusting taste off my tongue, I'm not drinking ever again, when I'm done, I embrace myself with a harsh breath and slowly turn in his direction.

He towers over me by a few inches and I crane my neck to meet his eyes, "I'm never drinking again." I mutter under my breath in disgust, and he shrugs, "Well, most of us tried to stop you but you were too caught up in your mind." I remember that, but I don't remember what happened after it.

How I ended up here, how we celebrated Noah's birthday itself, I don't remember anything except the moment I was drowning all that alcohol down my throat, "Yeah." I sigh, sidestepping him, but he blocks my way, his hard chest hovering in my view.

"What?" I question, "Come outside." He says and then lets me go, I breathe out when I'm away from him, feeling a pressure get off my chest, "Outside where?" I call out when he doesn't appear again in the room I was stuck inside.

My eyes flit around, taking in the fancy furniture, I slowly turn into a circle, trying to see the end of this goddamn villa—no a palace from the looks of it, it's two floors, and that makes me recall Vera's earlier words as Elias comes back into the room I'm in.

"Why am I the only one sleeping down here?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest, he tilts his head to the side, almost manically if I didn't know better "To keep an eye on you." He explains but doesn't offer further, his answer doesn't exactly clear up anything but from the look in his eyes, I take it as a hint to stop talking.

"You wanted me outside, outside where?" I motion with my hands around the place, confused, his lips lift a fraction and he starts walking outside, "Follow me." He says and I sigh exaggeratedly as I do so.

Wanting to reach the end of this, I'm still flabbergasted by his earlier offer don't mind me, but a couple of thoughts have been settling at the back of my mind, thoughts I didn't know if I'll have the balls to actually act on.

I knew that my brother didn't rule my life, it was a chance that he was now away, I know how long he'll stay like this, almost another two weeks, and according to Elias's words, that event is in a couple of days.

I'm not a kid, I can make choices by myself and I hated that I let both my parents and my brother rule it that way, and if I wanted to prove that I can take my own decisions, I had to act on it.

Am I manipulating myself into agreeing to his offer? No no, I'm thinking logically right now.

Right?

When we finally get outside of that endless house, a garden stretches almost a couple of miles in front of the house, we walk for so long, until finally, we reach the end of it, and my eyes flit back to take in the view of the house.

A mansion.

The mansion falls on a large piece of land, it's impossible to see the end of it, Two-Floors high, the house stretches horizontally like a palace. There are even two towers on each side and the entire structure appears old.

I wouldn't be surprised if this was a noble's estate before. There must've been renovations, though, because all floors are filled with huge glass windows. Sometimes, glass takes up more space than walls. It's like a glasshouse, A fountain rests not far from the entrance too.

"Where are we going?" I ask, he rubs his bottom lip, then motions at something and I follow his gaze, my stomach lights up when I see two dogs there, and uncontrollably, my legs work on their own as I walk towards them.

They're tied to something so that they don't escape, but Elias motions for a guy standing beside them to let them go, he looks like he works here, and slowly I get down on my knees as the two dogs stroll my way, one is a golden retriever, the other is a chihuahua, which is surprising.

"You have a chihuahua?" I'm not against them or something but he just doesn't look like the type, "She was my mother's." His words settle at the bottom of my stomach as I try to search his face for any emotion that I can indicate.

"And the golden retriever?" I ask as I play with him, rubbing his soft fur as his tail wiggles in awe, "He's mine, they both are now." He says, and I nod, I think I lose track of time before his voice pulls me again from my thoughts.

"Thought you'd like them." He explains gruffly and I smile, too caught up with them to even bother with appearing angry toward him, I've always loved dogs, "Yeah I do." I reply.

"About what I offered, will you be my fake girlfriend, sweetheart?" He raises an eyebrow and I clear my throat as I contemplate the possibilities in my mind, I think I stay like this for five minutes before I finally look back at him.

Right in the eyes as I reply.

"Yes."

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