Meant To Be Yours #Wattys2016 [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER TWO: OUT OF SIGHT, NOT OUT OF MIND

Aidan stared at the invitation card in front of his desk for a long time. It had arrived in the mailbox of his mother’s house. And his mother had asked him to empty the mailbox when he dropped in for dinner that afternoon. Unaware of the shocker it had brought, he had carried inside the letters and had stood frozen when he had seen the address on the envelope.

Manhattan. He knew only one person who lived down Park Avenue. And he felt his heart increase its pace at the unexpected turn of event.

Impatiently, he ripped off the envelope and found his doubts being confirmed. It was a letter from her. Katherine Iris Thornton. Caressing the name with his thumb, a bout of sadness engulfed him so overwhelming it was that he had to close his eyes under the force of the emotion.

How he missed her. Even after all that time. Kate and him had been inseparable; a pair of a kind. During his years at Brooklyn university, she had been his best friend, confidant and even alter ego. His little Katie. So close to his heart. There was never a time that he thought of her without a fond memory. Like now. In spite of himself, a smile formed on his lips as he remembered the good times they had together. And how he had been so attached to her that he had worried about how he would have gone on with life after university.

Even his mother had teased him about his growing attachment with Kate and had more than once teased him about bringing her to their house when university was over. Of course Meredith Waldorf had also predicted that they would end of together since they could not leave each other’s side.  Both he and Kate had laughed at that fact at that time and neither had made anything out of it since Ryce had been part of their threesome.

Ryce Connor. His other best friend. The one he had considered to be his brother. The one who had betrayed him by stabbing a knife in his back.

At the memory, he crushed the card in his fist with rage and opened his eyes with determination. He would never forget what had happened to him on that famous night. It had broken his heart and trust and had helped him become the hard man he was now.

Gone was the happy carefree boy he had been. The betrayal had cut too deep and he knew he would never be able to erase the memory of the past. Not ever.

“Aidan!” his mother shouted from behind and he whirled back in a guilty reaction trying to hide the invitation card but it was too late. “What have you got here?”

“Nothing!” he replied. “You wanted something mother?” he asked trying to change the subject not letting on how affected he was.

“Yes dinner is ready,” she announced looked as if she wanted to say something. Aidan tried not to squirm under her gaze. Damn! If she knew about the letter, she would throw a fit and force him to go. But he had still not decided yet if he wanted to go or not.

“I’ll join you in a minute. I have something to finish here,” he told her in a tone that required no argument turning his back on her hoping she would take the hint.

“Okay,” she said knowing that it was time to back out and leave him alone.

Swallowing hard when his mother left, he opened the invitation card once again and read it properly. And felt the blow directly to his heart. Katie was getting married. To some loser named Bigfoot. And he hated the idea. He wondered why she had sent him the invitation after all. They had not contacted each other since the last five or so years. In fact, they had not spoken to each other since their graduation party.

Even now after all those years, he did not know whom to blame; but there was really no point in determining who was at fault. It did not matter anyway. He was done with them and never wanted to meet any of them again in his entire life.