Love's Delusion || ✓

Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

I was terrified.

Aaron didn't speak for the entirety of the ride back home, making the ride seem longer than it should be. 

Just sitting in the car, I was waiting for him to do something, to say something, just something to show me how he was feeling.

He must feel disrespected. I broke my promise, he must hate me. 

Just waiting for him to do something was overly nerve-racking, I couldn't help but shake the entire time I sat in the car. Aaron made no movement to look at me while he drove, his full attention was on the road and nothing else. 

When we reached the house, he didn't wait for me. Instead, he got out of the car and went straight into the house, without a glance in my direction. My nerves were slowly getting to me, my nails digging deep into my palm as my mind racked up what things were about to happen when I entered the house. 

I got out of the car at a snail's pace, the closer I got to the house, the more I didn't want to be here-- I've never felt like this. 

I have never felt this type of fear when something was wrong, when I knew I did something wrong.  Aaron and I would get into fights, but no fight would end up with me absolutely terrified to enter my own house. 

Reaching for the door handle, I noticed that I was shaking. My hand was shaking so much that I couldn't get a proper grip on the handle. 

Calm down Veronica, nothing is going to happen.

I took deep breaths, trying to regain my strength as I entered the house. Entering the house, I was hit with intense warmth after standing the cold and I knew that Aaron had put the heater on full blast-- I hated when the heater was on full blast, I felt suffocated.

He wasn't in the living room, nor was he in the dining room so I made my way to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Aaron was leaning on the counter while he sipped on a glass of water. 

"Aaron?" My voice was nothing but a whisper as he neglected to glance in my direction, swirling the water in his glass as if it was fine wine.

"Are you okay?" My mouth went dry. What?

"Y-Yeah." I stuttered, I felt a shiver go down my spine despite the intense heat that was going through the house. My hands continued to shake so I placed my hand into the other, trying to calm the nerves in me.

"What did the doctor say?" His attention was still on the glass in front of him, not once did he look up at me. It was kicking my nerves up to the max. 

"T-They said that I'm okay, the bruises will heal." He nodded and then took a long sip from his glass, emptying it of any water before reaching for the tap and filling up once again. 

"And what did you say about how you got the bruises." He didn't fill the glass up fully, he filled it up halfway and instead of drinking it he simply stared at it, admiring the glass. 

"I told them that I got mugged on my way home yesterday." I tried my hardest to keep my cool and regain my strength. Every small move that Aaron was making was slowly terrifying me.

He hummed in response, nodding his head before bringing the glass to his lips. 

Instead of drinking, he retracted his arm and flung the glass to the wall, smashing next to my head as I jumped in shock. I couldn't help but let out a scream, seeing the glass come my way only to hit inches away from my face. 

Instantly, my shaking hands covered my face from any impact, my body cringing away from the shattering glass beside me. 

I felt hands rip mine away from my face, Aaron was now looking straight at me, his face only inches away from mine. 

"What did I tell you about Gage?" His voice was a low whisper, I was waiting for his grip on my wrists to tighten however it never happened, they just stayed firmly on my wrists. 

"He came into the room and saw the bruis--" 

"Why the hell," He gritted his teeth with his breath hitting my face harshly, "was my brother in our bedroom?" His face was getting closer and closer, our noses inches away from touching. 

"I-I don't know he just came in." I stuttered, my body shaking in fear. "P-Please Aaron, I didn't do anything wrong." He scoffed, letting go of my wrists and retracting his body from me, turning away. 

Suddenly, his face was inches away from mine away, his hands smashing into the wall on each side of my side.

"You don't want to lie to me, Roni." He sneered, leaning closer and closer until our lips were almost brushing. "You really don't want to lie to me." 

"I'm not Aaron, please." I was beyond terrified, I felt to hold my breath in case breathing could somehow set him off. "Please Aaron," I begged. 

Aaron searched my face, his eyes as narrowed as slits, before he pulled away from the wall, taking multiple steps away. 

He paused for a moment, looking at the mess of glass beside me before looking back at me. 

He had no expression on his face, his lips in a straight line while his bright blue eyes had dimmed. 

"Clean up that mess." And then he left. 

When he had left the room, I let out a breath of relief as my body sunk down to the floor. My hands were still shaking and I leaned my head on the wall, biting my lip to resist the urge to burst into tears.

I was terrified, he was terrifying. 

He kept his promise to not hit me again, he kept his promise despite the fact that I broke mine. 

I knew just by looking at him that he wanted to hit me-- I wanted to hit me-- but he resisted. He resisted because he didn't want to break his promise. 

My breathing was heavy as I stayed on the floor for a few more moments, rethinking what had happened. But I didn't know what had just happened, I wasn't too sure about what went on in the past few moments. 

I was almost positive that Aaron was going to do something much worse than asking me questions and then throwing glass to the wall. I thought he was going to scream. 

I thought he was yell and threaten to leave me-- knowing that that leaves me in bits and pieces-- hell, I thought he was going to raise his hand on me but he didn't. 

And somehow, what he did was much more terrifying than anything else that I was thinking. Just him trying to stay calm terrified me beyond belief. 

I let out an uneven sigh before getting up and retrieving a dustpan and broomstick from the cupboard under the sink. 

Cleaning the mess that Aaron had made, I chose this moment to try and relax. The repeating motion of the broomstick cleaning up the glass somehow sending me into a soothing trance. 

Despite slowly getting calmer and calmer, the image of Aaron's seething face kept appearing in my mind, my hand gripping the broomstick only getting tighter each time.