Chapter 27 The woman
“Mom! Dad!” The boys called as they walked into the living room to meet Aurora and Arthur sleeping on the couch.
Arthur’s eyes slowly opened as their voices filled his ears. He groaned softly as he grabbed his head and slowly looked around.
He furrowed his brows as soon as he saw that his head was on Aurora’s chest. Without thinking twice, he got away from her, and in the process, woke her up.
Aurora moaned as she also opened her eyes. Though she managed to get some sleep, she was still very sleepy. She was up most of the night because Arthur wouldn’t stop throwing up and sulking like a baby.
“Mom!” Ryan called again as they both hurried to meet them. Arthur gulped hard and tried as much as he could to avoid looking at Aurora.
He knew what went down the previous night even though he was drunk, and he also wasn’t ready to talk about it with her.
“We are ready for school!” Riley uttered, showing them his backpack.
“Oh! That’s great. Uncle Theo took care of you?” Aurora asked tiredly, rubbing her finger against her swollen eyes.
“Yes.” They all chorused.
Just then, Arthur proceeded to stand up, and Aurora hastily stood up with him and grabbed his hand.
“Are you alright? Do you feel dizzy? I can walk you to your room.” Aurora uttered worriedly, while the boys just watched.
“I’m fine.” Arthur muttered coldly, snatching his hand from hers.
Theo walked out of the kitchen with the lunch boxes in his hand and saw what was happening.
“Good morning, Mr. Arthur. How are you today? I can take the children to school if you wouldn’t be chanced.” Theo uttered, and Arthur nodded slowly.
“Yes. Thank you.” He answered and began to head for the stairs at a slow pace. His hangover was so insane, it felt like his head was too heavy for his whole body to carry.
After he left the living room, Aurora and Theo exchanged looks.
“You don’t have to come with me. You should talk to him. I don’t think he’s okay.” Theo uttered, and she nodded, letting out a faint smile.
“Thank you, Theo.” She answered, kissing the boys on their foreheads before they headed out of the house.
Letting out a yawn, she headed up the stairs to Arthur‘s room. She didn’t know why, but she was so worried about him, and a part of her felt guilty.
She believed she was the reason why he had to drink again after so many years.
Getting to the door of his room, she planted a soft knock on it.
“Mr. Arthur, are you alright? Should I bring you some water? Coffee?”
“What do you want, Aurora? I’m fine, okay?” Arthur answered as he stood in front of his mirror and began to unbutton his shirt.
Without thinking twice, Aurora reached for his doorknob and opened the door.
“Aurora, I didn’t ask you to come in. Leave.” Arthur uttered, trying to raise his voice but he couldn’t. Not when his head was banging seriously.
“I am not leaving, Arthur. I took care of you the whole night. I don’t deserve to be treated this way. I’m just here because I’m worried about you, okay? You don’t look good.” Aurora insisted, slowly moving closer to him.
“I don’t need your sympathy, okay? Because you took care of me doesn’t mean we are now best of friends. That’s why you’re here in the first place.”
“No! That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to take care of the kids, not you. But I feel guilty, and so I’m going to apologize.” She added, staring at his face through the mirror in front of him.
“I’m sorry for what I did yesterday. I know I shouldn’t have kissed you. I was mad because you kept asking what was going on between Theo and I after I told you nothing was going on between us. This made me furious and I did something I shouldn’t have. I am sorry.” She uttered calmly.
Arthur gulped and kept mute for a few minutes. Then he pulled his shirt off his upper body.
“You’re done, right? You can leave.” He uttered coldly, turning to look at her.
“Mr. Arthur, can you please stop being so cold to me? I’ve learnt my lesson, okay? I just…”
Arthur suddenly stumbled, grabbing the bed with his hand before he could fall on it.
“Mr. Arthur.” Aurora called fearfully, rushing to me and holding him.
“I’m fine. Let go of me.” Arthur muttered, but Aurora refused. She placed her palm on his forehead and realized he was burning up.
“Mr. Arthur, you have a fever!” She uttered with great concern.
“You’re too loud.” Arthur groaned, grabbing his hand from her and laying flat on the bed.
“I’m sorry. Ermmmm… I’ll be right back.” She said as she ran into his bathroom to get a bowl and towel. She filled the bowl with water and put the towel in it.
She took it to the bedside and squeezed excess water out of the towel.
“I’ll clean your body with this, okay? This should reduce your temperature.” She uttered, moving the towel to his face and carefully wiping it.
Arthur wanted to refuse her help, but he was too weak for that. His eyes could hardly stay open.
Aurora moved the towel down to his chest, occasionally looking at his face to make sure he was fine with whatever she was doing.
“I’m sorry.” She muttered as guilt still ate her up.
“Stop talking.” Arthur moaned, trying to cover his ears with his hands. Though she spoke softly, it was still so loud in his ears.
After a while, Arthur felt much better and began to fall asleep again. This relieved Aurora and she prepared to leave his room so he could sleep soundly.
Standing up from the bed to leave, Arthur's phone began to ring in his pocket, causing Arthur to groan loudly.
“Sorry! Sorry! I’m getting it right now.” Aurora uttered as she hurriedly reached for his phone so she could stop it from ringing.
Pulling out the phone, she saw it was Derick calling. Instead of disconnecting it, she hastily answered it and moved out of his room.
“Derick.” Aurora uttered.
“Aurora?? Why do you have Arthur’s phone?” He asked in surprise.
“It’s a long story. Can you please come to the house? I need to ask you some questions. I’m really worried about Mr. Arthur.”
“Really? What’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
“Just come here as fast as you can, okay?” Aurora responded and hung up.
She slightly opened the door to see if he was still sleeping, and luckily, he was.
“What do you mean he drank?” Derick asked in shock, standing up from the couch.
“No, Derick. You can’t go in there now. He’s sleeping. I think he has a fever.” Aurora replied, stopping him.
“But why would he do that? He quit years ago!” Derick muttered, sitting on the couch again.
“We had a fight last night, but I don’t think that is the reason why he drank. I kissed him…”
“What?!”
“I know it’s crazy but he kept pestering me about what’s going on between Theo and I.”
“And then he drank afterwards?”
“Yes. I found Theo trying to stop him from drinking the second bottle of whiskey. Theo told me he was asked to watch him and make sure he never drinks. Why? What happened? Why did he start drinking?”
“Aurora… I don’t think I should be the one to tell you this.” Derick uttered, shaking his head.
“Why not?! I care about Arthur too, okay? I care about him so much. So please, tell me what happened.” Aurora insisted, making Derick sigh.
“About twelve years ago, Arthur was in a seemingly perfect relationship with this girl, Anita. She was everything to him. He was ready to do anything for her, but he was just a poor man.”
“Poor man?”
“Arthur didn’t become stinkingly rich until twelve years ago when his grandfather died. He was an orphan, but he never knew he had a grandfather, until he was called to inherit his empire.”
“Before then, Anita broke Arthur’s heart the day he tried to propose to her. She humiliated him in front of so many people because he was poor and told him that she was only with him out of pity.
“He also caught her having sex with his best friend, only for them to tell they would be getting married in three months.
“This broke Arthur. It crushed him. He did everything for Anita. Spent the little he made from his jobs just to make her happy, only for her to leave him for his rich friend.
“This turned Arthur into a drunk. He tried to escape the cruelty of life by drinking. Even after he became rich, he couldn’t stop until he had to go to rehab. After spending three years in rehab, he eventually stopped and never drank again, until yesterday.”
“Oh my…” Aurora uttered as her eyes heated up in reaction to Arthur’s story.
Now it all made sense. Why he hated women so much and didn’t want to ever fall in love.
“Where is she now?” Aurora asked, and Derick shrugged.
“I have no idea. All I know is Arthur doesn’t want to see her ever again. He needs someone who truly cares about him, and I know I haven’t said this before but that person is you, Aurora.”
“Me? Derick, I ran away with his kids.”
“And you are still right here in his house. The Arthur I knew would have thrown you into jail regardless of what the law says. But he didn’t. He still even calls you mummy in front of his boys. And now, he has gotten rid of Danielle.”
“But…”
“You are the woman, Aurora. Only you can heal him.”