CHAPTER 28

"Shannon, where in the world have you been? I've... Oh!" she said when she spotted Aiden

"You brought a visitor," she told me

"This is Aiden. My partner for the project I told you about" I introduced Aiden to her, then looked at him

"This is my mom"

"Hi, I'm Susan Salvatore," my mom said to him with a smile

"Nice to meet you, I'm Aiden Parker," Aiden said

"We will be going up now," I told her, trying to run away from the conversation we would have had if Aiden wasn't here

"We still need to talk, lady. You need to tell me where..."

"Oh my goodness, look at the time! You must be hungry" I told Aiden

He was about to talk, but

"And, mom, you have to go to work, right? Don't worry about us, we will manage by ourselves. You can go on and prepare" I cut in

She contemplated, then closed her mouth back. She gave me a look that said we WILL have that talk, then went upstairs

I breathe in relief

"Let's go up," I told him

"What do you mean?" he asked

I turned back to him,

"Sorry?"

"I'm hungry"

I raised my eyebrows

"That was just to avoid my mom. You know that"

"Well then, I'll just have to ask your mom for food then. Since she went that way, her room should be around there"

I dragged him back

"Fine, let's go to the kitchen"

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"Bye, mom" I greeted her as she walked out the door

"And where have you been?" I asked my brother as he walked into the house

"Where would a college student go to during school time?" he asked back

"A normal one would be in college, but I can bet anything that that wasn't where you were"

"It's none of your business"

"Tsk, tsk" I said, shaking my head

"Who is here?" he asked to the noise from the kitchen

"None of your business," I told him then went into the kitchen

"Let's go. I'll show you your room" I told Aiden

We stopped in front of Edward who was at the stairs

"What's the mayor's son doing here?" he asked with a not so friendly face, which was kinda expected

"The name's Aiden. This is my brother, Edward" I introduced him to Aiden

"I never knew you were friends with him," he said putting stress on the friends

There's no way they are doing a handshake

"Don't mind him" I told him

"Where are you going?" Edward asked as we climbed the stairs

"To his room, of course"

"Why?"

"Well, where else would he stay? The rooftop?" I asked

"Why is he staying in our house?"

"Then where else would my partner for the school project stay?" I asked putting stress on the partner

"He's your partner?"

I signed and just continued leading Aiden

"Does he have something against my dad?" Aiden asked

"It's you he doesn't like," I told him

He looked at me and nodded

"This is the room you'll be staying in. There's the restroom over there" I showed and told him

He nodded

"You can go now. I'll call if I need anything" he said

I scoffed

"Sure. I'll be in my room waiting for your call, Your Majesty" I said and left, closing the door

I looked at the door, shook my head, and went to my room

"What are you doing here?" I asked my brother

"Where were you?"

"Showing Aiden his room?"

"That's not what I mean," he said

I shrugged

"You weren't at school"

Shoot

"How did you know?' I asked him

"How else? Mom called and asked if you were with me"

Why did he have to go out today of all days?

"Oh"

"Shannon"

"I just didn't want to go to school"

"I called Kim," he said

I looked at him

"Why would you call her?"

He didn't answer, he just looked at me

"What?"

"If there's something wrong, you know..."

"Nothing happened. I wasn't feeling well, but I got better. See?"

As long as you guys don't see him, everything is going to be okay. There's no need for you guys to know

After looking at me with a skeptical look, he got up. When he got to the door, he turned

"Does he have anything to do with it?"

"Who? Aiden?" I asked

"Who else?"

"There's isn't anything for him to be involved. Even if there is, he has nothing" I said with a smile

"At first, you were angry when talking about him. Then you cried, became scared, now you're smiling. I can't wait for the next one" he said, the last statement with sarcasm

I just smiled as he left

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I was hungry by the time I woke up. The light was on when I went down

"Mom?" I called her She was sitting at the counter doing something

"Are you guys taking turns coming down?" she asked

"Huh?"

"First it was Aiden, then Edward, and now, it's you," she said

I chuckled

"I don't know about them, but I just got up. Came to get something to eat" I told her

I settled for an apple. I couldn't bring myself to even prepare cereal

"What are you doing?" I asked her as I took my place beside her

"My boss made me in charge of an event"

"Hmm, that's great. How are things going between you?" I asked with a sly smile

"The way things should be between an employee and employer," she said

"Guess who it's for?"

"Huh?"

"The event"

"Who?"

"Jessica"

"Jessica?"

"Yeah, the anniversary of her company is coming soon"

"Really? When is it?"

"Next month"

I nodded and smiled at her

We sat there, she doing what she was doing, and me watching her do what she was doing, although I had no idea what it was

"Everything is good, right?" she suddenly asked

"Sorry?"

"You're good, right?" she asked

I was silent for a while

There have been some terrible things in my life, and the cause of it just resurfaced. But, I was good. I had my family; mom, Edward, Kim, Jessica, Alex. And at a corner, Aiden

I nodded

"I'm good," I told her with a smile

"I'm sorry," she said

"Mom"

"You've gone through a lot because of me. Because of my de..."

"Mom"

Tears were falling down her cheeks

"Ever since you were young, I made you suffer. You can't ever sleep without the lights. I'm sorry, Shannon"

I shook my head

"You didn't do anything wrong, mom. It wasn't your fault"

"I'm so sorry"

She burst into tears as she kept on apologizing

I hugged her, reassuring her that it wasn't her fault and that I was okay

At the stairs, Edward was there

I smiled at him, at my own tears were falling

And he smiled back, giving me a thumbs up

This is the only good thing that man did to me. He gave me my family