Chapter 45: Above Aurora
Ever since he had remembered the memories of his past 20 lives in this life, Eric had never once imagined that Aria would eventually place him above Aurora in her heart at any point whatsoever.
Not even back when she realized that he was trying to kill Aurora and still chose not to stop him, not even when she told him, back at the buffet, that he was someone she could not live without, and especially not when she first started showing concerns for his wellbeing, back when they were trying to meet Celeste.
Because regardless of how her feelings and behavior towards him have changed, Eric had always assumed that Aurora would remain her first priority, and that her loyalty to her would never waver.
It had always been that way in the novel, and from Eric’s perspective, it had seemed that way throughout this life as well, despite a few questionable moments that suggested otherwise.
That was just how it was supposed to be.
And Eric had been completely content with that.
But because of that, Eric also knew that Aria wasn’t lying to him right now.
After all, as cunning as Aria could be sometimes, she would never lie about anything related to Aurora unless if she believed that the truth would harm either herself or Aurora.
So that begs the question...
Why?
’And what did I do to deserve this?’
Eric did not react much after hearing the words come out of Aria’s mouth, and he just nodded calmly in response before leaning back against the bench and looking up at the winter sky above.
Not much else went through his mind as well, and he simply stayed like that for a while without saying anything.
It wasn’t until Aria spoke up again after who knows for how long that Eric finally snapped out of his trance and looked at her again.
"Is that... Is that a bad thing?" Noticing that her answer had affected him in some way despite his expressionless face, Aria broke the silence and asked nervously with an extremely worried look on her face.
"Hm? Oh no, it’s not a bad thing at all." Eric quickly shook his head, "I was just a bit surprised, that’s all."
"...Is that really it?" Aria wasn’t entirely convinced.
"I mean... yeah, you did tell me that you couldn’t live without me and all of that back at the buffet restaurant, but I know that you feel the same way about Aurora too, so I just didn’t expect for you to say that you see me as someone more important than her, especially when we haven’t known each other for that long." Eric answered half-truthfully.
"Ah... I see." Aria nodded in understanding before speaking up again, "But it’s okay that I feel this way towards you... right? I mean... I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything like that so..."
"Well, it’s not like the feeling is going to go away even if I do feel uncomfortable about it anyways, so it doesn’t really matter." Eric then paused for a second before continuing, "But if you still really want to know, then no, I don’t feel uncomfortable about it."
"Really? Thank goodness... truly." Aria quietly muttered as she let out a big sigh of relief and finally smiled again.
But the smile on her face didn’t last for very long, and as she continued staring at Eric from the corner of her eyes after he had gone looking off into the distance again, she began to fidget in her seat.
Eric obviously noticed Aria fidgeting beside him as well, especially since it was somehow even more intense than before and he could even feel the bench shaking beneath him, but he didn’t bother saying anything and just let her continue on with it.
Eventually however, Aria managed to finally muster up the courage to do something after staring at him for so long, and she took in a deep breath before moving a bit closer to Eric.
Then without any warning or any sort of hesitation whatsoever, Aria leaned in towards him and kissed him.
Right on the cheek.
Very softly too.
As if she didn’t want to disturb him or even let him know that she had kissed him in the first place.
And then, acting as though absolutely nothing had happened, she slowly leaned against his shoulder, rested her head there, and closed her eyes.
All the while, Eric remained seated on the bench, quietly gazing off into the snowy distance before him.
Not wanting to react to the warmth that still lingered on his cheek.
***
Beneath the winter blue sky, morning slowly drifted into afternoon, and once Eric noticed that his body was beginning to shiver and grow stiff from sitting out in the cold for so long, he finally decided that it was time to head back home for the time being and lightly tapped Aria on the shoulder in order to wake her up.
"Aria, wake up." Eric said.
Aria didn’t move at all however, and remained completely motionless on his shoulder.
"Seriously Aria, you need to wake up. It’s been over two hours now. How can you even sleep peacefully like this under this cold weather?" Eric stated in disbelief as he reached over with his free arm and shook Aria a little harder.
Thankfully this time, Aria did finally wake up from his nudging, and she slowly lifted her head up from his shoulder while rubbing her eyes to wake herself up.
"Mmm... sorry. I haven’t really slept much these past three days because... well, you know, so..." Aria muttered still half-asleep as she blinked a few times and finally looked up at Eric. "...Plus, you were really comfortable to rest on."
"Fair enough, but I think I underdressed a bit too much for the weather today, so I want to head back home now and warm up before I end up getting sick. You should probably get going too, since I’m guessing you have some things to take care of." Eric stated as he stood up and stretched a bit.
"Yeah... I haven’t really talked to anyone ever since I shut myself inside my apartment, so I really should..." Aria fell quiet for a moment before continuing, "But... could I come back with you to your new house for now? I want to spend just a little more time with you today before we part ways."
"Hm? New house? What do you mean by... oh... did you see what happened to my penthouse and all of that other stuff?" Eric asked.
"Mhm... I saw it on the night when I tried convincing Aurora to not go after you anymore, which was what triggered my 3 day breakdown and isolation to begin with and why I had been so desperate to see you again afterwards at the buffet restaurant when lots of my co-workers began texting me about you." Aria explained.
"I see, well I have some other important things to take care of today as well, so I’d prefer if we parted ways for now, but if you need anything from me in person, feel free to come to the house where you first saw me staying at. I’ll be there for a while until I find a new place. Also, here’s my contact information." Eric took out his phone and then handed it to her.
Aria took the phone off of his hand with some sadness on her face but didn’t complain about it and added her number on it before handing it back to him.
Then once Eric put his phone back into his pocket and Aria also got off of the bench and stood up, she gave him one last smile and waved him goodbye.
"I’ll see you later then, Eric."
"Likewise. Have a good rest of your day, Aria." Eric responded and then began to turn away and walk off before suddenly stopping and looking over his shoulder at Aria for one last time.
"One last thing before I forget to ask, but have you managed to convince Aurora to not go after me anymore?" Although Eric knew the answer to this, he still wanted to ask anyways for some strange reason he couldn’t describe.
"Not yet, but if you can give me some more time, then I’ll do everything I can to convince her to stop. You have my word." Aria reassured with a smile on her face.
"Alright. I’ll leave it in your hands then." Eric gave a quick nod before turning around again and finally walking off for good this time.
About 20 minutes later however, Eric arrived back at the front door of his safehouse, opened it, and stepped inside, only to immediately freeze at the sight before him.
Then a moment later, he let out what was probably the biggest sigh ever in this life and rubbed his temples in disbelief.
Because instead of returning to an empty house with Celeste waiting somewhere nearby like he had expected to when he got back, Eric was greeted by the sight of corpses lying across the floor and blood splattered all over his living room.
"..."
"At least I wasn’t here when it happened."