Chapter 11: Confession Went Wrong
"You what?" Davian almost felt like he heard it wrong. After all, this shouldn't be happening—that too so soon. He wasn't ready for it.
"I love you," Aurora repeated, her eyes filled with different kinds of emotions, but mostly love.
Instantly, he averted his gaze from hers. "Aurora..."
She stiffened the moment she heard her real name in his mouth. "What's wrong?"
Davian delayed his words by lowering his gaze to the ground and letting out a soft sigh before finally dumping the splash of cold water on Aurora's dreams with, "I don't love you."
She felt the ground slipping off her feet. "You.... you don't?"
He sucked in a deep breath and shook his head in denial. "Unfortunately, I don't. I'm sorry. I can't reciprocate your feelings."
Aurora tried to keep herself calm. "It's okay, Davian." She smiled at him. "You don't have to confess right away. When you will fall in love with me, then you can reciprocate too. For now, just know that I am in love with you."
Davian didn't even bother to acknowledge what she said and proceeded to ask her, "How can you fall in love with me so fast?"
She furrowed her brows. "What do you mean by how?"
"I mean, it's not been long since we started dating. So falling in love this early and—" he was interrupted by her.
"Davian, love doesn't see the time or place. It can just be felt. This epiphany can come at any time."
"You don't understand, Aura." Davian stood up and ran a hand through his hair.
Aurora also stood up. "What don't I understand? I am just pouring my emotions out here so that you know how I feel at least. You don't have to reciprocate yet."
"Yet," he uttered under his breath, sounding a little frustrated. "This is the problem. You will keep having hopes that I will one day. That's why you added yet, didn't you?"
This time, Aurora placed a hand over his shoulder. "Davian? You are my boyfriend. Aren't we in a real relationship? Tell me why I shouldn't have hopes. It's not like I am asking you to get married or forcing you to feel the same as me right now. All I am doing is confessing my current feelings for you. But you are making me feel as though I have committed a crime."
"I—never mind." He groaned. "I need some time. Please leave me alone."
"But Davian, I—"
"Please."
Until now, she was telling him what she was feeling at that moment, trying to communicate with her boyfriend like she should, but it seemed like he wasn't on the same page as her. He didn't even want to listen to her, let alone try to understand her. Therefore, she was done talking.
She sucked in a deep breath, feeling a tug in her chest. "Fine. I'm going inside then. Take all the time you need," with that, she stormed inside.
As she walked through the hallways, she was fully devastated by Davian's reaction.
"Why did he overreact? I know dropping a confession so casually is surprising, but he didn't seem happy at all. He seemed tense," she mumbled. "He was mad at me. For what? For loving him? I don't understand. It's like I don't even know the person I just confessed to."
The moment she stepped into the room, she heard everyone holler, "Happy birthday, Aura!"
Immediately, a smile appeared on her lips when she noticed Declan, Jaxon, Ariel, Nina, and Cillian standing near a table where there was a chocolate cake at the center and different gifts around the table. There were plenty of balloons on the floor.
"Thank you so much, everyone!"
Jaxon went straight to Aurora and hugged her. "I hope you have a nice seventeenth birthday."
She hugged him back and said, "Thank you, Jax." He had no idea how much she needed the hug right now. Davian didn't love her back yet. Obviously, she was hurt, but she couldn't show it in front of him.
"Hey, my turn." Declan pushed Jaxon and tightly engulfed her in a hug. "I hope you are okay, Aura. And if you are not, then don't worry. Everything will be fine and you will be adjusted to this." Declan meant about adjusting to being seventeen, but his words worked in a different way for Aurora—in the assurance and comfort she needed at this time.
Her eyes stung with tears, but she held them back.
"I really hope so, Dee. I hope everything falls into place and I don't screw up anymore," like I did today by confessing my love, she completed in her mind.
Ariel wanted to hug Aurora too, but she felt that she already overstepped from her professional to personal life, so she decided to maintain distance as she would only be there with B4U just for this tour. Too much attachment would cause her pain in the end.
"Okay, let's cut the cake now," Ariel said as Declan and Jaxon took Aurora in front of the table.
"Wait. Where is Davian?" Nina inquired, making others look at Aurora, awaiting an answer.
"He's outside. He had something to do," she backed him up.
"He better be here soon because we will leave this city sharp at eight in the morning," Cillian recalled, making other bandmates groan.
"There goes my sleep," muttered Jaxon.
"Speaking of which, Jax," Nina turned to him, "did you tell the to-be social media manager to meet me tomorrow at six in the morning?"
"Yes," he smiled at the mention of her.
"Are you sure that person will be the right choice?" Cillian asked.
"Obviously. She's a die-hard B4U fan. She talks a lot about the things she loves, so you can imagine the amount of blogs she can write about us. There is no one better than her who can always put in good words for us," Jaxon said confidently.
"Tiana?" Declan smirked at him.
He nodded his head and decided to change the topic before any question arises about this matter. "So, Aura, I know our gifts are nothing compared to your boyfriend. Davian must have given you the best birthday gift. Yet, please accept our small token of love." He pointed to the table filled with gifts.
She smiled once again, but this time her smile didn't reach up to her eyes. Indeed, Davian gave me the best birthday gift ever, she thought.
"Okay, guys, cake!" Ariel reminded everyone again.
Aurora cut the cake and fed everyone. She missed Davian though. He wanted some time alone, and she was not going to deprive him of it, lest he should accuse her like this morning for invading his privacy. This was not how she imagined her seventeenth birthday would start, but little did she know it was only a teaser.
"We all should sleep now," Cillian said to everyone. "Also, Aura, your fans sent you a lot of gifts. I've sent all of them to LMA. You can't carry that many gifts everywhere you go, now can you?"
"Okay," she responded curtly.
"I must say, you are very loved. Nina and I were slightly overwhelmed since we don't have any other helping hand here," Cillian said with a chuckle.
Aurora smiled tightly, her mind swirling with negativity, Fans love me so much, and here I am, not loved by the person I want the most.
Ariel could sense something was wrong, but she promised not to overstep. So once everyone went back to their bedrooms, Ariel took her notebook and started practicing her designing skills.
Aurora changed her gown and sat next to Ariel. She watched her sketch quietly. Aurora wanted to forget everything that happened today. She wished to rewind and never confess her love to Davian. Even though she expected Davian to not fall in love yet, it still hurt when she heard it from his own mouth. Moreover, the way Davian behaved, scared her. Almost as if he thought this relationship was going to go nowhere. Did he not have faith in what they had?
"Ariel?" she spoke up softly.
Ariel turned to her eagerly as she could sense Aurora's uncharacteristic gloominess. "Yes, Aura?"
"You have a pair of scissors with you, right?"
"Yeah, it's on the table." That wasn't quite the question she was expecting, but she answered nonetheless.
"Why don't you cut these designs you make and paste them on a scrapbook? It will look nicer," she suggested.
"I have one already, but this one is my personal notebook, where I experiment with things."
"Oh, okay," was all Aurora said as she took out her iPad. Her heart was feeling heavy, so she decided to write a song while waiting for Davian as he hadn't come home yet.