Little Misunderstandings [Sequel to Little Steps]

Nicolette’s P.O.V.

Mum was not okay. Daddy kept telling me she was, but she wasn’t. When daddy was taking a bath, me and Nate went downstairs to wake her up. Nate poked her cheek and so did I. She opened her eyes and then closed them again.

There was something wrong with mummy, but I didn’t know why. Daddy had been crying lots and that made me sad. Uncle Jace took me and Nate to the park alot.

I think he doesn’t want us to see mum and dad.

One time I crawled out of my room when I heard something falling in daddy’s room. He kept saying weird words and he kept pulling his hair. Doesn’t that hurt? I tried it, and it did. Daddy went upstairs and downstairs five times and then he sat down on the stairs and cried again. Daddy doesn’t like it when I cry. I don’t like it when he cries.

Mum didn’t talk anymore. She smiled, but I don’t like it.

I want my real mum and daddy back.



Niall’s P.O.V.

I was going insane.

Every night since the incident had been a sleepless one for me, and a painful one for Aria. Every single night, she would wake up screaming, and when I tried to reach for her, to pull her into the safety of my arms, she would roll to the far end on the bed. I felt rejected, concerned, and hurt. So hurt that I could barely breathe.

Jace had helped alot by taking the kids to the park, in order to get away from all the tension in the house. Soon, it got to the point where Aria would flinch every time I tried to touch her. Her smile towards the kids was so fake, faker that a fucking Barbie doll. She looked tired and worn out all the time, even when I caught her in the bathroom trying to dust her face with some foundation.

I wasn’t giving up up her, but I wasn’t exactly trying hard, either. What was the point of speaking to her if she wouldn’t speak to me? I missed hearing the sound of her voice. I was addicted to it, like a drug, and without it I felt so empty.

What had happened that day?

Aria was currently taking a shower in the bathroom, while I brushed my teeth. A towel hung loosely around my torso, my hair still wet from my own shower. Just as I finished brushing my teeth, the shower stopped, and Aria’s head popped out from behinds the shower curtain. She looked at me with a heavy stare, her eyes scanning my towel as if to tell me something. I knew she wanted a towel, but this was ridiculous. I wasn’t going to deal with this nonsense any longer.

“Yes?” I asked, as if I didn’t know what she needed.

She looked at my eyes, then at the towel around my waist.

“What?”

Aria frowned at me and gestured towards the towel. I squinted at her and watched her gulp. Her lips started to quiver, but she still didn’t speak. Instead, she stepped out of the shower completely naked, and rushed past me into the bedroom. Being the guy I was, I looked outside to make sure no one had seen her.

Damn, I was one fat ass dickheaded jerk.

I followed Aria into the bedroom which now had a new window replacing the shattered one, and watched as she dug for her clothes in her drawers. She found a pair of sweats, and one of her own jumpers.

“Do you want to wear something of mine?” I asked hesitantly. Aria looked up, her eyes filled with pain. She looked like she would burst into tears, but dropped her head back down before I could spot any tears, shaking her head in rejection to my offer.

“But I want you to wear something of mine.” I spoke softer, coming towards her. She looked up again and her eyes widened and I stepped towards her. She shook her head and took a step back with each step I took forward.

“Are you scared of me?” The words left my mouth without thought. Aria stopped moving and stared at me. Stared at my eyes. She looked down, but I slipped a finger under her chin so she would look back up. At the contact, She jumped, backing away.

“You are scared of me.” I whispered. “What have I done?”

Aria began shaking her head violently, running into the bathroom.

It wasn’t looking before I heard the sound of her vomiting. Indeed, when I entered the restroom, she was hunched over the toilet bowl, clutching her stomach as she vomited. and collected her hair and held it back, waiting for her to push my hand away. She wouldn’t, because she was in such a state of vulnerability.

Once Aria had flushed the toilet, she stood up and gently brushed past me, rinsing her mouth in the sink. Just when I thought she would leave the bathroom, she turned and looked at me.

Slowly, she walked towards me, and without touching a single part of my body, she connected her lips with mine. It was so hard not to touch her, but the fact that she had made the first move was enough for me. I craved for her hands to run through my hair the way they always did, but she was soon pulling away, giving me the absolute tiniest bit of a smile before leaving the bathroom.

At breakfast, Nate and Jace were cracking jokes together, while Nicolette stared with a look of irritation between Aria and I. Nicolette definitely knew something was up. Of the two of my children, I would have expected Nate to notice this first. However, Nicolette had also seen Aria, tied to the mirror. If only I had gotten my daughter away sooner. Maybe then she wouldn’t be acting this way.

Jace volunteered to take Nate and Nicolette over to Harry and Corryn’s place. To this, Nicolette finally tore her eyes away from Aria and I to grin. SHe truly loved Harry and Corryn and would never pass up the chance to hang with them.

Once Jace and the kids had left the house, Aria went straight to our bedroom and crawled into bed. It was the first time in two weeks that I decided I would follow her. I was going to get her to talk today. I just had to. Normally, I would just let her go upstairs on her own, while I would stay down and wonder what I was going to do. However, today I stood by the door, peeking into the room through the crease in the door.

Aria ly in bed, going through the scrapbook she had made with her sister. She wiped tears away from her eyes and she flipped through the pages, each flip becoming more harsh. Soon, she was ripping out pages, shoving them under the bed. And that’s when I realized that in the first place, the scrapbook looked awfully thinner. She had spent the last two weeks tearing scrapbook pages out. Finally, She slammed the scrapbook onto the bed and stood up, walking over to the full length mirror. She raised her shirt up and held her tummy, rubbing soft circles to her skin.

Aria looked down at her tummy, pressed a kiss to two fingers, then pressed the fingers to her stomach.

“I love you, baby girl.” she whispered. I had to force myself to hold in a gasp. Those were the first words I had heard her speak in two damn weeks. The sound of her voice was so beautiful that it made me feel the need to pass out.

“I’m going to get out of here.” she whispered, instantly wiping the smile off my face. “I’m going to get out of this trauma. It’s just their eyes. They’re all blue, baby girl. So blue, just like Scar’s. It scares me so much. She scares me so much.”

Our eyes? Remind her of Scarlett’s?

“Baby girl, you don’t even understand how bad I feel. Ni’s so disappointed in me, I’m sure he doesn’t love me anymore. He has no reason to. Nicolette practically hates me. I’m a terrible person, causing all this pain for my family. But when I leave, everything will be better for them. Scarlett promised me that.”

Scarlett promised her that? Wait, hold up. When the hell did she see Scarlett?

“I hope she keeps her promise.” Aria continued whispering to the baby inside her. “Because I honestly would risk anything for this family. I can’t let them go through any more pain.”

Aria let out a loud sigh, tears falling onto her exposed stomach.

“I get so scared of the blue eyes.” she whispered. “They frighten me now. Scarlett is everywhere. There’s no way to stop her.”

I understood then, because Jace, Nate, Nicolette and myself all had blue eyes. Thats why she was so scared.

She dropped the hem of her shirt and went back to the bed, angrily picking up the scrapbook to toss it into the drawer. It was then that I stepped into the room. Her head snapped up, and the same pale, blank expression that had not been present only seconds earlier now shielded her face again.

“Hey princess.” I smiled casually, keeping my hands in my pockets as I came towards her. Her eyes locked with mine and she cowered away. My smile ceased as I watched the sudden change in her behavior. I had thought she was scared of me. But it wasn’t that. She was scared of my eyes because they reminded me of Scarlett. I had a pretty good guess as to who had tied her up and brought her to two weeks of trauma that day.

She gulped and remained silent, her expression slightly alarmed. Her eyes were glued to mine, her expression painful, as if she wanted to look away, but couldn’t.

“Scarlett,” I said slowly. “She did this to you, didn’t she?”

Aria’s eyes widened further. She shook her head in denial.

“But the blue eyes,” I said carefully. “They scare you, because they’re like hers. Because she’s the one who did this to you.”

Aria kept shaking her head, but I knew her well enough to know when she was lying. She always bit her lip, like she was now, and always twirled her hair, like she was now.

“You’re quite the terrible liar, princess.” I stepped even closer. The back of Aria’s thighs were now pressed against the side of the bed, her eyes nearly forced to meet mine from the lack of space between us. Suddenly her breathing became ragged, unsteady. She pushed me away, leaning over the bed in attempt to breath slower. Her intakes of air came out as gasps rather than inhales. Her exhales became dangerously short, and soon she was choking. I quickly applied force to her back to help get the blocked air out of her lungs. She coughed, trying to get away from me.

“Aria!” I yelled. “Stop playing this stupid game for one damn second! You’re choking, for gods sake!”

She crouched down in the corner of the bedroom, facing the wall with her back turned to me. Her breathing slowed and simmered down to soft cries. With every cry, it felt as if my world was crashing down on me. Piece by piece, my life was falling apart. My daughter was cold towards me. My wife was scared of everyone around her. I was losing hope in everything.

“You promise, you promised, you promised. “ Aria whispered in the corner. “But you’ll lie. You’ll tear my family apart. But I promised you.”

“Aria,” I wiped a tear from my eye. “Aria please, please just tell me that it was Scarlett.”

I walked towards her, carefully placing a hand on her shoulder. She turned around, looking me right in the eye.

“Yes.”

The single word held so much confidence, nothing like how she had been acting just a few seconds ago. She stood up and faced up, standing so close to me that it was I who felt uncomfortable.

“I am selfish,” Aria whispered. “but I was scared. She was so frightening, so deadly looking. Everything about her eyes read evil. But I’m stupid. For thinking you’re like her. You’re nothing like her. No one will ever be as terrible as her.”

“Princess.” my name for her slipped from my mouth like wind, a call for her. My hands cupped her scarred cheeks as she spoke.

“But I promised her I wouldn’t tell you it was she who broke in. She promised me that if I left with her, she would stop this nonsense. Everything with the children, all the bullets, the broken windows. Everything would stop.”

“You’re not seriously-”

“If I go,” Aria stopped me from talking. “If I go, the kids would be safe.”

“And if you go, you will be anything but safe.” I disagreed sternly. “You are not going to go anywhere.”

“You can’t stop me, Niall.” she snapped, folding her arms over her chest. “I will go if I want to. You have no right to tell me what to do. “

“No!” I grabbed her arm as she attempted to walk away. “What the hell, Ari! Think about what you’re doing! Scarlett is smarter than you. If she can manage to pull all this off, she most definitely will find a way to manipulate you. She’s tricking you right now. Do you honestly think she’ll stop torturing us when she gets you?”

“Sh-”

“No!” I yelled. “She’s going to use you against us, make us hate you, and make you feel so guilty to the point where you’ll kill yourself so she won’t have to do it herself!”

“No,” Aria shook her head. “Scarlett promised.”

I laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, and she also promised you she would be the best sister in the world. She promised you she’d be there for your wedding. She promised you that you two would go the Paris and make memories together. She promised you everything, yet look where that’s gotten you. She is a liar, a criminal. She will lie to you to get what she wants.”

“She’s not a criminal.” Aria gulped. “She’s my sister, and she promised.”

Oh my fucking god.

“You have got to be shitting me.” I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “ You honestly think she’ll spare you after trying to kill our children, after trying to ruin us so many times? What ever she wants you for, she’ll use you, then she’ll kill you as fast as she’s taken you.”

“No,” Aria continued to shake her head. “Shut up!”

“You shut up!” I yelled, my fists turning white as I tried to lower my anger level. “Listen to me one motherfucking time! You’re so damn stubborn to the point that you will go the ridiculous limits for a person who will use you and then crush you to fucking pieces. You don’t understand! She hasn’t been there for you at all! She’s been trying to break our family this whole time, yet you still have the mother fucking nerve to put your damn trust in her?”

“I am not doing this for Scarlett!” Aria screamed, causing me to close my mouth. “I am not doing this for anyone but my family! You are so naive. You are so stupid. Would you rather watch our kids grow up without me, or watch all of us live in terror for the rest of our lives?”

I didn’t answer. She had cornered me with two choices that I would never be able to choose between. I didn’t want either.

“You are so unfair,” I screamed back at her. “to put me in the position of choosing life with or without you. You are so terrible for doing this, for even considering leaving us! The kids need a mother. They need you. I fucking need you, Aria!”

“Look, Niall.” her voice softened. “Everyone has a purpose in life. Whether it’s to live to die, to help, to serve, to love. My purpose is to save my family from falling apart. My purpose-”

“Don’t you dare go all poetic on me,” I growled. “I don’t even understand that shit. You can’t leave Aria. I’m not going to let you. You’re so crazy if you think I’ll actually let you go. I will never let you go. I promised that to you the day married you. Screw marriage, I promised I wouldn’t leave you the day I kissed you in the goddamn cabin in fucking Paris, where, by the way, your precious Scarlett wasn’t there to make memories with you. But I was there. I promised you.”

“Promises are meant to be broken.” she spoke dryly, yet tears streamed down her beautiful face.

“Promises are meant to be broken,” I mocked her in an obnoxious voice. “Who fed you that shit? Promises are meant to keep, so that when we run into shit times in our life like this, we can look back to those promises and remember which of us are really true to one another.”

“I’m sorry Niall.” Aria frowned. “You haven’t changed anything.”

“She’s ruined us.” I growled. “Scarlett has ruined us.”

“No,” Aria shook her head slowly. “We’ve chosen to let her ruin us.”

The room fell silent.

“I’m begging you here, Ari.” I gulped, my voice cracking. “I’m begging you to stay.”

“Stop this.” Aria’s voice broke, too. “You say it as if it’s my choice to leave.”

“Is it your choice!” I raised my voice. “ A pretty obvious one!”

“No,” she croaked. “You don’t understand. After I told Scarlett I would go with her, she said she would decide. I’m not leaving, Ni. I’m going to be kidnapped when I least expect it. I won’t even get the chance to say goodbye.”

What the fuck? So she was threatened into swearing herself into going to an unknown place with some psychopath sister she didn’t even truly know? And now it was too late to turn back?

Aria broke down crying, her knees buckling as she fell to the floor again. And I just stood there, because this was so much to take it. This didn’t happen. These things did not happen in real life. But as Aria sat on the ground crying in front of me, this was everything but fake. Soon, I lost all the strength I had, but not before picking Aria up from the ground to place her on the bed. I fell onto the bed beside her, holding her close because it was all I could do.

She curled into my body, crying into my shirt. Eventually it became so soaked that I just took it off. Her lips hit my chest, kissing their way up my neck until the soft skin of her lips reached my own. I grabbed her body, desperately pulling her closer to me. I needed her. All of her. Moans left her mouth with every touch given to her body, my finger slowly trailing down her side. Her tongue glided over mine, tasting my mouth as I tasted hers. Her shirt was loose already, so it slipped off with much ease. She shivered at my lips hit her neck, and eventually her stomach. I kissed her stomach several times, and a reminder to her that the baby inside was too special to lose, as was she. Aria’s hands combed through my hair, and soon, we completely lost ourselves in the intimate moment of bliss.

After we had caught our breaths, we lay in bed together, the sheets covered our bodies which were tangled together.

“I can’t lose you,” I whispered, taking Aria’s into my hands again. “You can’t leave me.”

Aria gulped, unable to respond. She looked away, avoiding my eyes, but her grip around me became tighter. She didn’t want to lose me either.

However, it seemed that the predicament we were in only led to a lose-lose situation. Either way, I would live my life in sorrow, and either way I would be losing someone.
Someone who was definitely not worth losing.

Notes

Because I've been so lousy at updating, I've decided to do a double update. It's partly because I love where I am in this story write now so I actually feel like writing, and also because I feel bad for being a slow updater. Hope you guys are enjoying! I know I love writing this!

Comment what you think below, I love reading comments after all!!!