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Present
“Mom?” Aria whispered as the sight of her mother made her freeze on the spot.
The woman looked the same as the last time she saw her, five years ago, and at the same time so very different. The changes were subtle, but Aria noticed them right away. There were a few wrinkles around her eyes, that weren't there before, her hair had started to go grey, and she had lost a considerable amount of weight. Aria felt a pang of guilt in her chest, knowing for sure, that she must have been the reason for it.
“Honey.” Eleanor said and a second later Aria was enveloped into a bone-crushing hug. She stood unmoving for a beat, still feeling shocked, before she returned the hug with all she had, as the familiar smell of honey and almonds reached her nose and she inhaled deeply. Home, mom; the words crossed her mind, and her eyes filled with tears.
“Where have you been!? Five years Aria! Five years!” her mother started to yell at her as soon as they separated.
“Why don't you move to the living room, so you can talk?” Will said, probably noticing that Aria had started to shake, and trying to give her some time to compose. Her mother stared at her for a few more minutes, before nodding.
Once they were seated, she looked at Will, since Aria was still in an obvious state of shock.
“I am sorry. You are Will, right?” she asked with a tired smile.
“Yes. We talked on the phone. It's very nice to finally meet you, Eleanor.” Will said with a small smile and they shook hands before the man left the room so they could talk privately.
“Aria?” she heard her mom say, and slowly looked up to see her looking at her, her gaze assessing her, her face a myriad of emotions. There was the obvious happiness for seeing Aria again, but she also recognized sorrow and anger.
“What happened? What are you doing in New York? Last I heard you were with that man.” she said, her thoughts on the man in question quite clear.
Aria flinched when she mentioned David, not wanting to remember him, but she knew that she had to. She owed her mother that much; she deserved to know the whole story and she also deserved to know that Aria didn't want to leave her all those years ago.
“I... I left him two years ago.” Aria whispered as she stared at her hands squeezed tightly in her lap.
“Why? If I remember correctly, he was the love of your life and the only important person in it; the only family you wanted.” she said, her words cutting through Aria like a knife, just as they did when she was the one saying them to her.
Her eyes filled, once again, and she shook her head, trying to calm down.
“Aria? Just talk to me. Please.” she whispered, and Aria took a long breath and started.
She told her what happened; she told her every single gruesome detail. She told her how David changed, how he threatened to kill Aria and her family if she didn't cut the ties with them. How he treated her, how he beat her and sold her, insulted her and broke her. The words spilled from her mouth, and with every one of them, Aria could see the effects they had on her mother's face; the disbelief, the sadness, anger, and horror. Her eyes were so wide, her hands shaking as tears ran down her face.
“Oh my God. Oh my God.” she kept repeating, shaking her head as if trying to will the images away.
“And then, I ran away. I came here and lived on the streets for a few months before I met Will's brother, Meg, and he helped me. He gave me a job and a place to stay; he even paid for my school. I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't met him.” Aria finished the story while looking at her feet.
“I am so sorry, mom. It was my entire fault. I didn't want to leave you, but he made me do it. And once I escaped, I was too afraid to come back. I didn't want him to find out that I was still alive, and as time went by, I was afraid that if I did call you, you wouldn't want to have anything to do with me. I had said such horrible things to you, and I was sure that you h... hated m... me.” Aria said, her voice breaking at the end as a heartbreaking sob escaped her mouth. In the next moment, she was enveloped in her arms while her body shook from her cries.
How she had missed her, her beautiful mother, the one person from her past that was always there for her.
That day when Aria had said those horrible things to her, when she had to look at her and break her heart was the worst thing that had ever happened to her; worse than anything that David had ever done to her and worse than months she had spent in the cold. She hugged her tightly, the words "I am sorry" leaving her mouth again and again like a mantra.
“It's okay honey. It's okay. I am the one that should be sorry. You are my daughter and I failed you. I was supposed to protect you, it was my only job, and I didn't. I am so sorry, honey. I am so sorry.”
They stayed like that for a long time, hugging and crying and whispering apologies and words of love into each other's ears.
After they calmed down, Will came back into the room, asking if they would like to have lunch. The two of them agreed, Aria only then noticing how hungry she was, since the last meal she had had was in the afternoon of the previous day.
The lunch went well, as Will and her mother conversed lightly, with Aria joining in from time to time. She was still shocked to have her mother back in her life, and the person she had to thank for that was the man sitting across the table.
She watched them talking and laughing as Will told her mom the story of how they’ve met and about Aria spilling his coffee.
Her mother then told Will stories about Aria growing up and the ridiculous things that she had done, making Will cry from laughter.
Aria was sure that she should feel embarrassed, but all she felt was happiness because here she was, having lunch with the two most important people in her life and all she could manage to feel was joy.
