Aoife sat on the bed as she started through her suitcases so that she could unpack, she brushed some hair from her face wanting to get started with her unpacking since she had so much to do.
Marco padded into the bedroom having brought up another box to their private lounge, it had contained a lot of books and he was surprised that Aoife owned so many.
“Do you need any help?” Marco asked moving to sit down on the bed, he wasn’t meant to do much because of his bad leg but he was determined not to let Aoife do all of the work while she unpacked her things.
There was so much still to unpack and Marco wanted Aoife to have some help even if they were home alone; his leg might have ached a bit but it wasn’t like he couldn’t help her in some way.
“I’m good thanks… besides shouldn’t you be resting that leg,” Aoife replied hanging up more of her clothes, she wasn’t going to unpack the boxes until later and she was sure most of her stuff would end up in storage anyway.
Marco ran his fingers through his hair, he could see that she was a little tense and he knew that Mats was right if he was going to marry Aoife then he needed to get to know her.
“My leg is fine,” Marco dismissed reaching into the suitcase to take out clothes so he could help Aoife hang them up; he started to unfold the clothes trying to think of something to ask the brunette.
The two worked silently for a while both not knowing what to say, they both knew that they were going to have to get along with one another and that wouldn’t work if they knew next to nothing about each other.
“Let’s play twenty questions,” Marco announced looking to Aoife, she was going to be his wife and he had to bond with her; they couldn’t be this awkward while out in public again without raising questions.
***
“What are you allergic to?” Marco asked watching Aoife, they had been playing for ages now and had finished unpacking her suitcases before moving on to a couple of boxes that lay around.
Aoife set a couple of her books on a shelf, this was the longest that the pair had ever talked to one another and she was sure that they were on the way to building some sort of bond between them.
“Shellfish and nuts,” Aoife replied moving away from the shelf, she moved to collect another set of books; she was almost relieved that he had asked since most people didn’t bother and being around nuts made her feel ill.
Marco raised an eyebrow and nodded his head, making a mental note to throw out any nuts that were in the fridge and not to get any.
“What is your favourite movie?” Aoife asked putting the books on the shelf, she was surprised that Marco had made space in the house for her things; she had noticed a lot of things had disappeared and she guessed that the stuff that had gone had belonged to Belle.
“The Hangover 2,” Marco responded setting several of Aoife’s DVDs onto the shelf, he looked at a couple pausing to read the summaries curious about them; he had heard most of the titles but some of them he hadn’t heard before.
“The Covenant?” Marco asked holding up the DVD for Aoife to see, he hadn’t heard of it before and it had barely been out ten years; he scratched his head trying to remember if he had seen a trailer or something for it.
“It’s like… the craft but with men,” Aoife explained a little, she chewed on her bottom lip before she carried on moving her books; she was sure he’d end up watching it at some point.
Marco nodded his head before setting the DVD on the shelf, he continued on knowing that they still had so much to do; there was so much left to unpack and everything had to be sorted before the wedding came around.
“Cat or dog?” Marco asked looking at Aoife, he knew that it didn’t really matter right now but maybe in a few years they would get one to keep them company at home; he could only think about how the next couple of years would pan out when they were married.
“Dog,” Aoife replied recalling the puppy that she’d had as a little girl for a couple of months, they had been forced to get rid of him when they had found out that Belle was allergic to him.
Marco nodded with a smile, he sat down on the small couch once he had finished putting the DVDs in place; he sat back watching Aoife as she sorted through her things.
“Have you ever had a dog before?” Marco asked curiously, he couldn’t remember Belle ever talking about one and he knew that she had hardly ever talked about her childhood with him.
At the time, Marco hadn’t thought anything of it but now he realised that she had held back so much from him because she hadn’t truly loved him like she had loved David.
“We used to have a corgi when I was about seven before we found out that Belle was allergic to it,” Aoife replied pushing at her sister’s name, she swallowed a little wondering if Belle was happy living her life now; she hadn’t even bothered to contact Aoife after the announcement of her engagement had gone out.
Marco closed his green eyes at the mention of his former fiancée, he knew that they would both have to get used to the gap that Belle had left in their lives; she had only thought of herself when she had fled from her life in Dortmund to be with someone else.
***
“Do you miss her?” Marco asked sorting through the fridge, he was hungry and after all the hard work that they had done he was trying to find something simple to put together so they could eat.
Aoife looked at Marco, she knew that he hadn’t asked to upset her and things had been far from easy in the past couple of weeks; she had barely had a chance to truly stop and think about everything.
“A bit… but I’m also so angry with her,” Aoife replied shaking her head, she didn’t want to really talk about this now since what Belle had done was horrible; she had walked away and she was living her life happily with David on the other side of the country.
Marco nodded his head, he understood where Aoife was coming from and he doubted that he would be able to forgive Belle for not just telling him what was going on like Aoife had; she had been willing to lie to him and it hurt that she hadn’t trusted him enough to know the truth.
“What about you? Do you miss Belle?” Aoife asked softly, she didn’t wish to upset Marco by talking about her sister but she felt that they needed to do it if they were going to get past it.
Belle had left them both to deal with her mess and still had not come back to deal with the consequences of her actions; she seemed happy living in Hamburg without even thinking about those she had left behind.
“Not as much as I thought I would, I feel betrayed by what she did,” Marco replied shrugging, he didn’t want to think about the woman that had run away without saying a word to him.
Marco would have never asked Belle to marry him if he had known the truth, she was a coward in his eyes because Aoife had told him the truth and he knew where he stood with his future wife.
Belle hadn’t respected Marco enough to warn him what his parents were doing, he would have done everything in his power to help her if she had told him the truth.
