"You're making it sound like I'm the bad person here." Aaron is still in the process of believing that his mother told Nathalia's mother about his goal for coming here. Now that it has come to this, he doesn't know how to act in front of Crona.
'This is so unexpected.' Inwardly commented.
"No, my little supermodel. What I'm trying to say here is that, why can't you just be straight with my husband?" Crona knows that Aaron does not have any ill intentions, and she is quite surprised that he is making a move. But the one thing that she doesn't like is the fact that Aaron is not being straightforward towards her husband.
Aaron didn't reply immediately. He stared at her as if he is making sure that she is seriously asking him that. After seconds of observing her facial expressions, he spoke, "Aunt Crona, you speak like you have no idea what kind of a person uncle Leo is."
"What kind of a stupid statement is that? Now you're the one making my husband look like the bad person." Crona said with a frown.
"I'm saying that uncle Leo is a bad person, but he is not actually a good person. I'm sure you do know what he does behind the shadows, right?" Aaron would be surprised is Crona has no idea that Leonardo is a part of an underworld organization because, from the way she is speaking to him now, it seems to him that she has no idea at all.
"Of course, I know. I know for a fact that my husband is Mary's righthand man in the organization and he does stuff, well, bloody stuff and all sorts of stuff related to that." She said in a matter-of-fact tone.
She is not gonna lie, when Leonardo revealed the truth to her years ago, she was surprised and was scared of him. They were dating at that time when Leonardo revealed the truth to her, he even gave her a choice. She can choose to leave him and live a peaceful life or stay with him and face all the dangers that are about to come.
When he gave her those two options, she saw the pained look in his eyes. He was unwilling to let her go, but he also wants her to willingly choose him. Back when they were dating, Leonardo was a bit forceful when it comes to her.
Him giving a choice to live her life is quite a surprise to her. He did not force her to stay with him, and that made her fall for him all over again. Despite the fear that she has of Leonardo's life in the dangerous world, she still chose him.
At that time, she thought that if she doesn't choose him now, she will regret it forever and there is no way for her to turn back time. Even now, she never regrets choosing him. She is living a happy life together with him and their only princess.
"If you know that, then you should also know that I can't be just straightforward to him. I'm gonna get killed without even explaining myself to him." Aaron has no idea why Crona still thinks of her husband that way despite all the things he does in the underworld organization. She should have at least know that Leonardo is not all that good of a person.
Crona scoffed at that statement and said, "He will get mad, that is for sure. But he will certainly not kill you. I mean, you have to understand, Nathalia is our only daughter, and I am not blessed to have another child. So it's only natural that he is a bit overprotective towards Nathalia." Sometimes, Crona wonders that if she is able to give birth to another child, will her husband unwind his overprotectiveness towards Nathalia a little bit?
She wants answers to that question, but there is nothing she can but just wonder about it.
"I'll try and explain things slowly to uncle Leo," Aaron answered back. He understands that a long time ago. It is just that he is being careful because he only has one life and if he is not careful, then he tried doing nothing and let things end just like that.
Seeing that expression on Aaron's face, Crona smiled faintly, then she said, "Well, if you have decided on that, then I will give you a piece of advice."
That alone pique Aaron's interest. He is willing to take any advice that will help him soothe Leonardo's anger. "What kind of advice."
She smirked. "Say what you want to say to Leonardo in front of his mother." Although Leonardo listens to her, there are times that Leonardo ignores her words. However, there is one person that Leonardo can't refuse and must listen at any cost, and that would be his mother.
Leonardo's mother likes people who are bold, determined, and straightforward people, Aaron falls into that aspect. So Crona is not worried about whether her mother-in-law will like Aaron or not because the answer is already clear.
Her mother-in-law will immediately side with Aaron, and Leonardo will have no other choice but to accept it, especially now that her mother-in-law is not in the best shape.
Aaron revealed a confused look on his face. "How is that gonna help me?" He has no idea how that advice is going to help him tell Leonardo about his other reason for coming along with them. "Aunt Crona, can you please explain to me how is that going to help me?" He asked again.
"You'll know what I mean when you actually do it." Spilling this much information is enough for Aaron, if she tells more than what is necessary, then there is no fun watching Aaron struggle in his own dilemma.
"That's a risky thing to do. And why can't you just tell me?" Aaron is frustrated enough with his current inner problem, but Crona giving him incomplete advice is not lighten up his frustration. How he wishes to just look into Crona's mind and get the information that he needs.
"Because if I tell you, there is no fun watching you do it. And I don't care if it's risky or not. If you really want to do it, then do it!" Crona stood up, then she walks away from Aaron. The longer she stays with him, the more Aaron will try and make her answer his curiosity.
After a while, Nathalia came back, "Sorry it took me a while, something came up while I was getting Dad's things." Nathalia looks up, but the only person she sees is Aaron who has this serious expression on his face. "Where's my mother?" She asked.
Aaron glanced at her and said, "She said that she forgot to do something, so yeah, she left." Aaron lied. Crona did not leave because she forgot to do something, she left because she refuses to give him the information that he needs.
'Why is it people nowadays is too secretive?' Aaron inwardly said. He already has his sister acting like she is hiding something from him, his family refuses to say what's the connection between them and the Ricci family, and now this? For how long does he have to keep communicating with secretive people?
"Is that so?" It's unusual for her mother to forget things that she needed to do, but Nathalia didn't press on the matter. She just accepted it as it is. "So, what did you and my mother talked about?" She asked.
Knowing her mother, her mother loves to get information out of Aaron. Every time that happens, Aaron always loses and ended up telling her mother the information that she needs. Of course, it is quite interesting for her to watch them being like that.
"Nothing much. It is just the same as usual." His answer didn't cause Nathalia to get suspicious because that is what he always says whenever Nathalia asks that question.
Remembering what Crona said to him earlier, Aaron decided to open up a topic about Nathalia's grandmother. "So tell me about your grandmother, are you closer to her than you are to your grandfather?"
From what he hears, Nathalia doesn't like her grandfather that much, but he is not that sure because whenever she talks about her grandfather, there is this gleam in her eyes. It seems to him that Nathalia adores her grandfather in some unique way. To be specific about it, he has no idea.
"Yeah. I am closer to her than I am to my grandfather." She said with a bitter tone. Even though she rarely sees her grandmother, she still considers that she is attached to her. Her grandmother always listens to everything that she has to say, even the ones that she is keeping inside of her that she doesn't anybody else to hear.
Thinking about it now, Nathalia somehow felt guilty because she felt that she was taking advantage of the fact that her grandmother listens to her while she, on the other hand, never once listen to her when she is bad shape.
'I'm the worst.'