e i g h t

The quiet chatter of the lobby surrounded her like a blanket.

She had always been the type who needed background noise in order to get work done, whether it be music, or just simple non-coherent chatter.

Aurora sat on a sleek beige couch in the hotel lobby alone with her iPad in her hands. She had just begun to put together plausible ideas from the information the entire team had gathered.

Grace had gone back to the office to begin creating a mass document with all the gathered information and photos. The rest of the architects and designers had been dismissed by Aurora despite their offers to stay behind. She denied them, saying that it was Friday and they deserved to get dismissed early since they had put in hard work today.

Daniel was a bit hesitant to leave Aurora behind since he knew she needed a ride home, but she reassured him that she would call him when she got home. She just had to get her ideas sorted first before she left.

A sudden phone call caused her to pause. She dug through her purse, trying to fish out her phone. Like usual, her purse was a huge mess.

"Hello?" Answered Aurora, a smile slowly make its way to her face. She placed her iPad on her lap, giving her full attention to the person on the line. "Connor?"

"Hey baby sister," Her brother greeted her casually on the other side of the line. The Young siblings have always been close with one another. He was slightly overprotective over her, despite the one year age gap between the two, especially after what had happened with her and her ex-boyfriend.

"I thought you had practice til 8?"

Connor Young was currently a professional hockey player that played for the Boston Bruins. He was drafted immediately after he had graduated and was currently one of the best players in the NHL.

At first, Aurora had been upset that her brother had chosen to play for Boston. When he was in school, he had gotten a full ride to an out of state university for hockey, causing him to only come home on breaks. She couldn't even imagine him being all the way on the east coast for his career.

But she knew about his passion for hockey and would never want to hold him back from achieving his dreams. And despite her not knowing a single thing about hockey, she could tell he was pretty damn good at it based on the number of goals he has made.

"Coach let us off early," replied Connor.

"You sure you're not slacking off?" Teased Aurora. "You're hiding in the locker room aren't you?"

There was silence.

"How'd you know," muttered Connor, causing Aurora to laugh out loud.

She honestly missed her brother. It had been almost half a year since she had last seen him. He was often too busy with practice and games to come home, but he made sure to call often. Their mother would take the first flight to Boston to hunt him down if he didn't call.

"You're my brother."

"True," laughed Connor. It was funny how Aurora knew him so well and vice versa. "How are you Rory?"

Aurora was touched that even though he was thousands of miles away, he still made sure to check up on her. "Pretty good. I've just been working on a new project."

"That's good. You eating three meals a day?"

Aurora rolled her eyes. "You've been texting Liam too much."

Liam and Connor had met through Aurora, being that Liam was a big hockey fan, and the two had immediately hit it off as friends. Liam made sure to report back to Connor often, maybe a little too often to Aurora's liking.

"Can't this older brother just be concerned about his baby sister?" Connor pretend to be hurt causing Aurora to chuckle.

"You're only a year older," grumbled Aurora feigning annoyance despite the amusement in her voice. To Connor, she was always going to be his baby sister, especially since she was the baby of the family. But also because of their big height difference. It was quite hilarious that despite coming from the same parents, he towered over her by a good half a foot. She definitely got her mom's height.

"And you'll always still be my baby sister," laughed Connor before he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, before I forget, I saw you in the issue that came out last week. That house you were in charge of looked fucking amazing, Rory. When are you designing me a house?"

"In ArchDaily?" Asked a very bewildered Aurora, completely ignoring the latter question. She was confused, yet surprised as to why her older brother who was only interested in hockey would read an architecture magazine. "You read that?"

"Of course, especially if my little sister is featured in it," Connor stated proudly. "Page 7. Your picture is also in it- which, by the way, don't you think your skirt is a bit too short?"

And here comes the over protective brother. Before she could interject, he continued to ramble on.

"I showed the article to my teammates like the proud older brother that I am," continued Connor. "But all they did was stare at your photo for a little too long. Bunch of assholes I'm telling you. Especially the rookie. Did I tell you about the new rookie? Sneaky lil' bastard even had the guts to ask me for your phone number."

Aurora let out another laugh. He wouldn't be her older brother if he wasn't this protective of her. "You're such a loser."

"The next time you come to Boston, I'm making sure he stays far, far away from you," declared Connor. There was determination laced in his voice causing Aurora to roll her eyes again. "Anyways, that's not the reason why I'm calling."

"Then what made you risk your life to call your precious sister?" Aurora knew that him sneaking away to call her could result in a scolding. Connor's coach was known to be strict, especially when it came to hockey practice.

"Haha, I can hear the sarcasm in your voice," Connor said unimpressed. She could practically see him rolling his eyes. "I wanted to let you know I'll be coming home earlier this year for Lunar New Year."

To both the Young siblings, family always came first. Connor always made sure to come home for important holidays and events.

Aurora thought back to the time when he had found out about what her ex had done to her. Connor immediately booked the first flight home and hunted the asshole down. He then refused to go back to Boston because of the horrible state Aurora was in, and ended up getting in trouble with his coach.

"Shit, is it almost that time of year?" Aurora had completely forgotten about Lunar New Year. It was an important holiday for her family that occurred around January and February, especially since the entire family gathered together to celebrate it.

When Connor had first gotten drafted into the Bruins, his coach had refused to let him come home that week. Their mother had angrily boarded the first flight to Boston and scared the coach shitless.

And with that said, Connor was now allowed to come home for the important holiday. The coach, who was a lot bigger than her, did not want to deal with a tiny 5 foot 2 Asian lady's wrath. Then again, their father, who was also a pretty big man, was often caught hiding from her wrath in the backroom of the house.

"Yes Rory," answered Connor. "It is already January you know."

"Well, of course I knew that," mumbled Aurora. Honestly, the holiday always took place on a different date so she always got confused. "Time just goes by so fast."

"It does- hey I'm sorry, but I think I'll have to call you back later," Connor quickly stammered into the phone. He brought his voice into a whisper. "I think coach found out I'm hiding."

"Alright love you Con," Aurora was in disbelief. She questioned how Connor was the older sibling out of the two. She could definitely see why Liam and her brother got along so well. "I'll let you go before he skins you alive."

"Bye Rory. Love you too," Connor blurted quickly into the phone. "And make sure you stay away from boys!"

He quickly hung up before Aurora had a chance to reply. Shaking her head, Aurora placed her phone on top of her iPad. A small smile graced her face as she thought about her brother coming home.

A throat cleared suddenly behind her causing her to slightly jump in her seat in surprise. Aurora quickly turned around in her seat and her eyes widened with shock at the familiar figure standing behind her.

"X-Xavier," stammered Aurora, a little taken aback by his sudden appearance. "I thought you had to go back to the office?"

"I did, but I came back hoping I could catch you before you left," Xavier had his hands in his pockets. His suit jacket had been long discarded, with his dress shirt rolled up to his elbows and tucked into his trousers. "And I guess I was lucky."

Aurora looked at him with wide eyes. She couldn't help but check out the man standing in front of her. Unlike earlier in the afternoon where his hair looked neatly styled back, it now looked as if he had run his fingers through his hair a couple times.

"How long have you been standing here?" Asked Aurora. She had her back facing towards the front door, and had not seen him step into the lobby.

"A minute or two ago," admitted Xavier, feeling as if he had been caught. Although he was slightly curious as who she was talking to on the phone, especially since she had confessed her love to the other person on the line. "I didn't want to disrupt your phone call."

Xavier felt an unsettling feeling begin to develop in his chest. Did she have a boyfriend? He knew they had just officially met, but surely she would have mentioned if she had a boyfriend. Right?

"Oh, don't worry about it," chirped Aurora. "It was just my brother."

"I remember you mentioning you had a brother," Xavier immediately felt the feeling disappear from his chest as he let out a small sigh of relief. "Where did everyone go?"

"I let them go home early since it's Friday." She watched as he made his away around her, taking a seat besides her on the couch.

"What about you? Why are you still here alone?" Asked Xavier.

Aurora shrugged in reply. "I just wanted to finish putting my thoughts together before I left."

"So, you don't have any plans for tonight then?"

"No, I was planning to go home soon," Aurora gave Xavier a sheepish smile as he gave her a small one in return.

Xavier stood up, causing Aurora to look at him with surprise.

"Let's go," Xavier said casually.

Huh?

Aurora was confused.

"Let's go get dinner and then I'll take you home."

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I hope you guys are having a lovely day! Please let me know what you think about this story so far!