"Oh how I hate this dingy weather" Aidan said sardonically. The sky was overcast with bulbous blue-grey clouds looming atop brick buildings like some awful impending doom. The sedan drove past windy lanes and roads as Aidan sighed one too many times.

"How can anyone even live in a place like this?" he started again, "it's really great that I would be quitting that dungeon that is Darcy's office in New York. It is sunny warm Cali for the you and me, isn't it Lizzie?".

I was trying to hold back a lot of things. I stayed quiet for a few seconds thinking that I might get away with ignoring him for a few seconds but the insolent fool kept looking at me with hope and that smile of his. It was burning a hole in my mind.

"If you hate it so much why did you even come here with me for the weekend?" I asked in a low voice.

"That's… that is not what I meant Lizzie. I was just…" he stammered a bit.

"Aidan" I cut him short, "I'm sorry but there is a lot to process for me right now, okay? I am going to meet my parents for the first time after their divorce, along with my mother's new Italian boyfriend and all. I am not in a position to think about anything else right now."

"You're right, I'm sorry" he said calmly, "We'll talk later."

Here is a man who probably sees Frank Darcy almost every week of his life and he just can't wait to get away from it. Obviously he doesn't feel the same way for him as I do, he doesn't even know what I feel for him. Now that I think about it, do I know what I feel for him? He is someone who ruined my parents' marriage. What couple doesn't have their problems, but he came around and used those problems. I caught myself thinking about how awful my parents are going to be. I can't wait to see how awful this lunch is going to be. Plus, mother will chastise Jane for breaking up with the IG friendly Bingley. It would be a perfect cluster fuck. I can't wait to run away from all this.

His apartment looked very small and crammed from the outside but inside was an explosion of hallways and rooms. We were led into the dining room that looked like a refined version of a medieval dining hall, with a long wooden dining table and a cozy kitchen attached to it. It was already filled with people, the closeness of the room made it feel so anyways. The first person with whom I made eye contact was of course dad, who immediately came up and gave me a warm bear hug. It felt warm because he had been standing near the fire place with a glass of sherry in his hand. Sherry, it means that he was in a good mood.

He shook Aidan's hand formally. Aidan obliged and then walked towards the fireplace.

"When was the last time we were together like this, Lizzie?" Dad asked me while both of faced the modest little crowd. "I didn't want it to be like this dad" I said. I thought that I shouldn't have, dad seemed quite happy.

"Lizzie, dear" Dad looked at me with a pained expression, "I know it is hard for you to believe that but your mother and I, we are happy now. This is something that should have happened before, before we hurt each other so much."

"I am again really sorry dad" I said.

"Whatever for?" Dad asked gently.

"For running away like the way I did."

"It's no-one's fault, Lizzie" he said with a sigh, "it did hurt a bit when I didn't hear anything from you, especially when I needed my little warrior."

"Dad I…." I started talking like I was defeated. "It is okay dear. Don't worry about it. You are here now." He said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

I stopped and hugged him again, a bit tightly this time. I felt like I was going to cry but then I saw mum and Aidan talk to an olive-skinned man with a salt and pepper beard. He talked with extremely animated expression and he kept looking around the room.

"Is that Michele?" I asked rather scornfully to Dad while looking at him.

"Yes, and it would be quite inappropriate to not greet him now." He said as he started gently nudging me towards his direction.

"Lizzie!" my mum practically squealed as she swiftly came towards me and gave me a hug.

"I thought you really wouldn't come today" she whispered in my ears, "I missed you so much! thank god you're hear" she said as she pulled away from me, tears welling up in her eyes. Damn, I never saw her like this, I thought to myself.

"Mum I am really sorry about whatever happened back then" I said trying to avoid eye contact. I don't know, I felt a bit ashamed.

"Lizzie, I am the one who should be saying sorry to you" she said as she wiped tears from her face, "I put you and Jane through a lot."

"I hope I am not ruining the fun" Michele intervened nervously.

"Oh no not at all" mum laughed, "I am so sorry I got caught up a bit. Lizzie, this is Michele Marzanno, my boyfriend. Michele, this is my younger daughter, Elizabeth."

I shook his hand shyly. He was slightly shorter than mum but still felt big. His hands were like large bricks. He had some grey in his hair too, apart from the beard but he still looked younger than mum.

"Your mother talks about you and your sister a lot of times" he said. He had one of those European accents that was difficult to decipher, a touch of British, a flash of German, but hitting the hard r's like a true Italian.

"Not that I am not aware of the delicacy of the situation here" he continued with a low voice this time, "and apart from your father, I would like to apologize too, for all the complications our relationship might have caused here."

"It's okay, as long as mum and dad are happy" I said.

"Did everyone start without me?" I heard Jane's loud voice clear from the entrance of the dining room. Everyone moved towards her to greet her.

The dessert was being served when Jane tapped her glass with her silverware delicately. It was still full with the Rosé she was served during first course. The servants skillfully redacted themselves from the room after dispensing with the plates of chocolate covered strawberries, taking her tinkling glass as cue. I had just started skewering one of the strawberries through their frozen chocolate exterior when Jane started talking.

"Let me first thank dad for calling us all here for this lunch" she said as dad pressed her hand in his, "there is no doubt that we needed this after everything that has…" she glanced at me once, "happened in this family. Our lives, all our lives have gone through some dramatic shifts and changes in the past few months. A few good, many bad, but changes nevertheless…"

"Does she prepare speeches for every occasion?" Aidan whispered in my ears.

"Yeah I guess" I whispered back laughing.

"… I don't know how many of you heard about it but I and John Bingley are no longer together anymore" she said as she paused for a reaction.

"Oh my god Jane why?" mum as if on cue chimed in instantly.

"Jane is everything okay? What happened?" dad contributed.

"It is all good" she said after finally taking a strategic sip of the Rosé. "We separated on very cordial and mutual terms and we are will always will be extremely close friends."

"But Jane" mum started, very visibly agitated, "why did you separate in the first place? you were perfect for each other! I…" she started to get worked up but Michele stroked her arm and implored her to calm down. "Let Jane complete" he said to her calmly.

"So what happened?" dad asked rather bluntly, as if expecting her to say something he was anticipating.

"So, this might come as a shock to everyone sitting around this table" Jane started while looking at her plate. She drew a couple of long breaths, closed her eyes and dropped her head down to her chest. She held the edge of the table as she was sitting at the head of it. She finally raised her head and while staring at some void in the distance, said, "I am a lesbian."

The air of the room felt dense, as if some malevolent god somewhere watching this scene hit pause to relish and laugh at the hilarious faces each and every one on the table was making within the split second of registering what Jane Bennet was implying here.

"What!?" mum obviously broke the silence, "You are not kidding Jane?" her voice raising sharper and frantic with every word she spoke.

"Did you know about this?" Aidan whispered sharply.

"Obviously not!" I said, looking at him.

"I kind of knew this, to be honest" Dad said taking a sip satisfactorily.

"What do you mean you knew?" mum hissed at dad. Michele's attempts at trying to calm her down were failing.

"At least I knew that Jane wasn't happy with that air-headed blond, which is more than what you can say" Dad retorted without any agitation.

"So this is my fault too?" mum screamed.

"Okay, you guys are doing it again now, seriously!" Jane shouted, "This is about me now, this is me coming out, okay?"

"When did all this start?" mum asked.

"What do you mean when?" Jane asked back a bit aghast, "I'm not taking any drugs or something here mum, I have a lesbian for as long as I remember, I just kept suppressing that part of myself for all this time, but that is a story for another torture now… WILL YOU FUCKING SAY SOMETHING LIZZIE?!" she said while looking at me aggressively.

"Me?" I asked, caught a bit off guard, "what should I say? I am sorry you suffered for all this time. I'll be proud of you, Jane, no matter what."

The table fell quiet as mum sighed. Jane's big blue eyes welled up with tears. She got up from her chair and came to mine, got on her haunches and hugged me. "Lizzie, I knew you would always be there, I'm so sorry for keeping this from you." She said through her tears.

"Don't worry about it" I said, surprised by my own calm. Michele nudged mum by his elbows and gestured her to read the room. Mum sighed and said, "I am sorry Jane, I overreacted."

Jane turned and hugged her as well.

The ceremony of physically acknowledging Jane's coming out of the closet went on for another ten minutes. Aidan looked at all of this with pleasant amusement. He was invested enough to care but at the same time detached enough to not get carried away.

"'But when did you came to this conclusion, Jane?" dad asked, "and how did that air-headed blond boy took it?"

Everyone laughed at the insinuation. Jane started laughing too and wiping her face with the napkin said, "it is a bit of a long and boring story. We were just really struggling with bonding in that way. It was like I was always running away from things. But at the same time, both of us were very lucky. Both of us had friends who always helped us along the way. Especially Frank, he was the first one who realized the problem."

"Frank who dear?" Dad asked.

"Well, Frank Darcy of course!" Jane said.

"Catherine's son?" mum asked, pleasantly surprised.

"yes mum" Jane replied, "I know it is difficult to imagine him as someone like that, he comes across as very arrogant and rude to people. But he is really the nicest person I have ever know, as good as billionaires can get at least."

"It is like we never even fucking left Beardsley" Aidan scorned in my ear, "LA or Boston, people are always talking about him. I wonder if I'll still hear about him after quitting."

The voices of the people on the table crowded my mind. I peered outside the window and saw deep colored clouds pregnant with rain, heavily rumbling and thundering warningly. But inside this cozy dining room, people are talking, living their lives, completely oblivious to the storm building outside.

"Well, now that that's settled" dad sighed as the laughter of some previous joke (unheard by me) died down, "does anyone else have any more secrets to disclose?" The table erupted in cordial laughter again. The thunder outside punctuated the bouts of laugh.

"I hide gouda in my bed-side drawers!" Michele said in a comically elevated manner and accelerated the laugh. I smirked a bit.

"I hate lattes!" dad added on to Michele in good faith. I laughed at this.

"Sometimes while working I put on headphones without playing any music just so that nobody bothers me!" Aidan attempted. The laughter was now just to maintain the momentum off of previous ones.

But I started laughing with a certain commitment now. I felt like it was my turn to add into the piled of secrets/jokes, and I thought of the perfect one.

"I FUCKED FRANK DARCY!" I yelled as loud as the thunder outside.

The laughter erupted once again. Aidan laughed a bit uncomfortably, wondering if I would stick with it.

"See? I knew you all would consider it funny" I said as I saw the faces slowly started to turn serious, "this is why I never told you people this."

"Lizzie," Jane said, "What?"

"What?" I asked, still laughing.

"What are you serious?" Jane asked.

"We were telling our secrets, weren't we?" I said, "and considering that Frank won't leave me alone even in spirit I might as well acknowledge him."

"What the fuck are you saying, Lizzie?" Aidan said to me tartly, "Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"No, Aidan" I said exasperated, "I am dead serious."

"You had an affair with Frank Darcy?" mum asked, as she finally put two and two together, "when did this happen?"

"Since last August" I replied, "and I don't think it was an "affair" exactly."

Everyone had the expression of disbelief and they looked at me like I was crazy. Jane kept looking at me for a while hoping still that this was all some elaborate joke.

"Where did you even meet him?" mum asked.

"At the Tavern obviously" I said, "I didn't knew who he was, mum. I just wanted to get laid." I saw dad shuffle uncomfortably in his seat from the corner of my eyes.

"But why didn't you tell us that you were dating Frank?" Jane asked gently, getting a bit concerned now.

"Because I'm not dating him, Jane" I snapped, "and it has been ages since I saw him. The last time I saw him was when mum smacked me across the face." I started laughing again like a maniac after listening to myself say that sentence.

The room fell uncomfortably silent, and the tension finally broke when Aidan rapidly got up from his chair, threw the napkin on his plate of uneaten dessert and stormed out of the dining room. It has finally started to rain now.

I followed him to the hallway as the servants on the way did their best to be invisible to the ongoing drama.

He rummaged through the coats in the closet.

"Aidan" I yelled, "Where are you going?" I asked running towards him.

"Lizzie, don't" he said in a warning tone, "I honestly don't even know who you are anymore."

"I'm sorry but I didn't wanted to tell you all this" I said, starting to tear up now.

Aidan ignored. "I just can't believe all this is happening again to me."

"Again?" I asked.

"Oh" he looked at me, "You don't know about Nina?"

"Aidan, we never really" I hesitated a bit, "talked."

The fire in his eyes reignited. He gave a sardonic smile, looked away and nodded. "Of course" he said, "isn't he the ultimate alpha."

"What do you mean?" I asked getting a bit frustrated by his hurt feelings now.

"Nina used me to get to Darcy as well" he barked at me loudly, "in the same way you did."

"I didn't" I yelled back, full with fury, "I wanted to get away from him!"

"Yes, by using me!" he yelled back. His voice seemed to echo in the thunder whipping outdoors.

"I needed a friend, Aidan. I was so lonely" I said.

"So I was there to mop up the mess made by Frank Darcy?" he retorted, "To solve your Daddy issues?"

I fell silent.

"And here I was thinking about asking you to move with me to San Francisco" he mumbled like an angry teenage boy.

"Aidan" I said with my throat heavy and eyes straining, "I'm sorry but I'm just not happy with you."

"Yeah I can see why" he said.

"I'm so sorry" I trembled through my sobs.

"No, I'm sorry" he said finally putting his coat on, "for coming in the way of some middle aged billionaire robbing the fucking cradle. For a global billionaire his range of women is honestly disturbingly narrow."

"Where are you going?" I asked as he headed towards the door with his right hand searching for something in the inside of his coat.

"Away from you" he said without turning back, "Here's your flight ticket for LA. And don't even bother calling me."

He opened the door and let a wild heavy splatter of ferocious rain hit the entrance of the hallway. A gust of wind made the envelope on the dresses flutter angrily but before it could fall off the door was shut. He was gone, for good.