Sweet Love 2x: Miss Ruthless CEO for our Superstar Uncle-Chapter 20: Still No Answer

Silence was not the same as refusal.

That was what Lily had been telling herself for the past few days. Sitting on the edge of the couch with her legs tucked beneath her, Lily stared at the darkened screen of her phone.

If it were a refusal, their Aunt Arianne would have said so.

Lily believed her Aunt Arianne had never been someone who avoided saying no.

"It’s been nine days," she told Leo, who was seated on the floor.

Leo glanced at her, then scribbled on his board. "Eight."

"Nine," Lily repeated, turning on her phone to open the calendar app, showing it to her brother.

"Nine, if you count the day we asked."

Leo blinked, then nodded. He didn’t try to correct her anymore. He believed counting depended on where one decided the waiting began.

Their Uncle Franz had been quite busy these days, so they were staying with their grandparents.

With nothing else to do, waiting had become their routine.

"She didn’t say no," Lily said, more to herself than to him.

Leo wrote on his board: "She didn’t say yes either."

That was the problem.

If their Aunt Arianne had laughed it off, Lily could have adjusted. If she had refused outright, she and Leo would have sulked for a day, then reconsidered their plan. Even a deflection would have been something solid enough for them as a starting point.

But silence didn’t offer them anything. It didn’t push back. It simply stayed.

Lily set her phone down beside her.

Leo raised his board again with a comment that read: "Busy with Uncle?"

"Yeah," Lily agreed. The only consolation it offered her was the thought that at least Uncle Franz was with their Aunt Arianne.

Surely, that was enough to bring them closer, right?

Lily lay on the couch and stared up at the ceiling.

"Adults do this," she grumbled after a moment. "They stop talking when they don’t want to decide."

Leo raised his board again, which said, "That’s not true!"

Lily frowned slightly.

"It was with Daddy and Mommy."

The mention of their parents made Leo still. He lowered his board and stifled a sob.

He missed their Mommy and Daddy deeply.

Meanwhile, Lily bit her lower lip.

After their parents’ death, everyone seemed to be on edge around them. The adults were careful with their words, and they didn’t bother to hide the pity in their eyes as they looked at the twins.

No one even dared to mention their parents before them. Only their Aunt Arianne spoke about their daddy with a smile on her face after they presented their proposal. Lily felt they weren’t the only ones missing their parents for the first time.

It was a connection she hadn’t seen or shared with anyone since their parents’ passing.

Lily feared that their Aunt Arianne would leave too. Not right away, but would fade from their lives first.

She pressed her lips together. She hadn’t meant to think of that. She rarely thought of her parents these days, too. Thinking about them still hurt. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Leo shook her arm to get her attention. He then pointed to his board.

"She’s not leaving?"

"Of course not," Lily insisted, "She came back, right? That means she cares!"

Leo furrowed his brows and wrote on his board again. Lily patiently waited for her brother. It would have been better if his voice had returned sooner, but even the doctors couldn’t tell when it would.

"She still didn’t answer," came Leo’s words.

"She must be waiting." Lily tried to reason out.

When her brother didn’t make a move to write, she continued, "Maybe she needs time. Daddy said not to make big decisions too soon. Marriage is a big decision for grown-ups."

This time, Leo questioned her again using his board.

"You think we asked too much?"

Lily hesitated to answer brother this time. Their Aunt Samantha reassured them before, but now that the silence from their Aunt Arianne continued to stretch, Lily wasn’t sure anymore.

She just wanted their Aunt Arianne to stay.

She just wanted her to be part of their family.

Even their Uncle Franz loved her, so Lily didn’t think they asked too much.

She pushed herself up from the couch and sat cross-legged, facing Leo properly this time.

"It’s not like we’re asking her to disappear," Lily said, as if that needed to be clarified. "We just want her to stay."

Leo stared at her for a long moment before lifting his board again.

"What if staying hurts her?"

Lily blinked.

She hadn’t considered that.

The idea unsettled her not because it sounded wrong, but because it sounded possible.

She didn’t want that.

Their Aunt Arianne had always carried herself differently from other adults in their lives. She smiled at them, listened when they spoke, and never once treated their questions as silly.

However, it didn’t mean she couldn’t feel hurt.

The thought of her leaving made Lily feel an indescribable sadness.

Her daddy and mommy cared about their Aunt Arianne. She had seen the pictures once she asked her grandparents to show them to her. Their Aunt Arianne looked so happy, despite being forced to join the picture.

"I don’t think she would stay if it hurt her," Lily said slowly. "She doesn’t do things she doesn’t want to do."

Leo lowered his board and looked down at his hands.

That was true.

"But what if she wants to leave?" Lily blurted out.

That’s another point they hadn’t considered.

Leo stiffened, and Lily immediately regretted saying it out loud.

"I didn’t mean—" Lily stopped herself, then tried again. "I mean... if she wants something else, she’ll tell us. I’m sure she has a reason why she hasn’t given us an answer."

Leo raised his board again.

"Adults lie. They avoid too."

Lily closed her mouth. She had no words for that.

She reached out and took Leo’s hand, squeezing it gently. His hands were cold.

"We didn’t do anything wrong," she said firmly, more to convince herself than her brother. "Asking her to stay wasn’t wrong."

Leo didn’t pull his hand away.

"She could have said no," Lily continued. "She didn’t."

Even if their Aunt Arianne doesn’t marry their Uncle Franz, as long as she stays, then that would be fine.

Lily paused and looked back at the couch where she had been counting days, the phone still lying where she left it.

Silence wasn’t the same as refusal.

But it wasn’t comfort either.

And until their Aunt Arianne spoke, Lily knew one thing for certain: they couldn’t afford to be invisible.

Not again.