Chiara Rose

quattro

1. Don't tell anyone about what Mum and John did.

2. Don't let anyone in, keep the walls you've worked so hard to build up.

3. Only let people in enough to keep them satisfied, so they don't feel like you're blocking them out.

4. No serious romantic relationship, everyone sucks.

5. Get out of there as soon as you can.

It honestly makes me cringe whilst thinking of them, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to do right now. I mean, they're probably not the worst rules to attempt to live by, and I don't really know why I made them.

I stick my hand into the carry-on tote bag I brought on with me and start digging around until I find my sleeping tablets. Since I have nothing better to do, I might as well catch up on the sleep I've lost in the past 8 years.

I quickly toss back two of them, and write a note asking the flight attendant not to wake me up until we land. I don't know how long this flight is really going to be, and I don't know if two tablets will even keep me out for that long. But I guess we're about to find out.

⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕

They did keep me asleep, surprisingly. And I don't wake up until the flight attendant slowly starts shaking me awake.

"Miss Bernardi, we've landed and one of your brothers is here to pick you up." The flight attendant says softly, a large smile adorning her face. She should be happy, she got paid to sit around considering all I did was sleep. She basically got paid to do nothing. Lucky.

And it takes me a second to properly process what she just said. She called me Miss Bernardi. It sounds weird, Ms Berry didn't end up telling me my new last name. And I can't figure out why it sounds so familiar.

I quickly start to gather my things from around me. I take a quick peek out of the window to see it was now nighttime. I think I just time travelled, it was still nighttime when we left Australia. What day even is it?

Wait, she said there was someone down there waiting for me. For me. Me lousing around up here just taking my time means I'm keeping someone waiting. And that's not really a first impression I'm willing to have on one of my new brothers. Ew, even just thinking that feels insanely weird. Brothers, gross.

I do a quick once-over of my little area, making sure I haven't left anything behind. There's nothing here, which hopefully means all of my stuff is safely locked up in my tote bag. I take a quick breath, maybe I could make a quick dash out of here? I was a mid-court player in netball, my dodging skills could come to good use when running away from people.

But as I end up at the top of the plane stairs, I quickly realise that the running away idea would be completely impossible. The 6'4 man giant standing at the car in front of me would be able to chase my twiggy legs down in a heartbeat. And the closer I get to him, the more I thank myself for not running away.

This guy is tall, easily 6'4 like I said earlier, much taller than my little 5'2. He obviously works out a lot, filling out the extremely expensive suit easily. And his face is, well, meh. It's familiar, but it's still meh. He's got the same blue eyes as me, which is insanely creepy, and his blonde hair is sitting neatly on his head. But something tells me his hair doesn't look like that normally.

And even though he's fully clothed (thankfully), something tells me he's got tattoos. And I can tell that because the hand that's currently holding my suitcase, is seemingly covered in them. I don't know shit about cars, but something tells me the shiny black one behind him is expensive.