Our Game

22

My eyes are brown like my Mother's but the shape of them are similar to the ones of my Father's. In the photo are my two brothers- Nicholas with a serious glare whilst Dario has a smirk planted on his face- only my Mother, Nicholas and I have a small mole on our neck, right underneath our right ears. But unlike my eldest brother and Mother; Dario, my Father and I have straighter noses whilst they have a slight bump on the top their noses. Realising I'm spending too much time lingering on the minute details, I rub my hands over my face to level myself, put on a coat of lipbalm and exit the room.

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After getting lost several times, a maid showed me the way to the dining room. The table was abnormally large for just the four of us (Alejandro included), but I guess this is the fanciest dinner room in the whole place.

When I enter the room, the boy in the photograph from earlier (now much taller and mature) stands up to greet me. His face is somewhat guarded but I notice how his eyes try to make an effort to show affection. Siting in the chair closest to him is who I assume to be Tanya. Her pale skin is complinted by the sleek black hair which effortlessly falls to her waist like a fountain of black silk.

Her facial expressions are more welcoming than his and I pay my attention on her rather than Nicholas, "Athena" She smiles sadly and extends her arms, "I'm sorry that we are only just meeting now but I welcome you home", Tanya's voice is smooth and calms me from Nicholas' steady gaze.

I lick the underside of my teeth, "I'm sure you'd be happy to have some more oestrogen around here", a nervous laugh escapes my lips.

She returns the laugh, "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" She nudges her fiance.

He clears his throat, "I'm glad to see you're finally home, I hope you are finding your visit to be a comfortable one", Nicholas' voice is robotic and the small feeling of warmth that Tanya emitted has now been put out like sand on a flame, "I'm Nicholas Rodriguez, Don of the Spanish mafia"

I swallow softly, "That's funny, someone told me you were my brother, but apparently not" I shrug and quickly jam my lips shut, shocked at my confidence.

Tanya puts a hand over her mouth to supress her giggles, "I'm glad to see she'll be cancelling out your dullness" She says to Nicholas and he only blinks emptily.

"Well then, let's be seated. Dinner is already on the table so feel free to serve yourself" He instructs as he sits into the head chair of the table.

I didn't have any stories to keep conversation alive so I spent the entire time listening to Tanya talk about anything and everything. She was most enthusiastic about the upcoming wedding, which also piqued my interest. Tanya is planning on having a mediterannean styled wedding (Nicholas didn't like the idea, he thinks it's too Italian) but wants to somehow incorporate Japanese culture into it to make a blended wedding theme. Then she wants to visit Japan for their honeymoon to which Nicholas finally added input by saying they'd extend their honeymoon to also visit Spain.

Alejandro joined the dinner 15 minutes late because he had only just gotten home from a day full of business meetings. Unlike Nicholas, he maintained conversation with Tanya which kept her entertained because she was glad to have somebody engage with her.

As Tanya spent her time keeping conversation, Nicholas listened in silence, rotating his focus on Tanya (admiring her as she talked) and on me (scanning me whilst I listened). A few times I returned his stare, which would result in a 4 second staring competition before we them turned back to Tanya who was talking away and sipping on white wine.

I take a sip of my wine and look at Nicholas, "So what do you guys do to cover up for the mafia stuff?" I ask. He doesn't answer for a moment, as if he wasn't expecting the question and is interupted when he opens his mouth to respond.