CODENAME: I Swore I'd Hate You

Yeah I'm alive - A.C

By the time I pull into the Calder driveway, sunlight's spilling over the roof, catching on the half-fixed windchime Jace swore he'd repair two weeks ago. The house is awake—voices, laughter, the clatter of dishes.

A word before you guys meet my family. I got brothers. Four of them. Yeah you read that right. Four. All of them like ten years older than me, and yeah they're my only family. They work in their own firm, they head companies, import-export, accounting firms and so on. So yeah about ninety percent of the time since I turned sixteen either one of them is home or...it's just me.

Inside smells like coffee, pancakes, and chaos. Pretty sure something's burning.

"Who the hell burnt the bacon?!" Noah yells from the kitchen. 

Right on cue.

"That was you!" Jace shouts back.

"Not this time!"

I step inside, shutting the door with my hip. The noise wraps around me like a blanket—loud, messy, real.

Micah's sitting at the counter, calmly reading something on his tablet while Kieran flips pancakes in a perfectly pressed shirt because of course he does.

"Morning, Ria," Kieran says without looking up. "You're late."

Ria... yeah I know not the usual Lils. It's something my mum started calling me. She used to say that she named me Aurelia Calder only on paper...but the name was too hard to pronounce for Noah. And Alex aka my stepdad aka the most amazing father on the planet figured Lils would be a great nickname but my mum on the other hand wanted to call me Ria because she had started calling me Ria when she knew she was pregnant with a baby girl. And so my family calls me Ria and the rest of the world knows me as Lils. 

It's like a secret between us five now. They call me Lils when we're outside but Ria when home. And I like that, we have lots of these little secret bits here and there and that's what makes us well...us. 

"It's seven-oh-two," I protest.

He gestures at his watch. "Which is two minutes of irresponsibility."

"Of course it is," I deadpan, sliding onto a stool.

Noah pokes his head out from behind the fridge. "You look like you fought a bear."

"Maybe I did," I mutter. "You should see the bear."

Jace grins, mouth full of cereal even though there is fresh pancakes on the counter. "Our sister, ladies and gentlemen, professional bear fighter."

Micah doesn't even glance up. "Statistically, that career path has a low success rate."

"Statistically, you're boring," Jace shoots back.

"Statistically, you're late for class," Kieran says, passing me a plate.

I smirk. "Thanks, Dad."

He gives me the look. "Watch it."

It's the same every morning—bickering, noise, burnt food, and beneath all of it... warmth. Real warmth.

They have no idea.
No idea that when I say training, it's not for sports. That when I come home bruised, it's not from falling. That the little sister they think they're protecting has already seen more danger than they can imagine.

And I can't tell them. Ever.

Secrets keep them safe.

I eat quietly, letting their laughter fill the spaces where my truth doesn't fit.