"I want to stay.", I cut in not letting his father finish his sentence.
That single statement caught all their attention. Matteo and his parents immediately looked at me. And I don't know if I'm seeing things but they looked relieved and kind of happy. It's probably my imagination. The only person that would actually be happy if I stay would be Giorgia.
"Oh, Emily. I'm so glad you're staying.", his mother said and came over to hug me.
"I'm glad too.", I giggled.
"I guess I'll show you your own room then. There's no need to share one since they already know we're not together.", Matteo said coldly.
He pushed his chair back and got up walking towards the door. "Are you coming?"
I nodded and silently followed him.
Once again my room was opposite from his. It looked almost the exact same. The only difference was the view out of the window. From my room I could see the flower garden in some distance.
"Why did you decided to stay?", he asked me and raised an eyebrow.
"You can't imagine the reason?", I asked him back. I will never ever get tired of pissing him off. His face was full of irritation and annoyance. Guess he always expects others to answer his questions without talking back.
"Do you think I would ask you if I can?"
"I'm staying because that way I can annoy you even more. I won't stop and you yourself gave me the opportunity. Thanks for that by the way.", I said while smiling brightly at him.
His eyes immediately went dark and anger took over his face. Then he came closer to me and bend down to my face. His breath tickled my cheek which started to feel hot.
"You staying here doesn't mean that I will accept your disrespectful and disobedient behavior. Talk back, disobey or disrespect me and there will be punishment. Don't forget it.", he threatened me and then went out of my room.
I release a deep breath and entered the bathroom to splash cold water on my face. Why am I blushing? I asked myself. Then I took a hot shower and put on a nightdress.
Walking over to my bed I hopped on and made myself comfortable.
After closing my eyes I quickly fell asleep.
—————————————————————————————————————————————
He came towards me and grabbed my hair harshly causing me to let out a painful scream.
"You are the most useless, disgusting and ugly person I know.", he said and threw a punch to my jaw. I stumbled back and lost my balance. Falling on the floor I started crying. He came closer and kicked my stomach once. Then again. And again. Pain rushed through my whole body and breathing became harder by the second.
"Please stop it hurts.", I begged him. I just can't do this anymore.
"Shut up, you piece of shit.", he said and yanked me up by my hair. Next he rammed my head against his desk a couple of times. My vision became blurry and I felt a warm liquid running down my head. It was blood that is now dripping on the floor.
"Look what mess you made! You're going to clean that up real fast.",he screamed at me.
Trying to get up everything started to became blurry. I was feeling dizzy but I kept walking. When I reached the door to get a cloth I stumbled and fell onto the floor.
"You will regret not being fast enough!" His scream made me flinch. Turning around I saw that he had a knife in his hand. Immediately my eyes widened.
"Father, please don't.", I pleaded again. But he didn't listen. I tried to run away and suddenly felt a sharp pain in my back.
He pressed the knife against my back and then made a huge cut on it.
"AHHH", I screamed in pain. Tears rolling down my eyes. Then everything went black.
—————————————————————————————————————————————
When I woke up in the middle of the night sweat was forming on my forehead. My whole body began to shake and tears were uncontrollably rolling down my cheeks. Gasping for air my throat became dry.
After a couple of minutes I calmed down a bit. Standing up I walked into the dark kitchen to get something to drink. I didn't feel the need to turn the light on since there is enough natural light to see what's right in front of me.
Standing on the tip of my toes I tried reaching the top shelf to get a glass but there was no use. I climbed onto the kitchen counter and was finally able to grab a glass. In the process of getting down I lost my balance and fell on the ground. The glass shattered loudly.
"Ouch.", I said quietly. Hoping that I didn't wake up anybody I started cleaning up the broken pieces laying on the ground.
Suddenly I felt cold hard metal pressed against the back of my head making my eyes widen.
"Hands up if you don't want a bullet in your head.", a deep voice said.
Wait. Is that Raffael? If it's him how or why does he not recognize me.
"Do you really think someone would break in wearing a nightdress?", I asked the man standing behind me not being 100% sure that it is Raffael.
Upon hearing my voice the person standing behind me put his gun down. Turning around to look at him I realized that I was right. Standing there was Raffael with an apologetic smile.
"Didn't realize it was you. What are you doing here in the middle of the night?", he questioned me. One of his eyebrows was raised as he stared into my eyes.
"I could ask you the same." Raising my eyebrow as well to mimicking him.
"I actually stay here often. Now it's your turn."
"Looking at the broken glass laying on the ground you could have detected that I was getting something to drink, smartass.", I stated and winked at him.
We both stared at each other for a second before bursting out in laughter. Then he went over to me and hugged me tightly.
"I have to say I missed you. The past week without you was horrible. No one cooked for me.", he said with a little pout on his face.
"Awww, poor little Raffael."
He took a step closer and analyzed me closely before speaking again. "Why are you sweating? And why are your eyes red?"
"Because I'm getting sick.", I answered him with a smile hoping he would believe me.
"Emily I won't repeat myself again. Why are you sweating and why are your eyes red?", he asked again.
"You just did."
"What?!"
"You said you won't repeat yourself but you did.", I laughed at him.
Raffael looked at me with an angry stare. He stepped even closer and grabbed my arm lightly.
"EMILY! TELL ME NOW! And don't fucking lie to me again."
"Calm down.", I chuckled. "It was just a bad dream."
"I'll let that go for now.", he said eyeing me. "You should go to sleep now."
I nodded and quickly grabbed a water bottle on the way back to my room. Chugging down half of the water I laid down on my bed again. After half an hour I still couldn't sleep. My mind was clouded with the nightmare I had.
Turning around I looked at the flower garden. It looked so beautiful. The moonlight was shining down on the flowers which made them look even more stunning. Looking at the sky I saw a lot of stars. Deciding to go out I got up and put on an anorak. I don't won't to freeze to death.
Walking down and out of the villa I strolled towards the flower garden. As soon as I reached it a smile formed on my face. Watching the moon, the stars and the flowers brought me a little bit of peace. Everything was quiet. In these moments I feel like there is nobody else on this world. Just me admiring the beauty of nature.
Staring up to the sky I watched the stars. I always imagine that one of the stars is my mom. She is looking down on me. A tear escaped my eye.
~~~~
Matteos POV
I couldn't sleep. Something was bothering me and I don't know what. Ever since that girl entered my life I can't seem to control myself. She is the most annoying and disobedient person I've ever met. And I absolutely hate people who don't listen to what I say. Even more people that are rude and disrespectful. Emily Potters is all of those things.
But there's something about her I cannot make out.
She provokes me intentionally. Probably because she enjoys it. However she actually can be kind. Those things she told my father about me were pleasant. I can tell when she said that she was being honest.
One thing is for sure. That girl is a mystery. And she hides something.
I hate it when people hide things. That always means they are not honest. Or they don't trust you.
I need to get my mind clear. There's only one thing that helps me in these moments. Getting up I left my room and headed towards one of the peaceful places I like about this estate. Those places are the sea and the flower garden.
When I walked out of the villa I saw someone walking towards the flower garden. I followed that person quietly. Turning around I saw Emily. She is standing there admiring the flowers. Touching and smelling them she looked up to the sky.
After a few seconds a tear rolled down her cheeks while she was still looking up.
For some reason seeing her cry makes me feel bad. Probably because I caused her to be sad. Which means I caused that tear rolling down her cheek.
Should I go to her and comfort her? No that would be weird. Besides I shouldn't care if she cries. I learned one thing and that is: don't feel anything. Emotions cloud your mind.
Shaking my head at my thoughts I watched her for some minutes. She is a beautiful girl. Let's be honest sometime she makes me very aggressive but at the same time I just want to kiss the soul out of her.
Suddenly she turned around walking towards me. Well, not me but the villa. I ran inside before she could see me and got back in my bed.
Closing my eyes I was finally able to sleep.
~~~~
Emilys POV
Staring up to the stars I got lost in my thoughts. Thinking about how simple life was when my mom was still there. Thinking about our little trips that we did from time to time. We used to stay at a little house in the forest enjoying the nature around it. Not far from the house was a big lake with a beautiful flower meadow around it. Most of the time we sat there on a blanket and had some food and snacks with us in a picnic basket. I used to draw the landscape and flowers. Sadly, my father burned all of those drawings.
Those thoughts made me cry and after some time I decided to go back into my room.
Walking back into the villa and up the stairs I entered my room. I slumped back on my bed.
My eyelids quickly became heavy and sleep finally consumed me again.
.........
Did you like knowing what's going on in Matteos head?
Watching sunsets or the night sky never fails to calm me down.
The next time you feel stressed out or sad, go out and enjoy the warmth of a beautiful sunset. Maybe that will help you as well.
Love you 🖤