AURELIA FARIS BLACK
I nervously scratch my arm when Alessandro informs me that we're about 4 minutes away from my new home. I was asleep during the entire plane ride. I only woke up when someone honked during car ride home.
" Stop."
I look at Matteo. He looks at me.
" You're drawing blood," he says, gesturing to where I was scratching my arm. I fold my hands back into my lap. " Don't be nervous, they're excited that your back."
I reply with a soft smile.
I look up when we pull up to a massive gate.
My eyes widened with shock. This place is gorgeous. Something straight out of a google image. A vintage yet modern feel. A well kept front yard with perfectly trimmed plants. A mansion stood in front of me.
I hear chuckles coming from Alessandro and Matteo but I don't care. I let my jaw stay down and my eyes wide.
As if it wasn't confirmed before, they are hella rich.
" What the hell do you guys do?" I don't let my eyes leave the gorgeous plants we drive past.
" We own several successful companies" Alessandro responds in a rehearsed manner.
I watch as Alessandro gracefully parks before I follow Alessandro into the house.
I start to fidget with my sleeve of my shirt when I step into the house. Where I found three men all waiting near the doorway. They all look up on sync, it was honestly kinda creepy.
I awkwardly stand there giving yet another smile. In which I receive a few smiles back.
" This is Aurelia Faris Black, our sister" Alessandro says fiercely which I would've laughed at the dramatics if I wasn't practically shaking with nerves right now.
" Hi- I'm Nathaniel your brother." he tries to hide his stutters although everyone can hear it. He looks even more nervous than me which honestly helps settle my nerves a little.
" He's 26, second eldest bro, " Matteo finishes for him as Nathaniel froze and is beaming a very happy smile. I giggle at this. " I'm 20, sadly the second youngest guy here."
I watch as Alessandro raises an eyebrow to the guy leaning against the wall who doesn't seem the happiest to see me.
"Im Lucien," he grumbles and only continues when Alessandro keeps his gaze steady on him. " I'm 23, it's good to meet you." he drags out before letting out a evident eye roll. I inspect his simple outfit choice, he has a plain white t-shirt on with grew sweats. He looks me up and down back but in a judgemental way instead of a simple up an down.
My eyebrows slightly furrow in annoyance but I quickly mask it up with a smile.
" Ignore him hunny." Matteo says, giving Lucien a ' are you serious' type of look. I blushed a bit when I heard the pet name. Is this what it's like to have brothers? What it is like to be cared for? I internally cringe when I realize how cringey I sound.
" Aurelia, I am so happy you are here, we missed you so much" a guy from the corner suddenly interjects, making me shift my gaze to him. " I'm Alec, the youngest before you and Hera came" he says with a sparkling smile.
I smile a bit looking between all of them. Maybe it's not going to be so bad here. I greet them all back in the most polite greeting I can muster, in which I think Lucien said something among the lines of ' great a another Hera'. I'm not sure since he basically muttered it under his breath.
So what I gathered is that either Lucien is just a major asshole or that he and appearently Hera are both assholes. I wonder who Hera is-
" Oh my gosh, is that her!?" A excited voice echoes through the hallway where a light blonde girl stands with honestly really pretty light brown eyes. Before anyone even confirms that its me she bolts towards me.
She practically jumps onto me, which causes my feet to slip and before I know it, I'm on the ground holding back a scowl. " Oh my god, oh my god!" she repeats, scrambling off me " I am so sorry, I didn't mean to." she says looking horrified
I give everyone a thumbs up to show I'm okay.
" Hera be more careful, Aurelia are you okay" Nathaniel says rushing to help me up.
" It's nothing to worry about " I reply even though my lower back feels like its on fire, I say a quick thanks as Nathaniel helps me up.
" I am so sorry again, I'm Hera your sister" she rambles nervously " I'm a year older than you"
I let out a small laugh before introducing myself back for formalities since she clearly knows who I am already.
I shift my weight over to my left leg when I feel my right leg start to sting after the hard fall. It must've reopened the cuts. I'm glad that I'm wearing sweatpants.
" Lucien, please give your sister a house tour. " Alessandro states with a stare that would make anyone agree.
Lucien just walks away and I take that as a cue to follow him. I had to basically jog to keep up with him because of how fast he was walking, I think he did that on purpose.
The tour was pretty awkward since every time I tried to have small talk he shuts it down with either a blunt answer or no answer at all so I just stopped.
" This is your room." He says, stopping suddenly in front of a door in which I slam face first into his back.
I stumble back a bit, catching myself before I fell back. Maybe I should start towork out because these people have literally rock hard backs. Before I can apologize he just walks away, not sparing me a single glance. I look at him a little longer and my jaw drops. My conceler is smudged to his back. Okay super duper embarrassing, so glad he didn't spare me a glance.
It takes me a couple seconds to break out of the trance before I remember I'm in front of my room. I open the door to my new bedroom.
I walk in inspecting ht epale tan walls with a huge window, a huge bed, a huge rug, an overall huge room. I even have my own walk in closet and my own bathroom.
This room is amazing.
I jump into the bed where I literally sink in. This is heavenly.
...
A few hours later
I jumped awake gasping for air, when cold water splash me. What the fuck.
I hear an obnoxious laughter coming from my right where I see Hera who is holding a bucket which I assume was filled with ice cold water; key word: was.
I cough, when my throat starts burning. I glance at the clock, stationed at my bedside table. I can't even sleep in peace for an hour. I watch Hera laugh when I get up holding the cold, wet cloth of my shirt away from my skin.
I suck in a breath before laughing along with her. I found nothing about this funny but Izdidn't want to spoil the mood.
" You should've seen the look on your face!" Hera exclaims as her laughter died down. She holds a mischievous glint in her eyes as she tells me to come downstairs for dinner.
I sigh before looking for some dry clothes to change into as well as using a towel to soak up the water from my hair.
Once I'm done I wander around the mansion until I find the dining room since Hera has seemed to leave me. Once I finally stumble upon the gorgeous dining room, I sit on the only seat available, between Matteo and Nathaniel.
The chatter dies down a bit when I appear. I watch as their eyes examine my damp hair. I relax when maids come out with plates of spaghetti and one by one, we get our plates. Everyone eventually stop eyeing me and separate into their own conversations. A fuzzy sensation goes through my stomach when I see how nice the meal is. I take a few bites before getting full. I don't want to be ungrateful but If I ate anymore I would throw up, I already feel a bit nauseous. So I play with the food instead, scraping it side to side.
" Aurelia, why aren't you eating?" Nathaniel asks.
I freeze when I look up to see everyone staring.
" What? This food isn't up to your standards?" Lucien says, obnoxiously for everyone to hear.
I feel tears prickle my eyes and I open my mouth but nothing comes out. I take a deep breath. I don't know why I'm so sensitive right now.
" I'm not hungry" I mutter out feeling self conscious, trying to draw back my tears from leaving my eyes.
" Don't tell me you're one of those girls who starve themselves for attention." Lucien says with a smug smirk.
I feel a few tears escape my eyes but I wipe them off before they reach my cheeks.
I suddenly see Alessandro stand up abruptly which makes me flinch back a bit. From my blurry vision I can see Alessandro scold Lucien. I don't know why or what he is saying. I can't make out anything out over how hard I'm breathing but at the same time I feel like I can't breath.
My brain blanks out and I run.
Nathaniel Cole Black
I watch as Aurelia stands up and sprints towards her room. Alessandro stops scolding Lucien and stares in shock, Lucien looks guilty, Matteo and Alec looks concerned and Hera looks smug?
" She had a panic attack," Alec says, breaking the silence. " She was trembling and looked like she was having trouble breathing."
" She was dizzy, she almost fell over when she got up" I add on, stating the obvious.
We sit in thought as one by one we leave, our dinner unfinished. This is not how I expected how our first dinner with her would go.
This is weird, like having her back into the house and everything. I see everyone changing, Alessandro never takes charge of the family. I usually handle all the family conflicts. Alessandro is usually handling the business part of things. When dad passed away he was only 14. He was forced to take over all the burdens he left us. I tried my best to help. I let him focus on the business side of things while I took care of the family. It was stressful I admit, but it was stressful for everyone. I mean, our mother ran away with our little sister and then our dad passed away a year later.
We were all so young.. way too young.
I wonder how it was growing up for Aurelia, I hope it was way better than the way we grew up but again Lara was never really a good mother. We just have to hope she changed when raising her.
But I doubt that, Aurelia seems very hesitant with everything and flinches often. I'm praying it doesn't mean what I think it means. No one has brought it up yet but I'm sure everyone has noticed it.
I'm just so glad she's back with us. We missed her so much, especially Lucien. It's honestly painful to watch him push her away from him. He was nine when she was taken. I tried my best to distract him and take care of him when dad fell into a state of depression but it was hard. I was only 12 after all. Lucien started to disconnect himself from society and developed anger issues as a form of self- defense. It was horrible to watch. I'm just grateful he reconnected himself back to society.
I wonder what happened to Aurelia, she was the sweetest at even when she was just a year old. She was a good baby, she would barely cry and was the most adorable thing to exist. Don't get me wrong, she's still sweet now. It just feels.. forced.
Her smiles don't seem genuine but forced. Maybe I'm over thinking it. I really hope I am.
---------------------------------------------------
A/N- Remember to vote! ( and leave comments)