Thirty comments or I swear...
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EZEKIEL
(Age Thirteen)
"Lorelei, please," Cyrus whined to our nanny/cook/cleaner. "Just one lollipop."
With her blonde hair and sparkling grey eyes and her simple attire of a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, she looked exactly her age, just nineteen. Lorelei was a tough woman. Sweet, polite but firm on her decisions. "No, Cyrus. You are eating too many lollipops these days. No more,"
A year back when Dad was searching for a nanny for us, she showed up on our doorsteps, on the verge of being homeless and in a desperate need of a job.
Dad was a bit reluctant because of her age but eventually took pity on her when she refused to leave our doorsteps until he gave her the job. Dad ended up being so impressed with her within six months that he told her not to worry about her college fees as he would take care of them.
Now she is just like a part of our family.
"She's right, Cyrus." Dad entered the kitchen where we were seated on the barstools. His suit jacket draped across his forearm, his tie undone and his hair still messy. Late as always.
Dad and Mom had me when they were just eighteen which means Dad was just thirty-one now but due to all the stress and workload, he has some streaks of grey in his dark hair. But he still looked young and handsome with his sharp jawline which was adorned with a stubble and his striking hazelnut eyes.
We were in a much better condition as compared to how we were three years back, Dad's company flourished and it earned him millions but he still works hard every day.
But even being a millionaire couldn't teach him how to do his tie. He refused to wear any until Lorelei pointed out and asked him why, when he told her the reason, she offered to do his tie. Every day.
Just like today, as he bent down a little to make it easier for her as she did his tie perfectly. Dad's eyes focused on her intensely.
When she was done, she patted him lightly on his chest and stepped back. "Done."
He blinked quickly as if coming out of a daze and cleared his throat, averting his eyes. "Right. Thanks."
Hmm. Interesting.
He ran his fingers through his hair, combing it and grabbed a sandwich from the table and kissed Cyrus and me on our foreheads before bidding us goodbye and leaving.
"Your dad might be the only person working on a Sunday." Lorelei rolled her eyes. "You both should tell him to take some break and rest, he is not a machine." She sounded worried.
"Yeah, he promised to go on a picnic with us today," Cyrus complained as he buttered his toast.
"If he had not worked hard all these years, we wouldn't be sitting in this huge ass house right now."
Cyrus pouted. "Still..."
Sometimes looking at Cyrus reminded me of Mom because he is an exact photocopy of her with his blond hair and electric blue eyes while I am like the younger version of Dad.
"Aww, don't be sad." She ruffled his hair and took a seat opposite us. "I'll try to convince him to take you both on an outing next Sunday, okay?"
"Anyway, aren't you both spending today at the Ludovica mansion?" She asked.
A huge grin formed on Cyrus's face. "Oh, I forgot! I have a tennis match with Marcelo today."
Alessandro Ludovica was a devil in disguise yet he had a heart underneath all that, a heart that managed to befriend Dad. They both became good friends which meant frequent visits to their house too.
Alessandro apologised to Dad about how he threatened to kill him and all that shit but still their friendship couldn't end that contract they signed.
Alessandro was firm on his decision of marrying his daughter to me and Dad was so charmed by his friend that he agreed to almost everything he said.
I sighed and focused on my breakfast. Marcelo and his younger brother Silvio are good, they are our friends now even though Silvio hardly speaks.
But then their hellion of a sister is a headache to me. How a three-year-old girl could be so mischievous was out of my understanding.
And to top it off, she can't pronounce my name so she has settled on calling me something which makes me wanna throw her off the roof. It all started when she was fourteen months old and had started saying simple words like 'mama' or 'dada'.
"Where's Marcelo?" I asked Silvio as I passed him in the corridor.
Silvio--who was just six then but a lot more disciplined than his sister--pointed in the direction of Marcelo's room.
Nodding, I made my way to his room and knocking, stepped inside.
The room was empty except for Chiara who sat on the floor surrounded by various types of toys and was busy placing the different colour blocks one over the other.
I heard a shower running in the bathroom and decided to wait for him since I wanted to ask him something important.
The moment I stepped inside, Chiara lifted her head and grinned at me, her eyes twinkling.
Her smile always caught me off guard and I managed to give her a small smile before sitting down at the edge of the bed, next to where she was on the floor.
I was busy roaming my eyes across the room when I felt a tug at my leg and heard her little voice, "Eeel?"
My head snapped to her. "What?"
"Eeel." She grinned.
"My name's Ezekiel. Thank you very much."
"Eeel."
I groaned. "It's Ezekiel, okay? Repeat after me now. Eze..."
She cocked her head but managed to repeat, "Ze..."
"Kiel."
"Eeel!" She clapped her hands as if she achieved something huge.
Ugh. I swear she is doing this on purpose considering how her eyes twinkled mischievously.
Just then Marcelo stepped out of the bathroom, towel-drying his hair.
"Tell your sister to stop calling me Eeel. I am not a fish." I complained to him.
"Um..." He glanced between us. "She is a baby..."
"Whatever."
Everyone knew about the marriage contract and Marcelo specifically found it quite amusing. He chuckled. "She will learn to pronounce your name when she grows up a little. Don't worry."
It turned out that she never really learned. She continued to call me Eeel to this day. And no one bothers to correct her and even if I do, she purposely calls me that to annoy me.
Today is yet another day when I will have to tolerate her.
.
.
.
"How's school?" Aunty Ariella asked. Out of respect, we address each other's parents as aunty/uncle.
"It's good. I scored the highest among my batchmates in the latest exam."
She ruffled my hair and chuckled. "Why am I not surprised, little nerd? Congratulations though, I am really proud of you."
I smiled at her feeling happy.
"And are you not proud of me?" Cyrus pouted sadly as he stood beside me.
"Of course, I am, Cyrus. What's there not to be proud of, hmm?" She pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Lunch's ready though, come eat first and then you all can play."
We made our way to the dining room where Marcelo and Silvio were already present.
"I am going to kick your ass today!" Cyrus exclaimed to Marcelo referring to their video game match later.
"That's a bad language, Cyrus." I scolded him. "Don't say that again."
He rolled his eyes. "Fine." And took his seat beside Silvio.
"If you win then you can be my third in command in the future." Marcelo told him.
"Really?!"
Despite dad trying to make Cyrus understand, he hasn't budged from his decision of being Marcelo's third in command and uncle said if he proves himself then the position is his.
I have no interest in this mafia world, I would rather spend my life handling dad's company.
Aunty chuckled as she placed a dish of lasagna on the table. "You can't decide that with a simple video game match."
"Don't worry, I will prove myself."
While they all chatted, I swept my gaze across the room. Where is she anyway? It's not her naptime either.
Then I heard a loud shriek coming from outside the room and I rolled my eyes. Here comes the little hellion.
Soon that shriek turned into laughter as she ran inside the dining room, her hair all wet and Uncle chased her with a towel probably trying to dry her hair.
Aunty shook her head and caught her in her arms. Chiara wiggled around. "No."
"Why is your hair all wet?" Aunty asked sternly.
"She won't let me dry it." Uncle breathed heavily while glaring at her.
Chiara giggled at his reaction and said to her mother in the most innocent tone ever, "I like my hair wet."
"But you might catch a cold like this, baby."
She pouted sadly but this time let her father dry her hair, then he placed her in the wooden high chair of hers, right next to me.
She sequealed when she saw me. "Eeel!"
I gritted my teeth and didn't bother correcting her. "Yes?"
"Do you want to see magic?"
"Um...okay..."
Grinning, she asked me to grab a few paper napkins from the table and I handed them to her. She proceeded to make a small ball out of them.
She then put both her arms behind her back and stayed like that for a moment before thrusting them in front of me. Her fingers were too little to conceal that ball which was in her right hand.
"Now guess which hand the ball is in."
Seriously?
It was clearly visible that where it was but I sighed and pointed to her left hand. "This one."
She looked so freaking smug and happy as she opened her right hand saying, "No! It's here! Did you like the magic?"
I stared at her blankly.
"Okay, again!" She hid her hands behind her back again and put them out a moment later. "Guess again."
This time it was in her left hand so I decided not to let her win again and pointed to her left hand. She looked shocked as if she couldn't believe that I guessed it.
Then she quickly put her hands back and when she showed me again, she had switched the ball from one hand to other.
My lips twictched in amusement and for the sake of peace, I pointed to the wrong hand.
She giggled loudly. "Yay!"
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my future wife.