Natasha's pov:
I stare at Adrien as he pours me a glass of water from the kitchen. We were all huddled together in the living room. I was on the couch with Leo and Chase whilst Vincent, Xavier and Xander stood up. My chest was still rising up and down rapidly but when Adrien comes back he hands me the cup.
I chug it all down hoping my feelings would go with it.
I hated when I got emotional. It was so stupid. I hated myself for it. When I finish the water Adrien takes back my glass and leaves in on the counter. He scurries back to us. It was pin silence from the moment they found me in their meeting room. No one said or exchanged a word to eachother.
It was scary if I'm being completely honest.
Most of them looked ashamed or even disappointed. I didn't like the feeling of them being disappointed of me. I didn't like it at all. I look down to my hands, fiddling with them to cope with my worries. I couldn't bare to look my biological brothers in the eye, scared of what they'll think of me.
"What did you see in there?" Vincent breaks the ongoing silence.
I swallow my saliva before answering his question, or so I thought. I didn't want to hit the nail straight on the head so I don't ask about the elephant in the room. Instead, I counter back and ask him a question. "Why am I not allowed to enter that room?"
"You're just not." Adrien answers briefly.
"So you think that justifies as an answer?" I ask with my anger building up. It was completely unfair for them not to give me a fair reason. They can't go into the room and I can't? It's so messed up.
"It does for me." Vincent steps back into the conversation. Oh yea, like that makes it alright.
"That isn't fair." I voice out my opinion.
"Life isn't fair." I hear Xander mumble quietly. What a jackass.
"It's for your own good. Believe me." Leo tries to assure me.
I look back to my hands not wanting to be apart of this conversation where they confront me for exploring a house that I live in. Can you blame me? It seems unfair that they won't tell me. Vincent signals that it was enough and looks down to me. "What's rule number one?" He asks strictly.
"Always speak when you're spoken to." I mumble quietly.
He looks down to me and sternly says "Apply it here."
My posture sulks even further than before. What was his true aim here? Was it to teach me about the secret room or to teach me a moral lesson? Because currently, he wasn't doing either.
"Don't forget about the little stunt that you put on in the cafeteria today." Adrien adds on.
"You told them?" I directly ask Xavier in disbelief. The one person that I thought I could trust. The one person that I was actually close with. It wasn't even that big of a deal.
"You were with Nico. The one person I advised you not to talk to." He explains.
"I don't even know who he is! I was sitting with Flynn and Harper." I correct him. I didn't run into Nico that day at all. Harper was the only new kid I talked with. I was loosing my patience by the second.
"Harper is Nico!" Xander frustratingly yells. He turns around to rub his hands over his face. My face pales in realisation. Harper is Nico? That's why it makes sense when they were mad at me. Xander's acting as if I knew that Harper's first name was Nico. The whole school calls him Harper, if he really didn't want me to talk to him, he should've just said his name was Harper.
I glue my vision towards my fingers trying to not let any tears let loose at Xander's harsh tone. "I didn't know that." I admit defeat. "I didn't know that." I repeat again, mainly to myself than anyone else. I defend Nico "He's not even as bad as you all make him out to be."
"Oh sweety, he's a monster." Vincent clarifies.
"He's nothing but trouble." Adrien adds.
"It's for your own good to not go near him." Leo mentioned
"He's a dangerous boy, irmã bonita." Chase brings up.
"He's a fucking asshole." Xavier finalises. "Don't make contact with him again." He orders as he storms off with annoyance.
Why was he so mad? What could Nico have done to upset my biological brothers this much? Whatever he did, it must've been bad.
Vincent looks at his wrist and announces "Oh look, it's dinner time." Vincent, Adrien and Xander are the first to leave whilst Chase and Leo wait for me to join them.
"Aren't you coming for dinner Nat?" Chase asks me whilst standing up with Leo.
"I'm not hungry." I establish. After an argument I'm usually not that tempted to eat. I work better on an empty stomach.
"Irmã bonita please join us for this meal. It's the last one of the day." Leo reasons with me. With one last persuasion I hesitantly get up and we make our way towards the dining room. By the time we get there the food is already laid out. Sushi. I love sushi but unfortunately I just don't have the appetite to eat right now.
Everyone digs into their share whilst I just stare at my empty plate, contemplating what just happened.
Xavier who is sitting beside me, notices this and takes a Makizushi AKA rolled up sushi from the platter and places it on my plate. "Eat." He demands in a soft but urging tone. I pick up my chopsticks and use it to eat the sushi roll. I was still a shaken mess from earlier but atleast Xavier is making me eat.
He has good intentions.
"I'm full." I mention to Xavier before discussing the elephant in the room. I begin to leave but Vincent stops me "Where are you going?" Vincent asks me. "Somewhere where you're not." I mock whilst trying to leave the room. He begins "Princess-."
"I know your the Don of the Brazilian mafia." I admit out loud. The information was eating me alive, I just couldn't hold on to it anymore. I know deep down that it would've been better if I had kept the information to myself and my mafia but I did what felt right.
I let my emotions out.
Everyone stops what they're doing and freezes as if they can't believe their eyes. Their eyes flick between Vincent and I. Vincent's usually tan complexion has turned into a pale peach. "I'm not." He lies me. My blood has officially reached the boiling point."I literally just gave you a chance to tell the truth and you didn't. Do you think I'm stupid or something?" I ask in disbelief.
Their mouths lay agape.
"Do you all think that I don't notice when you sneak off to that stupid meeting room? Or when you all go on 'business' outings? Yet here we are, I just confronted you and you denied it, again." I shake my head in disappointment and walk off. Oh how the tables changed.
Now all I want to do is crawl up into a ball and cry myself to sleep.
I hurry upstairs, do my skincare and put on my pyjamas. I toss Adrien's hoodie on the floor and plug my phone in for the night. I leave on a little nightlight which usually helps me calm down when I'm stressed. Even though way too early to go to bed, I don't care.
I lay there until my eyes can't stay open and I drift off into a slumber.
times passes
I wake up to my alarm buzzing at 07:00am. I unwillingly find myself getting out of bed and doing my morning routine. Which usually consists of shower, skincare, clothes and a backpack on my back. After yesterday's shenanigans, I don't want to be in a room full of my biological brothers for the time being.
I stay in my room finishing mafia work until 7:50.
I make my way downstairs and I pass the breakfast bar not feeling hungry. I make my way to the garage instead and I sit in the backseat of Xander's black G-Wagon. It's funny how yesterday and today were so different. Why did they have to care so much about freaking Nico Harper?
He wasn't even that bad.
At 8am I spot Xavier making his way towards the vehicle. He spots me before he gets inside himself so he opens my car door. What could he want now? He looks shocked that I'm here. "What are you doing here?" He asks. "Waiting for you? Isn't it obvious?" I roll my eyes.
"Nat, you didn't eat breakfast." He confronts me.
"Yea I know. I ate dinner." I explain.
"You ate one sushi roll. That isn't dinner." He reasons with me.
I fold my arms. "Well I don't have an appetite right now." I flash him an 'i'm good' look which should make him stop questioning me. His eyes study me for a moment before his mouth lets out a sigh.
"Make sure to ask for my lunch tag later, alright?" He asks me to remind him.
"Yeah no problem." I finally satisfy him.
"Also, the rest of them are worried that you didn't come down to eat." Xavier mentions.
"I'll text the groupchat that I already ate dinner." I assure whilst I whip out my phone.
"But you didn't." He interrupts.
"I'll tell them I'll eat lunch with your tag then." I find a probable solution.
"Alright." He accepts defeat as Xander hops into the front seat.
I hear the engine roar to life and we're on the road.
Nat: Sorry I didn't come down, I ate a lot at dinner.
Xavier: Nat.
Nat: Okay so I ate a little at dinner.. So what? I'm not that hungry today anyways.
Vincent: Princess you know what the nutritionist said.
Nat: I know, IK. I'm gonna use Xavier's lunch tag today so I'll eat then. Alright?
Chase: Good. Remember that you'll be going home with the twins irmã bonita.
Nat: Kk! See yous l8ter!
Adrien: See ya angel.
Chase: Bye Bonita.
Leo: Have a good day!
We make small talk here and there in the car but the majority of the ride was silent. Xander soon pulls up to the school compound and he parks his car in the parking lot. We step out and I already spot a few other pupils staring at us. "Is your status here this prestigious?" I ask the twins.
"We're the Morales family, what else did you expect?" Xander responds with a wink.
Wow, his ego must be through the roof. By the time we reach the school front stairs practically the whole school was glaring at us, but specifically me. As we walk up I spot girls of all different ages whispering with one another. This is not what I signed up for. I guess most people are surprised that their supposed 'long lost sister' was found after all.
And that she's better than ever.
I walk into school and depart from my brothers. It was weird when we walked into school together, the crowd separated for us when we walked through the school halls. It was as if we're royalty or something. 'Must be a Brazilian thing' I think to myself. I find my locker to search for my first two class's books.
As I was doing so, someone shuts my locker closed.
It was none other than the infamous Harper. Or Nico. Whatever you want to call him. "What do you want?" I roll my eyes at him. "You're in my first two classes, remember Ms.Perfect?" He reminds me playfully. "I wouldn't be Miss.Perfect if I forgot, now would I?" I reply back with the same energy.
"Fuck." I curse out loud.
"What is it Ms.Perfect?" He asks with a smirk on his face. "I forgot my P.E clothes and it's second class! I don't think you should call me Ms.Perfect anymore." I say annoyed at myself whilst pointing at my clothsless locker. I find a spare pair of Nike Pro shorts in the bottom of my backpack and a pair of spare runners in the corner of my locker.
I guess that's two items sorted.
"Don't fret. I can let u borrow my spares." He assures me with a slight smirk. "No offence Mr.Mysterious, but you Sir, are around 6ft tall whilst I'm only 5." I turn down his offer.
"Hey! I'm 6'1ft you dummy." He acts fake hurt.
"Yea sure you are." I mock him with a small smile. It's already been 5 minutes into this hellhole and Nico already has made it better. This man has a hold on me. "My clothes will work, don't worry. Follow me Ms.Perfect." He instructs. I follow him disobeying my biological family's orders. Who cares? He's harmless anyways.
And kinda cute.
He drags me along with him until we reach his locker. He bursts it open with one hard whack. He pulls out his grey gym bag and hands me his cobalt blue hoodie. "It matches your eyes." He mentions. He knows what colour my eyes are? The thing in my stomach is doing something.
It feels weird, like something is fluttering.
I say my thanks and we walk to first period together, history.
times passes
The class flies by. History is my favourite subject and here in Brazil, they were covering the Renaissance. One of the most beautifully written chapters ever. I loved every ounce of that class. I tell Nico about what happened yesterday with Xavier and Xander at home. Nothing about the mafia though. Nico and I make our way to the changing rooms to get ready for P.E. We have to separate into the girls and boys changing room though.
Bummer.
I actually haven't met any girls to be friends with yet. I saw the cheerleaders in the corner though. They looked friendly too. I fold my uniform into a neat bundle and place it into a changing locker. I leave the changing rooms and wait outside for Nico to meet up with me.
He comes out with a white hoodie and blue sweatpants. He takes one look at me and says "My clothes look good on you." with a satisfied smirk. "Oh do they now?" I ask back playfully.
Time feels slower than usual. He steps closer to me. I can feel the warmth from his body. He brushes a hair out of my face whilst taking his time as he stares into my eyes. I have never felt this feeling towards someone before.
It feels, nice. I even feel colour tinting my cheeks.
Our moment is brought to a close when we hear someone clear their throat, loudly. We break our thoughtful embrace to find who did it. We turn our heads until I find Xavier and Xander staring right at us, at me.
They don't look happy.
Author's pov:
Heya loves! As per usual, I hope you all had a wonderful day. Hope you had mixed emotions with this chapter as much as I did. Although I didn't want to cause as much confrontation with her biological brothers as I did, I felt that in order to get good character development, I had to let the relationship develop at random intervals.
We hit 1.5k! I'm so joyful to celebrate this achievement! The book is growing speedily and the engagement that I'm receiving is delightful! I'm glad that you all enjoy my work.
Opinions on Nat's behaviour recently?
What do we think is about to take place next?
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Word count: 2600