It was early morning. Francesco was running with Vincenzo around his compound and they had come to the end of their warm up. They ran to a drinks table and both stared drinking water.
Francesco put his hand on his son's shoulder " I am impressed Vincenzo. You have to slow down for me so I can catch up."
Vincenzo drank some water and spoke "I was taught by the best how to train."
Francesco smiled as he put his drink away. He put his hands on his hips "You have grown up too fast son... All of you have....Soon I will be relying on you to do my job. I will not live forever."
Vincenzo frowned "Don't say that father...."
Francesco spoke "But it is true son. I run a business that is risky. I have many enemies. most of which are inherited from previous generations in my family, some are gained because I have rivals in business and some are my enemies because I made them my enemy. There are threats to my life. You must know that. That is why I have to show you more side to my business as I told you and Viggo. From now on, things will be changing but of course you will have choices I never had."
Vincenzo spoke "Father, I would never walk away when things get tough..."
Francesco smiled "I know son. Lets go to breakfast. I hope your brother recovers soon.... Vincenzo, how is school? How is Vienna holding up?" He then walked side by side his son towards the mansion.
Vincenzo spoke "Viggo and I look out for her...."
Francesco nodded "That is all I need to hear son. I will take care of the rest."
Vincenzo went to his room getting ready for breakfast and Francesco walked to his bedroom to have a shower. Of course Adele was up in the kitchen most likely making breakfast. He still hadn't told Adele about their daughter having an admirer who happened to be a criminal. But he had to at some point.
Adele was making scrambled eggs in the kitchen as she felt his presence in the room. The smell of his aftershave was filling the kitchen. He walked to her and wrapped his arms around her waist and held her arms in place as he planted kisses up and down the side of her head and neck.
Adele chuckled "Stop. The kids may walk in."
Francesco spoke "What if they do? This is nothing. After they leave we will do alot here on this floor. I love the kitchen floor. It is easy to move around. We will make out right here."
Adele looked around worriedly "Stop. They may arrive and hear."
Francesco laughed "Don't worry. They are heavy sleepers. they are probably in their rooms. They will arrive last minute. Turn off the hub. I have something to tell you." He then let go of Adele and sat down on a chair around the dining table.
Adele checked the eggs "Wait a few seconds. They are nearly done." Seconds later she turned off the stove and walked to sit down opposite Francesco. She could tell by the tone of his voice that this was serious.
Francesco spoke "I don't know where to begin..... Tristan loves Vienna."
Adele was looking at Francesco with her mouth open "What? When did that happen?"
Francesco spoke "years ago. but O'Neil told his son to keep it to himself so we don't separate the kids. They wanted the kids to go to same school and live in the same city. O'Neil called me last night."
Adele stood up shaking her head "Tristan is like Vincenzo.... He is a first born.... Vienna is .... innocent..."
Francesco spoke "Calm down sweetheart. Nothing has happened. Vienna has said no to him. I didn't want to tell you last night because I thought you may not sleep at all when you heard this. Sweetheart, you don't have to worry. Our sons will take care of Vienna in school...."
Then heavy steps were heard and Adele immediately went back to the stoves and loaded the contents of the pans on to dishes. As the children came in and said good morning, Adele put the plates in front of the kids and sat opposite Francesco pouring tea for herself. Her stare didn't leave Vienna though. Francesco wished he hadn't said anything.
Vienna noticed her mothers stare and spoke " Mum. Are you well?"
Adele smiled weakly as she took a sip from her tea cup " I am fine sweetie. I just had a little surprise today. It's just that I am in a bit of a shock. Noting to worry about sweetie. What exam do you have today?"
Vienna spoke " English and English Literature."
Adele spoke " I think they put two of your hardest exams first. First calculus and then English."
Viggo spoke " I am fine with the poetry but Shakespeare's section was tough to grasp."
Vienna nodded " Sure Romeo and Juliet is tough to learn. This is mid term but prepares us for end of term."
Adele asked Vincenzo " Which book are you reading in your year group?"
Vincenzo shrugged " Of Mice and Men. It's pretty straight forward. It's all about the American dream, having your own land, having your own independence and the ones out ranking you trying to take away your dreams. Well, no one will take away my American dream."
Viggo laughed " And what's that?"
Vincenzo spoke " You will find out one day. Won't you?"
Viggo spoke " Be careful though. Dreams can go wrong."
Vincenzo spoke " Mine won't."
Francesco was listening intently to his sons. In a way he was glad they were still teenagers. He knew this table talk was going to be different in a few years time as his children grew older. They wouldn't have talked about their school forever. He knew he was going to miss this years later. Maybe that was part of the reason he was insisting for his children to never miss meal times for any reason. He knew children grew up fast and his children were going to change. He wanted them to have this childhood for as long as they could.
As they finished their breakfast, the children packed their lunch and said their goodbyes.
As Viggo, Vienna and Vincenzo walked out the mansion and got into a car, they looked at their father at the window. But this time their mother was next to him too.
Vienna spoke " They watch us leave again. But they look less happy than yesterday. It felt like something had ended. Something was on fathers mind."
Viggo shrugged " He probably knows about you having a crazy admirer making him lose sleep."
Vienna spoke " But did you tell him?"
Vincenzo spoke " None of us needs to tell him. He always finds out. He probably knows what's going on in school. Because nothing has happened technically he doesn't say anything."
The rest of the way was spent in silence. The siblings got off the car and went their separate ways again. Vienna took Viggo's advice and decided to go to the science lab before the start of the exam. They had arrived quite early. She made her way into the school and went through the almost deserted corridors. Most kids hung out in the food hall or sports grounds before school started. A few were in the library.
As Vienna entered the science lab to continue with her project, she froze as she saw Edward Blake. She almost screamed as she shouted " Who did this to you. Oh dear lord."
She dropped her bag as she saw him being tied to the teachers chair with black tape over his mouth and around his body making it impossible to escape. He was looking at her pleadingly and making sounds probably trying to say, help me.
She ran to him and the first thing she did was removing the tape from his mouth as she said " Sorry Edward. It would hurt."
As she removed the tape Edward almost had tears in his eyes " Ow. I am sorry .... Please help me.... Sorry to bother you.... You look very nice today...." His eyes then widened and looked around " Sorry. I didn't mean it. You are just ... Lovely."
Vienna ignored his words as she searched the teachers for scissors and when she found one, she started cutting the tapes that bound him to the chair. They covered him completely. This could take a while.
As Vienna was cutting the tapes slowly she spoke " Edward. Who did this to you? Was it Tristan?"
Edward looked away and pressed his lips and mumbled a word sounding like " Leave it please."
Vienna sighed " It was him. Wasn't it?"
Edward spoke sadly " There were so many of them...."
Vienna managed to cut out all the tapes finally " All done. Get up now."
Edward took a sigh of relief " You saved me .... Thank you. If it wasn't for you then I could miss my exams... I owe you for ever..." He then bent over and started picking up the discarded tapes from the floor.
Vienna bent over and tried to help him " Look, tell me who did this and why?"
Edward carried on picking up the tapes " I did something ..."
Vienna spoke " What did you do?"
Edward picked up most the tapes and discarded them in the bin and so did Vienna. Edward was looking at anywhere but at Vienna " I .... kind of spilt my soda on Alton. I was rushing in the corridors and when I walked around a bend to get to this room, I didn't see Alton and it spilt on his shirt. He went to his locker and got a new shirt out while the others brought me here...."
Vienna asked " Was Tristan with them?"
Edward nodded as he looked up at Vienna " He was .... They were going to ... beat me again but Tristan didn't let them... He said they will let me off easy this time because I was beaten up just yesterday and they sentenced me to being taped to that chair until someone came to get me out."
Vienna crossed her arm over her chest as she was standing in front of him " They call this letting off easy? They were going to leave you taped to this chair for two periods. If I wasn't here and no one else was then you could miss your exams. We have no science today in first period because of exams in the hall. How is this easy?"
Edward shrugged and looked around " At least they didn't shove my head in the toilet or they didn't break my hand. They do that you know.... I owe you so much..... Vienna... Can I .... ask you something?"
Vienna nodded " Sure..."
Edward started looking around " Would you come with me on my trip to NASA headquarters?"
Vienna raised an eyebrow " What?"
Edward explained quickly as he looked up at her shyly " I must nominate someone to go on a trip to the NASA site with me. I am allowed to choose another student and I want to choose you......It's just a trip.... Will you say yes? I know it sounds like a..... date. But its just a trip. Nothing more."
Vienna laughed " I know it's not a date. But you should choose someone smarter than me who deserves it. This is your reward trip. Right?"
Edward spoke as he looked down " I think you should get to go. Your physics project is really good..... I like it..."
Vienna looked at Edward with her mouth open " You like my project? But you are a genius. Why would you like my project?"
Edward looked up and shrugged " It's original... It's your own work... Most people are copying from the book.... But not you... I like you... ." His lips then started trembling as he looked away " Sorry... I am sorry."
Vienna spoke " No I am sorry for getting you into so much trouble yesterday. I really don't think I deserve this trip after everything that happened to you yesterday all because of me."
Edward pleaded " Please say yes. I want you to come. I don't like many others. They pick on me. They make fun of me, but not you and .... I like your project. You are a good scientist."
Vienna sighed " Fine. I accept..."
Edward looked at Vienna with a bright smile " This trip is arranged by NASA as a reward for my work. I am so excited. I will get to sit in real space shuttles.... It's so cool. Don't you think?"
Vienna saw how his eyes brightened up. He loved physics so much. He then continued " They said we can even wear real space suits and we would be weightless in a room. It's so awesome. It's my dream coming true."
Vienna spoke " That sounds great. But what if Tristan picks on you because of this? I don't want you to have to fight Tristan again. Choose someone else."
Edward spoke " You fought for me yesterday. You walked to the gym full of boys and talked to them for me. Don't worry ..... No hard feelings... Tristan was beating me up because this is what males do. They fight for females. It's a biological fact. You are very smart. I like you...," He then looked away "So sorry .... I shouldn't have said that..." He then looked up " Forgive me." He then shyly looked down" I like you, but I like your work too."
Vienna laughed "You are so sweet but ..."
Suddenly, Trent's voice was heard from behind them " You two are together."
Vienna and Edward turned around and saw Trent at the door. They hadn't noticed when Trent had come in.