Tristan's heart was beating fast. He couldn't believe Vienna had touched him and had granted him to touch her. For so long he had fantasised about what it felt like to hold her. For so long he had imagined what it would be like to touch her. His heart was truly bursting from joy now that he had finally managed to get closer to her enough for her to allow him a kiss on the cheek.
Tristan had never expected what it could do him when she touched him. He had felt heavenly when her tiny fingers had touched him close to his heart. His hand automatically went to where she had touched him. Time had stopped when she had leaned over to him and to his shock had planted a kiss on his cheek. He couldn't believe that beautiful angel could think he was worthy enough of a kiss on the cheek by her soft lips. He felt like he was in a dream. How could this be reality? She had then gone on to tell him she did like him but was not ready. How could this be? Could her heart, beat for him too just like how his did for her? That brought a smile to his lips.
Tristan watched Vienna walk to the door to leave and he felt sad. But then found her bend over to tie her shoe laces. He smiled as he stared at her. It was nice to be close to her for a few more seconds. He took a deep breath and thought of how his life had suddenly changed. It didn't look bleak any more since Vienna actually had confessed to him that she didn't mind him pursuing her by indicating she did like him too. That brought so much relief for him. He had been fearing that Vienna would reject him and declare there was no chance for him. He knew that rejection was a possibility. But he could never accept Vienna rejecting him without even giving him a chance to prove he was worthy of her. Now life felt much better. She hadn't rejected him but she hadn't accepted him either. Still she was not ready. She said she liked him with her Gorgeous lips that he wanted to get to kiss one day ... Tristan was trying to think what that meant? She had looked at him with those beautiful eyes and had honestly said no one compared to him. He was special to her... But she couldn't say she loved him. He knew she didn't feel the same as he did towards her. Not yet.... But he was hoping she was going to get closer to him as time went on. He didn't mind waiting years and years for her.
Tristan was determined to keep pursuing her until she could accept he was the one for her and could go out with him perhaps.... Maybe then she could soon after confess to loving him... One could hope that day would come... Of course before any of his dreams could come true, he had to get her father's approval. He had to meet him before he could even get closer to her by asking her out. Of course Francesco Rosario wasn't going to let anyone date his daughter until he trusted them and met them. Who was he kidding? Francesco Rosario was not just going to meet him if he wished to date his daughter. He was going to interrogate him. Francesco Rosario was surely going to grill him inside out in that inevitable meeting but he was going to go into that meeting with all he had hoping to convince him, he was worthy of dating his daughter.
Suddenly he came out of his thoughts as there was commotion outside. He heard Vincenzo's voice outside. He was back and surely was hearing about Vienna being there from Alexander and Stefano, his trustees.
Vienna was startled as she stood up straight after tying her shoe laces staring at the door. Just then seconds later, Vincenzo walked in opening the door with more force than necessary making it hit the wall.
Vienna put her hand on her heart and took a step backward seeing her brother looking not so pleased. Viggo then appeared behind him and closed the door as Vincenzo walked towards Vienna "Have you lost your mind? What possessed you to come up here?"
Tristan didn't like his tone at all. He walked forward and stood between Vincenzo and Vienna. He spoke in a calm but hard tone " Don't talk to her like that. You should rephrase your words. Maybe a "how are you doing?" would be better to start with..."
Vincenzo raised an eyebrow "I don't ask you to rephrase your words when you address your siblings. Do I?"
Tristan nodded " I wasn't asking... I was telling you to rephrase your words. You have no manners at all."
Vincenzo stated " Keep the lectures to yourself. Preach someone who listens...."
Viggo stated " Both of you, stop it." He was beside Vienna and was looking at her " Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"
Both Vincenzo and Tristan objected as they turned to Vienna and Viggo.
Tristan stated " Hurt her? Are you mad?" Tristan had balled his hands into fists contemplating what to say and do next. But Vincenzo beat him to it.
Vincenzo started laughing bitterly as he shook his head " Are you serious Viggo? The guy worships the ground Vienna walks on. How many times has he given her special treatment? Too many times to count. He is honourable. Even I know that.... Tristan should really floor your for saying that... But never mind..." He then looked at Vienna "You tell me what on earth you are doing here on the boys' floor..."
Vienna looked at Vincenzo as she shrugged" We just talked.... Sorry... I go now."
Viggo asked " Do you promise? You just talked. Is that all?"
Vienna nodded. "I promise."
Vincenzo stated " You shouldn't have come up here.... Why did you come up here? Actually lets be blunt... That's not very important. He turned to Tristan "I don't know what possessed Vienna to come up here. I don't care very much actually about why she showed up her. ...... But I want to know what happened here in this room."
Tristan frowned " What do you mean giving me that look? We talked. Nothing happened. What did you think would happen? What scenario did you have in mind?" He knew he was pushing Vincenzo's buttons.
Viggo raised an eyebrow and closed the distance between them. " You must have done something to her. She trespassed."
Vienna gulped and walked to stand next to her brother looking between Viggo and Tristan. She could tell Viggo was pushing it. He wasn't mean to speak to him that way.
To Vienna's surprise, Tristan turned to Viggo calmly and nodded " I confiscated her ring as punishment. That's all I did. I will give it back to her...."
Vincenzo was looking at Tristan suspiciously " That's no punishment. That's a joke..."
Tristan stated " Well... That's all that happened. We talked and I took her ring. Nothing else. She is my girl...."
Viggo muttered under his breath "Not yet. She isn't." That earned him a hard look. Tristan really wanted to put Viggo in his place. How dare he insult him that way? She was his. She always was and she always was going to be his girl.
Viggo turned to Vienna "Why did you come up here Vienna? He could hurt you.."
Tristan had to compose himself. Viggo was really asking for it. He knew Tristan was not going to respond in front of Vienna and he was using this as a safety net. He was going to show him his place but not here.
Vincenzo nodded "Good question...I bet it was for Edward...." He turned to Tristan " Viggo was telling me how you want to kill Edward. That kid is not worth our time. Who cares about that weakling? Either get your mother to expel him or transfer him elsewhere. But I don't want our basketball practice time to be wasted on him... We have games coming up. He is no threat. He can't even run 100 meters without falling over... Seriously he is not your problem... But Vienna showing up here breaking the rules is a problem"... He then turned to Vienna "I don't want to see you up here again. I am tempted to give you a sanction. Leave now."
Tristan wanted to punch Vincenzo for that. He spoke in a hard tone but kept his calmness "I said... Don't speak to her like that?"
Vincenzo turned to Tristan and sighed " This is the boys' floor. We are meant to punish her even before kicking her out. What am I meant to say? If you don't mind please leave? If you don't mind, please drop by next time and let us know in advance so we provide refreshments? Seriously Tristan?"
Tristan looked at Vincenzo with narrowed eyes "Just fix your tone....." He then thought to himself "... or I will fix it for you."
Vincenzo chuckled darkly " Are you threatening me?" He felt the threat behind his tone even though Tristan didn't say half his sentence.
Viggo and Vienna looked at each other warily. They could both see there was tension in the air between the two rivals.
Viggo was the one to react as he cleared his throat "Vienna, lets go. The bell will be ringing soon."
Vienna nodded her head and followed him to the exit as he walked away. Vienna then turned around as she was walking away. She liked how he defended her. She smiled and muttered "Bye Tristan. See you later."
Tristan froze as he was watching her leaving. She smiled and she said his name. Could he be really dreaming all this? This was a breakthrough. At last she was trusting him.
Vincenzo was taken back at how friendly Vienna sounded and his anger at Tristan slightly evaporated.
As the door closed behind the two siblings, Vincenzo shook his head at Tristan "What is this world coming to? My sister waving goodbye at you. How did you manage it? Viggo came to me and told me Vienna was upset. He wanted me to interfere so she won't be troubled. Well, it seems like I don't have to do anything. But you watch it with my sister. If she complains to my father about you then you are going down...."
Tristan's expression hardened " If she complains about you, then you will go down too but I will get to you before your father.... I mean it Vincenzo.... Take this as a warning or as a threat... I don't care...... You will not bother her in any way and will not try to force your extreme views on her from now on. I have a sister too and I don't treat her the way you treat Vienna..."
Vincenzo stated "Maybe you should. She would thank me later..."
Tristan sighed "What bothers me the most is that .... even when your father interferes and is on her side about certain matters, to her your opinion still matters....Your treatment of her is unacceptable yet she cares about what you think. You must stop terrorising her or you and I would have problems... She hasn't even entered the art contest even thought I am sure your father wouldn't object if she did..."
Vincenzo stated " Giving me ultimatums gets you no where. I think you know I don't change anything for anyone. Knock yourself out... Take me on. I strike back. Always.. For your information, Vienna can do anything she wants for now.... It's all because of my mother. You know her..."
Tristan shook his head " Why do you speak of your family this way. Your mother is so logical.... Now, I am going to ask you one thing and you must do it Vincenzo. I want you to ask her to enter the art contest. You must ask her to enter the art contest or she won't. I know she wont. I asked Clarisa to try to convince her to enter but Vienna told my sister that she wouldn't do it because you don't like her to."
Vincenzo sighed in frustration "There is no point in art... Everybody knows that...."
Suddenly the bell rang and interrupted them. Vincenzo was first to turn around and walk away. "I will think about it Tristan...."
Vincenzo made his way down the stairs and got to the boys' changing room. He wore his kit and walked to the gymnasium. He saw Letizia in a kickboxing uniform from far and smiled. He walked behind her and grabbed her waist anticipating her to react. She made a move and freed herself and just as she was about to hit her, he caught her fist in his hand.
Vincenzo laughed " Relax. It's me. I was just testing your reflexes. You need them to be fast. We have sport recruitment hour now. If you want to get into kickboxing you have to beat the very top ...."
Letizia objected " No I don't. You can get in if you show no skills at all but have to try to imitate some moves when the head kick boxer attacks."
Vincenzo frowned " Who said anything about their rules. I meant my rules. You have to be the very top by beating the very top or I won't let you join."
Letizia sighed and spoke in a sarcastic tone " Wow. It makes sense now."
Vincenzo nodded and let go of her fist " I am glad we have an understanding." He then gave her a smirk and walked inside the gymnasium.
Letizia walked in gasped at how they had transformed the place. The gym was two sections. A girls section and a boys one. Different sport captains had stands around the room and recruited for their own sport from different year groups. It was an interesting recruitment fair quite at large scale.
Letizia saw Vincenzo walking to the corner where basketball captains had to be doing a whole school recruiting. She also spotted Clarisa and Azurine in a corner recruiting cheer leaders. Another corner was for girls basketball where Vienna and Vanessa were recruiting.
Letizia then found the kick boxing stand where the captain of the team, Angelia was standing alongside her side kick Tanya. Angelia raised an eyebrow " You are here to join us?"
Letizia nodded " Sure."
Angelia stated " Follow me to the ring. I need to test you..."
Letizia reluctantly walked behind her and entered the ring. As they did, it was strange for Letizia as she notice alot of students stopped what they were doing and walked to the ring to watch them. Even the boys.
Angelia explained " We haven't had a new recruit in a long time. They just want to see me test you. It would be their entertainment when we fight."
Letizia sighed " There is nothing to see."
Angelia smiled innocently " Oh there is."
Letizia noticed Vincenzo walking to the ring with a smirk on his face. He shouted " You will beat her Letizia. She has no chance."
Letizia watched Viggo looking on worriedly. He couldn't tell why he was worried. What a contrast between the brothers?
After Tanya explained the rules, the two girls stared each other down and walked in a circle around each other. Letizia threw the first kick that caught her by surprise. She lost her balance slightly and looked at Letizia with surprise " Woah. You are a pro. Aren't you?" That was the beginning of a fierce fight.
The whole gymnasium were cheering on the two as the girls are fighting.
Finally it was Letizia who managed to come on top. The whole gymnasium exploded cheering. Angelia stood up and shook hands with Letizia " You are now the kickboxing captain. Wow. Congratulations."
Letizia wasn't sure what to make of her words. She didn't know if she was resenting her or she was happy for her. It was hard to tell. Time could tell if she could trust her.
As Angelia and Letizia got off the ring, Vincenzo walked to them. He embraced Letizia " I knew you would floor the witch." He then broke apart from Letizia and turned to Angelia " Part away people. The witch of oz is entering."
Angelia gave him a look " Go to hell. You Rosarios are all psychos."
Vincenzo laughed as he put his hand on Viggo's shoulder who was standing next to him " Loser."
Viggo cringed at the exchange but he noticed she was hurt and before he could stop himself, he voiced his thought " Oh, my god, you are limping...You must be hurt," But of course this didn't sound like he thought it did. Angelia actually thought he was making fun of her and so did some others who were surrounding them. Even Letizia shook her head.
Angelia turned around and gasped as she walked to him "Oh, you think you are smart...You know, You are as bad as your brother. You should try dropping your nice guy act."
Vincenzo patted Viggo back " Good one Viggo."
Viggo was troubled. He spent the whole period watching Angelia and thinking about ways to make it upto her. How could he make her believe he wasn't that bad.
When the period was over, he found Angelia walking towards am empty corridor before changing. She wanted to drink some water from the water fountain. He looked around and walked to her. He stood behind her and cleared his throat.
Angelia quickly turned around " You.,, what do you want? Hoodloom."
Viggo frowned " I am not one.... You are hurt from the match ... Aren't you?"
Angelia narrowed her eyes " You dare mock me?" She then raised her hand to slap him but Viggo shocked himself by grabbing her hand midway. His eyes widened " Sorry. Reflex reaction." As he let her go, she gave him a hateful look and walked away.
This exchange bothered Viggo very much. She was such a judgmental character. He hadn't done anything to her and she wanted to slap him. He turned around and muttered " I am not the one throwing punches at people because I lost a match am I? I was wondering if you are hurt..,,"
Angelia turned around " Keep your concerns to yourself and drop the act." She then walked away.
Viggo shouted as he knew this was a rare chance to find her alone " This is no an act. I care about you damn it....Will you come to the end of year prom with me."