As I open the door, I see a pair of dark and empty gray eyes, staring at me. When he comes forward, I see the beautiful flecks of gold and brown appearing on his eyes. But his eyes are so hard and stony. This is not the first time I'm meeting him, but it's the first time we've ever had a proper eye contact.
"Alex?" Mr. Romano calls from behind, snatching me away from my daze and I hear some shuffling sound of chairs. Alexander looks at me with a blank face and then blinks up, glancing behind me, at his father.
"Why are you so late?" Mrs. Romano asks.
"I had work mom." His husky and cool voice floods in the room, and he glares at me with a scowl. Then I realize that I'm blocking his way. Stepping aside with a blush, I allow him to come in. With a grimace, he mutters something and gets in.
"I remember I had told you be here on time." Mr. Romano snaps.
"I had work." Alexander replies with an annoyed tone, huffing and tapping his foot.
"Do you even have any work other than screwing around with girls?" Mr. Romano roars making me gasp. I turn my gaze towards Alexander who is standing there with his head down and his hands in his pocket.
"Marcello!" Mrs. Romano whispers loudly, with her eyes wide open. "We can discuss this later." She grits her teeth, squeezing his hand and soon gives us a fake smile. Mr. Romano huffs and walks back towards the dining table with heavy footsteps.
"Alexander, please have a seat." Mom gets up and drags a chair out for him. "I'll serve your food right away."
"Elisa you need not do that." Mr. Romano stops her. "He can eat later on." He glares at Alexander whose face hangs down.
"Uh.." Mom hesitates.
"It's okay." Alexander soon puts on a little, fake smile on his face and assures my mother.
They start eating and I stare at Alexander, biting my lips.
"Hey." I pat on his shoulder softly and he slowly turns at me. I get a slight shiver when his eyes meet mine but I ignore it. "Would you like to sit?" I ask softly with a smile, pointing at the sofa.
He stills and looks down at his leather jacket which has some droplets of rain, dripping down on the floor. Hesitantly, he looks up at me, with some strands of his wet, black hair falling on his forehead and my heart paces up at the sight. "You can give it to me." I blurt out and he frowns. "I'll keep it in the laundry." I blush and look down at my knotted fingers.
As I notice his shadow moving, I peek up. He opens his jacket, revealing his tight muscles and broad chest, my lips go dry. I shift a little, clearing my throat and look away when I find him glaring at me.
He hands the jacket to me with the worst poker face I've ever seen. "You can sit there." Without making an eye contact, I take his jacket and leave to get to the laundry room.
I let out a deep breath which I had been holding without notice, as I enter the laundry room. I fish through the pockets of his jacket like a thief to check whether he has left anything. The heavenly scent of his cologne floods into my nose as I flip his jacket to check. I shouldn't be doing this though.
When I put my hand into one of the pockets, I feel some packets inside. Confused, I grab one and take it out.
A pink colored packet with a mixed smell of chocolate and strawberry comes out. Chocolate? These are strange packets of chocolates.
As I begin to gather all of the packets, Lucian barges in. "What are you-" He stops, looking at the packets. "What the hell Stella?" He kneels beside me and snatches some of them from my hand. With an astonished expression, he looks at me. "How do you have these?"
"These aren't mine." I shake my head nervously. "They're Alexander's." I mutter.
"What are you doing with these in here?" Lucian asks, narrowing his eyes.
"Alexander's jacket was wet so..." I glance at the packets. "But these are just chocolates!" I defend.
"Chocolates?" Lucian's eyes widen up.
"Uh, yeah..." I point at the packet and when I proceed to open it, my brother snatches it from my hands.
"I know we should've spoilt you." He sighs and stuffs those into his pocket.
Narrowing my eyes, I ask "What are those then?"
"Cond-" He starts with a carefree, loud tone but doesn't complete the word, as if realizing something. But I think I've understood what he meant. I slap my hand against my mouth and my face goes crimson red. "Come to the living room." Lucian says, and rushes out of the laundry.
I sit beside Alexander awkwardly, not looking at him. It seems like he's uncomfortable too as Lucian has given them back to Alexander. I don't pay attention to him right now, instead I smile giddily at the guests who are laughing hard, I don't know why.
"Okay, so let's make it final." Giovanni gets up and asks all the others to follow him to his office.
"Stella and Alexander, you both stay here." Mr. Romano smiles at me but death glares Alexander and follows my step father upstairs with Leo and Lucian. My mother and Mrs. Romano start gossiping, moving out to the garden and I'm left alone with Alexander.
"Uh.." I peek at Alex. "Shall I serve your food?" I ask with a soft voice. Alexander keeps his phone on his lap and looks at me with a scowl. A shiver runs down my spine and I instantly look away.
"Okay." I hear his husky voice replying to my question. I nod and get up from the sofa, quickly moving to the kitchen with a happy heart, atleast he spoke to me. Searching for the plate of our best dinner set, I wash it carefully and place it on the dining table.
Opening the lid of the serving bowl, I place a sausage on the plate with some cheese lasangna. I pour some crisp white wine into a wine glass and look up at Alexander who's busy gawking at his phone.
"Uh..." I clear my throat and lift my head up in the bravest manner possible. "Alexander..." I feel so weird to call out his name. It seems with great difficulty, he tears his gaze from the phone and looks at me with an irritated expression. "Your food..." I mumble, looking down at the plate.
When I get no reply, I peek up again to find Alexander still glued to his phone. "Hey!" I squeal with irritation. "Aren't you hungry?" I fold my arms above my chest. Alexander snaps his head at me with a furious death glare and I immediately regret for what I said. "Sorry." I mutter and bite my lower lip.
He scoffs and gets up, strolling across the sofa he comes towards me. After dragging a chair out, he sits and I place his plate in front of him, along with the wine.
When there's another knock on the door, I frown. Who can it be? Without wasting time, I rush towards the door and open it, seeing my step brother, Marco standing there, panting and fully soaked in the rain. "Oh my God Marco!" I gasp as I see some blood on his lips and hands. "What happened?" I ask, as he gets in.
"I'm fine Stella. You don't have to worry." He says, opening his soaked jacket.
"Don't have to worry?" I squeal. "You have freaking blood all over your hands and shirt!"
"It was just a mission." He says and folds up his sleeves.
"Mission?" I tilt my head. "What mission? And why didn't you tell me?" A worried to e escapes my lips.
He doesn't reply, but sneezes thrice and rubs his nose with his blood covered hands. I shake my head out if frustration. "Go and freshen up." I sigh. "I'll serve your food."
"Okay." Marco says and wipes his whole face with his bloody hands and stares at me. I step back, seeing his face covered with blood.
"Are you mad?" I scowl. Marco chuckles and sends me a flying kiss before running to his room, upstairs.
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