"I will reach the skies one day!" A ten-year old girl loudly proclaimed, laying down the vast and luscious green grass. And this girl is the main character, Serena Russo.
"We know, Bambina. You've been saying that a couple of times already." A fifty-two-year old woman said with a soft smile on her face as she sat on the grass right beside the girl.
...
"Mama, I love you!" The girl said in a sweet tone while sitting up and looking at the woman beside her.
"What is it? I know you, you don't just say 'I love you' just because you wanted to, but because you have a favor to ask. Spill it." The woman, her mom, said, raising her brows and giving a faint laugh.
"I want to meet my brothers... The ones from my biological father." She said as she looks into the distance, seeing her step-father and step-siblings playing together under a tree, not too far away from where they sat. A glimer of sadness flashed on her eyes and disappeared quickly.
Her mother, Elena Mariani-Chambers, saw this and pondered, seemingly thinking about it deeply. "I... I'll ask your dad later. For now, I can't really make that decision." She said as she looks at her daughter apologetically, a glimmer of fear and worry passing by her eyes, but Serena didn't notice it.
Serena nods: "Okay." And she went back to lying down on the patch of grass and gazing at the sky. "The sky is my friend!" she proclaimed once again and was once again back to her own little bubble.
Elena, seeing her daughter like this, stood up, patted her bottom, and went to Serena's step-father, Aaric Chambers.
"Rick. We need to talk." Elena said. Aaric stopped from playing with his children and looked at his wife's worried and anxious face.
Knowing that something is wrong. He held out his hand for her to take and pulled her to a farther place where none of the children could hear what they're going to talk about.
Meanwhile, Andrew Chambers, Serena's step-brother, knowing that something must've happened, took Elaine Chambers, his and Serena's half-sister in his arms and walked towards Serena who is still immersed in her own thoughts.
"Hey Serry." He began. Serena, seemingly shaken awake from her trance, looked up to her side and saw her brother sitting down, also putting down their little sister down between them.
"Hmm?" She hummed a reply, then sat up.
"Mom looks worried when she called out to Dad. Do you have any idea what's up?" He asked with a slight frown, thinking of a possible answer to his own question.
"I don't know, Drew. I just asked if I could meet my other brothers and then she left." She replied, cheerfully patting her little sister's head.
"Your brothers? Like... The one's from Mom's ex-husband?" He asked, a bit skeptical. Serena then nodded in response.
"But if it's just because of that, why is Mom so worried? I mean... I think you should really reach out to your other family, after all, they're still a part of you. Nothing's wrong with that, right?" He asked, confused.
"Yeah. I find nothing wrong with it too. Maybe she's worried about other things." She said, landing a small kiss on top of her little sister's head.
"You're right." He said, brushing the matter off.
...
"What are we going to do?" Elena anxiously asked, looking at her children from the distance.
Aaric frowned, "We'll let her meet them." He said after a long pause.
"What? Have you lost your mind? What the hell are you thinking? They-" Elena asked loudly and with an even more panicked expression.
"-Are still her family. You can't keep her away forever." Aaric said, holding up her shoulders to keep her from collapsing.
"But-" Elena began but Aaric cuts her out.
"Let the future troubles be reserved for the future. For now, let's see how things would go, then we decide what to do." Aaric said with a firm look, but concern can still be seen glistening in his eyes.
...
In a cold, extravagant, and huge mansion, five men are sitting around the dining table, all of these men looks similar to each other, and these men are Serena's brothers.
"So... Does any of you know why dad called for a meeting?" Camillo Russo, the main character's fifth brother and the older twin of Catarino Russo, our main character's sixth brother, asked.
"If I knew then I wouldn't have to stay here and wait for whatever it is." Davide Russo, the main character's third brother answered with an impatient voice.
Camillo shrugged, "Makes sense." and then slumped his head on his hands, assuming a tired, lazy, and carefree look.
Before long, two men approached them. One of the men took the head seat, while the other one took the seat at the right side of him. These men are Antonio Russo, the main character's eldest brother, and Alfonso Russo, the main character's biological father.
Once these two men came into view, the room became serious and quiet.
Alfonso glanced at his sons, "That girl, Serena. She's asking to meet you." He said in an indifferent, and unfeeling voice.
At the mention of Serena's name, the men's faces already became solemn, and at the mention of Serena wanting to meet up with them, some of them even exclude a cold or murderous aura.
The room instantly became deathly quiet and any normal person that would stay in the same room would feel a stiffening and oppressive feeling. Fortunately, these men aren't ordinary people and so none of them felt the heavy suppression around them.
As Alfonso looked around his sons, he felt satisfaction. His sons shouldn't show any possitive reaction at the mention of Serena, for if they do, he would surely punish them.
Alfonso hates Serena so much that he wanted to kill her, but he couldn't because of Ellaine, his ex-wife. He felt like Serena's existence is the reason why their family broke apart, the reason why his, back then, most beloved and cherished wife ran away and forced him to sign the divorce papers. The rest of Serena's brothers felt this way too, hence the reason why Serena's mother doesn't want her to meet her brothers.
"How bold of her to be ask for us to meet. Is taking mom away not enough? So much so that she also want to bring troubles to us? Why didn't she just obediently stay away? The futher, the better." Davide said in a scornful, venomous, and murderous tone.
Hearing this, the others also agreed and Alfonso became more and more satisfied with his sons, he even secretly planned in his mind to reward them in some way.
If only Serena knows what her father and brothers thought of her she would've been heart broken.
"I don't want to meet her. No way." Camillo, being the talkative one, is the first person to voice out his thoughts. The brothers agreed on his remark except for one who is still hesitating, and that person is Catarino.
Everyone looked at him, waiting for his response. Their father looks at Catarino quietly, scrutinizing him, trying to figure out his thoughts, the same goes with Antonio.
"I disagree. I think we should meet her." Catarino said in a calm and collected voice, having thought about it thoroughly. His words caused an uproar in the room, with his brothers telling him how stupid he is or asking him what's got in his mind.
After a while, their father raised his hand, indicating them to stop and they did, albeit hesitantly. He then looked at Catarino of his and asked, "We all know that you're the smartest among your brothers. Would you like to tell us what led you into thinking that meeting her is a good idea?"
"I know you all blame her for the ruin of our family, even I cannot help but have such thoughts, but I think we have to think rationally. Logically speaking, the child just turned 10 this year, therefore her mindset would still be that of a child, incapable of complex thoughts, and therefore her intention might be pure, solely to meet us. After all, a chuld is a child and it might've been that she could not help but be curious about us..." He said, but then paused as if thinking about another possibility.
"Maybe mom already told her about everything that we do and she could also be extremely smart or maybe extremely wicked for her age, mixing up a scheme and trying to get us to fall into her little trap. But then again, the possibility of that going into motion would be close to impossible. But one thing is for sure..." He pasued, looking around him for any reaction. Seeing that everyone is quietly looking at him with varying emotions, but mostly hesitance and resignation.
"If we are to meet her, we would be able ro know what she's thinking and what her intentions really are, dropping the worries and speculations we might've already made in our minds. I just think that the wisest decision to make at this moment is to meet her." He said with resolution and intelligence lingering in his eyes.
"I agree with what you said." The second brother, Louis Russo said after some hesitation.
"You gave a perfectly justified point. I'll have to agree on you on this one." The fourth brother, Ferrucio Russo said with a sigh. The others agreed at this statement.
"We'll go by your idea then. You are going to meet that girl. Go forward them her contact details, Antonio." Alfonso said as he stood up and headed out of the room.