Lisa looked at the feeble girl who had just yelled, her eyes sparkling with unexpected interest. "Yeahhh, that's more like it," she praised, like a proud mother.
Rosalie glared at her, her fists clenched into tight balls, before turning to walk away. "Wait," Lisa said, holding her hand. "I was just trying to get a reaction," she appeased.
"That's not a nice thing to do."
"Well, I'm not the nicest around."
Rosalie gave a low snort as she glared at her. "Where does your dad work?"
"I won't tell you."
"Don't you have a dad too? Oh, poor child. Your mom? Your siblings?"
"I only have my mom," she said, looking away.
"So your mom is the bad guy, huh? I can tell there isn't charity at your home"
Rosalie shook her head vigorously, her hasty reply betraying her fear.
"I was going to help you fight whoever it was, but since you don't want to be honest with me, I'll just leave," she shrugged, walking away.
'One, two, three, four...' Lisa counted in her mind as she walked away.
"Wait!"
Lisa gave a sneaky, sly grin before turning back, her expression neutral once again.
"Can you really fight adults?"
"Sure, there are various approaches besides fighting with fists."
"O-k-ay."
"I won't be fighting for you though; I will be fighting with you."
Lisa saw her swallow hard and sighed.
"Everyone is a fighter, you just have to bring out the fighting spirit in you. But first, you need an extensive makeover. Is this a wig? It looks so dark and heavy."
"Yeah, I have a lot of hair."
"Doesn't mean you should haunt us with it," Lisa jeered.
"We don't have anything in common," Rosalie murmured.
"Matteo told you that?"
"Hmmm. He said we could be friends, but I don't want to be friends with you."
"The feeling is very much mutual, cupcake."
"I'm not a cupcake," Rosalie grunted.
"Yeah, you're softer. Well, you know my place already; come by the weekend."
"She won't let me."
"Then I'll come with Matteo."
"No, no, no. You can't do that."
"Then lie that there's some school work. Don't get caught. Can you do that?"
"O-k-ay."
"Let's go back now; Matteo must be worried."
Rosalie hummed in agreement, and they walked back to class.
Lisa knew that Marco wasn't just being sympathetic to Rosalie, because whenever he was being nosy and heroic, he did it with charisma. When it came to anything that concerned Rosalie, he got so agitated and worked up, she noticed.
When Matteo got home afterwards, he saw Lisa making dinner. Lisa was starting to get the hang of cooking. She didn't have the flair for it unlike her siblings, but she was trying her best.
"What's for dinner, my fav sister?" Matteo cooed as he got in.
"Spaghetti and meatballs," she replied with a grin. "Won't I get a reward for being a good girl today?"
"What, were you a loan shark in your past life?"
"More like a superhero."
Matteo chuckled. "Thank you for today, Lisa."
"You like her very much, huh?"
"She's just my... friend."
"Is she your muse?"
Matteo's eyes widened at the question.
"What? You think I didn't know? Come on, I own that school and even its vicinity. I bargained with that old man to give you that studio. He's my pal."
"Why did I even think anything can get past you?" Matteo chuckled.
"If you're so grateful, just give me some money. I want to upgrade my weapons."
"You really should stop burning money. Is it because you don't work? Money isn't that easy to get"
"Alright, alright. You don't need to badger me about it."
"You'll find what you love soon."
"I don't want to work," Lisa whined.
"I think it's burning."
"Oh my, look what you did."
"I'm sorry," he said, suddenly looking downtrodden.
"Why do you look so sad? Is it about Rosalie?"
"Hmmn, she was mad at me. I yelled at her."
"Oh, so she was passing the aggression at me," Lisa snorted.
"I hope she's okay."
"She will be soon."
"I hope so."
***
L'Arcobaleno.
Alessia had now acclimatized to the company environment. She didn't have friends yet but was acquainted with many. Mr. Thomas told her that Xavier went to China for business. She had only been interacting with Xavier through mail; he hadn't been to work for the past month.
Giovanni never called. She went to 36 twice, hoping to see him, but he never came.
Her life was fairly normal now, and her main focus was assisting Matteo. She spent nights watching the competition to study the quality of the winners' art.
Alessia stared at the pile of boxes arranged in a corner of her office. She hadn't worn any of the shoes since then.
In the past month also, Marco had gotten into a lot of trouble. He was ousted from his own company by the stakeholders, and Laura was chosen by the CEO. Marco's biggest mistake was underestimating the cunning woman. He didn't know how she was able to convince the stakeholders when she was just a regular employee in the company.
"Take it easy, sir," a maid pleaded to Marco, whose room was a mess now. He had trashed the room, smashing and throwing everything in sight. The middle-aged maid came close, and Marco pushed her aggressively. The maid whimpered as she fell on a broken vase, the healed wound on her thighs bursting open.
Marco took his car keys and walked out of the room, his eyes clouded with anger.
Stepping on the gas, he drove at a high speed of 120km/h, occasionally glancing at his phone.
Alessia had just left the office, and she decided to take a little walk before taking a taxi. She was going to get food at a restaurant close to work. Though she loved cooking, living alone had made her lazy.
Just as she walked out of the restaurant, a familiar car drove towards her direction.
Marco's car screeched to a halt, and Alessia's heart skipped a beat as she dropped her food package, her body going stiff.
"You bitch, it all started with you. Come back to me and fix everything!" Matteo boomed as he stormed towards her.
Before he could drag her away, a sleek black car slammed into Marco's car from behind, sending glass shattering everywhere from the impact.