Special mass release for the novel's launch, 04/20.
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MIA
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Misha in Aeronautics and Astronautics on MIT, Leonid in Civil and Environmental Engineering on MIT, sister Emma in Med on Harvard, brother Pieter and Anastasia both in Business on Harvard, brother Willem in Law also on Harvard, brother Bram and Vladmir in Architecture on MIT, and Maria in Music and Theater Arts in MIT, all of us in Cambridge, in Massachusetts.
As brother Hendrik and Natasha went to Julliard, in New York, to study Music and Theater Arts instead. While sister Julia and Irina in Fashion Design on Marangoni Fashion Institute in Milan, being the only ones of us staying in Italy.
While Camila Albasini went to study with brother Hendrik in Julliard, Alessia Lamberti went to study Architecture with brother Bram in MIT, Nicolao also followed Natasha to Julliard, and Riccardo Brunelli got into Nuclear Science and Engineering as he followed Maria to MIT. And about the secret in-laws, Luigi Dell'Acqua went to Architecture in MIT after Leo, and Rosalia Ricci also went to Med school in Harvard with my sister Emma.
A detail, me and my siblings are all Italian-Dutch, since papa was from Amsterdam, Netherlands. As Misha and his siblings are all Italian-Russian, since zia Sasha was from a Old Money family in Moscow, Russia. And while mama divorced papa when I was 9, zio Ricco became a widow when zia Sasha died in the accident when I was 8.
'Why are these details important, Mia?' You ask me.
Hmm, well, because mama and zio Ricco finally made their parents dream come through half a year ago, on Christmas, when they dropped the bomb on us that while we were all out in the University, 'their childhood friendship blossomed into a different kind of love, and they ended up falling in love with each other,' as if we had never noticed the weird chemistry between them, which kept growing stronger after mama divorced my papa years ago.
And no, they weren't telling us that they were dating. They told us they had decided not to lose any more time, and that they were now engaged. Hah, isn't that crazy? Dio santo, none of us were surprised.
Sure, it became weird as hell, because three of mama's children are dating three of zio Ricco's children, and the second they married that would make them step siblings who date each other. Which made it all fucking weirder. Though none of them, nor their friends, or nonni seemed the least bothered by that.
Hah, and it gets worse.
Today is June 15th, I just arrived in the International Milan Airport, as our private jets landed twenty minutes ago, they will be getting married on July 15th, and as the Santorini and the Campobello will now be living together, they decided to move from Milan to Lake Como, almost two hours from our beloved city, where we'll all move to a giant castle-ish villa, and even nonno will be living there. In the oldest property of the Santorini.
Let me repeat that for you: WE-WILL-ALL-LIVE-TOGETHER.
Me and Misha in the same freaking villa. Misha and Me. Me and Misha. And all of our twelve siblings, our respective nonni, plus Camila, Alessia, Nicolao, and Riccardo. Not so surprising, Luigi and Rosalia too, as the 'best friends' of Leo and Emma, plus the fact that their famiglias were beyond happy to let them live with the Campobello-Santorini for now, since it meant their link with our famiglias would deepen, which is all those greedy people want.
Twenty-six people living together in a castle-ish villa with more than 100 rooms, and everything you could possibly think off. And by now all of our things from our previous bedrooms were all moved to our new rooms. It's insane.
I can't fucking believe I'll live in the same home as Misha. Fucking shit.
And it's even worse because the only real single people in this damned household are me and him. Everyone else is a Goddamn couple. Which will get even more unbearable because Leo and Luigi will finally step up and tell everyone that they are gay, and are dating for more than three years now. Meaning that they will finally back off with the 'Mia will end up with either Leo or Luigi' shit.
"…Mia? Wake up, Mia!" Maria Campobello, the girl I'm closest to in the two famiglias called me, taking my blood read Beats headphones off my head, and making me pause Devil Doesn't Bargain by Alec Benjamin that was playing on it.
I glared a her, "I'm awake, Anya," I called her by her middle name as I always did. "I was just lost in thoughts. What is it?"
"I just want to talk," she pouted and Riccardo giggled, with a hand on her lower back. "The last word I heard from you was yesterday. Come on, you need sunlight, talking, and sweets. You look like you could kill someone."
"I could kill someone, though," I scoffed, avoiding her blue eyes that are annoyingly identical to Misha's. All of his siblings have the same eyes. Zia Sasha's eyes. "Besides, you have your boyfriend, Anya. Talk to him. Isn't that what being in a relationship is for? To have someone that will hear you talking blabbish no matter what is it? So, make good use of yours."
More than the two of them gasped, as we are in a big group and I'm in the frontal corner, trying to ignore everyone. You could say I'm an introvert. Though they never let me ignore them, they say I'm too cute to be ignore.
I wish Misha thought that, as he's the one who ignores me the most.
"Dio mio, Mia, don't be like that," she pouted. "Don't you love me?"
"Love isn't solely about drown someone in attention, Anya."
She clicked her tongue, "If you keep thinking like that you will never get a boyfriend, Mia. Humans need warmth and attention and to be cared for. You are so adorably cute, but so damn cold," she scoffed. "None of your siblings are like that, how are you so different?"
I put the headphones on again, "I saw papa being murdered, they didn't!"
And that way it. The low hit on their gut that made them all freeze and not say another word to me. I know I shouldn't be like this, but I can't help it. She's right, I'm too incompatible. Out of the fourteen of us, I'm the only introverted one, it's overwhelming, even with mama and nonni. The only other introverted people in our two families were papa and zia Sasha, since zio Ricco is also extroverted.
I'm the last introvert standing.
Quickening my steps, I got to Romeo, who used to be papa's personal driver here and in the Netherlands, and became mine after he passed away, here in Italy, who had brought the black Bentley papa loved and left for me, as I told him. Then, he opened the back door for me, and after I got in, he came inside, locked the doors and left to go to Lake Como, and I swallowed the urge to cry.