They visited the Armani store situated on Corso Italia St.

Sofia picked up the simple long black dress she could find. It had a cool split let and Sofia didn't even know she wanted to wear something like that until she had it in her hands.

Both Francesco and Valentino were sitting on the black leather sofa, and they busied themselves with their phones while she was searching for the right fit. To complete her outfit, Sofia also bought long white gloves mostly to cover her wrists.

And that was it.

"We can go"

"Already? Who buys clothes that quickly?" Valentino asked, shocked.

Francesco checked his watch to make sure he sees it correctly. "We've been here for 5 minutes"

Sofia shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine, let's go then" Francesco agreed finally. When she heard how much the dress costs she regretted not covering her ears.

11,500 euro.

No.

The moment they left the store, Sofia said, "Francesco, I changed my mind, I don't want this one. We should go return it"

She just didn't want to embarrass him in front of the staff, but it needed to be said this price was ridiculous.

Is he going to yell at her for changing her mind? She waited with anticipation, but nothing of these sorts happened. Instead, he said, "I mean we can buy you another one if that helps? If you don't like this one you can always throw it away" He said tossing the bag at the bag seat as if it contained grocery products and not expensive black silk.

Where is she? What is going on?

Soon she was sitting on the backseat of her brother's car, cradling the dress on her knees. She was surrounded by the gifts from both Valentino and Francesco and all she could think of is that those were the craziest birthday she had so far.

And it wasn't even over yet. They were still planning to go for dinner. Alessandro would be joining them these time.

They stopped at very fancy-looking restaurant.

"Francesco wait" she grabbed her brother by the sleeve of his dark brown coat.

"What is it?" he asked and leaned over what accentuated their height difference

"We shouldn't leave all these expensive things at the car" Sofia said looking at the stack of bags laying on the backseat.

'Why not?" Francesco looked like his genuinely confused.

"What if someone is going to break in? And like.. rob us?" she asked with a pang of fear in her voice.

Valentino burst out laughing, this irritated her.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

A slightly condescending smile was playing on Valentino's lips. "That's ok, Fia. No one will rob us. I promise"

"How can you be sure" Sofia asked skeptically.

"I just know, they wouldn't dare" he winked and grinned.

"He's right" Francesco added. "Let's go, Alessandro doesn't like to wait" Francesco said, as he was pushing her gently towards the doors of the restaurant.

When they entered, Sofia was overwhelmed by the beauty of the interior design. Tablecloths and chairs had a rich, cobalt-blue color, and they were adorned with golden detailing. The wooden tables were made from mahogany wood. Walls were decorated with sepia paintings in golden frames and mirrors. Everything was so elegant. The restaurant's staff uniform was a simple black pants, white shirt and a bow. She could tell by the look of the clientele they served that this was a place for rich people.

"If you don't like this place we can go somewhere else" Francesco said in a gentle voice.

"No, it's perfect" she assured quickly. It was actually too perfect for her, but she didn't want to ruin anyone's fun. So they stayed.

"Hi, what can I get for you" the waitress approached them quickly despite the room being full of guests. It was clear that she was working it for a while, she seemed to have the menu well memorized, she helped Sofia pick out a meal, she took an order without taking notes. Amazing. You could see she was a professional with years of experience. Her voice was not overly sweet, and she looked like a nice person.

Being a staff at a place like this probably required years of experience in customer service. This is why Sofia wouldn't even dream of working here if she didn't find her brothers. She would be working at a fast food restaurant at best. At worse, she would've starved.

But she was here now, ordering Tortellini de Congilo a single dish here would keep her well-fed for over the month. Not good enough to serve the food she's eating. That made the divine taste feel bitter in her mouth because she didn't deserve any of this. It was all thanks to her brothers and their kindness. They took her in.

"How do you like your meal?" Alessandro directed his question to her, taking her away from her thoughts.

"It's good" she responded politely, and he nodded. "Honestly, since I've arrived here I haven't eaten one dish that wasn't delicious, but this is another level" she admitted.

"I'm glad. There are a lot of places like that around the city, you will gradually get to know all of them. We're eating outside quite often"

Sofia nodded. This probably wasn't a special occasion for them. Just another Sunday evening.

"How about school? Have you adjusted a bit?" Francesco asked gently.

Her thoughts travelled to Cynthia, but she decided not to speak about her. The mood was too good to ruin it.

"It's going well, I guess. I'm having slight troubles with understanding things, but Bruno is helping me out" Sofia said.

"Can we have one conversation without that guy's name appearing" Valentino rose his eyes to the sky and sighed. What was even his problem?

"Can we have one conversation without you implying I'm into him?" Sofia fired back.

Valentino was about to fight her, but he was stopped from responding by Alessandro, who said: "What about that other boy, are you into him? Anastasio was his name, wasn't it?" Alessandro asked innocently, knowing very well that he sets her up. She looked at him with betrayal in her eyes, but she found zero sympathy in them.

"What other guy?" Francesco asked instantly.

"The homeless guy she met yesterday. Raul said he's about her age, maybe older"

"She met a boy yesterday?!" Francesco was shocked.

"Did you said homeless?" Valentino wanted to confirm.

Oh, no.