"You look tired," Felice said the moment she sat down.

"Nice to see you too" she replied sarcastically.

Sofia was wearing today simple blue jeans and a red shirt. She wasn't feeling well, mood-wise and the idea of the evening banquet make her nauseous. Honestly, all she wanted was for this session to end so she can go back home and hide under her blanket until 8 pm.

"No need to be defensive, it's just an observation," he said calmly.

Sofia wanted to say I'm sorry but instead, she said.

"I am not"

Felice chuckled because she just proved his point.

"So how have you been this week," he asked innocently.

"Felice, beating around the bush doesn't suit you at all" Sofia scolded.

"You're right, I prefer a direct approach. So tell me what have you been doing during your trip to Taormina?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

"I went for a pizza with Bruno" she replied without going into details or looking at him.

He nodded and pretended he's focusing on his notepad while asking "That's nice, what were the toppings?"

"What?" Sofia was distracted with tracing the movement of his hand that she didn't understand the question.

"Pizza toppings" he replied simply.

"Um... I... Cheese. It was Margherita so cheese"

The pizza was the last thing she was thinking about when recalling her last Taormina visit.

Felice titled his head wordlessly asking her to stop bullshitting him. Sofia sighed. Unfortunately, Felice's reputation was true. He was good at his job.

"Okay, let's just say for the sake of it that I left the restaurant, leaving Bruno alone" she admitted, feeling shame.

"And why would you do something like that" Francesco wanted to know.

"To be alone," she said curtly.

"Why?" He continued his questioning.

"To think about everything" Sofia said starting to feel uncomfortable. Her hands started to sweat and she wanted to scratch off her wrist but she couldn't. Not now.

"And what conclusions have you reached at the time of your solitude?" Francesco asked looking at her carefully with his grey eyes.

No. Sofia won't ruin her mood before the party by talking about it.

Just like that, they reached a wall. A wall that Felice wouldn't touch out of respect to her autonomy and most importantly if Sofia couldn't get past her mental barriers right now he didn't want to push her. Those barriers were her methods of protecting herself and until she's strong enough to deal with them, he won't interfere. Unless he feels like it's necessary.

Felice knew that Sofia's escape was not only concerning but dangerous but after the conversation with Alessandro he was certain that her brothers are keeping an eye on her and she won't be able to run away again. She was well protected.

"Can we talk about something else?" Sofia asked after a long period of silence.

Felice nodded, "What would you like to talk about?" He asked with true curiosity and infinite patience. Her whole attention was set on her.

"Actually wait, no. I want to know why you decided to scare my brother and tell him that there's no guarantee I won't hurt myself" she was angry. He could've at least work as some form of emotional support for her brothers or something. Instead, he made them even more worried.

Felice seemed to be perfectly okay with her anger, he said. "Because I cannot guarantee that. There's a lot of things you're not telling me"

"But you shouldn't tell him something like that, Alessandro doesn't deserve to be stressed out because of me" Sofia complained, feeling guilty.

"So you worry more about Alessandro's feelings than about correcting the possible misconceptions I might have about you?" Felice asked and Sofia felt the walls closing in.

"I don't care what you think" Sofia replied.

"Understandable. For the record, Alessandro has a thick skin, he wouldn't appreciate it if I tried to care about his feelings over telling him the truth and if you haven't noticed yet, your brother is not a person to mess with" Felice explained.

Sofia couldn't deny it. Alessandro was freaking scary when he wanted to be.

And it was good that they started speaking about him because Sofia had an opportunity to express her anger at the fact that he forced her to wear the smartwatch. The white apple device was now on her wrist. Speaking of wrists now she was constantly stressed that her brothers will discover her scars. It was an additional problem. She apparently didn't have enough of them.

Sofia hasn't realized when the session has ended. She was so passionate about angry rants with her older brother as the main character.

"See you next week I guess" Sofia mumbled awkwardly and she stood up from the chair a bit too quickly just to leave the room.

"We will see each other in a few hours" Felice smiled.

"Wait, you're going too?"

"I have to. My family organizes this event, and this year my oldest brother won't be present so I need to play a perfect son" he smirked.

🍀🍀🍀

Sofia arrived home around 4 pm and she planned to laze around for a few hours. Maybe, it was a time to clean the attic?

In fact, there was no time to do that. Why? Well.

When she entered she was greeted by Valentino.

"Follow me," he said, he was wearing his dark blue hoodie and simple black pants. There were a few of his friends in the living room and they were loud. Really loud.

"Well, hello to you too," Sofia said sarcastically but followed him nevertheless.

Valentino rolled his eyes.

He opened the door in front of her and three women greeted her. She turned around to ask Valentino who are they but he was already gone.

"Hi, my name is Angela," a woman said shaking her hand. She was wearing a black uniform, her dyed blond hair was neatly tied in a bun.

Sofia noticed that the previously empty room looked like a makeup studio all of sudden.

"Emma," the second, red-haired woman said.

"Bianca" the brunette also shook her hand.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't understand what's happening?" She asked as she was being led to the chair in front of the vanity table.

"Well, we're here to do your hair and makeup" Angela explained.

Oh. That was so freaking extra.

"But there's still 4 hours why are we starting now?" Sofia said with confusion. They had so much time.

"We don't have much time but we will do our best" Angela said in an apologetic voice and smiled at her warmly.

Not much time? What?

What are they going to do to her? A plastic surgery!?