"Breakfast!" Asher yelled, from downstairs, most probably standing at the foot of the stairs.

"You better be ready for school, Jayden!" He added, causing me to let out a loud chuckle.

Although the door was closed and there was a fairly large distance between our room and the foot of the stairs, he was still audible. Loud and clear.

A door slammed shut and a pair of feet dragged from outside our room door, the sound fading gradually.

I stood up and grabbed my backpack. Rose did the same and walked back over to me to slip her hand in mine.

We walked out silently, hearing loud arguments downstairs.

"What do you mean you're not going?" We heard Asher say just as I reached for the kitchen door.

I hesitated for a moment before opening the door.

Asher stood behind the counter. One hand on his hip while the other rested palm down on the counter. He was leaning against the counter while giving Jayden the look. Jayden sat in one of the chairs, his elbow on the table and phone in hand. He was sitting in Damien's place, so he had his back towards us.

Josiah sat at his usual place, looking up from his phone occasionally. He looked like he was trying to stay as far away from the heat as possible.

Back to Asher. This was definitely something new. He might throw a pointed look here and there and a mild scolding but I don't think I've seen him in full on parent mode before.

"That means I'm not going." Jayden raised his voice a bit, his annoyance clear in his tone.

"Don't you take that tone with me, Jayden Cole Mazzanti!" Asher's voice boomed, shaking the walls and causing me to flinch.

Jayden huffed and mumbled a dishonest apology before continuing to scroll through his phone, almost breaking the screen with how hard he was finger punching it.

"Why do you even want to skip today?" Asher asked, not taking his eyes off the furious guy.

"Because my head hurts and I didn't sleep much last night," Jayden snapped, lifting his head up and looking at Asher. The glare on Asher's face, which was unfamiliar to me, intensified. It was scary how much his eyes looked like Lucian's now.

Okay. I understand. Stay out of Asher's way today.

No one had noticed us yet. Josiah was busy looking busy with his phone, Jayden had his back to us and Asher was clearly furious with how Jayden was talking to him. Lucian and Damien weren't here yet.

Jayden, finally came back to his senses and noticed that he had crossed a line.

"Sorry," he muttered, lowering his gaze, not being able to maintain eye contact with him.

"That's your final warning to add some respect when you talk to me," Asher said, in a low tone.

Now I want to leave this room. Just as I thought about turning around and walking out, my plans were interrupted.

"Good morning, little people," Josiah greeted, looking directly at us.

Asher and Jayden turned their head simultaneously to look at us.

"Morning, sweethearts," Asher said, smiling slightly. He was trying hard to hide the anger radiating off him, but failed.

"Come here," Josiah said, pointing at the seats beside him.

"No. Go back to your room," Jayden snapped, glaring at us.

My slightly fearful gaze turned into a glare when he made eye contact with me. I was about to say something when Asher beat me to it.

"They're staying here while we have this conversation," Asher commanded, his voice not holding any gentleness or kindness in it. It was much like Lucian again, not reaching his level, but something similar.

I sat beside Josiah while Rose sat on my other side, on Asher's seat.

Jayden clenched his jaw and looked down at his phone again.

"Now why is that happening?" Asher asked, referring to the reason Jayden gave. His glare returned when Jayden rolled his eyes.

"You know what? Stop." Asher lifted his hand. Jayden shut his open 'about to speak' mouth quickly. Asher crossed the counter and came to stand near Lucian's chair.

He snatched the phone out of Jayden's hand, locked it and put it in his pocket.

"Hey!" Jayden exclaimed, standing up.

A fist slammed on the table, making me and Rose jump. Jayden flinched and all the annoyed expressions faded away from his face as he now stood before a very angry Asher, who was glaring him down. His fist was still on the table, clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.

"Sit back down, Jayden," Asher said, clenching his jaw. Jayden took a deep breath and slowly lowered himself to sit back down.

"If you can't be respectful, we'll have this conversation later when I have enough time to deal with your temper tantrum," Asher said, glaring down at him.

God! I don't ever want to be on the other end of this. Asher is being scary.

"You're going to get ready for school after breakfast and reach there on time. Am I clear?" Asher asked. His tone got scarier.

"Yes Asher," Jayden mumbled, looking down at the table, with his jaw clenched.

Asher hummed and nodded before stepping away from the table and back towards the counter.

"And I know why your head hurts and exactly why you didn't sleep," Asher said, not looking at anyone but Jayden. He gave him a knowing look. "You know better, Jayden. Lucian doesn't allow that and you're going to tell him what you did, right after breakfast."

Jayden's eyes widened as he gathered the courage to look at Asher and gave him a pleading look.

Asher slipped a little. His stern and angry exterior cracking a little at the almost puppy eyes on Jayden's face.

But he shook his head and looked away.

"Don't look at me like that. You break the rules, you face the consequences," he said, simply, his voice now void of any emotions.

Jayden just sighed pitifully and put his elbows on the table. He buried his face in his hands and sighed again.

Wait a second. Headache and didn't sleep?

Well fuck. So he brought a girl home last night, got drunk and did the drunk dirties. Or maybe a boy.

How reckless.

My gaze travelled from the guy in trouble to the less-scarier-than-Lucian parent.

Asher was digging into the fridge for some fruits. Although the breakfast is prepared by chefs on weekdays, he still wants to do some stuff.

That's why he cuts fruits himself in the morning and makes sure everyone eats some.

"Can you help me out here, Bunny?" Asher asked, suddenly, making me jump. He still had his back to us.

So much for trying not to get in his way today.

I nodded, cleared my throat and stood up.

The kitchen was silent, except for the footsteps that could now be heard from somewhere in the mansion.

"Yes Asher?" I asked, as I stood beside him, maintaining my distance.

"Here. Can you wash them?" He asked, handing me a bowl of fruits, while smiling sweetly.

That smile didn't look as sweet and loving. Maybe because of the small anger that was still left and was slowly dying down.

"Sure," I said, taking the bowl and smiling back.

His smile seemed to brighten as he stood up straight and his hand moved towards my head to ruffle my hair. He stopped when he looked at my hair properly then at my fearful face as I stared wide eyed at his hand.

I released a sigh of relief when he lowered his hand with a chuckle. Instead, his hand came to cup the side of my face before he placed a kiss on my cheek.

I smiled and turned towards the sink to wash the fruits before he cuts them. Asher came to stand beside me with the knife and the cutting board, picking the washed fruits as I put them and cutting them.

"So excited for hellhole, honey?" He bumped his hip with mine, causing a laugh to escape.

"Yes Yes. I'm way too excited for it," I said, bumping back and acting sincere. I don't want to say I want to skip and get the same treatment as Jayden got.

I don't want that Asher.

Also, Asher didn't budge when I bumped my hip with his and now my hip hurts.

"Ow," I muttered, to which he chuckled.

He cut the fruits expertly, really quickly. As I handed him the last one, he took it with his hand that was holding his knife.

No matter how much I tried, I still flinched when the knife touched my hand.

Asher frowned looking at his hand to me, before his eyes widened with realization.

"Shit! I'm so sorry," he said, dropping the knife and turning to me.

I waved my hand, nonchalantly.

"No. It's not your fault. I overreacted."

"Don't say that," He muttered, before leaning down to kiss my forehead.

"I'll do the rest. Go take a seat." He smiled, before standing straighter again and turning to the counter again.

I nodded slowly and turned around to walk back to the table, where Rose and Josiah were talking to each other and Jayden was still drowned in his self-pity. Rose had shifted to the middle chair beside Josiah and Jayden was sitting in his own seat now, since Damien had arrived, without my knowledge.

I shrugged and took a seat between Jayden and Damien.

"Good morning, Bunny," Damien said, not even looking at me and focussing on his phone. His hand moved to ruffle my hair.

Fear spread across my face as I leaned back towards Jayden, trying to get away from Damien's hand. I ended up falling backwards onto Jayden, who turned his head towards me sharply.

Damien furrowed his eyebrows as he moved his hand up and down in a patting motion, wondering where my head was.

He turned his head with a scowl.

"You see..." I began, pointing towards my head. "My twin poured her heart into this art so it's no hair ruffle day."

His expressions changed from a scowl to a smile to a smirk as I reached the end of the sentence.

"Alright," he said, grabbing my upper arm and pulling me up with a simple twitch of his arm. I looked at him suspiciously wondering what he was thinking.

He kept his hold on my arm and moved his hand slowly towards my head. I tried to squirm away and when that didn't work, I slapped his hand.

Didn't have an effect on him. So I clawed it instead.

He slapped the back of my hand and lowered it, so I wasn't clawing anymore. I watched in horror as his hand neared and clenched my eyes shut when it hovered above my head.

Head pats...

He settled with two pats on top of my head, making me sigh in relief and open my eyes. He snickered quietly and picked up his phone again.

Heavy footsteps were heard a second later, indicating the arrival of our eldest brother.

The door opened and said brother strode in. I had my back to him, so I just saw him when he muttered a good morning and proceeded to take his seat.

"Good morning, kids." Lucian addressed, looking at everyone one by one. Of course there were silent protests about being referred to as kids, like the two on my side.

But the key word is they were silent.

"Good morning, Lucian." All of us muttered. Rose and Josiah weren't of the type to protest. So there's were sincere.

But Damien, Jayden and I had a different type of brain.

Damien was hesitant while replying, an internal battle going on that he wasn't actually a kid versus he was a kid for Lucian, because he kinda raised him and still looks after him.

Jayden straight out grumbled it out, his already bad mood not helping his case. I muttered it quietly. I don't know where this came from because they treat us like kids, but I didn't like being called a kid.

Lucian noticed the difference in greetings from the two sides of the table, but chose to ignore it. Maybe he wants a peaceful morning too.

He shook his head and thanked the staff when they started putting the food on the table. Asher walked back over with the two huge bowls of fruit.

"I want these finished before you leave the table." He pointed at the bowls and sat down.

My gaze shifted to Lucian accidentally, to find him staring at Jayden, who was busy staring at his food and nibbling on it. Lucian turned his head. Him and Asher shared looks again and he nodded, getting what he needed from the look on Asher's face.

I need to learn how to talk like that.

It was mostly silent before the curious part of my brain took over and constantly nudged me to ask a certain question.

I looked at Jayden and leaned towards him a little. He looked at me in surprise and leaned down, so his ear was nearer to my mouth.

"I'm not making fun or anything-" He cut me off with a harsh glare, warning me to think twice before speaking.

I decided to continue, "but was it a boy or a girl?"

Apparently I was too loud, because I heard someone choking on their water and fall into a laughing fit from my other side.

I snapped my head towards Damien and narrowed my eyes as he tried not to fall off the chair.

Turning my head back around, I pointed my thumb behind me at Damien.

"See? I'm not the one making fun of you." I defended myself.

That did not help. He didn't drop the glare he had on his face.

"It was a girl, Bunny," He gritted out. "But you're a little young to be discussing this with me."

He flicked my forehead and pushed me back.

"A little too young," I mocked, before shutting up when I felt Lucian's gaze on me.

Fuck.

I paid full attention to the food, ignoring Lucian's existence.

I peeked up after a while and sighed in relief when I noticed he was talking to Asher.

"I love you more now," Damien said, after he was over his laughing and coughing fit. "And that earned you an appreciation gift."

He put his fist forward for me to bump. I bumped my fist with his, a confused yet thoughtful look on my face.

"And what's that gift?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Anything you ask for." He winked and chuckled when my eyes widened.

"Can we discuss it later?" I whispered, leaning closer to him. "Keep it a secret."

I extended my pinky finger before him, nodding to my hand. He stifled a laugh and wrapped his pinkie around mine.

"Alright."

I tensed up when Lucian cleared his throat. Looking up, I saw him looking back at me. I looked down immediately.

I'm sure he will ruin the plan.

"Are you working today, Dex?" He asked, after a moment.

"Yes. But I'll be home sooner," Damien answered.

Lucian hummed and focussed back on his food.

I released a breath. That was close. He needs to warn everyone before he looks at them.