I woke up and was surprised to find a room painted with a bright yellow from the sunlight peeking through the curtains.

The second surprise came as a big shock and I nearly shrieked when I turned my head and saw nothing but the black tee Asher was wearing. That's when I noticed the arms entrapping me in a tight embrace and his lips pressed to my head.

Holding me close.

The rhythmic and slow breathing was indication enough to tell me that Asher was still sleeping.

Not daring to move my head more and risk waking him up, I released a breath to relax myself a little.

My hands were to my chest and one of my legs was resting on both of his.

After a long time of waiting, I tried to get myself out of his hold. I shifted a little and froze when a crease formed in between his eyebrows.

Looking at his peaceful face, I noticed I've only seen this look on him when we first met. I've never seen him this relaxed after that.

'Maybe because of all the drama you've caused.'

I sighed and a frown covered my face.

The frown quickly disappeared though. I jumped, shrieked and let out a loud giggle afterwards when a finger was poked into the side of my stomach.

"Hey!" I said, shoving Asher a little.

"I see. My sunshine is shining brightly today," Commented Asher in his morning voice, which sounded much like Lucian's 'you're being disrespectful' voice.

"That's not your-"

Sunshine because you don't own the sun.

I stopped. He was talking about me. That's why I settled with burying my face in my arms, that were now crossed and hid my face well.

"Aww. Now that's cute," He cooed, letting out a heavy chuckle. That embarrassed me more, so I huffed and turned to my side to face away from him.

"It's not," I mumbled, a pout forming on my face without permission.

"Yes it is." Asher pulled me back and hugged me tight for a minute, before releasing his hold.

He swung his feet down and stood up. I stretched and yawned, hearing him walk to the bathroom.

"Go get ready before I'm exposed to some boring lectures." He chuckled, sleepily, as he looked at me, standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

I scoffed and stood up. Lucian has made living freely so difficult.

Trudging out of his room, I jumped back with a yelp when I nearly bumped into someone.

I looked up, only to look away when I found it was Jayden. We stood in silence for a while before he cleared his throat and walked away.

Now that the path was clear, I resumed the journey to my room.

Rose had just walked out of the closet, fully dressed, when I entered.

"Good morning, Levi," she said, smiling sweetly. She walked over to me and hugged me tight. "I panicked last night but Josiah said you were with Asher. Are you okay?"

"Yes I am," I said, placing a kiss on her cheek. "How was the movie?"

"It was good. But I slept ten minutes in," she said, to which I let out a chuckle.

She pulled away and I stared at her for a moment.

"Are you happy?" That was what came out of my mouth.

"What do you mean?" She asked, knitting her eyebrows together.

"I mean, are you happy with everything? Like nothing's bothering you, right? With this ski stuff of mine and all the arguments I get myself into." I stopped when a slight scowl showed on her face.

Stopping was my best option. It's not easy dealing with the anger of a person when they rarely get angry.

"Us being close together is enough for me to be happy. But I'm extra extra happy because Asher is looking after you so well," she said, taking my hands in hers. I stared at our hands, paying close attention to her words.

"He's doing so much for you and I'm grateful to whatever powers led us here, that you have someone who can take care of you, unlike my useless-" She stopped when I looked up. That was enough for her to stop talking.

She sighed instead and looked up at me with a bright smile.

"Can we go out and spend time together today?" She asked, hopefully.

I shrugged.

"Not like I have anything useful to do," I said, smiling cheekily. "Decide where we're going, Rosie Posie."

That caused both of us to freeze. Rose did a double take and her eyes widened, mirroring mine.

If someone saw us right now they won't be able to tell the difference in our looks.

"Alright. I will plan it out, but we need permission," she reminded.

"Fuck," I muttered. Permission from Lucian? Easy peasy. Not.

It's going to take a thousand pep talks and a shit ton of courage to even knock at his office door. Actually asking for permission to go out seems impossible.

"I'll ask," Rose said, probably reading everything from my face.

"No. I will," I said, quickly. "I will ask. You plan what we're gonna do for today."

She was about to argue but stopped and nodded when she saw the determination on my face.

"I'll go get ready. Why don't you go downstairs and goof around for a little bit?" I asked, pulling my hands out of her hold.

She's happy with them and she needs more of that family love and happiness.

"Okay." She nodded and kissed my cheek, before walking past me to the door.

"Where's Bunny?" That's the first thing I heard as I pushed the kitchen door open and entered.

"She's getting ready. She'll be down in twenty," I answered, looking at Asher. That's how long she takes normally.

"Alright. Take a seat," he said, smiling sweetly. But something was off about his sweet smile.

I nodded and sat down between Damien and Josiah.

Asher stayed standing near the head of the table, his arms crossed and fingers tapping against his bicep.

As I settled in my seat, I heard two good mornings from my sides and one from across the table.

Two seconds later, heavy footsteps entered the kitchen, instantly making the atmosphere scary. Everyone sat straighter instinctively and greeted Lucian as he took his seat groggily. Something strange from him.

Asher cleared his throat and put his palms on the table, standing before his own chair now.

"When your sister gets here, you two are going to apologize for the things you said about their dad last night," he declared, moving his eyes from Damien to Jayden, who both looked down, not really interested in making eye contact.

I fought a smile. This was not the time to be smiling.

"Am I clear?" Asher asked, in an authoritative tone.

"But we can't possibly let the Mazzanti sisters introduce themselves as a Verlice," Jayden argued. Asher turned towards him sharply.

"That was a yes or no question, Jayden Cole," He gritted. Jayden tensed up on hearing the middle name being used and nodded slowly.

Asher cleared his throat, glaring him down.

"Yes," Jayden said, which almost came out as a hiss. Asher chose to ignore that and turned towards Damien, who immediately muttered a yes.

Asher gave a satisfied nod and turned to face our eldest brother, who was watching the scene curiously.

"And you're going to apologise for forcing the last name on them." Asher said, calmly.

Everyone froze. Lucian snapped his gaze to Asher and gave him the 'are you for real' look.

"I am serious about this, Lucian. I should've intervened when you first forced it on them. It's affecting everything more severely than you think," Asher said, never taking his eyes off Lucian who was looking up at him, deep in thought.

After a long moment of them staring at each other, Lucian nodded slowly. Asher seemed content with the response and finally dropped the scary look from his face.

"I'm sorry, Rose."

I tensed up and my head shot up to meet Lucian's sharp gray eyes. I thought I was invisible!

I opened and closed my mouth for a moment while he stared at me expectantly. Finally getting my nerves to calm down and gathering up some courage, I gulped and nodded.

"It's okay, Lucian," I said, quietly, looking away quickly.

"I'm sorry for what I said," Damien said, from beside me.

"Me too," Jayden muttered from across the table.

"It's okay. Please don't say stuff about Dad again," I said, fiddling with my fingers and staring at them.

That really hurt. He might not be blood related but he gave us a great life as long as he was present. He helped us cope and live happily again. See past bad stuff and look for happiness.

Which was a skill we never learnt. We found happiness in everything as long he guided us. After him, we couldn't find happiness in everything.

Footsteps were heard making everyone in the room tense up. Asher threw pointed looks around the table but dropped it when the door opened.

His expressions changed from stern and scary to sweet and loving in a nanosecond.

He threw a smile towards my twin and apparently she threw one back, judging by the sudden brightening of his face.

Levi took her seat, with the usual bored and expressionless look on her face. She smiled at Josiah too but ignored the other three.

Asher cleared his throat when there was silence for too long. Levi looked at him, confused for a moment before her confusion was cut short by Damien starting.

"I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I didn't mean to hurt you," he said, maintaining eye contact while he was spewing out his apology.

Before Levi could react or say even a word, Jayden followed.

"I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for everything I said and I'm sorry for hurting you."

Unlike Damien, Jayden wasn't maintaining eye contact, he was simply looking at his fist on the table, while Levi turned her head to look at him.

The eye roll that followed the statements told me that Levi decided to stick to what she always does.

Being petty to torture the person enough before they earn her forgiveness.

"Just how many times are you going to repeat this? You fuck up then you come apologizing and expecting that everyone will forget it even happened," she said, adding a scoff to show her distaste for their bullpoop apologies.

"Language!" Came a warning from the head of the table.

Apparently, she didn't realise she cursed, because she tensed up and her eyes widened.

"Alright. Let's eat," Asher said, when he saw she wasn't forgiving them soon.

I looked at Lucian who was looking at Asher, with what could be taken as a pleading look.

He didn't apologize but seeing the responses the other two got, I would be scared to make the same mistake too. I would wait for her to be a bit more cheerful before making the mistake of apologizing.

Asher shook his head when Lucian was determined on not apologizing yet.

When silence fell, I gathered up the courage to speak.

"Can I spend time at the library after school?" I asked, looking at Lucian, who looked up and furrowed his eyebrows.

"How long?" He asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Depends. According to when someone can come pick me up," I said. Whenever they're free enough to pick me up or if a driver is available. "Or I can take a cab?"

"No," Lucian said, immediately. "About picking you up. A car will be there whenever you call. Don't worry about that."

"I can't tell specifically how long I will take there," I said, lowering my gaze. He cleared his throat, making me look up again.

Who knows I can get lost in a book and can't come out of it for long while?

"Okay. Then I need you to call me or one of your brothers; Bunny doesn't count in brothers, obviously, so no calling her," He added, making Levi scowl but drop it as soon as he looked at her.

"You are to call one of us every hour so we know you're okay and where you're supposed to be. If no one gets a call, I'll simply ask someone to pick you up right then and give you a particular time limit myself," he said, his tone going sterner as he proceeded, making me fight for eye contact. "The maximum time you have is till seven, no later than that."

I nodded quickly. That was kind of him to give me so long.

"Okay Lucian," I said. He let out a nod and focussed back on the breakfast.

The rest of the breakfast was silent. By silent, I mean there was no conversations around the table except Asher and Josiah asking me and Levi if we needed anything. Other than that, the three criminals were silent. Levi was ignoring them to the point they must be questioning their own existence.

Once we were done, I waited for Levi to round the table. Once she was on my side, she took my hand in hers and we walked out.

She grabbed her bag from the banister and swung it over her shoulder. I picked up mine from the cabinet type thingy in the lobby and stood beside her, waiting for the twins.

Asher appeared from the kitchen, to see us off like he did yesterday.

"Be good. Have a good day. I love you," he said, moving forward towards us.

He hugged both of us and placed a kiss on our temples.

"Take care of your sister, okay?" Surprisingly his mouth was towards my ear when he whispered that, but I heard a small okay from his other side.

Asher stood up, looked at Levi with nothing but love and care in his eyes then turned to me. Fixing me with the same look, he nodded, confirming that he indeed said that to me.

I nodded back and adjusted my bag on my shoulder. Jayden and Josiah arrived just then, with their bags swung on their shoulders and with they black shades on their designated places. They looked so cool.

They moved straight to the garage after saying goodbye to Asher. But Asher stopped us for some reason. He bent down to our level and smiled.

"Lucian is just being shy and scared-" Levi cut Asher off.

"Lucian, shy, and scared don't go in one sentence. Please correct it," she said, putting up a finger as she listed the words.

He chuckled and shook his head.

"They do. He's not apologizing now but he will soon. I assure you. And if the apology means bullpoop, you will see the 'making up for it' part too. It won't happen again."

I turned my head to look at Levi and I was surprised when I found her smiling at him.

Somehow Asher's words provided her with enough reassurance that she trusted every word he said.

She had put her trust in him already, whether she knew it or not.

Suddenly it felt like I was falling into a pit when the floor was pulled from beneath my feet.

Levi, my twin, my shield, the girl who can make anyone tremble by just one glare, the girl who can make me scared when she's being angry at someone, even though she's never so much as glared at me.

Yes. That Levi. She moved forward and wrapped her arms around Asher's shoulders, burying her face in his neck. Asher raised his eyebrows in surprise before he quickly melted into the hug.

I noticed him melting. I saw the love that washed over his whole being and the happiness he was trying to hide so desperately.

And I swear I saw a little moisture in his eyes when Levi pulled back to kiss his cheek. The kiss wasn't the reason for the sudden watery eyes of this big muscular, slightly-scary-mostly-loving man.

The reason was the small 'I love you' muttered so quietly into his neck that it was barely comprehensible.

Finally over his surprise and sudden emotions, he lifted his hands from his thighs and wrapped them around her, still in his bent to our level position.

Turning his head ever so slightly, he placed a big kiss on her cheek, taking in a deep shaky breath, which screamed, telling everyone about the amount of relief he was feeling at that moment.

Meanwhile, I was smiling like an idiot. So wide that I was afraid my smile will break.

But this moment was worth it. The change was worth everything. The love she was finally receiving was all worth it.

The curtain of having control and caring but not getting cared for had been removed and that was done by our second eldest brother, who was currently enjoying the reward he got for winning and being successful in reaching where Levi is at this moment.