Asher could read all the invisible expression on Lucian's face, who was watching Amira climb up on the stool again.

It was clear he wanted to do something about the distance between him and the girls, but he needed to change a lot for them.

The boys never expected him to show his love physically. Weird people because now they're the ones kissing kids' foreheads and hugging the life out of them.

What was he supposed to do when all these two understand is the language of hugs, cuddles and kisses?

He would sue Elijah Verlice for teaching them that, if he could.

"Bunny?" Asher called out, grabbing her attention immediately. Amira was busy fiddling with her fingers.

"Yes?" She asked, looking up hopefully. Maybe Asher wanted her to help with cooking and escape this awkward silence.

"Why don't you tell Lucian about little Bunny? I don't think he's met him before," Asher suggested, smiling sweetly. Amira furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Lucian skeptically.

Why would Lucian want to talk about a stuffie?

"Don't look at me like that," Lucian said, furrowing his eyebrows at the expression on her face. The expression screaming, 'can this guy even do that?'

Amira's head snapped back to face away from Lucian.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"No!" Lucian said, quickly. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant-" He stopped and let out a low growl. "Asher, please explain."

Asher rolled his eyes and turned to look at Amira.

"He meant it in a, 'Hey! Don't look at me like that. I didn't do anything!' kind of way." He exclaimed that part, showing the joking edge to it.

"Oh," Amira said, her head turning so she could look at Lucian who nodded slowly.

'He could've at least added some emotion or a change in tone would've been enough.' she thought with a mental eye roll.

"Asher bought a small bunny stuffie for me." She said, looking at Lucian and trying to study his expressions. She didn't know how he will take that.

Lucian didn't know what he was supposed to say.

"I'm happy for you."

He settled with that.

Asher rolled his eyes when both of them weren't looking and resisted the urge to facepalm himself.

The correct reply in his opinion was, 'Great! I wanna meet him soon.'

"But he's a little too smug for my liking." She turned to Asher who stifled a laugh.

"Is he?" He asked, making Amira nod. "Then we'll have to make him sit in timeout for that, don't you think?"

"Yes," Amira said, smirking to herself. She loved that stuffie with all her heart, mostly because it smelled like Asher, but it needed to know its limits.

"Are you serious?" Lucian said, flicking his gaze between Amira and Asher.

"Yes," Both of them said, looking at him like he was the one not acting his age.

"Did you just roll your eyes!?" Someone shrieked, pulling their feet below them so they were squatting on the seat and putting their palms flat against the counter.

"Did you, Lucian?" Asher said, narrowing his eyes but inwardly chuckling at the way Amira showed her surprise.

"No. You must've been mistaken," Lucian said, looking at both of them then looking down.

A gasp followed his response.

"And are you lying now?" Amira asked in disbelief. She turned to Asher. "He's lying, Asher. I swear I saw him roll his eyes."

"Lying is a bad habit, Lucian. How will the kids learn that if their guardian keeps lying," Asher said, smirking when Amira nodded her head, while looking at Lucian with a smug look on her face.

Lucian's eyes widened as he looked at Asher then moved his gaze to Amira slowly.

The smug expression vanished from her face as soon as his eyes landed on her. She looked down, hoping Lucian didn't catch a glance of what her expressions were.

"Fine. I did," Lucian grumbled, when Asher didn't stop staring at him.

Amira couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the slightly defiant tone he took unknowingly. Lucian turned to look at her and narrowed his eyes.

Amira jumped when a finger poked into the side of her stomach. She started laughing and almost fell down, if it wasn't for Lucian catching her.

"Stop being so smug, otherwise you can sit in timeout with Bunny Junior," Lucian said, glaring at her a little.

But his glare wavered and reduced to nothing when he saw the amused smile on her face.

"It was little Bunny but Bunny Junior is okay too," Amira answered, looking at Asher for approval. For some reason, she wanted him to approve of every small decision, even something as small as deciding a stuffie's name.

"Bunny Junior is better, because," He pointed at his sister, "Bunny is little too. It might get confusing."

"I'm sixteen," Amira deadpanned.

"But you're little," Lucian deadpanned, surprising both of them when his hand was found in her hair a second later, ruffling them.

He blinked when he noticed. Amira, however, whipped her head to the side, with wide eyes.

Lucian looked away quickly. Retreating his hand, he picked up the cup again and pretended that his two siblings, who were exchanging glances now were not present there.

Thankfully for him, his phone rang giving him an excuse to run from the room, without embarrassing himself more.

"Yes, Nicholas?" He said, as soon as he stepped out and answered the call.

"Good evening, Brother." Came the reply. Lucian was still amazed at how polite this kid was, considering he was infamous for being annoying when they were little.

"Good evening. Everything okay?" Lucian asked, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Yes." Nico said, smiling a little himself at being asked that question. "I just wanted to talk about Bunny."

That made Lucian straighten up and instinctively clutch the phone tighter.

"Is something wrong? Did we do something wrong?" Those were the first questions that left his mouth.

"No no. It's not bad. You didn't do anything wrong," Nico said, quickly sensing the panic rising inside the man. "She hasn't mourned for her dad."

"And that is increasing her problems?" Lucian asked, frowning at the wall before him.

"Yes, I'd say. That is the cause of all the memories and hallucinations about him. She hasn't moved on from his death and her situation is not helping."

"What can we do about it?" Lucian asked, in hopes that he could help.

"There's two options. We can just trust the process. Once she's comfortable around you, comfortable enough to have a heart to heart talk, she will eventually disclose all the sadness and fears," Nico answered. He was feeling quite happy at the unusual emotions flowing along with Lucian's words.

"I think she's opening up a little," Lucian said. "But Asher is the only one who is able to get the rambling side of her out."

"Rambling?" Nico chuckled.

"Yes. She was all rambling about her day and stuff, which is different from her usual straight to business self," he said, leaning against the wall with one hand holding the phone and the other in his pocket.

"That's good." Nico sighed.

"The second option?" Lucian asked.

"We try age regression." Came the reply.

Lucian was willing to try anything at this point. There were still countless things she was hiding and risking her well-being. To wait for them to be uncovered didn't seem like a great option.

Hearing nothing from the other side, Nico continued with an explanation.

"It's a very effective way where we get the patient in a smaller headspace to relieve them of the stress their older self is bearing. That helps divert the focus on healing rather than coping with the extra stress."

"Most therapists use it to dig out the cause of the condition. They use hypnosis to get the person into that headspace and get them to repeat stuff that they're hiding," Nico explained. "Just like that, we need her in a stress-free headspace where she can let go of all the stress she's bearing right now."

"How?" Lucian asked.

"Again, we wait." Nico sighed. "I don't want to try hypnosis and dig out memories that are too painful for her to handle. She's too delicate and I don't want to risk anything."

That was one problem Nico faced. It was very painful for him when the person on the other side of his desk was his own sister.

"How do we get her to let go then?" Lucian threw the next question. Despite his cool self, he could feel a little anxiousness bubble inside him. Waiting was painful for both Amira and her siblings.

"Treat her like a kid, which you already do. Do stuff for her. Start making her feel like she's dependant on you. That will give her the initial push to let go of her new self. Once she knows people are there to take care of her, she will eventually slip into the headspace she desires."

"Won't it just be easier if you perform hypnosis to get her there?"

It wasn't that he didn't want to work for it. It was just the fact that all of them were having difficulty accepting each other's flaws. There were disagreements every other day. There was always something that affected her more than they think it will. That was what scared Lucian. He was scared to mess up again.

"As I said, Brother, that is used to dig up the past. Bunny has suffered a lot and we don't want to risk repeating something too painful for her. There's no guarantee that she will stay in that stress-free space after the hypnosis. We need to give her all the time she needs to slip. That way she'll communicate by herself in whatever way and whenever she desires."

Lucian nodded, fiddling with his ring on the hand in his pocket.

"Besides, we will go by the headspace she desires, not what I desire. But taking a guess, it'll be her eleven year old self. It will be great if she lets go on her own, Brother."

"Asher can do that the best," Lucian said, referring to the babying part. Currently she was just letting Asher pamper her the most. She was still hesitant to show her rambling self to the others.

"But I did tell you that all of you will have to work. Asher can't be around all the time. So, please put those idiots in their place before they do something more idiotic," Nico said.

Lucian's hand that was in his pocket came up to rest on the back of his neck.

"We got yelled at by Asher."

"What?" Nico chuckled, but stopped immediately when he remembered it was Lucian he was talking to.

"I mean that must stop the boys from doing something idiotic." Lucian cleared his throat.

"You're my brother, Lucian," Nico started, barely able to control himself. "The curiosity is going to kill me. Please confirm. Did Asher yell at you too?"

Lucian scoffed, quietly, which wasn't audible to the person on the other end.

The boys got off way easy. Lucian was given extra attention.

'Do you know they're so terrified of you that they can't even joke with you? Are you being a good brother by not trying to decrease the distance between you and you sisters? They're going to look up to their guardian the most, Lucian. Be careful what choices you make now.'

"I got three times what Jayden and Damien got," he said, rolling his eyes again. Pretty unfair in his opinion.

"Okay." Nico stifled a laugh. This really put him to ease, otherwise he would've died not knowing if Asher really yelled at Lucian. Lucian!

"Be careful, Nicholas." Lucian narrowed his eyes at nothing.

Nico cleared his throat.

"Okay Lucian. Goodbye. Tell my sisters I love them."

Lucian felt another twitch on his lips as he fought back a smile.

"I will. Take care," he said, before hanging up.

Meanwhile, Asher got a call again and had moved to his office. Amira sat alone in the kitchen, lost in thought. Memories to be exact.

A snap pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked up absentmindedly, to find Jayden standing near her, saying something which she couldn't comprehend.

Another snap and she flinched, causing Jayden to panic and move closer.

"Can you hear me, Bunny?" He asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Amira nodded and looked away. Her jaw clenched when last night's events flooded her mind.

He cleared his throat and sat beside her on the barstool on which Lucian was sitting on.

"So, I know my apology means nothing because I keep making mistakes," he started, while Amira stared at the counter, listening closely.

"I don't expect you to forgive me yet but know that I am sorry. I'll try harder to understand your point of view before saying anything." He stopped and finally looked up from the counter to look at his sister.

"Okay." That's all Amira said, before turning to look at him. "I hope you follow through that."

Jayden nodded and his gaze returned to stare at the countertop. There was silence for a while, during which the siblings kept staring at the counter. The silence broke when Amira started speaking.

"He's provided for your sisters and mother. He's filled that gap for us that Father created." Jayden nodded silently, feeling worse than before on hearing her talk about him. Her voice was filled with so many emotions she was holding back.

"I really am sorry. We all need to change to help you and that change is just happening too slow for me. I forgot about everything we talked about with Nico when we had that argument," he said. "That's a stupid thing to say and it doesn't excuse my actions, but it's true. Then I regretted it after, when I calmed down."

"It's okay, Jayden," Amira said after about a minute of silence. At that time, she just wanted to forget about it and move on. This day had gone fairly well and she was in a good mood because the brothers were putting in their efforts to make it easier for her and Rose.

"Is it?" Jayden asked, snapping his head towards his sister. Amira nodded.

"It's no use holding onto it. I don't want all this stress and negative vibes." She shrugged, absentmindedly sipping coffee from the cup before her.

Jayden watched in amusement, as she lifted the cup to her mouth. She almost spat the coffee out.

"Ew. What's this?" She asked, actually looking into the cup for the first time.

"That's black coffee. No milk and sugar." Jayden stifled a laugh.

"Wait! This was Lucian's!" Amira exclaimed quickly. "Oh god! He's going to kill me."

She put the cup down quickly and pushed it away from her.

"Why are you panicking so much?" Jayden shook his head.

"That is Lucian's cup and I just took a sip from it. I don't think he will like that," She rushed out, grabbing a tissue and cleaning the cup handle where she held it.

"God! Stop worrying so much, Bunny," Jayden said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. She scowled, her hand hanging before her.

"And what if Lucian kills me?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at Jayden. "Wait! You totally want that to happen."

Jayden stifled a laugh when she scrunched up her face and tried to get out of his grasp but couldn't.

The environment became scary when they felt another presence in the kitchen. A presence with a human body and red laser eyes, ready to kill Amira. That's how Amira put it, at least.

Lucian walked to the opposite side of the counter. He extended his hand and picked up his cup, watching Amira avoid his eyes but peeking up to gauze his reaction.

She let out a sigh of relief when Lucian hummed after taking a sip. She thanked her luck that he didn't find out.

That one sip could've cost her her life.

Gulping down the remainder of his coffee, he put the cup in the sink. Amira stayed completely silent but inside she was screaming with joy and planning how to kill Jayden since he nearly got her killed today.

Lucian turned around, keeping his eyes on his sister who was still avoiding looking at him.

She peeked up again but snapped her widened gaze back to her lap when she saw him looking. That made Lucian's lips to twitch up and fall into a genuine smile.

He walked forward towards the door. While walking past his sister, he stopped and bent down to place a kiss on her temple, making her jump in surprise.

"I don't kill for something so small," he whispered, barely able to control his laughter when she tensed up and her eyes bulged out.

He stood back up and his hand moved towards her head. Ruffling her hair for some seconds, he tore his gaze away from her pretty dyed hair and looked at the door. He started walking again, feeling more satisfied than he'd ever did.

Maybe he did need that tongue-lashing to straighten up and be a little more involved.

Whether he admitted it or not.

Jayden and Amira sat together for a while, during which they were mostly bickering. The tension had lifted and both of them felt happier.

Their loud bickering was stopped when a tattoed hand grabbed the back of Jayden's shirt and lifted him off his seat.

"Time's up, Jayden. Get out," Damien said, shoving Jayden away after getting him out of the seat completely.

"That's so mean," Jayden said, setting his shirt and scowling at Damien.

"You know what else is considered mean?" Damien asked, cracking his knuckles, smirking when Jayden's eyes widened and he gulped.

"I'm your brother, Dex," Jayden said as his scowl deepened.

"An annoying one." A mixture of a deep voice and a sweet voice was heard.

Damien and Amira looked at each other when they said that at the same time.

"Exactly," Damien said, blinking and turning back to face Jayden. Jayden raised his hands in surrender and walked out silently.

Damien hummed when the door shut and turned to sit where Jayden was sitting before.

"So..." He started, but stopped when Amira raised her hand. He closed his mouth and gulped.

"If you're here to apologize-" He cut her off, his voice having a nervous edge to it.

"I know it means bullshit if I fuck up continuously then come begging for forgiveness," Damien said quickly, not daring to look up at her. "But I'm trying to put more effort. You must've noticed too. I was trying but then we disagreed on that point and we argued."

Amira stopped trying to say what she was going to say, letting him get done with whatever was weighing on his chest.

At this point, she had learnt one thing. Coming from different kinds of lives, they were supposed to have disagreements.

One more thing was, maybe they weren't being so bothered by their sister's having a different last name because of their father. Maybe it was because of their eldest brother.

Because their father was never there for his kids, Lucian was the one who raised them and took over that role.

Lucian was the only parental figure they knew. Maybe they were so used to raising each other that they tried to be the parent figures for them too.

What parent could bear their kids not having their last names? Even their Dad got sad sometimes, when they introduced themselves as Mazzanti. Back when he just married their mom.

He felt insecure and sad, because it reminded him that they weren't related by blood and maybe the girls won't accept him as their father.

"And I know you will take long to forgive me again-" Amira cut him off by clicking her tongue thrice.