The increase in the number of comments has me overflowing with happiness. Love you.

❤️❤️❤️

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"Bunny punched me!" Jayden shouted. Three guesses who's acting like a baby now.

"He was pulling my ear!" I pointed at my hood covered head.

"Lower your voices!" Lucian snapped. He didn't need to raise his voice for us to listen to him. Just the glare on his face screamed enough. "If your voices raise again, even the teeny tiny bit, you're both going straight to the step."

I looked down at my feet immediately as Lucian started throwing pointed looks. It was silent for a long while and the silence was making me more nervous. So I peeked up. Lifting my gaze, I saw Lucian looking me up and down then at Jayden. His eyebrows were knitted in confusion.

When he first arrived at the crime scene, his eyes had widened a small bit on seeing me in such an embarrassing outfit. That widening of his eyes was enough to show his surprise.

This is so embarrassing.

"Now tell me, Jayden. What did you do for her to hit you?"

The laughter in the background started again. Lucian clenched his jaw and turned to face Damien who was sitting at the bottom step, laughing his ass off. He was sitting sideways, with his back against the wall and his elbow on the second step while looking at us through the railing.

He had been warned before to not laugh. That's why he had distanced himself from the crime scene.

"Why don't you shift to the third step, Dex?" Lucian said, in a low tone, which caused me to look down again. My eyes widened with fear as I peeked up a little to look at Damien.

"Sorry," Damien said, putting his hands up in surrender. He got up from there and slowly trudged upstairs, barely able to control his laughter.

"Answer the question, Jayden," Lucian commanded, turning back to face Jayden.

Keeping my head bowed, I peeked up to glance at Jayden who was standing beside me, maintaining a lot of distance since he got punched.

A laugh threatened to escape my throat when I saw him rubbing his jaw and looking anywhere but at Lucian.

But since I don't want to increase my chances of sitting at the step, I stayed silent.

"We gifted Bunny this bunny onesie." He pointed at me which caused Lucian to turn to look at me too. I looked down at my feet immediately.

I'm dressed so childish before the perfect, mature, 'I'm the boss and I make bullshit rules' Lucian Zane Mazzanti. Embarrassing.

"And I didn't pull the ear, I tugged at it. To make it clear, that wasn't Bunny's ear, that was the onesie bunny's ear. This one."

While saying 'this one' he extended his hand forward and tugged at the ear again, harsher than last time.

"See? I'm innocent," Jayden said. I jumped up at that.

"He's not!" I exclaimed. "Him and Damien forced me into this and I felt too hot because I have so many clothes on already and this onesie is too warm. So I attempted to remove it and look what they did!" I said, pushing my paws forward.

Mittens, I mean.

Then I realised I might've raised my voice more than a teeny tiny bit. With my eyes widening with fear, I gulped and looked at Lucian to gauze his reaction.

Surprisingly, Lucian was lost in his own thoughts while staring at my face. He didn't look mad though.

Instead there was a twitch in his lips. And that twitch was more than there has ever been. Real close to a smile.

His usually scary eyes held amusement in them. The corners of his eyes were relaxed completely. Completely!

Wow.

He looks so much better like this. He doesn't look too scary.

I realised my hands were still in the air, my arms extended.

"And they're like mittens, so I can't unzip it and they kinda trapped me. And Jayden made fun of me too. Damien is also guiltier, even more so than Jayden, because it was all his plan."

I stepped forward.

"About the punch, it couldn't have hurt him." I grabbed his wrist and raised his hand up to put mine in it. "See? I have soft and fluffy paws."

Lucian blinked, snapping out of his daze. He looked from my hand to my face which I utilized by looking as innocent as I've never been. He released a breath while looking at my innocent self. He turned his head to look at Jayden.

"That was a well deserved punch then."

I jumped with joy when I heard that. Then I immediately settled down when Lucian looked at me again.

"You can't be serious," Jayden grumbled. I looked to my side with a smug smile on my face.

Lucian turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" He asked. His features hardened as he stared at Jayden, who was now shifting in his spot.

"No," Jayden mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

"I asked you a question, Jayden Cole."

I jumped at the tone and tried to back away. Just when I moved my hand to lift it from his, Lucian's fingers curled to trap my paw there.

Jayden looked up quickly.

"No, Lucian," he said, not mumbling this time.

"Hm. Go have lunch then," he said, jerking his head towards the hallway that led to the kitchen.

Jayden scowled and dragged his feet towards the way. Lucian watched him leave, while I looked at him fearfully.

Am I going to face the consequences for punching him? But he just said-

I froze when Lucian lowered his gaze and turned his head to look at me.

An innocent little bunny in the scary dragon's grasp.

"Asher is going to love this," Lucian said, surprising me. That was unexpected.

"But I don't want him to see me like this." A whine escaped my throat, surprising us more. "I mean it's embarrassing."

"It's not," A third voice said. "It's adorable."

I leaned to my side to look behind Lucian. Damien sat on a step, looking back at me. I scowled.

"I don't find it adorable," I grumbled. My scowl deepened when he shook his head and stood up. Walking downstairs, he put both of his hands in his pockets.

"It is. You can't fight us on it," he said. He walked past me towards the kitchen and while he passed me, he tugged at the bunny ear, making me grit my teeth.

I shot laser through my eyes at his retreating back, imagining him tripping and faceplanting into the floor.

"I want to change. It's too hot and I have tons of cloths on at this time," I said, looking at Lucian while raising my other hand too.

Lucian looked at my hands and knitted his eyebrows together.

"Please unzip the paws," I asked, in a pleading tone. When I got a nod in return, a grin appeared on my face.

Lucian turned my wrist a little, to find the small zip hidden in the cloth.

Freedom. That's what I felt when he unzipped the zip on my wrist and clipped the paw back to the sleeve.

Before I could move to unzip the left hand paw on my own, Lucian released my right hand and reached for my left one.

He did the same to that one too and clipped it on the sleeve.

As soon as he did, I rushed past him to go change quickly. But I was stopped before I even stepped on the bottom step.

"Bunny," Lucian called out quickly. As if he remembered something suddenly.

"Yes?" I asked, turning to face him. He simply waved his hand, silently telling me to go back to stand before him.

I stepped forward, trying not to show the impatience.

Once I was standing before him again, he stepped forward. A second later, I found his hands on both sides of my face. He bent down and placed a kiss on my forehead.

"You look adorable," he said. Although he wasn't smiling, but I could see my own smile reflect off in his eyes. That was enough for me to understand every little emotions swirling in tornado behind those cold silver eyes.

"You should buy more of these for yourself and for Rose," He suggested. Even when he looked like he was considering ordering more of these for us himself.

I nodded in response, too lost in his now softened gaze to speak anything. That is a sight you rarely see and I wasn't going to miss it.

Or maybe that rare shimmer in his eyes was about to become a more normal sight to see.

My smile widened and I found myself moving forward. He was bent down to my level, so I moved forward and kissed his cheek.

Lucian jerked in surprise, the slightest bit when I did that but he relaxed again. Surprisingly, his arms wrapped around me tightly, holding me where I was.

After about two seconds, his hand came up to pushed the side of the hood out of the way, so he could place a kiss on my cheek.

"I'm already grateful for the change that is happening," He murmured, placing another kiss on my temple, before turning his head back to face forward.

Warmth settled in my chest again. Warmer than ever. It slowly spread through my whole body.

Reminding me that I was feeling too warm in this onesie.

Lucian pulled away then and put his hand on top of my head.

"Be back quickly. The food is ready," he said. He lifted his hand from my head and started walking towards the kitchen.

I rushed to my room, because my stomach was growling for the warm delicious food.

Once I reached the top of the stairs, my hands flew to the zip, to unzip the zipper.

"Isn't my little heart looking too adorable?" I froze, nearly falling by the suddenness of the halt. I whipped my head to the side, from where the voice seemed to come from.

Moisture formed in my eyes when I saw Dad standing there, a few steps away.

I clenched my eyes shut and shook my head.

I can't see that dreadful scene again.

"What? Don't want to see your big heart?" My eyes snapped open at that.

I wanted to see him!

"You're asking for the tickle punishment," He stated, smiling smugly.

"I miss you." I found myself saying.

His hand lifted to rest on his chest, right where his heart was.

"But I'm right here. And I nearly died when I saw my little heart in this adorable outfit."

I flinched when he said 'died'.

"Don't say that." I mumbled, blinking the tears away. When I looked up, I was met with that all too familiar warm smile.

He stepped forward to stand before me and bent down to my level.

"No matter what keeps us apart, our hearts are connected and they beat together," he said, tilting his head to the side. The soft smile on his face had me admiring the sight I hadn't seen in more than two years. His smile that lit up the darkest places.

My hand lifted up to my chest.

"But it hurts because your big heart is here but you're not."

He shook his head at that. Ignoring my statement, he continued.

"My big heart loves your little heart's new friend. Mom's big heart loves him too and we're communicating with that new big heart all the time."

That's all he said. That's all he told me before he faded away. Panic rose inside me. I wanted to move but I didn't find the ability to do so.

I didn't want to even blink. To open my eyes to find him absent. Yet I just saw him fade away from before me.

When there was no sign of him left, I moved. My frozen self found the ability to move again. I looked around, searching for him desperately. But it came crashing onto me yet again that I had lost him. All the care he had for me and all the love I got from him had gone and I couldn't have it again.

This was so not fair. It hurts so bad.

I sniffled and continued my journey to my room. I walked into my closet absentmindedly, looking for something comfy to wear.

'Isn't my little heart looking too adorable?'

I turned to look into the mirror, looking at myself up and down.

Little heart is anything but adorable.

I settled with a simple black shirt and bermuda shorts. After I was done tucking the shirt in, I found myself reaching for the onesie again.

Putting it on, I stared at myself in the mirror.

If Dad says so.

I walked out of the room, after making sure I removed all the signs that I almost cried.

My heart was beating fast in my chest as I reached the kitchen door. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open and entered.

"You could've clicked a picture!"

The loud voices stopped immediately.

All five heads turned towards me. Four mouths fell open in shock while one face settled with widening the eyes slightly. Damien and Jayden had their elbows on the back of their chairs as they looked at me. Asher and Josiah were on the other side of the table, standing with their palms flat against the table.

Okay. This was a bad idea.

I gulped as I felt my face turn red with embarrassment. I turned around quickly to run away.

"Stop!" Damien commanded.

"That's so adorable!" Josiah exclaimed.

"Come on, Bunny. Don't be embarrassed." Jayden the bitch mocked.

I turned back around slowly, keeping my gaze lowered to the floor.

Black shoes entered my lowered gaze and the familiar cologne hit my nose.

"Isn't my little Bunny looking too adorable?" Asher cooed, putting both of his hands on the sides of my face. Lifting my face up, he bent down simultaneously to kiss me all over my face.

"Too much cuteness for me to handle," he murmured when he pulled away to look at me up and down.

"It's not that cute," I mumbled.

"Keep lying and you will find yourself on the naughty step," Asher said simply. That shut my mouth immediately.

I wasn't lying. But a lie in Asher's eyes is like greens in food. Disturbing and infuriating.

"Come on, now. Let's feed this adorable bunny."

Laughter rang through the kitchen at that, making me scowl. I smirked when an idea popped into my mind.

Tugging at Asher's sleeve, I got his attention.

"See? I told you it wasn't adorable. Those two agree." I pouted.

Asher looked at the two idiots who had stopped laughing and were looking at Asher wide eyed. Obviously noticing how I blamed them indirectly for me not believing it's cute.

"So these idiots are the reason," Asher said, narrowing his eyes. I refrained the urge to do a little victory dance.

Before the idiots could say anything, I started speaking quickly.

"Yes! And they forcefully made me wear this. Against my will! Jayden held me too tight and my tummy hurts." I whined at the end for extra effect.

"Stop being a whiny baby," Damien grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"You two are going to see what a whiny baby is. Be seated at the step after lunch," Asher ordered in his no-nonsense tone. I smirked, while hiding behind Asher to look extra babyish and innocent.

"Why?" Two deep voices whined.

That caused a chuckle to be thrown out of my throat.

"Who's a whiny baby?" I mocked, in a baby voice.

"You-" Damien was cut off.

"Silence!" Dumbledore, sorry, Lucian said, sharply. "No more arguments."

Victory!

"Okay, Bunny. Let's have lunch," Asher said. With a hand on my back, he led me to the table.

Damien and Jayden started laughing when we passed them. I stopped and leaned backwards to look at them.

They settled down and tried hard to control their laughter.

I narrowed my eyes as I sat down between Asher and Josiah.

"Oh." Asher said, as he pulled his chair out. I looked up to see him looking at my back.

"What?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Nothing." Asher smiled sweetly and took his seat. He sent a pointed look towards the two, making me frown in confusion.

There's definitely something on my back.

As soon as my food arrived, I stabbed my fork into it, glaring at the two idiots, who were looking at me with goofy smiles.

For no reason at all, I turned my head to my left, towards the head of the table. Maybe I sensed him looking, because he was staring at me.

And I was thankful I saw him because that was a sight to behold. Lucian, the perfect, the rule-maker, always expressionless and stern, was smiling!

Like an actual smile. One where the creases on the sides of the mouth are prominent.

My jaw fell straight into my plate. This was another man. He didn't look like who I know as my eldest brother.

He looked easy-going, warm, loving even and my eldest brother wasn't any of those things till now.

I think the road to having a normal brother sister relationship consisted of these changes too. The changes that had a huge impact on the warm weather on this road. The changes that made it warmer and maybe helped us get closer to the destination.

Before I could stop, a smile was already sitting on my face. Lucian's own smile widened at that.

And that's when I felt something bloom in my chest. Maybe his big heart. But it was too soon? Asher took a long time and took lots of bond strengthening. Maybe my heart opened the chances of befriending his. Maybe he was trying to look past the walls.

Whatever it was, it was good. This warm feeling only came from good things and I was grateful for whatever process was happening.

'But he slapped Damien. He's not a good brother.'

And just like that my smile wavered and my eyebrow twitched a little.

I really wanted to ignore this voice but this time, what it was saying was true and confirmed. I couldn't get myself to ignore that fact. He did slap Damien and I don't want to risk my twin's safety.

"Bunny." Asher's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I flinched when he touched my shoulder.

"What happened?" Asher frowned, retreating his hand. His frown was sad, as he looked from his hand to me.

"Nothing," I mumbled, looking down onto my plate and digging into the food, to avoid any questions.

"Give me your phone."

At first, I thought Lucian was saying that to someone else, but I was surprised when I found him looking at me.

"What?" I asked, wondering why he wanted my phone.

"You heard me, Bunny. Lying is becoming a really nasty habit of yours. So no phone until you know how to tell the truth," he stated, resting his clasped hands on the table.

"You are confiscating my phone?" I found myself asking. I was a little surprised he believed that would change anything. Dad gave up asking for my phone really quickly.

That does not affect anything. Yeah, it did suck when I couldn't talk to some people for some time. Other than that, I liked to spend time with Dad more. So the time I got after homework and stuff, I spent with him.

"As your guardian, I have that right." He nodded his head once.

I nodded and fished my phone out of my pocket. I slid it towards him. Lucian reached out for the phone and put it in his pocket.

There was silence at the table for a while, which I utilised to look a little upset. I should look like this is affecting me so he doesn't try to take more extreme measures.

"Nico has told you about communication being the most important, right?" Damien said, making me look up from my hand to him.

"If you don't communicate, you're not gonna get better," Asher added. I looked down at this. There was so much disappointment in his voice alone. I didn't want to feel worse after looking at his face.

"Meet me in my office after Lunch."

I jumped and looked wide-eyed at Lucian. I thought I got away with this. I thought he'd not say this after taking my phone.

"I'm going to call Nicholas and you're going to talk to him about everything that happened," he declared.

I gulped and looked down when he gave me a pointed look.

"Yes, Lucian," I mumbled, when he cleared his throat, expecting a response.

He hummed in approval and started eating. I stopped fiddling with my fingers too when I heard everyone digging into their food.

This sucks!