The twins ate my chocolates from Leo.

My fault. I shouldn't have left them in the kitchen. I just put them away on the counter, endlessly enjoying the aroma of my first ever bouquet of flowers, which I had just received. This is when Eugenie came across me. She first began to admire the roses, and then immediately left to look for a suitable vase.

A silver, angular vessel was filled by her with water, and the flowers were placed in it by me. I carried them with the greatest care to my bedroom. I set them on the bedside table, wanting to inhale their sweet scent for a goodnight. I played with them a bit, arranging them in the most eye-catching way, styling the rustling paper, and positioning the stray ribbons accordingly. I also managed to cut myself with the spikes a few times, but not too deeply for blood to appear.

Thanks to the roses, my bedroom seemed to revive. It wasn't boring and ordinary, because the brightness of red contrasted with the white walls, and their expressiveness added freshness to the whole room. I couldn't stop looking at them. I wrote a message to Leo, thanking him for the hundredth time for such a wonderful surprise. It was then that I remembered the sweets and went to the kitchen to get them, just to catch Shane and Tony who were sitting at the table waiting for dinner and chewing on something lazily. Between them, on the table, there was a torn box of chocolates with a crumpled transparent foil next to it.

"Hey!" I called out angrily. I went to the table and tried to reach for the leftover sweets, but Shane took them from under my nose causing me to grunt irritably, "It's mine!"

"Let's say this is your payment for our trouble," Shane suggested, popping two chocolates into his mouth at once. Two at once!

"What trouble again!" I huffed, placing my hands on my hips. I wanted to kick both of them.

Tony reached over and grabbed another chocolate from the box.

"Holy shit," he sighed, narrowing his eyes contentedly. "Mmm, marzipan."

I almost stamped my foot. Almost.

"If it weren't for us, your blonde boy could only dream of putting his kitsch plan into action," Shane reminded me.

"You yourselves are kitschy," I growled, glaring at the twins, pausing for a longer time on Tony "And you! You hit him!"

Tony shrugged like a rebellious teenager who wants to tell the world with all his attitude that he doesn't give a damn and to leave him alone.

"Okay, okay now. Here's the last one. See? Come on, it's for you," Shane muttered, and pushed the box towards me, which slid the entire length of the countertop and stopped right next to me.

"You really ate everything!" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"No," said Dylan, who had just entered the kitchen and stood behind me, then picked up the remaining chocolate. He threw it into his mouth and winked at me. "Now we've just eaten everything."

I gave him a murderous look, and he grinned at me with his chocolate-dirty teeth and slurped at my face, making me wince.

"You're disgusting."

Dylan just pinched my cheek hard. I slapped his hand, but he didn't care, just passed me to take a seat at the table.

"Not so bad. Where did you get them from?" He asked when he had already collapsed in his chair.

"From Hailie's secret admirer."

"What?" Dylan frowned, getting serious, then looked from Shane to me. "Who?"

"Don't tell him, don't tell him!" I hissed through gritted teeth, staring at the twins warningly. They didn't seem to care. Nobody in this house took my looks seriously.

"Hush, little girl," Dylan muttered at me, turning back to our brothers. "Well?"

"You know, there was one guy here. With flowers and chocolates..." Shane laughed. He was especially amused by the expression on our older brother's face.

"What? You're kidding me?" Dylan looked at Tony for confirmation of those words.

"Yeah, yeah, he's kidding!" I called, squeaky, anxious to stave off the coming catastrophe.

"Hush," Dylan repeated to me, leaning over to our brothers. "Tell the fuck what's going on."

"All right, relax. Hailie's friend wanted to give her a flower for her birthday, no big deal," Shane explained, apparently feeling a little sorry for me.

"Why?"

"Because of my birthday?" I put in impatiently.

"Which friend?"

"Please don't tell him." I folded my hands as if in prayer, and with my puppy eyes, I stared intently at the twins.

"Go away," Dylan growled at me as soon as he noticed that my pleas had a chance to at least slightly move our brothers. "What idiot let him in here?"

"Vincent."

This is more or less where the discussion ended.

Maybe it wasn't quite finished, because Dylan was still whining about how foolish it was to let a teenage dude in love under my balcony. I stopped listening to him the moment I was sure that, thanks to Vincent's knowledge of the incident, Dylan had no right to intervene and his anger was rather empty.

By the end of the day, I couldn't focus on anything else but the pleasure that happened to me today. For a part of the afternoon, I was just lying on the bed, reading a book, and every now and then glancing at the bouquet of roses next to it. Then I smiled and went back to the text, only to return my glance at it after a few minutes. Until the evening, when Will knocked on my bedroom door and announced that he and the boys had ordered some junk food for dinner. It was quite late, so I was surprised, but I got hungry so I wasn't going to despise the fragrant hamburger.

It was one of those nice evenings when my brothers were sitting together in the living room, each one discreetly enjoying each other's company.

Fed and happy, I fell asleep without caring about the movie the boys had put on. I tried not to look where the acid had burned holes in the carpet after an unsuccessful attempt to kill me, but sometimes my gaze wandered there by itself. I couldn't wait for Vince to get rid of it.

I think I was already asleep when suddenly someone nudged my shoulder. One time, then another. I blinked and yawned, then rubbed my eyes. Time to move to the bedroom, I guess, right?

No. But my first thought was that somehow it was already morning because the first thing my eyes have encoded was glaring light. I shuddered suddenly and rose quickly to a sitting position, rubbing my eyelids even more carefully. It's fire! My fearful self had already spread the seeds of panic in the form of chills all over my body when I suddenly realized that it was indeed fire, but on candles! Candles stuck in a cake, birthday cake.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, putting my palm on my chest. The baking was far too big for a teenager's sixteenth birthday cake, but it had to be for me, or else there wouldn't have been written: "Best wishes, little Hailie" on a white, creamy surface. I didn't even feel the need to comment on the fact that my brothers couldn't help but call me "little Hailie" even on the cake. I was too delighted with everything else. A white, classic cake, decorated with dark chocolate additives, sprinkled on the sides with its shavings and framed with fresh raspberries. Simple and yet amazing.

And those candles. I didn't count them, but I was sure there were exactly sixteen, no more, no less. They were all pink and were starting to melt, but I waited to blow them out because the boys had just started singing a happy birthday song for me. Everyone did it in their own style, but I felt they were all even more natural than when they did it for me a year ago. Vince only seemed to sing every second word, but he was also looking at my speechless expression with a slight smile. Dylan was the loudest and the most out of tune. Will and Shane were the only ones trying to get into pretty birthday tones. And then there was Tony and his mumbling. Oh God, they were so sweet, I literally felt like I was going to melt together with those candles.

"And now make a wish," Will winked at me at the end, and I met his warm blue eyes additionally heated up by the flames of candles reflecting in them, then I closed mine, took a deep breath, and blew all of them out in one go. And I had only one thought in my head. May we really stick together always. No matter what the future holds. No matter where each of us will end up. No matter with who. But as Monet's siblings, we had a bond that was not worth losing for anything in the world.

"What did you ask for, little Hailie? A letter to Hogwarts?" Dylan asked, nudging me lightly.

"No," I snorted and rolled my eyes, then added, "Only eleven-year-old kids get them. I'm too old."

"I thought you were turning ten."

"I wished for you to be nicer to me."

"You can't ask for the impossible."

I lifted my eyes, but there was a smile on my lips. Because how could I not smile? I shifted on the couch, uncovered the blanket, feeling hot with emotion. I also combed my hair, although the fact there was no matter what I looked like because we were in our own company and I didn't have to be dressed up was beautiful. Meanwhile, the cake landed on the coffee table. In passing, I checked the time. It was a minute after midnight. One minute after midnight! What an idea!

Will showed up with a huge knife, Vince set the plates and tiny silver forks next to them, which sparkled like the finest jewelry. As a birthday girl, I had the honor of cutting the cake, but Dylan quickly took over the knife Will was handing me. I scowled at him, but I was just pretending that I was annoyed. In reality, I felt too happy to take the teasing seriously.

Shane began to remove the candles from the surface of the cake and carefully licked the cream off each of them.

"Did you really have to write "little" Hailie?" I sighed, staring at this charming cake.

"It was supposed to be just Hailie, but Dylan took care of the cake and made his... adjustments," said Will, who had just brought some paper towels and gave our brother a meaningful look.

Dylan chuckled under his breath as if what he did was a fine joke. I rolled my eyes.

"We have some symbolic gifts for you, but you should know that if you need something or want something very much, you can always tell us, whether it's your birthday or not," Will reminded me when we all finished our pieces. I mean, my brothers were finishing up and I was barely half-through. Not because I didn't like it. On the contrary, it was perfect. The delicate cream melted in the mouth, and the light chocolate cake was soaked with raspberries, which perfectly maintained the balance between sweetness and mild acidity. I just got a huge piece that I couldn't handle.

I nodded my head. I've been living with my brothers for over a year, and I still didn't quite understand how it was that when I lived with my mom, I'd been spending twelve months thinking and planning my birthday present, while here, under Vincent's care, I could ask for birthday presents every week and I'd probably get most of them.

I put the plate aside to take a paper bag from Will, which contained a new laptop, elegantly wrapped. Three times thinner than my current one. It was silver in color, beautifully finished, handy and elegant. Looked like Vincent's one. I already knew that I'd treat it like an egg, because of fear, I'd break it or scratch or whatever.

"You needed a new one anyway, especially now that you're studying from home. Your birthday is just an excuse," Will informed me as I thanked him and carefully slid it back into the box, closed it, and put it in the bag.

"Another gift in your case will be impractical, but well," Vincent shrugged, then handed me a small square box that looked like it had some big ring inside it. "It's all from us, Hailie. Don't worry," he said to me when he noticed how reserved I was about opening my gifts.

"Okay," I muttered hoarsely. These are stuff from my brothers. They are not trying to kill you. Chill. I kept telling myself as I opened Vincent's box.

Car keys. And I already knew what that meant.

I looked up at my oldest brother.

"A car?" I asked. I was barely learning to drive. I'd almost hit a tree recently. I'd tried to run Dylan over before.

"As I said, not a practical gift. But it doesn't mean it's useless," Vince shrugged again.

"Everyone gets a car for sixteen birthday," added Dylan.

"No, Dylan, not everyone," I protested politely but firmly. They need to be educated, better late than never.

"Everyone in our family," he corrected himself.

I took out the key and squinted to read what was written on the emblem, because my knowledge of the automotive industry, and even the most popular brands, was quite poor.

I strained my eyes even more. Porsche. Huh. Porsche.

Damn.

"Thanks...?" I mumbled as I twisted the key in my hand.

"She doesn't know what car this is," Shane snorted, then shook his head and got to his feet. He waved his hand at me. "We're going to the garage."

I obediently stood up, ready to appreciate my gift. We all went to the garage, grabbing our jackets before, and as soon as the lights came on in the huge room, a new color of the car flashed into my eyes, one that had never been here before. Golden and sporty, it shone with novelty and attracted attention among others, even those more luxurious cars. I approached it and only stopped when I stood so close my fingers could touch the bonnet. I did it very delicately as if I was afraid that I would scratch the varnish with only the fingertips, which of course didn't happen.

"Want to try it out? At our place, on the property?" Will asked me, putting his arm around me.

"Isn't it too dark?" I replied with a question. In fact, I was afraid of driving such a gem, especially at night.

"We'll turn on the lights."

My brothers were probably more excited about the new car than me. Vince was already in the seat next to the driver, and Will was behind the wheel, earlier pulling my keys out of my hands. The car suddenly came to life, the lights were on and the engine purred aggressively.

"It's hybrid," Shane informed me, watching our brother's maneuvers with fascination. Will drove the car outside, and I, Dylan, and the twins quickly followed it.

Along the way, Dylan clicked an inconspicuous switch, one of many, by the wide garage door. Bright floodlights flashed in the dark, gloomy yard. They blinded me for a second, and my arm covered my eyes from the glaring light. It felt like an empty baseball field where the big game was about to start. I didn't even know we had such lamps here.

"Come on, Hailie," Will called as he stopped nearby and opened the door to get out and let me in. Before that, he did a few more circles, and he had a wide smile on his face. Jesus, they were all like big kids.

I approached uneasily to the machine that glowed unearthly in the silver light. This can't be my car.

"What if I crash it?" I asked skeptically before climbing into the driver's seat. I immediately felt the difference between the car I used to drive during my lessons with Vincent and this sports wonder. The interior was upholstered with snow-white leather and looked a bit like Shane's Lamborghini. Or maybe it was not similar to it at all, but I, as a laywoman, noticed that this car had the same low ceiling and a similar arrangement of the dashboard and that was enough for me.

"You won't crash it, just focus" Vincent advised me, who was still sitting on the seat next to the driver's one. "And watch out, because this car is more sensitive than the one we've driven together."

It was indeed more sensitive. As soon as my fingers tightened on the sublime steering wheel with the enormous Porsche logo on the dial, and I got used to the fact that I had to lie rather than sit because of how low this car was, I found the gas pedal with my foot and pressed it gently.

The car shot forward like a beast that was just about to breathe fire from the bonnet. I was terribly scared and immediately hit the brake, which jerked us violently.

My heart was pounding and my fingers were still stiffened to the steering wheel. I stared straight ahead at the gray grass. The night sky was so pretty, full of stars that embellished the pitch-black background. It was also so quiet... much calmer than I am now.

"I told you it was sensitive," Vincent pointed out.

"You said it was more sensitive, not that it literally drives on its own!" I huffed. Somewhere in the back, I heard the laughter of the rest of the boys.

"Relax, you'll get used to it."

I nodded, accepting my eldest brother's prophecy. I shifted in my seat, lowered the seat belt a little, and rubbed the steering wheel.

"Okay. Okay," I said to myself and took a deep breath. "Okay. Again."

And I went on. To be clear, I am still a poor driver. I am too fearful, stressed and my movements are panicked, which doesn't make me the born queen of the roads. And driving SUCH a car requires some experience, being used to driving. But I must admit that after a few moments I started to slowly feel it. It was sensitive, yes, but it actually turned out to be a good thing. It responded to my every gentle command. After a dozen or so minutes, I could already say that driving it was quite cool. That is until I would be driving on the road, with other cars around...

Then it was my brothers' turn, and each of them could have some fun at the wheel of my new car. They also enjoyed it when it was standing still so they could be testing the engine, which was growling like a wild, furious animal at high speed to the point I had to cover my ears. I shook my head. For me, buying this car as my present was probably just an excuse to expand their own collection. Like I said, big kids.

On our way home, Vince said something like that if I learn to drive properly, I might even be allowed to drive my new Porsche occasionally if only one of the brothers accompanies me.

We took off our jackets, and in the warm house, our cold faces flushed. Mine strongest, of course, as I managed to see in the mirror. We went back to the living room and some of my brothers mumbled about having more of the cake. I myself thought that this was the end of surprises and I was ready to leave and go upstairs soon and fall asleep with a big smile on my face. But when I dropped onto the couch to spend a little more time with my family, it turned out that they had something else to tell me. First, I was offered a second piece of cake, and I just thanked politely because I hadn't even finished the first one yet.

"By the way," Vince began, and cleared his throat, "Tomorrow you're flying with the twins to the Canary Islands."

I choked on a cake and started coughing. Will helped me set the plate aside, and Dylan patted me lightly on the back.

"W-what?" I groaned softly in a weak voice when I couldn't quite catch my breath.

What did they come up with again?!

Of course, only I was surprised. Shane and Tony were busy stuffing their mouth with the cake and the new revelation didn't impress them at all.

"To the Canary Islands? Why there? With the twins? Why with them?" I asked Vincent, blinking in shock. Shane stopped chewing for a moment and gave me a look.

Will ran his fingers through my hair and answered me, looking at the top of my head.

"Dad would like to see you."

Now I looked at him.

"He's in the Canary Islands?!"