Broken Bonds

Chapter 6

Avery Romano

A hand landed on my shoulder and I jumped at the contact. Vincenzo's eyes were searching around my face, with worry laced in his gaze. I picked up the cover of the box then placed the box back into the wardrobe. I don't want to see these again. 

I was thankful that he did not ask me what happened just now and now we were heading downstairs because it was time for them to go home. Before leaving, he stuffed a piece of paper in my hands and told me that he would see me again in school tomorrow. Aunt Valentina hugged me before leaving while Uncle Francesco did the same. It's been so long since I've had gotten a warm hug like these. 

After sending them away, I headed straight back to my room and opened the small slip of paper Vincenzo handed me. He wrote down his number on it. As if on cue, my phone pinged as a notification came in. 

'hi, this is Vincenzo. just in case you didn't get what's the meaning of the number :)' He was still the same boy as before. The sight of his message made the side of my lips go up slightly. I was smiling too much tonight. And my facial muscles are cramping. 

'hi, thanks for the number. see you in school tomorrow, good night Vincenzo.' I did not know what else to text him so I just sent a sleeping emoji.

'good night and sweet dreams.' was his reply. The words 'sweet dreams' sounded like a mockery, though I know he had no ill intentions of sending it. It felt like a big irony, more like bad dreams. Plugging my phone into the charger, I washed my hands before consuming the last three pills for the night. I hope I won't wake up until morning.

Gasping for air, I bolted up from my bed and looked around frantically. It was a dream, it was a dream, it was a dream, I chanted to myself. Using the back of my hand, I wiped the cold sweat on my forehead and closed my eyes shut. Tears unknowingly started flowing and I put my head in between my knees and sobbed silently. I just want it to be over. 

As usual, I just got back after a quick run and headed towards the kitchen for breakfast. Surprisingly, Mateo was at the table this morning for breakfast. He was never an early riser. The moment I sat down, his gaze focused on me rather than the food in front of him. That was even weirder. He was never the type to stare at someone when there is a wide spread of food placed in front of him. Food means business to him. 

I looked back at him and tilted my head slightly and asked,"Morning?" He only gave me a simple nod and resumed back to his meal. My heart warmed a little at his acknowledgement. It was a simple act but yet I felt that my presence was known at least once. I hated how I still yearned for the attention from them even after so many years. I hated it and I absolutely despised myself for that. 

"Do you....need a ride to school?" His question made me stopped eating halfway. Even Missus Dai turned around in the kitchen. I was at a loss of words at the moment. Was I dreaming? I looked over at Missus Dai, to which she beamed brightly at me and nodded. I wasn't dreaming. 

I smiled and nodded,"Thank you." For the rest of the breakfast, I couldn't remember what they all tasted like and even the black coffee which I had added no sugar tasted sweet. I was definitely going insane. 

As promised, Mateo drove me to the school and left right after I got off his car. It was a short lived moment but it made my day so much better. 

Entering the class, I took a seat and Mason soon came after. Noticing the smile on my face, he smiled too and asked,"Found a boy to crush on?" I scowled at his question and answered,"You wish. Mateo dropped me at school this morning." At the mention of any of my brothers, Mason stopped smiling. He disliked them all, for treating me as non existent at home. I do too, but the inner part of me told me that I deserved the treatment from them. 

Mason cursed under his breath and finally gave me a small smile,"Only if you're happy, Ave." He ruffled my hair and laughed when I tried to reach for his head and do the same. Out of nowhere, Vincenzo suddenly appeared in front of us and had a blank look on his face. Mason noticed him and started,"Do you need something?" Out of the blue, they just started a random staring session and none of them said anything. 

Realising that I had to do something, I stood up and placed my hands right in front of their faces.   

"Stop admiring each other's faces. All right Mason, this is Vincenzo Ricasso. Vincenzo, this is Mason Romano." The two of them immediately stopped staring and had a look of realisation on their faces. 

Mason smiled first and replied,"The little boy of Francesco? The one who was stuck with Ave every time he came over?" A look of amusement was written on his face.

Vincenzo smiled at first, but scowled at his words,"The cousin who always love to pester Avery and Ariana to play with him? And we're of the same age by the way, I'm not some little boy." Mason chuckled and raised his hands up in surrender while Vincenzo finally broke into a smile again. It seemed that they would get along well now. That's great.

Upon realising that Vincenzo was sitting behind us, Mason kept turning back to talk to him during the lesson which I was deeply annoyed with. The teacher eventually told Mason to shut up otherwise he was going to be sent out of the class for the rest of the period. Thankfully, it did the trick of getting him to keep quiet and I was thankful for the peace. They were getting along too well. 

After Biology, Mason left the class and headed back to his own class for the rest of the day. Upon his leave, Vincenzo moved to his seat and I looked at him confusedly. 

"I can't see at the back." He quickly explained, to which I nodded my head. It was the second day of him in our class and the girls were still fawning over him. Some were throwing glares and glances in my direction but I ignored them all. It's their eyes, their choice. 

As Ms Benson walked into the class for English period, the girls settled down unwillingly. Ms Benson looked over to our direction and said nothing about Vincenzo's changed seating arrangement. She merely began the lesson by asking the girls to stop turning back or else she would send them outside of class. 

1 point for Ms Benson.

double updates! had some leftover brain juice for tonight so decided for a double update HEHEH hopefully I won't be too tired from tmr's outing with my friend so that I can still upload a chapter for tmr 

Happy reading! -28/8/2022