ALEX

Genevieve had booked us a private room in a restaurant.

I was fiddling with the hem of my white dress, smiling slightly. Carter got it for me, and I couldn't break her heart by telling her that I didn't wear dresses so I wore it today.

I dug into my 'Pasta con foglie di basilico' and looked over to Carina. She had been distant with me ever since we came back from the mission. It's been two weeks now. I leaned over to her.

"Why are you ignoring me?" I poked her shoulder.

"I'm not ignoring you. I'm eating." She replied.

I rolled my eyes. "Are you still mad about me not telling you?" I questioned once again.

She pursed her lips. "No, why would I be? You already have secrets, what's one more?"

She shrugged as if she didn't care, but I know she did. I hated the fact that this was feeling this way, but after all, it kind of was my fault.

"So I'm not allowed to have secrets now? You want to have a heart to heart, sit down, spill all my secrets to you?" I asked sarcastically.

"We used to be close. You promised not to keep anything from me and you broke it."

"It was to protect you-"

She shoved a knife into her steak violently, frowning down at it, as if she wished it were me. "Protect me? Guess what - all it did was make me weak. And reliant on others. If you wouldn't have protected me I would have learnt how to defend myself."

I growled, slamming down my utensils. The table shook.

"Yeah? You'd rather I let you get fucking raped? Because guess what, Carina, that happened to me!" I roared at her.

I felt a tear forming at the side of my eye. I wasn't sure whether it was in anger, or frustration, or even because I was upset, but it really was pointless. Whatever happened had happened, and I had no way of changing it.

"ʻAʻole pono ʻoe e pale mai iaʻu no ka mea ua hoʻonāwaliwali wale ia iaʻu." She shouted back at me.

[You shouldn't have protected me because that just made me weak: Hawaiian]

I glared at her. "You know what? Maybe I shouldn't have. Then you wouldn't be this ungrateful."

I clenched my hand where I was holding a butter knife. It slit my hand, a sharp spike of pain echoing up my wrist, but I didn't care. Blood formed, staining the metal of the utensil.

She looked down onto my hand and reached forward but I took three steps back, glaring at her.

"You never even realised. You never asked me if something was wrong. You claim to be the older one, but you're so childish." I told her before turning to my other siblings who are staring.

Ace got up, but I turned back.

And ran.

--------

Running away wasn't a great idea. My cut was probably going to get infected and it was throbbing painfully. I reached the path where people usually go for runs in nature and trudged up painfully slow. I reached a fork in the path, the main route was going straight, so I took a right.

There was a small stream there with some bunnies. I smiled and then quickly wiped the smile off my face, remembering Carina's gift. Sitting down by a tree, I sighed. I was numb. I felt nothing right now. I don't know how she could say that to me. After all I've done for her? I heard footsteps approaching me and I removed the safety of my gun.

"Alexis?" The voice called out.

I didn't lower my gun. "Who's there?" I called out.

"It's Aiden. Hello." He crouched down in front of me.

I lowered my gun and put my safety back on. "You know your siblings are worried about you right? They've been looking all over for you." I sighed.

"Yeah, I don't want to see them." I fiddled with my bleeding hand as his eyes fell on it.

He tore a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around my hand.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

"No problem." He sat down beside me and called Liam.

"Did you find her?" Ace's voice came from the other end instead of Liam's.

"Yes, I did." Aiden replied. I smiled at him 

"Oh thank god. Where was she? You know what, nevermind, just bring her back." Ace rambled frantically.

Aiden looked up to me and I shook my head. "No." Aiden told Ace.

"What?" Ace question.

"Excuse us?" another voice questioned.

"She doesn't need to see her. Not right now."

So, he knew what happened. I sighed.

"Don't worry. We'll just get some food and probably watch a movie. I can send Marco over and he can get her school stuff." I nodded in agreement to Aiden's statement.

"Absolutely not." Ace replied. "She is not staying overnight with you. I'll wait till you guys get food, but after that you bring her back here."

"Pass the phone to me." I whispered, holding my hand out, Aiden obliged.

"Ace."

"Alex?"

"Yeah." I paused for a second. "Fidati di me, ok? Non ho intenzione di fare nulla di avventato o irrazionale."

[ Trust me okay? I'm not going to do anything reckless or irrational : Italian ]

Ace sighed. "Alright then, if you've made up your mind. Can you hand the phone back to Aiden?" I passed the phone to Aiden again.

"What?"

"You better take care of her or you'll have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of your life." Aiden chuckled.

"Noted. We'll see you guys later then." Ace then cut the line.

"Do you trust me?" Aiden asked in surprise. "I ran a background check on you the other day."

He cocked one of his eyebrows, helping me up as we walked out of there. "Yeah? What'd you find?"

"You're trustworthy, but also that you have only ever been with one girl before who dumped you in tenth grade because you were too ugly." I joked.

He rolled his eyes. "Well, I can get a girl anytime I want."

I snorted.

"So, no one caught your fancy yet?" I poked his bicep.

He mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that Mr-I-am-a-expert-in-girls?"

"Nothing, get in." He grumbled opening his car door for me.

"At least you have etiquette." I laughed when I got in.

"McDonald's?" He questioned starting the car.

"Sure. I think there's a 24hr one around the corner."

"Can I have two Big Macs and two Mcflurries?" He asked the drive through lady.

She nodded and went in the back. I reached forward to pay but Aiden did too.

"No Aiden, let me pay. You're already doing too much."

He shrugged. "No can do." He reached forward to hand the lady his credit card, but I snatched it out of his hand and gave her my own instead.

"I told you I was paying. Why'd you do that?"

He scowled. "I told you you didn't have to pay. My treat."

I sat back in my seat as we grabbed our food and dove into the packet. "Here we are." Aiden said, stopping in front of a two story glass building.

"Glass, I approve." I nodded, getting out.

"You're not impressed?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"I am. I love open spaces honestly, they're just free you know?" I told him. He nodded, taking my hand and leading me inside.

I dropped our food on the kitchen counter and sat down on the island. Looking down at my clothes I realised how dirty they were.

"Can you get me something else to wear? This is kinda dirty and your house is practically all white." I grimace, gesturing down to the material I was wearing.

"Sure, one sec." He ran up the stairs as I looked around. The house looked kind of lonely except for the dog bed in the corner. I beamed as a big furry dog came bounding up to me. I patted it as the dog licked my face. I looked at the tag. Meatball. Perfect name for a perfect dog.

Meatball jumped and settled itself on my lap. I stroked it's fur as Aiden came downstairs. "I see you've met Meatball."

His cheeks turned into a shade of pink. I smiled once again.

"That's a cute name, perfect too." I scratched the behind of Meatball's ear as he nuzzled further into my stomach.

"You can take a shower upstairs, Last door on the left." He handed me clothes as Meatball leaped off my lap once more.

"Thankyou Aiden."

He shrugged. "It's no problem really." I smiled at him again and walked upstairs.

The room seemed to belong to Aiden. The open wardrobe door was filled with suits and sweatshirts and also a giant stitch toy. I opened the bathroom door and placed the clothes inside, getting in the warm shower.

I had removed the piece of cloth from my hand and had dropped it in the bin earlier. The cut didn't sting anymore and was just a slight throb in my hand. After my shower I dressed in Aiden's clothes which were super comfy. It smelled of him which bothered me since I wasn't used to smelling like other people. Might be my sensory issues.

I sighed. Going downstairs, I sat next to Aiden who was on the couch picking a movie to watch. I saw him linger at Lilo and stitch but he moved on.

"Let's watch that one." I told him, pointing to Lilo and stitch.

"Yeah sure." He leaned back and bit into his burger. I opened my now charged phone and hovered over Carina's contact.

Good night Cat. I texted before switching my phone off and focusing on the movie instead.

------

CARINA

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since I had a proper conversation with Alex. I didn't want to ignore her, and not talking to her didn't feel right. But neither did talking to her. I thought we told each other everything. I thought I was the closest person to her. But I was wrong. Turns out I didn't know her at all.

She had spent her entire life trying to protect me, even if I didn't ask for it, when it should've been the other way around. I'm the older one, I should've been protecting her. Maybe I could've if she had told me everything earlier, if she hadn't kept secrets from me. Maybe I wouldn't have been so weak.

I pushed those thoughts aside and sighed. Tonight we were all having dinner at a private restaurant Genieve booked for us. I smoothed out the pink dress Carter got for me. It was absolutely stunning. I loved it.

I started cutting my steak and kept my eyes on my food, not talking to anyone. I felt Alex poke my shoulder and I looked at her.

"Why are you ignoring me?"

"I'm not ignoring you. I'm eating." She rolled her eyes.

"Are you still mad about me not telling you?" She asked again.

I pursed my lips. "No, why would I be? You already have secrets, what's one more." I said, shrugging, trying to show that I didn't care.

"So I'm not allowed to have secrets now? You want to have a heart to heart, sit down, spill all my secrets to you?" She asked sarcastically.

"We used to be close. You promised not to keep anything from me and you broke it." I retorted.

"It was to protect you-" I interrupted her by stabbing my steak brutally, which was probably the closest to violence I've ever gotten.

"Protect me? Guess what, all it did was make me weak. And reliant on others. If you wouldn't have protected me I would have learnt how to defend myself."

Alex growled, slamming down my utensils. "Yeah? You'd rather I let you get fucking raped? Because guess what Carina that happened to me." She roared at me.

I probably should've shut up, but anger got the better of me. "ʻAʻole pono ʻoe e pale mai iaʻu no ka mea ua hoʻonāwaliwali wale ia iaʻu." I shouted back at her. [You shouldn't have protected me because that just made me weak : Hawaiian]

That was when realization hit me and my eyes went wide.

She glared at me. "You know what? Maybe I shouldn't have. Then you wouldn't be this ungrateful." Alex clenched the sharp part of her butter knife, which cut her palm. I tried to reach out to tend it, but she stepped back.

My heart shattered into a million pieces.

"You never even realised. You never asked me if something was wrong. You claim to be the older one, but you're so childish." She said before turning to the rest of our siblings, who were now staring at us with their jaws dropped.

Ace got up and reached out to her. But she turned around and ran. Tears filled my eyes as I realized all the things I said to her. She was right, I was being ungrateful. A lump formed in the back of my throat. It would take too much effort to call out her name. So I didn't. I put my head in my hands and let the tears fall silently as my siblings shouted for her to come back. There was no coming back from what I had just done.

------

An hour had gone by. Still no trace of Alex. My siblings were running in and out of the room. Genieve and Ace were doing everything they could to find her. They had asked almost everyone we knew to look for Alex around the entire city. I just sat there helpless, crying.

I saw Liam coming up to me. He crouched down to my level and asked, "Do you know about any place Alex used to go to? Or where would she go?" I shook my head no. I heard him sigh. Suddenly his phone rang.

"Who is it?" Ace asked from the other side of the room.

"Aiden." Liam replied.

Ace came over faster than I thought was possible and took the phone from Liam.

"Did you find her?" Were his first words as soon as he picked up the phone and put it on speaker.

"Yes, I did." My head snapped up and my heartbeat fastened.

"Oh thank god. Where was she? You know what, nevermind, just bring her back."

"No." Was Aiden's reply. I frowned along with everyone else in the room.

"What?" Ace question.

"Excuse us?" Liam said.

"She doesn't need to see her. Not right now." My head dropped again. I was nothing but 'her' to Alex now.

"Don't worry. We'll just get some food and probably watch a movie. I can send Marco over and he can get her school stuff." I was trying my best to contain the sob forming in my throat.

"Absolutely not." Ace replied. "She is not staying overnight with you. I'll wait till you guys get food, but after that you bring her back here."

There was some mumbling on the other side of the line. "Ace."

"Alex?"

"Yeah." I could feel everyone's eyes staring at me but I kept my head down. "Fidati di me, ok? Non ho intenzione di fare nulla di avventato o irrazionale."

[ Trust me okay? I'm not going to do anything reckless or irrational : Italian ]

Ace sighed. "Alright then, if you've made up your mind. Can you hand the phone back to Aiden?" Again there was some mumbling on their side.

"What?"

"You better take care of her or you'll have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of your life." Aiden chuckled.

"Noted. We'll see you guys later then." Ace then cut the line.

"Okay, what did you say that offended so much that she ran away?" I didn't say anything. I felt numb with my head in my hands again. Now even Ace was mad at me. What have I done?

"Ace." Genevieve warned him in a stern tone. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You know you can tell us everything, right?" It was Lucas' voice.

I remained quiet. "Miele, tell us what's wrong. Maybe we can help." Genieve said. [ Honey : Italian ] I couldn't bring myself to talk.

"Ace, Romeo, leave." I heard Amara say.

"Why?" Ace asked. "Just go. I'll explain later."

"But-" She interrupted Romeo's protest.

"Leave." The pair reluctantly left the room.

Amara came over and crouched down in front of me. "Now can you tell us? Genevieve is right, maybe we can help if you tell us what happened." I shook my head, not trusting my voice.

"Please?" Lucas pleaded.

"I-" My voice cracked. I took in a shaky breath. "I messed up. Big time. I said things I shouldn't have." I whispered.

I heard Amara sigh. "We all fuck up sometimes, and it's fine. It's okay to make mistakes, no one's perfect. You just have to fix things up while there's still time. In the end, that's the only thing that matters. You understand?"

I nodded. "Alright then, we'll leave you to think how you can correct your mistake. We are always here for you if you need help of any kind, remember that." I nodded again, but I still did not look at anyone. I couldn't. "Let's go."

Everyone else shuffled out of the room. Before going, Amara gave me a hug and an encouraging smile. Then she went out the door. I wiped my face and smiled slightly as well. Now I just had to make things right with Alex.

But how?