||: Love Is Not Real :||

"I-I don't know... He just up and disappeared soon after my sister died..." I whispered out. The room echoed with the soft whisper of my voice.

"Eh, eh? What'd you say? Try speaking louder!" Feliciano practically cooed at me. The gun Lovino was holding to my head was lowered and he turned his back to me.

"Leave her alone fratello. She's not lying. She wouldn't lie in a life-or-death situation." With that, Lovino began walking away.

"F-Fratello! That's not fair, I wanted to play with her more~" Feliciano whined as he followed after his brother. I began to see spots in my vision as things began to focus and unfocus. I've lost...too much...blood... My thoughts faded away as I gave in to the darkness.

~POV Change~

A thump echoed through the room from behind us. Turning around I saw the girl lying on the floor. A 'tch' came from my mouth as I walked over to her. A small puddle of blood was under her. Damn Gabriele...I didn't realise he fully stabbed her, she needs quick medical attention. I carefully rolled her over and pick her up, coating my sleeves in her blood.

"Feli, go get Stefano, he has a new patient." My brother continued to stand still looking at me. "You wanted to play with her right? You can't do that if she's dead! Now go!" With that Feli turned on his heel and skipped away. Damn fratello...never a serious moment in his life. I quickly ran out of the basement to the infirmary that we had in the mansion, trying not to jostle the girl. I kicked in the infirmary door to announce my arrival.

"Stefano! You better be ready cause she needs surgery now!" I laid her down on one of the beds and sat in a chair in the corner of the room, bouncing my foot. I knew better than to interfere with Stefano when he's working.

Hours must have passed before Stefano finally spoke.

"She will live. But she cannot leave this bed for another month or so. She needs time to completely heal and gain back all the blood that she has lost." With that, Stephano left the room and it was just me and ___. I sighed.

A/N - Just a quick side note, when someone else (besides you) is speaking, and they are not speaking English, their words will be italicised. Similar to the single Italian words.

"What the hell is wrong with me? Of course I couldn't let her die yet, but usually I'm emotionless about whether my men hurt the hostages or not... Speaking of which-" I cut off myself as I stood up abruptly and exited the infirmary. It'll take her a few hours maybe even days to awaken anyway. No need to change since I already have blood on me. A grin spread across my face as I thought of the fun I was about to have.

~POV Change~

As my eyes cracked open, I flinched at the bright light. Slowly opening them wider I noticed I couldn't see out of my right eye. I reached an arm up to see what was covering it, but tubes connecting to my arm stopped me. One of them had a liquid red as blood running through it.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake, good." A man in a white coat scooted in a chair over to me. I'm in a hospital...Does that mean, it was all a dream?

"Since you are, I'll call in the boss. I'm sure he would like to see you. I do have to say though, the fact that you woke up after not even 24 hours has passed is astonishing, especially with those injuries." With those words, I knew it was not a dream. He left the room, and I was alone. My body felt heavy and sluggish, so I could barely move. Even turning my head from side to side was painful and tiring. I slowly lifted both my arms to see bandages wrapped all the way up them, minus a few places where the tubes were connected. I heard voices outside the door, as they got closer, I could hear what they were saying, luckily, they were speaking English.

"Boss, please! I cannot allow you to enter looking like that. You'll give the poor girl a heart attack!"

"I do not care, she is awake and I am seeing her now!" Suddenly the door slammed open and the doctor and Lovino walked in. I let out a squeak as I saw his appearance. From head to toe, he was covered in blood, his sleeves were the worse, soaked all the way through. My eyes widened in fear as I attempted to move away from him, without avail. As he came closer, staring at me intently, I found my voice and screamed loudly. The doctor quickly locked his arms under Lovino's and dragged him away from me.

"I told you she would freak out boss!" Lovino stopped struggling and looked at me. My face must have looked horrified, as I saw his face soften up. He shook off the doctor and stepped towards the door.

"Sorry..." I felt as if I was hearing things. He said it quiet enough I might as well have been.

"I'll be back after I change. Do not fall back asleep ragazza." His tone was demanding and cold. I nodded my head as much as I could, not wanting to upset him more. Just as Lovino was leaving, I saw him shoot a glare at someone, then Feliciano's head popped in as he waved at me.

"How're you feeling, bella ragazza?" He said, pulling up a chair next to me. I took notice of the two holsters at his hips, each holding a Glock 22 pistol. Just how many guns does this one man own?

"Feel like shit." I said, coughing a little. He just laughed at that.

"Should've guessed! I was wondering, what's it feel like to get stabbed in the gut? I noticed that Gabi did a good number on you~ Wish it was me that did it..." His words struck me, and I scooted to the farthest edge of the bed away from him, as best as I could. He whistled.

"Ooo~ I think I'm in love with your terrified expression!" Feliciano said with a huge smile, standing up and looming over me. I was grateful for whoever walked in the door just then.

"Fratello! Back away, you're scaring the fuck out of her!" Feliciano gave an annoyed look to Lovino, who was freshly dressed, and what looked like, showered, from his damp hair.

"That's the point Lovi." Feliciano emphasised the I, with an aggressive bite to it. I did not know what Lovino said to his brother, but apparently it made Feliciano mad. Lovino walked straight up to Feliciano and headbutted him. Felciano staggered backward as I gasped.

"Father made me the boss, so you will listen to me. Now leave." Feliciano visibly gritted his teeth and walked out of the room.

"He's such an ingrate... Now, how're your injuries?" I scooted back to the middle of the bed, wincing at the pressure on my wounds.

"They hurt like hell, what else." I bit back bitterly, the image of Lovino covered in blood still fresh in my mind. "I have a question."

"Hm?"

"Why were you covered in so much blood. Your sleeves were particularly soaked in it." I saw him physically flinch and look at the ground. He looked back up at me as he opened his mouth to speak.

"I was torturing Gabriele in the basement." I gasped lightly.

"Why?"

"For almost killing you. Also, the blood on my sleeves was yours." My eyes went wide. I couldn't believe it. Had I really bled that much?

"And why do you care?" I asked. He was silent for a moment.

"Because you are the only clue to finding your father." It sounded as if he hesitated when he said that, but I ignored it, feeling groggy.

"I'm...tired..." Before I could hear him give me an answer, I passed out.

€ € € € € €

Just over a month had passed since I was emitted to the infirmary. For some reason I could never figure out why, but Lovino visited me every day, whether we held a conversation or not. In the beginning I would only be able to stay awake for a few hours at a time, but now I was able to stay awake most the day.

"___ how're you feeling?" The same question was asked every time he walked in, without fail.

"Whole lot better than a month ago." Even in injury, my sass never failed to leave me, even in the early stages of the visits.

"Good to hear, bella." He had begun calling me that recently, and I've heard Feliciano call me that when he was allowed to visit me. I was curious as to what it meant. Probably an insult.

"Hey Lovi, what does bella mean?" His whole body froze and became rigid. He coughed some before speaking.

"Are you sure you want to know the truth? You might find me appalling." I let out a laugh.

"Nothing is more appalling than seeing you covered in blood. Just tell me." A sad look crossed his face, but it quickly went back to the smug look that he normally wore in front of me.

"Bella means beautiful." I stared at him blankly. "And in case you were wondering ragazza means girl. Basically Feli is calling you beautiful girl." My cheeks flushed red as the realisation of his words hit me.

NO WAAAAAAAAY!!!

"Y-you mean, you've been calling me beautiful for almost 2 weeks now? And I had no idea...? How, embarrassing!" I freaked out a little.

"Calm down ___, Stefano said you can begin moving around again, and you wouldn't want to prolong that I'm sure. Also us Italians are natural flirts so just ignore it...though you are beautiful..." The last of his sentence was mumbled, and I couldn't understand it.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" I gave a small shrug, a light blush constantly on my cheeks now. A slightly comfortable silence fell over us, as it normally does. Now that I had a chance, I looked Lovino up and down.

His face is actually pretty handsome, and when he's talking I often get lost in his piercing olive eyes. His olive skin also looks quite nice to the touch, and his body is well built... Wait! What am I thinking! I'm not, falling for a mafia boss am I?! No! I can't! But maybe if it's Lovino... No! Bad thoughts go away! I can't love someone ever again! Calamity follows everyone that I have ever loved. Grrrr....

Love isn't real!