One-two... one-two...one-ohoh--- saved... Ai heaved a sigh of relief as she managed to prevent herself from a huge fall.

"This thing is tough," She clicked her tongue as she sat on a chair in front of the dressing table. She glanced at the bandaids on her heels covering her wounds. She wanted to join Aaron as his partner at the charity ball, so she had been attending dance classes. Aaron had arranged a home tutor for the same. It's been a week already and there are 7 more weeks to go. The dance isn't so bad but... 

"Why do you need to wear these uncomfortable shoes while dancing?" She glanced at her high heels, 'what's the purpose? ' She thought to herself, 'to make people deliberately break their foot? One wrong foot and you tumble on the floor, embarrassing yourself in front of thousands of guests.'

"You're not sleeping yet?" The sleepy voice of her sister pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Oh sorry, Did I wake you up?" She turned her head towards the bed.

"Uh-uh, look," Alice pointed at the clock, which now showed 1:45 am. 

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I didn't realize it was this late. Sorry about that." She got up from her seat and placed the heels aside. "Now, let's go to sleep, hmm?" She joined her sister on the bed. 

"Hmm," Alice hummed as she closed her heavy lids. 

A sudden sound of a loud crash snapped her eyes open. 

"What was that?" Alice asked Ai.

"Let's go and check," Ai suggested getting off the bed.

"Is it a ghost?" Alice grasped her hands tightly as they opened their door. 

"Ghost?" Ai raised a brow at her. 

"Nevermind," Alice heaved a sigh as she saw a ginger-haired woman in a red cocktail dress climbing up the stairs unsteadily.

Ai followed her gaze and found the woman steading her steps as she hugged a whisky bottle to her chest. 

"One last," The woman heaved a deep sigh as she tried to climb the last step of the stairs but she swayed in the other direction and missed her step, and began to fall, Alice looked up at Ai but she was already gone to help the woman. 

"Just in time," Ai heaved a sigh of relief as she managed to catch her hand just before the woman could fall all the way down.

"Who the hell?" The girl frowned at the hands of the unknown person, she frowned as she raised her face, squinting her eyes she met a pair of concerned eyes.

"Are you okay?" Ai asked her pulling her up.

"Who?" The girl raised her brows and a sudden realization hit her, "Oh, you are my brother's bride?" 

"Brother?" Ai raised her brows, 'Oh wait, she must be one of his siblings,' She nodded.

"Hey, I don't think you should stand and talk beside the stairs, you know," Alice came to warn them. 

"Oh, there are two brides?" The unknown woman looked at Alice with a confused face. "Wait a minute, he's marrying a kid? My my," She laughed, meeting Ai's sharp gaze, she shook her head, "Oh no of course it's you, sorry, sorry, even if I'm drunk that was a very bad joke, I'm really sorry." 

Alice just stared at her with a blank expression.

"Oh, you must be thinking who is this weirdo, right?" The woman laughed, "Well to make it simple, I'm the eldest one of us all, Vittoria Falcoreini, it's a pleasure to meet you guys." She introduced herself with a light bow, "And who might you be little one?" Vittoria asked lowering herself to Alice's height.

[Vittoria Falcoreini, 30, CEO of her own clothing brand, 'Vittoria Designs]  Ai remembered her from the memorization she had done about the siblings.

"This is Ai, your brother's bride," Alice pointed at Ai, "and I'm Alice, her sister," She replied, "And I'm not sure if it's a pleasant meeting," She muttered.

"Alice!" Ai scolded her.

"That's okay," Vittoria replied, " I like the honest ones the most, and let me tell you, it really is a pleasant meeting for me," She winked at her.

"Hey, you stop right there!" Vittoria shouted making them jump in surprise. 

They heard a click and then a disappointed voice answered, "yeah, what?" Ai and Alice couldn't see the face in the dark.

"Come over here, darling," Vittoria called the person, the person in question moved towards them, now their face out in the light, she wore a long-sleeved frilly night suit and her long blonde hair was tied in a single braid.

"Yeah?" The girl stood next to them yet completely dismissing their presence she looked at Vittoria. 

"Did you greet your brother's bride?" Vittoria asked raising her brows. 

The girl clicked her tongue in annoyance, she then turned to them and said, "Hi!" 

"You haven't yet? I see," Vittoria crossed her arms, "Now let me see, no one came to greet you, new bride?" She raised her gaze to meet Ai's.

"hmm..."

"I see, I've been really busy these past few weeks and these guys are doing as they please huh, great then," She smirked, "Hey, Antonio!" She shouted.

"Yes, my lady," The old man appeared as if he was just waiting for her call.

"For the 1000th time, I'm no lady, and yes, please turn on the alarms." She told him.

The other girl raised her hands and plugged her ears, seeing her, Alice did the same, alarms and ear plugging she got the message loud and clear. She nudged Ai to do the same, and Ai followed. 

A few seconds later, the sound of a loud siren came out of every room swearing words at their sister, and that lead to the assembly of each member of the house in the hall. 

"What's wrong with you? Did you even see the time? This is so rude!" A young girl complained, clearly annoyed to have been woken up from her sleep as seen by her sleepy red-shot eyes and her blonde hair in a messy high bun.

"Of course I did, and what's wrong? You guys tell me what's wrong? I only asked one thing from you and yet what do I see here? No one greeted the new bride? How rude is that?" Vittoria scolded her. 

"We were... busy, 'kay!" She retorted. 

"Now you're not, so I guess you can greet her now." Vittoria narrowed her eyes at her.

"Hi, I'm Carla," Rolling her eyes the girl turned to Ai and greeted but before Ai could greet her, she turned to Vittoria, "here, done, now can I go?"

Vittoria shook her head and looking at Ai, she apologized, "looks like they all seem to have forgotten their manners, I'll discipline them later," She spoke the words as she eyed her siblings, they all let out a frustrated sigh.

The girl they met upstairs, stepped forward, "I apologize on the behalf of my twin," She hung her head in apology, raising her head she met Ai's gaze, " I'm Silvia and this is my twin sister Carla, it's a pleasure to meet you," With a smile, she slightly bowed. 

Ai ran a mental check on the list Teresa had provided her about them, [Silvia Falcoreini, 17 years old, a renowned pianist, and her twin Carla Falcoreini, a ballerina.]

"Hello, this is Irene," A girl with brown hair stepped forward, she had worn a white cotton night suit, and her hair hung free with soft curls at the end. "It's nice meeting you," She smiled at Ai, a smile that didn't reach her eyes. 

[Irene Falcoreini, 23, her paintings hung on the mansion wall everywhere] Ai mentally noted gazing at the painting across the hall.

"Hi," A young girl in her black-rimmed glasses stepped forward, her voice so soft, barely as a whisper, "I'm Matrina," She gave a small smile. 

[Matrina Falcoreini, 16, high schooler, loves to study anything and everything] Ai smiled back at her. 

"I'm Ailisaanabeth," Just as Ai said her name, Carla snickered, earning a glare from Vittoria. "You guys can call me Ai," Ai continued, "and this is my sister Alice, it's a pleasure to meet you all," She gave them a soft smile. 

"the pleasure is ours, darling," Vittoria smiled back at her. 

"Now can we go?" Carla asked impatiently tapping her leg.

"Wish you sweet dreams, dear," Vittoria dismissed them. 

After they went to their respective rooms, Vittoria looked at Ai, "For the rest of the Falcoreinies, Cladio is out of the town and Zeno is at his boarding school." 

[Cladio Falcoreini, 25 and Zeno Falcoreini, 7] Ai nodded. 

"Now that you've met us, you've been given a proper greeting, my work is done here, and also a sweet little advice from your sister in law, as long as you mind your own business, you'll be safe here, so I hope you don't cross paths with any of us, it was nice meeting you, sorry for disturbing your sleep, and good night," She winked raising her whisky bottle.

With everything said, Vittoria made her way to her room. On her way back she muttered something in Italian, 'che seccatura!'

"She's the scariest of them all," Alice commented hugging Ai's knees. 

"Hmm," Ai heaved a deep sigh.