Angel in disguise (Angelo sotto copertura)

Nineteen.

November 13th, Saturday, 23:30.

The screen on my phone displayed. After we went back to sleep, almost all of us woke up at 5 pm, and had quick lunch to settle our hunger. Xavier, Alex, and Theo went to work, meanwhile the rest of us just sat down and chatted about anything and everything, in which I took the easier role of listening instead of speaking. In those few hours, I learned so much about DeSantio's as a family, that I was on the verge of tears because of not having a family like that. Sienna and Axel got married last year, and were in a relationship of a year before that. They met each other through Theo and soon found their liking towards each other. Theo is 23, a year older than Sienna, and became an assassin at the age of 12. That's the only thing I got to know about Theo as everyone refused to talk more about him. Viviana became the CEO of the biggest restaurant and fashion chain in the world a few years ago; she had Xavier when she was only 19, and Elijah after 5 years following with Alessia. Although when I asked about Mr. DeSantio, the room went into a pin drop silence with Eli taking Aless and leaving the room. I quickly changed the topic at that. I soon figured Elijah has his own demons haunting him, which is like the rest of us, and hides them by making jokes and acting cool in front of us.

I was currently situated in the corner of my room after eating dinner with everyone. Sighing, I glanced at the time again. 10 minutes till I turn 21, and another year filled with misery and mishaps. I closed my eyes and tried remembering the last time I was genuinely happy. A lone tear escaped my eye as images of my mother twirling me in her arms flashed in front of me. Where did it all go wrong? I ask myself that almost everyday, torturing my brain to give me an answer I so desperately want. What did I do to deserve all of this? My brain screamed at me to stop exhausting myself, but I paid no attention to my inner voice. Daughters are the greatest gift from God, so aren't fathers supposed to treat them like princesses? I exhaled deeply, and massaged my pounding head. With nothing else to do, I changed into a gym outfit, consisting of a black sports bra with matching tights, and decided to take my indescribable mood out on a punching bag. I glanced at my phone before leaving to see that it was 12 am.

'Happy fucking Birthday to you Felicity Rose Alexander. I hope this year is less painful than the previous ones,' I whispered my only wish to my lifeless figure staring back at me through the mirror.

I kept my phone on the bed and moved out towards the gym. The voice of knives hitting a board caught my attention almost instantly, as I basically grew up with that one specific sound. I walked in to see Eli effortlessly throwing knives at the middle of the target, and twirling some of them in his hand before releasing them. I saw Eli place a knife in his shoe and move towards a dummy situated in the corner of the gym. He punched the dummy twice, did a roundhouse kick, and easily removed the knife from his shoe, placing it on the neck of the dummy.

'Hold the knife like you're holding on to your life. Keep your grip on the knife and your opponent firm, or else the slightest movement from your enemy would be enough to knock the knife out of your hand and eventually knock you out.'

'Isn't that a little too much of overthinking?'

'No. Always think about every possible move and its outcome. One wrong move, and the situation entirely changes.' He nodded at my words, and went back to perfecting his moves. I moved towards the punching bags ,and wrapped tapes around my knuckles, to start my own workout.

20 minutes into the workout, and Eli came sauntering over, watching me with the same eyes as his older brother.

'You never told me the meaning behind your nickname for me,' I ask after 5 minutes of silence.

'A city looks so beautiful and well organized from the outside, but from the inside, it's slowly dying. It's the perfect representation of you. You're beautiful from the outside, always with a smile on your face, but gradually dying from the inside while fighting a battle of your own.' I stared at him with surprised eyes, because the accuracy in his words were more than shocking.

'Well, that was interesting,' I muttered to myself. 'Don't you think that theory goes for everyone then? Everyone's fighting their own demons, whether that is from being insecure to being suicidal. Take yourself as an example.'

'I never said that it doesn't apply to other people. Your name literally has the word 'city' in it, so that's why it suits you a lot.'

'Makes sense.'

'I'm sorry for walking out on you guys while you were talking. I just, uh- I don't like talking about him,' he says in a barely audible whisper.

'There's nothing to apologize for. I'm the one supposed to be apologizing for bringing him up.'

'Nah it's okay, you don't know anything about him, so its not your fault.' After a minute, he added to the conversation, 'He was a total asshole by the way.'

'Well, we have one thing in common,' I say slightly laughing. 'Is it easy to hide your problems by keeping a cool, funny demeanor?'

'Sometimes we don't want to hide our problems, but instead just forget about them. Keeping a "cool demeanor" is something I have to do, not for me but for my family.'

'You don't have to. Sometimes it's good to be yourself, and talk to someone expressing your real emotions. I understand why you don't tell your family, and it's because you don't want to burden them with your issues. But occasionally, you need someone to talk to, to break down that act of yours.'

'Yeah, I guess. Anyways, I'm going to bed. Night City,' he said giving me a charming smile, that would make any girl melt.

'Goodnight Eli.'

I know it's a very short chapter, and I might have forgotten the plot. oop hehe.