Eleanor's life is not exactly pleasant. She works for rich men, has to do all kinds of odd jobs, and if she does anything wrong she gets beaten, or worse. The men tell her that her parents left her, and they had debts to them and therefore Eleanor h...
I walk to the bed and let myself fall on it. Before I know it, my eyes close.
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hpater 8: dinner
"Is that her?" I hear a voice whisper softly.
"How beautiful she has become." Says the same voice softly again.
"Yes." Sounds another voice that is vaguely familiar to me. "Are you waking her up Leonardo? Dinner is ready." Says the same voice again. Leonardo? I hear a door open and then close again softly.
"Ok Eleanor open your eyes I know you are awake." Sounds the unfamiliar voice softly. How does he know that? I open my eyes and rub the sleep away with my hands. Next to me, hanging over my bed is a man. He is I think 1 m 90, maybe just not. He has golden blond hair that lies tangled, brown eyes just like Valentino's, and a few birthmarks decorate his face. He is wearing a light blue shirt with light blue jeans. The jeans are completely full of paint stains. On his face, too, there are a few streaks of white and yellow paint.
"So as you have heard, the food is ready." Smiles the man. "And as you have also heard I am Leonardo, I am your fourth oldest brother." Explains the man. I nod my head and sit up straight in bed. Leonardo frowns his eyebrows for a moment, but then shakes his head. The frown remains on his face.
"Come then we'll eat I'm starving." Leonardo walks through my room and waits by the door. Quickly I get out of 'my' bed and pull down the t-shirt I'm still wearing. I follow Leonardo through the house and after a while we arrive at the dining room. I would get so lost. The dining room has large windows, occupying almost one whole wall. There is one beautiful large kitchen, made of marble. There is even a kitchen island! Valentino sits on one of the chairs at the kitchen island. On the kitchen island there are three plates. All three next to each other. Leonardo sits down at the last plate and knocks with his hand on the middle chair, at the empty plate. I take a seat on the stool and feel quite uncomfortable. I am sitting between two rather unknown men, big and muscular men.
In silence, Valentino scoops food onto my plate and onto Leonardo's; he already had food on his plate. In silence, they begin to eat. I look at the plate in front of me.
"Why aren't you eating?" Asks Valentino when he notices that I am not eating. Surprised, I look at him and before I can think about it, the words leave my mouth.
"May I?" Leonardo lets go of his fork, and it falls to the ground. With big eyes he looks at me. Valentino looks at me in exactly the same way.
"Of course you may eat! You don't even have to ask! You can eat Emilio's food supply for all I care!" Says Valentino sternly. Uncomfortably I lower my eyes to the plate and take the fork in my hand. In silence whe start to eat.
"So Eleanor Kim had said you came from a foster home?" Break Leonardo's silence. Confused, I frown. Foster home? Why is Kim lying? Why is she telling my brothers that I come from a foster home? Why doesn't she tell the truth? Maybe they wouldn't want me if she told the truth. Maybe they wouldn't want a...whore for a sister. I understand. I wouldn't want me either. I decide to go along with Kim's lie. She must have been lying for a reason. So I nod my head. Leonardo looks at me inquiringly.
"What was that like? How long have you been in a foster home?" Asks Valentino on. I shrug my shoulders. I can't lie.
"Were they nice to you?" Asked Valentino. What is this? A cross-examination? Again I shrug.
"What were your foster parents names?"
"Santa and Rudolf." I mutter sarcastically. Valentino chuckles, but Leonardo keeps looking at me with an inquisitive expression. It's like he's looking at a formula to be solved. I am the formula.
"Ah our Sorellina has a sense of humour. That's nice to know." Grins Valentino. Sorellina? What does that mean?
"Mhm." Answer Leonardo, with his gaze still fixed on me. It's as if he can see right through me and discover all my secrets with just one look. With my fork, I start to turn my food around. I've only had a quarter and I'm already full. I have never eaten so much. I look at Leonardo and Valentino's plates and see that they are all empty. How can that be? They had much more than me!
"Stop playing with your food Eleanor and eat it." Says Leonardo suddenly sternly. A sigh rolls over my lips.
"But I'm full." I mumble, looking at my still full plate. I feel my brothers' stares on me but refuse to look at them.
"You barely ate anything." Says Valentino softly, I hear the question in his voice. He wonders why I eat so little. I shrug my shoulders.
"Come on still eat up to half." Valentino tries to persuade me. I shake my head, if I take another bite all the food will come out. There is silence for a moment, but then Valentino sighs.
"You are lucky Lorenzo is not here yet." He mumbles, he stands up from his chair and takes my plate and brings it to the dishwasher. I look questioningly at Leonardo. Why am I lucky Lorenzo isn't here? Leonardo still looks at me with that inquisitive look.
"If your brother is here then you wouldn't leave the table until your plate is empty." Explains Leonardo. My eyes grow big. You don't mean that!
Leonardo gets up and without another word leaves the kitchen. Valentino turns around and looks at me. His eyes twinkle and he has a soft look in his eyes.
"You don't know how happy we are that you are back Eleanor. Some of your brothers may not show it, but we are all so happy that you are here. We missed you very much." With that, Valentino turns around again and starts putting everything in the dishwasher.
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