Broken Bonds

Chapter 11

Elijah Romano

Alex and I stood at the doorway, watching Ari and Avery hugging each other tightly with their heads buried in each other's hair. The happiness that they feel now must be immaculate and indescribable in words. What shocked us was that it was the first time we have seen Avery crying after so many years. Not to mention the fact that she had not shed a single tear when mum first took Ari away. It still fathom us all as to why she pulled the trigger that day.

I've tried hard to not put the blames on her, thinking why she had done that and caused our family to be broken up like now. But it was hard for me to ever look at her the same way again, like the young and kind-hearted 5 year old she once was, as though nothing had happened.

I know, we have all drifted apart from her throughout these years. We were all wallowing in our own sadness, thinking that she was the cause of everything. It was just hard to accept the truth that we have all fallen apart but the return of Ari was probably the start to change everything.

Maybe we could salvage some things. Only maybe.

Mateo Romano

Ari shuffled uncomfortably in my arms which caused me to loosen my hold on her slowly. Smiling sheepishly at her, I apologised,"Sorry, just too happy that you're back again." She gave me a small smile and muttered a low 'it's okay'. She was yet to feel comfortable with us. After all it's been so many years since we've been together.

This is our first time after 14 years that all of us are now seated at the dining table, celebrating the return of Ari. Happiness was evident on everyone's faces, including Avery. Although she would just avert her gaze whenever she sees any one of us smiling lovingly at Ari.

Enzo even cooked for us just for dinner and decided to dismiss the servants for tonight. He whipped up almost all of Ari's favourites, which consisted mainly of seafood, with pasta as the main dish.

Part of me felt bad and guilty for ignoring her throughout these years. Yes, she was the one who killed dad. But she probably did that accidentally? After all she was only five back then. But another part of me refused to accept what she did. Because of her, we lost both of our parents and our youngest sibling that night.

A bitter taste was left in my mouth at the thought of that night. I could never forget the image of dad lying in a pool of his own blood, with his eyes left opened even after he died. What puzzled all of us was the fact that mum discovered dad was cheating on her behind her back, which all of us found it weird. Dad loved mum a lot, more than any of us can imagine. He always told us how much he had loved mum and all of us, that he would risk himself if needed as long as we are safe and healthy.

"Theo. Theo." Eli's voice snapped me out of my trance as I looked at him and picked up my fork and continued eating. My eyes wandered back to Avery, who was shoving around the food on her plate. Ari was frowning beside her and they muttered something to each other, to which Avery just simply shook her head and continued shoving her food on the plate.

"Why aren't you eating?" I found myself already asked out loud before I could even stop myself. All eyes were now on Avery as she looked up from her plate. Ari looked as though she was about to say something but was stopped by Avery.

"I'm not hungry." That was all to her response. She pushed her chair back, ready to head up to her bedroom when Enzo interrupted,"You should be glad that you're still in this house despite all the fucking things that you've done." She halted in her steps upon his words, with her back still facing us.

Eli glared at Enzo and ordered him to shut his mouth. Enzo paid no advice to his warning and continued,"Instead of celebrating the fact that Ari is finally back, you're here behaving like a brat and throwing a damn tantrum. I could understand why mum took Ari and left back then." Her back visibly tensed up, with her fists all clenched up by her side.

She did not turn back, but replied,"Don't worry, I will get out of here soon. So that I will not remain as an eyesore to anyone here." Her voice was cold and hard, which was something that I've never heard before. She then headed back up to her room and closed her door as usual.

At the table, we all remained silent until Ari spoke up softly,"All of you forgot that she had always been allergic to seafood. She wasn't throwing a tantrum." All of us looked up instantly, as though a bucket of cold water had just been poured over our heads. None of us had remembered her allergy to seafood. The last time she had consumed seafood resulted in red rashes to appear on both her arms and breathing difficulty. How did all of us manage to forget that?

Enzo was the most speechless of all. He threw his fork back into the plate and left the table and slammed his door the moment he went back to his room. Ari heaved out a small sigh and informed,"Thank you for the dinner." Both Eli and I gave a small smile to her while Alex merely nodded his head at her words. We then watched her head back to her room.

Ariana Romano

Knocking softly on Eliz's door, I entered after hearing a soft response from the inside. She sat at the corner of the room, with her knees pulled up to her chest. She smiled at me as she stood up from her position and headed onto her bed to which I followed suit.

"Are you hungry? I can make you a sandwich or something." I asked. It hurts me to see my twin cooping herself up in this lonely and cold room, keeping all her feelings to herself. Was that how she lived for the past 14 years? The thought of it made my insides sting slightly.

She shook her head at my question, then blurted,"It hurts, Ari." A single tear fell out from her eye and followed by a few more, as I turned her around and embraced her in my arms. Running my hands up and down on her back, she sobbed quietly on my shoulders as I felt myself tearing up as well.

Yes, living with the woman whom I've once called mum was tough. Not that she abuses me or anything, just that I would have to clean up the place that we lived in and she would neglect my presence in the house. But it was something that I was grateful for. I was glad that she chose to ignore me instead of having her full attention because that would have been worse. There were multiple occasions when I tried to ask her why did she kill dad and why did she even marry him. All I got were a few slaps to my cheeks and her shouting at me to never ask her questions. Therefore I stopped probing her for answers.

After returning to my siblings, I realised how much Eliz was suffering inside. Much worse than the times that I was living with that woman. Seeing her all broken down and getting all the blames by my brothers made me upset. Although we had promised dad before he died to always stay by our brothers, this was too much. And it pained me to see that Eliz was taking all the blame for something that she had not done.

Sensing that her sobbing was coming to a stop, I gently whispered to her,"Eliz, how about I will tell them the truth? Tell them whatever happened on that night. Hmm?"

updated! took a small break yesterday as I had another outing! yesterday was pretty enjoyable as I went to the movies with my sis! (it was funny how we walked out of the cinema feeling nothing but anger LMFAO)

last day of freedom before commencement of internship WJJNjWJSJ

Happy reading! -3/9/2022