gummy hearts

prologue

Pietro's age: 15
Anastasia's age: 9

Pietro's P.O.V:

The streets of New York City had always been busy, a city that was constantly working day and night and never ever asleep. The constant honking of annoyed drivers at those who can't seem to parallel park, which did make me disappointed to not see Olivia Rodrigo in one of those cars, people sitting on fire hydrants and smoking packs after packs of cigarettes; and the smell of fresh coffee and bread from the nearby cafes.

"Pietro, come here!" Anastasia exclaimed as she rushed over to a extremely well lit store. She tapped furiously on the clear window, part of me worrying her fingers would leave marks on the glass and make the clean-freak store owner mad.

"No Anastasia. The dentist won't be happy hearing that you are going to consume a whole bag of gummy worms again." I pressed my lips together tightly, trying to not give in to her annoying and whiney pleads.

The store owner walked out from behind the counter towards Anastasia, who flailed her arms desperately in the air to grab his attention. Only half her body could be seen through the window, but tall enough for him to notice her.

"Hello again, Pietro." The store owner greeted, which made me smile widely, however embarrassment was killing me on the inside.

This was the tenth time this month that I have walked into the store, might as well be a regular customer at this rate, all thanks to Anastasia.

"Looks like she is sugar-deprived already." The store owner giggled and I desperately sighed.

"She's getting out of control with those gummy worms you sell." I grabbed the bag of candy Anastasia had scooped out already and handed it over to the cashier.

"Can't blame her. These gummy worms are amazing. Even I'm addicted to them, but at least I can still control myself from consuming too much sugar." The store owner giggled before shaking my hand firmly and waving goodbye.

"Thank you Pietro!" Anastasia fumbled with the opening of the zip lock bag and started to munch on the worms, torturing them further by yanking them apart before eating them.

"Here, have half of it." Anastasia smiled, as she gave me not exactly half, more like one third of the gummy worm, to me. I grabbed it and stuffed it into my mouth, slowly savouring the taste of the artificial strawberry flavouring in it.

"Thank you Anastasia." I thanked, giving her a pat and letting the two ends of my lips curl into a U-shape.

She ended up feeding me half of every subsequent worm, perhaps she was starting to feel the guilt of consuming so much sugar in one month.

"Pietro?" Anastasia looked up and gave her that cheeky little smile of hers, which instantly let me knew she had something up her sleeve.

"Yes?"

"Since I gave you half of every gummy worm, and I bought 30 gummy worms, you need to repay me 15 more." Anastasia giggled, her two dimples on each of her cheek showed.

Her blue eyes lit up like they've met the sight of rainbows, her chestnut hair gracefully falling against her back as she tilted her head backwards to look up at me, her legs kicking happily in the air as they never touched the ground when she sat down.

"Who's the cheeky monkey here? Now I'm stumped between being happy that you applied your math correctly, or being mad at the fact that you tricked me into buying more gummy worms for you." I rolled my eyes, in which Anastasia gently covered them with her hands.

"Pietro cannot roll his eyes. Mommy said that if you roll them too much they would fall out of their eye sockets." Anastasia said, making me show a defeated smile.

I pinched her two chubby cheeks gently, squeezing them the fats in them. I knew that Anastasia whenever I did that, since I wasn't really the kind to like showing any physical affection.

"Oh Anastasia, you really are a pain in my-"

"No cursing! Bad Pietro." Anastasia threw small punches against my arm, which didn't hurt but was silly to look at.

Anastasia and her gummy worms. She could probably live off of them and be the happiest girl alive.

♡♡♡