Broken Bonds

Chapter 46

Reine Parker

My eyes snapped open the moment the clock struck 6.30am in the morning. It had been a habit for years and I don't think that it was something bad enough for me to get rid of. Getting off the bed, I headed straight for the bathroom for a quick shower to start the day off. 

It was not a pleasant sleep since last night. Bits and pieces of my previous nightmare would wake me up during the night and I had only managed to catch some sleep after 2 hours. Being back here had somehow triggered the nightmares again when it had stopped bothering me for at least 3 years. 

Looking into the reflection of the mirror, dark circles can be seen under my eyes as I blew dried my hair. I then picked up a concealer from my bag and applied right under my eyes. I didn't want Roman to see how I had lost sleep right after getting here. 

Heading downstairs, Missus Dai had noticed my presence and walked over with a plate full of food. She greeted, "Morning, Reine. Enjoy your breakfast." I greeted back and smiled thankfully at her. She still remembered how I would come down for breakfast early in the morning and she even prepared my favourite sausages with toasts and a sunny side-up. A cup of hot chocolate was placed by the side of the plate.

As I picked up the cutlery to dig in, I heard approaching footsteps and I looked up, realising that Roman had came down in his casual clothes. 

"How's your sleep?" I inquired, hoping that he was adapting to the new environment. 

"Still ok, I guess. But their bed feels like shit, mine feels better." He scrunched up his face in annoyance, as he took a seat beside me. Missus Dai and him exchanged a brief morning greeting as she served him his breakfast with a cup of coffee, to which he thanked her gratefully. 

As we dug into the meal, the Romano brothers all walked out of their bedrooms one after another, as though they were on a walkway. It was not a common sight to see them coming down so early to have breakfast because they have never done so back then. Let alone coming downstairs. 

Even Ari came out from her room and greeted me in her pyjamas. Lorenzo shot a death glare at Roman, who had supposedly took his seat, but Roman paid no attention to him. So he ended up having to take the seat in between Elijah and Mateo. 

"Morning Av-Reine." Alexander greeted, looking towards me as though expecting the same greeting back to him. I was glad that he used my name correctly, but greeting me was something unnecessary. 

Placing my fork down, I looked up slowly and replied, "You don't have to wake up early and head down for breakfast just because you've got some guests here.My brother and I appreciate the effort but we believe that it is not needed." Agreeing to their offer to move in and being friendly with them were two different things. I did not want them to get the wrong idea thinking that I was willing to let go of the past and get friendly with them. That's where they are wrong. Because I wasn't planning to be friendly. 

The smile that was initially on his face slowly faded into a tight smile, pretending that my remark had no effect on him. 

"We didn't do this on purpose, it just became a habit. You can take it that we're not here if you're not comfortable with it." There were a lot of words that I wanted to retort him, but I chose to hold it back because there's no point making it more unpleasant than it already was. 

With that, I stood up from the table and excused myself, with Roman doing the same and leaving them sitting blankly at the table. 

Elijah Romano

The morning did not start off well. It was true that we had started eating breakfast at 6.30am in the morning ever since Avery's assumed death. Knowing that she was closest to none other than Missus Dai within the whole mansion, we found out some of her daily routine such as going for morning jog as early as 4am in the morning, having her breakfast at 6.30am, leaving her lamp on at night and many more. 

Those were the many little things which we had failed to notice because we were too busy drowning ourselves in self-pity and hatred towards Avery, who had done nothing wrong. It was then we started adapting ourselves to sit down for breakfast every morning, making sure that all of us were present at the table. 

Now that she's back, we thought that we could start doing the same thing but it backfired. In her eyes, she merely sees herself as a guest rather than a family. But it could not be helped that she thinks that way, especially with the way that we've treated her all these while, only until we saw the evidence ourselves that we believed her. 

Ever since dad passed away and Ari got taken away to live with that bitch, Avery had moved out of the room which she had previously shared with Ari and moved herself to one of the spare rooms that we had. After we found out, none of us did nor say anything about it. We merely saw it as what should have been done. 

And today, we have reaped what we have sown. Although hearing from her by introducing Roman Parker as her brother really did make us jealous, it was our retribution. Back then we had only seen Ari as our sister, ignoring Avery's presence no matter how much she tried to prove to us that everything we've seen were not true. As much as neither of us wanted to admit, it was true that we stopped regarding her as our sister, but a sinner who killed our father. That was the truth that got us where we are today. 

Only able to stand from afar, looking how she was joking around with Roman Parker. We failed to protect her, time after time. To think that we made a promise with Dad, assuring him that we would protect both of our sisters from any danger. To make sure that they will always be happy. 

We failed our promise so badly, and we ended up being the ones who hurt her the most. To the point that she believed she was only a guest in the house. But this time, we hope that it would be different. 

We will show her how we truly want to be qualified as her brothers, the people who can really protect her from danger, and to keep the smile on her face. 

updated! I've explained in this chapter to the question of why didn't Reine ask to be allocated to a guest room instead of her old room. Her old room was actually one of the guest room so it kind of make sense that she didn't request for one since it was already one. hope that was clear and able to answer to that question :)

school started and I already feel extra exhausted UNSIOWJIOSJW sis here being dumb and brought her laptop for TWO consecutive days when it was not needed UWNDJUWNSNW carried the extra weight back and forth 

Happy reading! -19/10/2022