TRIALS & TRIBULATIONS.

Chapter 5

BRANDON.

I've literally had it with Sylvie's brothers and her father that hates my guts. The only nice one here that doesn't look like they want to kill me is Mrs Mancini!

"Anyways, I'm glad that you're enjoying the food Brandon" Sylvie's kind mother says.

She really is such a kind-hearted soul, the question is how does a literal angel end up with Mr Grumpy pants over there? I'll never understand.

"We have a few questions that we'd like to ask the both of you, if that's alright?"

"Sure thing Mrs Mancini" I reply and look back to Sylvie, only to see her patting her cute little tummy. I think she's starting to feel full... never mind.

"How did you guys meet?" Sylvie's mother asks in a calm but curious manner.

Me and Sylvie's eyes connect for a second and I start to playback everything that Sylvie told me on the way here.

If asked a question that is about our past, we are permitted to answer without telling them the whole story. I think Sylvie wants to know if she can completely trust her family, that's why she made that rule.

"We met at an Orphanage... in London, it wasn't the best and we weren't exactly treated well but after meeting Sylvie... I felt that I could handle anything thrown at me".

I look around the table to see Mrs Mancini's watery eyes, Mr Mancini's angry expressions, and Sylvie's brothers wearing murderous expressions... weird.

"We don't really remember the name of the Orphanage but when I first arrived there, it was three years ago. Sylvie arrived two years after I had arrived and I tried my hardest in protecting her because she was still pretty young".

The atmosphere remains tense even after my little speech. Sylvie looks like she's trying hard to not remember the things we had to go through.

And I'm so angry with myself that I made her walk through memory lane... because no kid, rather no one in general deserves to be put through the punishments that the Orphanage provided.

"Ahem" Alexander coughs "Looks like I misjudged you Brandon but that doesn't mean that I agree with you staying here".

"Thank you for that Alex, but you see, wherever Sylvie goes, I go and besides... I have to take responsibility for what I did to mi amore" I say smugly.

His face goes red, in fact, all of the Mancini brothers face accurately resemble the same shade of the cherry tomato that's on my plate.

"SYLVIA ALESSANDRIA MANCINI!" Sylvie's Dad hollers "Cosa intende con quello?!"

Oops, I guess I shouldn't have said that.

SYLVIA.

When will he ever learn? Now I have the attention of every single person in this room, including the maids.

I take a deep breath in and repeatedly continue to facepalm myself, maybe if I do it hard enough then I would wake up back in my room and find out that this was all a dream to begin with.

"You're hurting yourself Sylvie, don't do that" he says gently and stops me from trying to wake up from this nightmare.

"Get your filthy hands away from my daughter boy!" My father says while shooting literal laser beams at Brandon.

"Young lady, I'm still waiting for an answer".

"But Daddy" I say sweetly trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Don't even try that sorella" Carlos says for the first time ever "What exactly did this boy do to you?"

Looks like I have no choice but to fess up if I want Brandon to continue to stay alive in this house.

"I'll tell but you all have to promise me that you will not hurt Brandon". I say deadly serious.

"What makes you think that we would—" Alex says.

"I can see you holding on to that cup for dear life fratello, you're going to shatter it if you don't let go. So you have to promise me that you and Pa and the rest of our brothers would not lay a single hand on him".

Brandon's liking this way too much, he doesn't realise how dangerous this situation is... After all this family of mine isn't exactly all sunshine and rainbows.

"Fine, we promise... not to... hurt Braxton". It sounded like it took a lot out of him just to say that.

"Bacio. Era solo un bacio, mi ha baciato per sbaglio". I rely this particular information very slowly.

My father stares Brandon dead in the eyes and says his next words in such a scary tone that I felt literal chills crawl up my spine "Ragazzo, è meglio che inizi a correre".

I stand up quickly to intervene and hug my Fathers legs which makes him stop in his tracks.

"Hai promesso a papà, tu e i fratelli non mancherete la vostra promessa, giusto?"

My father sighs and picks me up, then goes back to his seat with me on his lap. He's mostly likely doing this to put more space between me and Brandon because Brandon is glaring daggers at my Pa.

"Awww... that's so adorable, she's already had her first kiss Babe". My Mom says with a hand on her heart.

Talk about being dramatic. It really was an accident though... a stupid accident that I'll have to live through forever.

I sigh as I replay back this particular memory. It happened a while back when we were attempting to follow through with our escape plan.

Brandon suggested that we try to squeeze in through the vents and crawl our way out of there, but there was just one problem that he didn't consider.

The fact that the vent was like six feet high and that none of us could reach it. We did a classic move that you only see in movies, got a chair, balanced said chair on a table and I was the guinea pig that volunteered to try out his latest invention.

It worked at first but before I could even pull Brandon through the vents, the chair wobbled and he went down followed by me of course since he was holding onto my arm.

Not important but guess where I landed? That's right, I did land on him... with my face to his face... and that was how the whole thing happened.

I remember him looking like a lovestruck fool that day, what an i***t and even though I was blushing like crazy after it happened, I'll never give that fool the satisfaction of knowing that.

BRANDON.

I'm not liking how all the men here are trying to get between me and my Sylvie. I would've already gone to her side since but she signalled me with her eyes not to move.

"You know what? It doesn't matter anymore because like my sorella said, it was an accident" Alexander says more to himself than the rest of us.

"You're right fratello, Sylvia is still too young and she would forget about it as she grows older" Luca adds on to what Alex just said in his very thick Italian accent.

"Non probabile, considering we were each others first everything you know? First hug, holding hands, first kiss... shall I go on?"

"Chiudi la bocca, ragazzo!" Alex shouts and bangs his palm on the table.

It's official! It's impossible for me to even try and get along with these men.

"I've had just about enough of all of mistreating this young boy! I don't want any of you raising your voice at him! He stays here with us, until we can find his family. End of discussion, capisci?" She says everything so fast that I almost couldn't keep up with what she was saying.

"Yes Ma'am" they all reply to her in chorus. I'll remember to never get on her bad side.

"Another thing, now that we finally have Sylvia back... " she pauses to clear her throat like she's about to deliver bad news before saying "the rest of the family would want to meet her".

Immediately after the news was delivered, the sounds of groans and moans coming from the Mancini men travel throughout the living room.

"Darling, isn't it a bit too early? How about we wait a week or two and—".

"They're already on their way here love. The only reason I told you this is because we need to start preparing and—".

The loud ringing of the doorbell echoes which causes everyone to freeze and stop what they were doing.

Meanwhile, I look up to check the time on the fancy looking clock to find out that it's already past noon.

We've all been sitting at this table for a very long time... I don't think breakfast is supposed to last till lunch time?

Snap out of it Brandon! Sylvie's about to be exposed to strangers! Technically, they are her family, but this is the first time she's meeting them! I can't let her be in danger.

SYLVIA.

I quickly jump out of my father's arms and run to the windows that go all the way up from the floor to the ceiling.

Are we having a party? I try to count the number of cars that are parked in the driveway, but I don't get very far when one of my brothers lifts me up by the arms and puts me on his shoulders.

"No need to be scared sorellina" my second oldest brother says trying to reassure me.

"He's right my precious girl. All those people out there are your family" Mom says and lifts me up from Romano's shoulder.

"Mio Dio! We have to get you ready, Brandon you too. Luca will give you one of his shirts for now until we go shopping for you".

My fourth oldest brother is about to say something, but one look from Mom shuts him up straight away.

After about an hour, I'm all dressed and looking very cute might I add. Mom dressed me up in a matching tracksuit that's pink, of course! Then she put my hair in two pigtails.

I can't stop staring at myself because I don't think I've ever looked this pretty before.

"Grazie mamma" I say with a smile so big, it almosts reaches my eyes.

"You're most welcome my love" She responds with a light chuckle.

We're broken up from this sweet moment when a screech from the corridor rings through.

Yes, a corridor. The house is that big, but I cannot wait to explore every nook and cranny of this place!

"SYLVIE! Help me, your brothers are trying to kill me... again!"

I turn to face him and when he sees me, he's like a fish out of water with his mouth open gasping for breath.

"Brandon, you will catch flies with your mouth open like that" I tell him and his ears, cheeks and the rest of his face glow brighter than Rudolph's red nose".

He approaches me slowly and grabs both of my arms in his.

"Amour, you look very—"

"There you are, you little s**t!"

All of the Mancini brothers spot Brandon with his arms around me and I swear that I can see the steam coming out from their ears.

"Ahem" Mom calls out. "That's quite enough fighting from the both of you, I'm sure we've kept the family waiting long enough".

I'm showered in compliments when my brothers finally notice me, so much so that it's enough to make a girl feel special.

Looks like Brandon's not the only one with a red face now. I can't help it though, they really do have a way with words.