❝I'm a passionate person. I'm a lot of things, like most people are. Some say I'm too sensitive but truth is I just feel too much. Every word, every action and every energy goes straight to my heart. ❞

                                   
∼ Duke Osborne ∼

I knew it. There was this feeling inside me that was nagging me about, some very important event of my life is missing. You know the feeling when you try to remember something and it doesn't come up, untill you go back to that same place where that idea actually popped up. Yeah. Now that mom bought it up, I kind of remember the events, bits and pieces, like a dream. I remember few things that happened, after the "Tug war" me and my brothers had.

Flashback...

I was too exhausted to stay awake after the dinner that night. Usually, me and my brothers would spend time together for an hour or so, before we finally retired to bed, but today was different. Dinner was very quiet and quick. Most of us were glaring at each other for some reason, as if waiting for the magic word to come up, so that we can beat each other up. Mom sighed tiredly and looked at my dad's for help. “Ahem! So, I was thinking..before the spring break gets over, why don't we all plan an outing, like a picnic? How does that sound?” suggested dad (Greyson)with his million dollars smile with dimples.

“That's a great idea Grey. What do say, kids. Up for it? We can go to the beach or camp somewhere for the night tomorrow?” asked dad (Roman), placing his arm around Aryan. He slowly shrugged his hand away from his shoulder and got up from his chair. “Mom, I'm full. Can I go back to bed?” he asked, with a blank face. There was a complete silence for few seconds before, dad ( Xander)spoke in his authorative voice. “No, you can't. Sit your ass down. We are not done talking yet. You are being rude Aryan. When your dad asked a question, you have to answer to that, nicely. Now SIT DOWN.”

We're all looking at our half eaten plates in panic. It's rare that dad gets into that dictator mode but, when he does, that means we are in big trouble. I sighed and prayed that Aryan chooses his next word wisely. “Do I have a choice?” he asked, making all of our eyes bulging out in horror, predicting dad's next move. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Aryan for a second before answering. “No you don't and I don't care, if you are comfortable going out with us or not, you are coming. Period. Do you have anything else to say?” he said with his jaw clicked.

But for the first time, I didn't find Aryan fliching away from him. “I don't and I know, you don't care.” was the simple answer he gave and sat back in his chair with his head held high. I heard Tia sniffing beside me. Seeing her tear filled eyes, made all of our eyes go soft. “Why are you being so rude to dad, Aryan? “Don't you love him anymore?” she said, wiping her eyes. “Sshhss..he's just upset, sweety. He loves us all. You know that right?” said mom, cooing at her. “Yeah, that's what I thought.” spat Aryan, coldly and got up from his chair to walk ourway. When he was closer, he took Tia's hand in his, and walked them both out of the dining room, leaving all of us stunned.

I looked at my brothers and found only Rihan looking a bit tensed but Titus and Turner were eating their food with out any reaction on their faces, as if all this didn't bother them at all. I looked towards my mom when she said, “Didnt I tell you, they are different? Didn't I tell you, they won't share?” what did she mean by that? “Didn't you guys promised, you would take care of it, if something like this happens? This is how, you were planning to handle it? Now deal with it.” she said, pushing her chair away and left the table, taking the waste plates toward the kitchen.

All my dad's were glancing at her with sad expressions. What is this all about? “Dad? I promise, I'll share, if that will make mom happy. But, what do I have to share?” I asked puzzled. I'm not sure what mom wants but if it will bring a smile on her's and dads's faces, then I'm willing to do anything. Their face softened a bit and each gave me sad smile. “It's easy said, then done, son. A time will come, when your mind and heart will not agree with each other and you will always listin to your heart, Right?” he said, in deep thought, like he is asking the question to himself.

“I didn't understand anything dad.” Said Rihan, confused. Dad(Greyson) ruffeled his hair lovingly. “In time champ, in time.” he said smiling. Finally, we all pushed our plates away and walked out. This whole day was confusing and infuriating. Lot of things happened for the first time. I fought with my brothers, I saw Aryan talk back to dad, I saw Tia crying, I saw my mom being disappointed with my dads for some reason. Among all this, something also happened, which was more amazing...Aurora. A smile crept on my face unintentionally.

“I knew, I'm not the only one who was affected by her giggles. I love Tia. I love mom too but, her bright green eyes like grass and her golden hair like a doll and her innocent face was kind of rejuvenating. She was cute, worth fighting. Right Duky?” asked Rihan, smiling like an idiot. But, for some reason, I didn't like him talking or thinking about her, like I do. “Yeah, I know she is. Too cute for you though. Think about kissing her again, I'll break your teeth.” I said with a serious face. Rihan looked at me with his jaw hitting the floor and eye blinking repeatedly.

Some other day, I would have laughed at his clown face but, today I'm not in a mood. I immediately felt bad by lashing at him like that. “Im sorry bro. I didn't mean it. I'm just...” I was too young to realize that I was being territorial with Aurora and falling for her slowly. “Confused?” he asked, smirking. I sighed. “I guess.” I said, pulling him to me and kissing his cheek. “Good night” He sat there for a while, before taking the other side of the bed. Good night, he mummered and with a lot of strange unexplainable things, still going on in our mind, we finally embraced the sleep.

Titus and Turner came inside after sometime, but I was too tired to realize that, Aryan was missing. He didn't come to bed tonight, the next night and the next few night either. I miss him, to be frank. He is a little strange to understand sometimes. I seriously, can't read his mind. But, with the triplet bond we share, Me, Rihan and him, we kind of feel each other, if you understand what I mean. I know it's strange but, I get the feeling that, he is going through some kind of trauma, he doesn't want to share with anyone. He wants us to leave him alone, or he is actually...Alone?

He doesn't express his feelings like before. He has changed. We all have, but we atleast talk it out but Aryan, he has become closed off. Even if we are together, we are not. He always stays in his own world. I never told anyone but, I heard mom and dad talking about taking him to a therapist, what kind, I'm not sure. The doctor/ therapist, whoever has suggested him to express his feelings by doing things like drawing, writing of playing music. We knew, what he's gonna chose. Violin. Mom was happy though. They both spend hours playing violin, which was good for him, but bad for us.

He's not the same brother anymore. He doesn't play with us. He doesn't talk much, only answeres, if it's a necessity. He is stronger than all of us though. Mentally. Or, maybe he has build a wall around him, to avoid all of us. There was this one time, when we went to attend grandma Katherine's funeral. She's dad's grandma. Every one of us cried, because we children were very close to her and her sudden death has bought us brothers closer again, but Aryan was still the same. Neither he cried, nor expressed any condolences nor showed any kind of emotions, that said, we lost something. Mom and dads were really worried about him.

But after a long time, we saw some kind of facial expression changed in him, when Uncle Evan came. He came alone? It was not Aryan alone thought. All of us were looking behind him, searching for someone. Our wandering eyes didn't go unnoticed by our parents. I tried to look away embarrassed, when they caught us in the act. I don't know, why? But, I did. Aryan stood there frozen for some odd reason. I didn't quite remember, what happened after that, but when we finally reach home, it was midnight.

Everything was going fine, untill when we're invited for uncle Evan's party. They were welcoming the new member of their family. Aaron, Aurora's brother. We were very excited to meet her again but looking at my parents panic faces, I'm sure, they weren't. Do I blame them? No. We promised our parents that, we would be on our best behaviors. When we reached the party, it all started again. I'm not sure why or when but it happened and it was worse than the last time. Shit.

All of us were trying to get Aurora's attention but, I think our dads kind of had predicted it so, she was never left alone with us brothers. Strangely, Aryan didn't even looked her way and whenever she came closer to him, he kept on pushing her away. Too Rude. I remembered the way she tried to hold his fingers and he glared at her, pulling away. I wanted to ask him, why he was acting strange but, something else caught our attention. Aurora, for some reason was not leaving Aryans side and irritated, Aryan pushed her too hard and she fell to the ground and started crying. I know, it was an accident but, I saw red.

Before I could react, Turner pounched on him. Mom lifted a crying Aurora and handed it over to aunt Miara. “Are you guys crazy!” mom shouted, coming in between the two of them. Rihan and me were confused, who to stop and who to support. When Mom was not enough to stop the fight, I decided to stop them. I felt like Aryan was getting the upper hand, so I pushed him away, which made him fall on his back. Furious, he got up and punched me on the face, making my nose bleed. “Oh my god, Duke. Aryan? Titus!” She doesn't know, how to handle us. Titus being the elder, tried his way to stop it, which was a disaster. He tried to kick Aryan, which was blocked by Rihan, who tried to stop him. It was a total chaos.

“Stop right now!” mom started getting panick attack. I heard, she had it under control but, I guess we are all responsible to bring it back. My dad's and uncle Evan, miraculously heard her and came rushing. “Shit babe...wtf Maya...Baby, I'm here...Breath.. Breath love.” said dads, taking mom in their arms. After sometime, mom's breathing was under control and she pointed at me, lazily. “Oh god ! what happened to your nose? ” asked Uncle Evan, which bought my dad's attention. Their eyes widened in panic. Trust me, I don't feel the pain at all. I am felling paranoid right now.

I suddenly felt lightheaded and before anyone could reach me, I remember welcoming the darkness. When next I got up, it was after 2 days. I was told that, I passed out from loss of blood. And before someone could reach me, I fell and hit the table hard, so was out for two days. Everyone was in the room except..Aryan. I know, he must be beating himself over it. I'm not angry at him but afraid that, after this, we'll lose him for ever. He'll never open up to us ever again. All because of that cutie. I know she's innocent but, our affection for her is creating chaos in our family. What a disaster?

End of flashback

We all sat in silence. Nobody knows, how to react. I'm speechless myself. Then mom broke the silence. “You boys know, how hard we all tried to bring Aryan back to normal. He's still afraid to lose himself around her. You guys are mature enough to understand that, this kind of relationships are never healthy, when you're jealous of your own brothers. And..I know for sure that..You guys can't share her.” she said, gulping a glass of water. “How could you be so sure, mom?” asked Rihan.  “Ask you brothers if they are really ready to share her?” said Grandma Rose, looking at everyone.

I was about to say No, when someone entered the kitchen. And she was the last person, we want to face now. “Sorry, just wanted a glass of water. Did I interrupt something?” she asked, apologetically. I so wanted to say, no it's fine, but the words didn't come out at all. Her face fell. “It's ok sweety. We were just talking casually. Come. Do you want to join us?” ask grandma Rose, making all of us tensed at once. You old hag, why would you do that? Mom got Aurora a glass of water. She thanked her with a smile, which melted my heart. How are we supposed to give up something so beautiful?

“And...What is this discussion all about, if I may ask.” she said, taking a big gulp of water. “Nothing just talking about our family time together in the past.” said, Turner. She nodded her head. Titus glared at him, when Aurora was not looking. Then she turned to mom. “Aunt Maya, can I ask you something personal?” mom, nod her head without thinking. “How did you know, you could lead a peaceful life with 3 husbands and keep them together at the same time? Didn't you ever feel like you might have fallen for one, more than the others?”

Her blunt question took us offguard but, mom and Grandma Rose exchanged an amused look. “Actually, your uncle's made sure that, each one of them proof their worthy for my love and trust. I found many reasons to push them away but, somehow, they always could find one reason to pull me back to them. They are different in many ways, but still similar in a lot of ways. And...There is something call, your heart? It never lies to you. My heart beat for them equally. I love them differently but not more or less. It's love, sweety. ” she patted Aurora's cheek lovingly.

“How do you feel about all this? What would you have done, let say, if you were in her situation?” asked grandma. We straighten up because, that is what we want her to answer to. She gave it a thought and smiled. “Choosing a life partner is the most important decision you will ever make – far more crucial than choosing a job, house or group of friends. I don't think, anyone is perfect so, I would look for some qualities in them, to make a choice.” she said. “What kind of qualities?” I asked curious.

She turned my way and turned red. Shit. Look how cute she is? How can I resist such a beauty. Then she avoided my gaze and looked back at mom.

“Three things. Three qualities. That's all. First. Difficult things WILL happen in your life, so it’s important to make sure you have someone to make you smile along the way. I would prefer a clown.” she said, giggling. We all chuckled. She became serious again.

“Two, Honesty and reliability. No matter what, communication is very important for any relationship to stand. Truth is preferred and I hate lies.” I gulped. I'm sure, my brothers too. “I need someone, I can close my eyes and trust.” I'm sweating now.

“Third and most importantly. Love & Respect. No matter what I do, he should respect my decision. Not that, he can't tell me, if I'm wrong. But, I would aspact him to give me choices, not push me into things. And love?” she smiled dreamily. “He doesn't have to say it in words everytime but, show it through actions.”

It was quite for a while, than mom spoke up. “You think just like me. I really hope, you find true love, just like me.” then mom turned towards us and shrugged her shoulder. Which meant,

Now the ball is in your court. Fuck!