SILVIO

I am tired of people questioning my silence, demanding to know why I don't speak much unless necessary.

There is no specific reason for that. I just prefer silence over everything and my family accepted that and didn't try to talk to me unnecessarily.

Until this girl arrived, a little chatterbox, who didn't give a damn about anything. She even declared herself as my best friend after bribing me with the cookies.

I don't have many friends, my only friends are my brother and Cyrus and Ezekiel, none of them is of my age though but I am fine with that.

Lilith can be annoying at times but she offers me cookies and other sweets which makes me overlook all the other things.

If she becomes a nuisance after some time then I am going to stop being her friend.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw my bedroom door slowly being opened and then Chiara's little footsteps as she padded inside with a mischievous grin on her face.

I was in the middle of studying when she stopped beside my desk. "Silvio...?"

I turned my attention to her and waited for her to continue speaking.

She gestured for me to lean closer and when I did, she whispered in my ear, "I want pizza."

Chiara loves junk food a little too much for which we all keep her under check, especially mom and dad but since they were away at a business meeting in another state she thought she had the freedom to do whatever she wanted.

I leaned back and shook my head.

"Please..." She pouted and clasped her hands together. "I did not have pizza for soooo many days."

"I don't have money. Ask Marcelo."

"He will scold me..." She smiled, tears gathering in her eyes.

How she manages to cry within seconds is beyond my reasoning. Besides no one can resist her tears except mom and dad.

I sighed and got up and taking her hand in mine, walked us out of my room and down the corridor to Marcelo's.

Without bothering to knock, I pushed open the door and we found Marcelo at his desk, with his laptop opened in front of him as he typed something on it.

We stopped next to him and he finally paid us attention. "What happened?"

I glanced at Chiara and gently nudged her forwards, urging her to speak for herself.

She shot me a glare for that but then fluttered her eyelashes innocently at Marcelo. "Pizza...Silvio wants pizza."

I raised my brow at her. Seriously?

Marcelo wasn't stupid and he knew immediately that it was her who actually wanted it.

"Does he now?" His lips twitched with amusement.

She nodded eagerly.

He flicked her nose playfully. "No."

"Please! Pizza! Order pizza!" She whined and once again her eyes started to fill with tears.

Sighing Marcelo picked her up and sat her down in his lap and wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes.

He addressed me. "Do you want pizza too, Silvio?"

I shrugged. I was fine with eating almost anything.

"Pizza it is." He declared making Chiara grin happily. "But no one is telling mom and dad."

We both nodded and Chiara pressed a kiss to his cheeks before jumping off his lap.

When the pizza arrived later, Marcelo invited his red-headed best friend to join us.

If he can invite his best friend, why can't I?

I strolled into the quarter reserved for all those who worked for Dad and soon found the room allotted to Lilith and her mother.

I knocked on the door and a moment later her mom opened it. "Do you need something, Silvio?" She asked politely.

"Lilith," I answered.

She smiled at me and then walked back inside while calling for Lilith.

"Silvio!" Lilith exclaimed appearing at the door ten seconds later. Her skin reminded me of melted chocolate with her dark hair and eyes complimenting it.

"Did you miss me already?"

I fought the urge to roll my eyes and gestured for her to follow me.

She was obedient to a fault so she followed me without any questions.

I lead her to our living room where Marcelo, Julian and Chiara had already started to eat the pizza.

Lilith tugged at the sleeves of my shirt and whispered in my ear, "Can I have some too?"

I nodded and sat down on the couch and she took a seat beside me. I handed her a slice of pizza and she immediately started to devour it happily.

Marcelo chatted with Julian while feeding Chiara as she sat on his lap. They were discussing the sleepover Marcelo had planned for tomorrow.

"What's that?" Chiara asked him.

"It's...um...like a party where everyone sleeps...?" Marcelo scratched his jaw.

"Will there be more pizza?" She asked excitedly.

"Yes."

"Yay!! I will also be there then!!"

Marcelo shook his head slightly with a smile on his face and turned his attention to Lilith. "Hey, do you want to join us too for the sleepover?"

"What will happen there?" She inquired.

"We will be staying up late, watching movies, playing games... stuff like that. It will be fun."

Lilith looked at me as if waiting for my permission. I contemplated it for a long moment before nodding slowly.

"Okay." She told Marcelo.

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Marcelo's room was bigger than mine and had enough space to spread a number of mattresses on the floor for us to sleep on.

"I thought the sleepover was only for boys." Ezekiel folded his arms across his chest, giving a pointed look to Chiara who was glaring at him as she hugged her pillow to her chest.

"Let them be," Cyrus said, flopping down on the mattress. "The more the merrier."

Ezekiel rolled his eyes. "Lilith is fine though but why Chiara?"

Chiara's glare intensified but before she could argue, Marcelo smacked Ezekiel on the back of his head. "If my sister wants to be here then she will."

Chiara stuck out her tongue at Ezekiel mocking him and he didn't waste any time mimicking her.

Marcelo groaned. "You seriously wanna argue with a five-year-old?"

They didn't pay attention to him and Ezekiel gently pushed Chiara making her fall on the mattress, she quickly bounced back and started to push Ezekiel too.

"Have they always been like this?" Lilith murmured to me.

I nodded.

Chiara and Ezekiel never got along but at the same time, Chiara doesn't leave him alone too. She deliberately clings to him and troubles him.

"Okay, enough." Marcelo picked her up in his arms and sat down. "We are going to watch a movie now."

"The Rapunzel one?" Chiara gasped.

"Um...no--"

"I want to watch that too!!" Lilith exclaimed and sat down next to Marcelo and Chiara.

I took a place beside her as they both requested to watch Tangled.

"No, we are not watching that," Marcelo stated to which Julian and Cyrus agreed.

"Please," Lilith said to him making Chiara nod along. "It's my favourite."

I stored that information in my mind.

Her favourite movie equals Tangled.

"Let's vote and decide," Julian suggested.

"Fine. Those who want to watch Rapunzel raise their hands."

Chiara immediately raised hers followed by Lilith who raised both her hands. And if she wanted to watch that then it was fine by me so I raised my hand too.

We were clearly outnumbered but to everyone one's surprise, Ezekiel slowly raised his hand too.

"I just don't want her to start crying which is really annoying." He clarified while shooting Chiara a glare.

Not having any offer choice Marcelo had to put on Tangled only for which he was thanked by both the girls.

Halfway through the movie, Chiara fell asleep after having a slice of pizza. Marcelo put her to sleep on his bed.

Once the movie ended, we moved on to playing Uno, Lilith and me as one team, Julian and Marcelo as the other team and Ezekiel and Cyrus as the third one.

"How are we supposed to play this?" Lilith said to me in a low voice.

I fixed her with a glare. "Then why did you say you knew how to play?"

She shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "I thought it would be easy."

Ugh.

Then she said in a voice high enough for everyone to hear while pointing to the cards I had, "What's that black card--"

I pressed my palm against her mouth. "Just be silent."

She rolled her eyes and bit my palm making me remove it instantly.

Fortunately, she didn't say anything else and let me play in silence.

Half an hour later, I was the only one with two cards left and everyone stared at me sceptically.

Cyrus placed a yellow card with the number four on the deck and it took everything in me to not smirk for the last two cards I had were red but they were number four.

Dramatically, I threw them both on the pile. "Uno. We win."

Cyrus gasped. "No way!"

"We won?" Lilith smiled widely then threw her arms around my neck. "We won!!"

I didn't pay attention to how she was hugging me, I'm not fond of physical contact much but I let this one slide because I was busy taking in everyone's shocked faces.

A small, satisfied smile ghosted my lips.

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It was in the middle of the night when I woke up as someone kept shivering next to me.

I glanced at them to see Lilith--who was sleeping between Marcelo and me--shivering badly even though she was under the duvet, it was as if she was having a nightmare.

Her brows were furrowed and she twisted around as if looking for someone.

I gently patted her on her cheek in an attempt to wake her up.

I shook her shoulder and she finally woke up with a gasp, her eyes zeroing in on me. "Silvio?"

"Yes?"

She glanced around before fixing her eyes back at me and shifted closer. "I had a bad dream." She sniffled.

A tear rolled down her cheek which I wiped away, I didn't like seeing her cry, it made me angry for some reason.

She pouted. "Don't leave me."

I nodded and laid back down and she grabbed my hand, holding it firmly and snuggled closer to me.

I liked the idea of her finding it safe with me, it caused a sense of responsibility to bloom inside me. I wanted to protect her.

So that night, I made one thing clear to myself.

Lilith was mine to protect. Only mine.