𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 |✔

|Chapter 11|

|When we were younger...|

Third person POV

"Where are we going?" Alessandro was beyond annoyed. It was his day to take the princesses of the Romano family out and they were getting on his nerves, though they had been only driving for ten minutes.

Before any of them could say anything again Alessandro snapped. "Silenzio! (Silence!)", he screamed as loud as he could in his business voice. The twins were silent for a few seconds and then bursted out laughing. Alessandro sighed deeply and let his shoulders fall. This was not how he thought it would be.

He thought he would have a nice day with the twins, no business, only happiness and a lot of laughter. Well, he did hear laughter.

♧

"Ale! We're literally in the middle of nowhere!", Val whined. Alessandro smiled at her. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Ruby suppressed a giggle, she also had heard it. Maybe the day would end well after all. Valentina looked confused for a few seconds, before a look of realisation washed over her. She looked shocked of herself, opened her mouth and then closed it after a few seconds.

"You used to call me that when you were younger", he said, the smile still evident on his face. He felt like his heart was growing with every minute, every second he spent with the twins. And it wasn't just affecting his love for the twin girls but also the love he felt for his brothers. Of course, he had never stopped loving his brothers, nor his sisters, but he never knew how to show them what they meant to him. When the girls left, he felt like his heart had been ripped out of him. It left with them -which did satisfy his father, considering that Alessandro was now more fit for the position as the capo than before. Their fathers death hadn't affected the boys much, he had hit them once too much to make them care. But with the return of the girls the hearts of their brothers had returned. Over the years Alessandro had forgotten what it felt like to come home to find a loving family at the table waiting for him with the dinner. No one cared about when dinner was anymore, the first dinner spent together was when the girls had returned and he wanted so desperately to keep it that way. To hold onto that feeling forever, because for once he felt whole again. But it didn't last long, they drifted apart again, had spent too many years without each other, too many years ignoring each other. He wanted to change that, to become a family again.

"This is where Mom used to take us all. She usually took us here when Rocco had a bad day at work again, to escape." Alessandro refused to call his mother by his name. She had left him and his brothers, taken away their sisters -their happiness- but after all she had always loved him and cared for him. He only had good memories from her, she was still his mother and she had given his sisters an opportunity to live a better life, outside of the mafia. And for that he appreciated her -if only he knew.

♧

"Where do you two want to eat?", the young man asked, looking into the mirror to see his younger sisters. They both looked at each other challengingly.

"No Indian food!", Ruby screamed out as fast as she could. Val frowned at her whilst Alessandro smiled. He had missed this so much.

"Why not?", Val whined like a child. On the first sight it looked like Valentina was the more mature one, the one who always looked after everyone else, the older one. She was older than Ruby, by a few minutes. But if you know them, if you get closer to them, you'll see that actually Ruby is the more mature one, the one who keeps everything and everyone in place. Val acted so childish sometimes that Ale wondered if she even got a childhood, or if their mother had been too scared to let them have a childhood. Scared that they'll be gone the next day, in a legal or illegal way -it really didn't matter. Also, he still didn't know where they had been the last ten years. When they vanished into thin air -or so it seemed.

"Because last time you ordered food it was so spicy that my ass felt like it was on fire!", Ruby screamed at her. And that was when Alessandro lost it, he bursted out laughing. Not caring that the twins bickering had stopped and they were both staring at him. He wiped away an imaginary tear when he stopped laughing and kept driving like nothing had happened. Until one of the twins spoke up.

"Did he just laugh because you said your ass was on fire?", Val asked with a big fat smile on her face. It made her feel good to see her oldest brother laughing. She didn't know why but something felt so special about it when he laughed. Probably because he rarely did.

"Rude", Ruby muttered under her breath, crossed her arms over her chest and turned to look out of the window -now she was being childish.

"How about some Greek food?", Val asked knowing full well that it was Ruby's favourite food to eat. Instantly Ruby's face lit up and Alessandro couldn't do anything but nod and smile. Greek food wasn't his favourite to eat but he too liked it. He also had to admit that he hated Indian food because it had the same effect on him as on Ruby. But Toni loved it and Francesco seemed to like it too, whereas Leo and Enzo never really cared.

Alessandro pulled up to a Greek restaurant -it wasn't a fancy one- and parked the car, before exiting together with the twins.

♧

"That was sooo good", Ruby said with heart eyes whilst getting back into the car. Val nodded, impressed that it had been that good. Ale followed them into the car and instantly started it. The day had been good, there were no business calls, no one following them -besides their own guards-, and no major fights -only a little bickering. Instead there had been a lot of laughter and jokes and the best part was that the twins had warmed up to him and they were able to bond like siblings should. Maybe he should keep the schedule for a little longer.

To be continued...