Unwritten Rule [The Ludovicas: Second Generation Book Two]

Three | It Hurts

ALAMEA
(Age Sixteen)

"Sleepover? Aren't we too old for that?" Zaire asked, his green eyes reminding me of Armano.

"I am sixteen." I reminded them.

"You are." Zayden, his twin brother spoke, "but we are twenty-four and well past the age of sleepovers."

"Cel is right, you both are boring."

"Cel is stupid." Zaire retorted, rolling his eyes.

Zaire and Zayden were my Dad's elder brother's sons. Plus, they were cousins with Armano and the others too because Aunt Chiara, their mother is Uncle Marcelo and Silvio's sister.

"It will be fun," I told them. "Armano, Kian, Ada, Lenore...imagine all the fun we will have."

"You are talking as if we are going on some international trip when in reality we are just going over to Cel's house which happens to be in Boston itself. No thanks." Zayden sounded bored and Zaire agreed with him.

Cel was the only one in the family who was already married. The person she married is none other than Armano's maternal uncle which now makes her Armano's aunt as well. It's complicated but they love each other too much.

"What are you all talking about?" Uncle Ezekiel entered the room followed by Aunt Chiara.

"Uncle..." I complained to him. "...they are saying that they don't want to have a sleepover with us."

"Sleepovers are fun." Uncle shared a soft look with his wife. "We used to have them too."

"I know right? Try to make your sons understand that, they both are so boring."

Aunty took a seat beside me. "They get that from their father, it's in their DNA."

"Is that so?" Uncle drawled, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Yes." Aunty rolled her eyes. "You have been like that ever since. Doing all the boring stuff."

Zaire face slammed himself, shaking his head.

Uncle walked to us, coming to stand behind her and she tilted her head to regard him with a challenging look.

It was a really weird thing to say but I could feel the tension between them even after so many years of marriage.

"Do you want me to show you how fun I can be?" Uncle teased in a low voice.

That had Aunty blushing.

"Oh my god." Zayden stood up abruptly, looking disgusted. "I will have to bleach my ears now. Please, leave."

It was amusing to see my cousins' mortified looks.

Ignoring them, Uncle bent down to peck Aunty's lips before leaving.

A minute passed before Aunty got up and followed Uncle, making my cousins sigh.

"One of the only reasons I don't like staying here for long", Zaire muttered.

"All things aside...are you both coming or not?" I asked.

"No", Zayden answered, "there's too much work."

"I hope I don't end up like you both in a few years", I mumbled.

I was going to be Armano's third-in-command and I was pretty excited about it. My training was still going on but Armano and Kian--who will be the second-in-command--were confident in me. Everyone was, to be honest.

Hence, I want to do my best when I take over that position from Dad. I was afraid of letting them down.

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