Lost Gem

Chapter 35 (Hiding the Scars)

Anastasia glances at the mirror but immediately looks away after seeing her appearance. As she is in the middle of mental struggle, Anastasio enters her room from the already open door.

"Ana! You said 5 mi--" His words fumbles and he pauses as she looks up at him with red stained cheeks, similar alike her red dress.

All of a sudden, he breaks into a smile.

"Now now now, don't be so shy. You look absolutely beautiful." Anastasio compliments her, fueling her embarrassment more.

"B-but th--" As she looks down at her bare legs, her mouth dries. Anastasio follows her eyes to see small scars littered on them

"I-I'm embar-embarassed to show myself to others. These scars are everywhere." She fumbles with her fingers, a frown settled across her face.

"These scars are beautiful. They are the sign that you are truly strong person, Sia." He calls her by her second nickname and squeezes her shoulders to comfort her.

"B-but I'm not s-strong." She whispers.

"Nonsense! That's a lie. Your will-power is the strongest. If you weren't strong, you would not have been here. You know this too."

She looks at her reflection again and let a smile come across her lips. Her frown vanishing fully.

"I guess."

"Now let's get going. Shall we?"

She nods enthusiastically and links her arm around him. She hardly reaches his chest. The thought embarassed her but she does not make comment on it.

"There you are! I was waiting since 30 minutes." Stefano scoffs, rolling his eyes with pure annoyance.

Anastasia grins up at him. His eyes make contact with her and he smirks back.

"Not bad." He says and she appreciates his compliment genuinely. It is quite unbelievable that he can praise someone.

"We are going to be late." Anastasio states while his eyes follows the direction of stairs.

Arabella is coming down with Allesandro, holding hands with him and a genuine smile is glued on her face.

However, her smile wipes away as her eyes falls on Anastasia. She blinks at her appearance, her heart drops at the sight of her scarred legs.

Feeling Arabella's eyes on her legs, Anastasia shifts uncomfortably.

Arabella notices that and rolls her eyes.

"Why are you showing these scars if you are not even comfortable yet?" Arabella asks bitterly.

"Bella, stop!" Allesandro says sternly.

Arabella shakes her head at her father's words and feels Stefano's absolute glare fixed at her.

"Go sit on the couch." She orders Anastasia.

"What do you think you are doing?" Ermanno interrupts, arriving at the same moment.

"I just want to help her because I can't bear to look at her. These scars look disgusting on her body. Do you want her to become a laughing stock in front of the whole city?" Arabella rambles while taking out her concealer from her bag.

"She is getting on my nerves." Stefano mutters.

Anastasio looks at Anastasia who is looking quite normal despite Arabella's harsh words.

"I do not want to hide them." Anastasia speaks up making everyone surprise.

"What?" Arabella questions.

"You heard right. Can we go now? We are already late." Anastasia looks at her father and brothers quite eagerly.

Anastasio smiles feeling pride swelling in his chest.

"If anyone is bothered by her scars, I will make sure to gauge their eyes out so they won't be able to look at anything. A word of warning, it counts you too, Arabella." Stefano states jokingly, with a smirk intact on his face.

Arabella shifts a little uncomfortable. She looks at her father desperately, hoping he could take her side but she is met by his silence which leaves her disappointed.

"This family dinner is sure going to be interesting." Giovanni mutters to Adriano. Both of them are standing at the end of stairs.

Adriano cannot help but agrees silently.