after they met her

fourteen

i v a n a

We woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside our cabin window.

The morning sunlight streamed in, casting a warm glow over everything. I could hear the low murmur of my brothers' voices downstairs.

I quickly got dressed and made my way to the kitchen, where the delicious smell of breakfast greeted me.

Matthew was flipping pancakes, Asher was making scrambled eggs, and Logan was setting the table. Gray, as usual, was sitting at the head of the table, sipping his coffee, his stern face softened slightly by the morning light.

"Morning, Ivana!" Matthew said. "Hope you're hungry."

I smiled and took a seat. I scanned the table and couldn't decide what to do today.

„Give me your plate." Matthew wanted to take my plate. „You have to try everything we made."

I grabbed the plate. „I am not that hungry actually."

Matthew furrowed his brows. „I made them with love, come one, try some."

„I will only have some eggs." I answered him and my mind felt okay with that.

As we ate, we talked about the activities planned for the day.

Since we had arrived at the cabin only yesterday, there was a lot to look forward to. Matthew had taken charge of planning our day, and he was clearly excited about it.

"So, I've got a few things lined up for us," Matthew began. "First, we're going to do some team-building activities. Trust falls, maybe a ropes course."

"Trust falls?" Logan snorted. "You really think I'm going to trust any of you to catch me?"

Asher laughed. "Especially not you, Logan. You'd probably just let us fall for the fun of it."

"Yeah, well, at least I wouldn't drop Ivana," Logan shot back, grinning at me.

"Right," Gray interrupted, his voice calm but authoritative. "Let's focus on the activities. After the team-building, we can go fishing like Logan suggested. It'll be good to teach Ivana something useful."

I appreciated Gray's effort to keep us on track. It is the first time we all got to spend time together, and I wanted to make the most of it.

***

The first activity Matthew had planned was a series of team-building exercises. We started with a simple game where we had to pass a ball to each other without dropping it. It was harder than it looked, especially with Logan constantly trying to throw me off by making faces or pretending to drop the ball.

"Nice catch!" Asher called out as I managed to snag the ball out of mid-air.

"Thanks, Asher," I replied, throwing it back to him. "Maybe you should try out for a baseball team."

"Ha, very funny," Asher said, catching the ball with ease. "Maybe you should, too. That was a pretty good throw."

Next, we moved on to a ropes course that Matthew had found nearby. It was a bit more challenging, but also a lot of fun. We had to work together to navigate through the course, which involved climbing, balancing, and a lot of laughing.

"Come on, Ivana, you can do it!" Matthew encouraged as I hesitated before a particularly tricky section.

"Yeah, if Logan can do it, anyone can," Gray added dryly.

"Hey!" Logan protested, but he was smiling.

I took a deep breath and made my way across, feeling a surge of pride when I reached the other side. My brothers all cheered, and I couldn't help but smile.