𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇

XXXVI

— RORI —

"Come again?"

In the short pause that follows Alfonso's words, i can just about make out one of my brothers muttering 'that's what she said' under his breath, followed by quiet snickering from another. My guess would be Uvaldo and Seamus, who, this morning, have proved that their immaturity truly has no bounds.

I roll my eyes, concerned only with the man's response.

"My name is Eden..." he repeats.

"Eden Łabanowski?" Alfonso adds, his sceptical tone of voice a stark contrast from the playful one he had been using earlier on, almost transforming his whole bearing.

"Yes, Eden Łabanowski," the man confirms, sounding puzzled by Alfonso's own puzzlement. "And...you are American—"

"Canadian," Alfonso instantly corrects him, somewhat affronted, and a knowing smirk forms on Christian's face.

"Well, whatever you are, you are definitely no brother of mine," the man concludes, uncaringly . "So, it's like i said, i must be at the wrong house. Unless, of course, you do not live here..."

"Well, you were correct in that assumption," Alfonso says, and, with his head, gestures to Wyatt, "It belongs to his family."

Alfonso opens the door slightly wider and takes a step to the right in order to make room for my brother, who somewhat reluctantly obtains the latter's previous position.

There is a moment of silence, during which i assume the men scrutinise he who stands opposite. I do not appreciate the fact i can only see Alfonso's side at this moment, and not the expression of my brother — Wyatt, that is — but it is fairly obvious that this is the case.

Finally, the man speaks once more...

"You're going to have to help me out here. I cannot be expected to guess everyone's identity."

Talk about cutting to the chase.

"If you are claiming to be my brother, you are going to have to prove that this is the case," Wyatt responds, and i am once again surprised by his readiness to handle a situation that would normally fall to his older siblings.

Once again, it is silent and i glare at Alfonso's side profile like no one has before. God, if only he could have also taken a step back when he took a step to the side. The man's build is in no way small, and, while most of the female population would probably love to ogle at it, i would love nothing more than for a gust of wind to simply blow him out of my line of vision in order to allow me to have some understanding of what is going on.

"I would also like to see that," Alfonso says, and Wyatt wilfully hands him whatever, i'm guessing form of identification, is in his hand. "Second opinion," he adds, looking at the man when he says this. He takes a moment to analyse the small card in front of him, holding it up to the daylight and squinting his eyes as if he were an old man without reading glasses. "Seems legit to me," he concludes, returning the card to him and then facing Wyatt as he says, "but, now that i think about it, even if the ID is fake, he doesn't appear so dissimilar to Vinnie. Wouldn't you say?"

"Huh?" Vinnie says, almost in disbelief, despite not being able to see the man for himself. "I gotta see this guy."

As Uvaldo, my twins, and Christian snicker at his reaction, Alfonso's head whips round to face us, a slight smirk forming on his lips.