Arabella sneers at the sight of Eleanora and Anastasia together. It irks her passionately, seeing Eleanora chatting happily with the mute girl.

She removes her gaze from them and quickly checks her phone. A smirk comes across her lips as she forms a new plan in her mind.

"I will be back." She leaves her group and rushes towards the direction of terrace.

Just as she expected, she finds him there.

"Hey Ermanno."

He does not turn to face her, instead he continues to smoke, like ignoring her whole existence.

"I really need your help." Arabella says softly and takes a small hesitant step forward.

"There are two girls who are kinda troubling me. Well mostly there's only one girl- she insulted me in front of the whole school in the morning. Ermanno... I really need you to step forward and intervene. I want your help in showing that bitch 'her' place."

Ermanno still does not answer and it irks Arabella like no end.

"Would you help me, Ermanno?"

He finishes his cigarette and crushes the bud under his shoe.

"No!" With a single word, he starts to walk out of there when Arabella starts to shout angrily.

"WHY NOT?! WHY WON'T YOU HELP ME? YOU ARE MY BROTHER, YOU SHOULD HELP ME."

Seeing him not stopping once, again she runs back to follow him.

"IS IT BECAUSE WE DON'T SHARE A SAME MOTHER?! Is that why you don't consider me your sister?"

Still yelling, she follows him to the stairs. She grabs his wrist stopping him in the middle of his way.

"Answer me Ermanno! If in my place, it was your twin asking for help, would you still not help her?"

Ermanno glares at her coldly but she didn't back down.

"You need to accept the truth, Ermanno. Anastasia, your sister, your twin is dead! She is no longer between us. My mother Isabella also died saving her! You are not the only one who is suffering alone, trust me. I'm suffering too! I lost my mother just like you lost your sister that day. In our family, everyone treats me differently, just because I don't share same mother as you all. Because I was just a mistake of our father. Hell, even father does not treat me like his own daughter. It hurts, Ermanno! It really does!" Sobbing loudly, she wraps her arms around him.

Ermanno does not move to comfort her or anything. He just clenches his jaw hard.

"Where is that girl?"

Arabella hears him asking that. A small smirk falls at the end of her lips knowing that she had successfully manage to pull him on her side.

"Take care of yourself. I will see you after this class." Smiling a little, Eleanora takes her leave and steps into her next classroom.

Anastasia parts way with her. She starts to make her way towards her next class when a hand fists her hair roughly and she is dragged into an empty class room.

A shaky gasp leaves her lips when she is thrown on the floor roughly.

Arabella smirks a little and motions for her friends to leave.

"Where's your saving grace gone now huh?" She crouches down in front of Anastasia who is clearly struggling to breathe due to the pain exploding throughout her entire body.

Suddenly, the door opens.

Arabella quickly stands up with a small smile on her face.

"Ermanno! Here she is." She points down at Anastasia with a disgusted look on her face.

Ermanno ignores her and moves closer to Anastasia. He grabs her hair in his fist and painfully pulls her up. Arabella watches the whole scene with a smirk on her face.

Anastasia lets out a small, inaudible cry when he yanks her hair back making her head tilt back roughly.

She slowly opens her tearful eyes and locks eyes with his emotionless, cold gaze.

She glances at his raised fist aiming square at her face and then again in his eyes.

Ermanno however is getting frozen, the more he stares at her face. He swear he could hear the cracked pieces of his heart beating together in rhythm.

"A-anastasia...." He croaks out.

His grip around her hair soothes down.

Anastasia stares at him confused. She recognizes him as the same guy with whom she shares her first class. His eyes are familiar and identical looking as those family members.

But there's something else, a hidden, deeper connection. The feeling she is feeling at this time is indescribable.

"Ermanno!" Arabella frowns and yells at him.

Her heart almost bursts out when he snaps his head in her direction with rage in his eyes but it feels like he snapped out of his trance finally.

She unconsciously backs away to the wall in fear.

"You can go."

Arabella's jaw drops after hearing the words directed to Anastasia. But they sounds so gentle and soft- something that is frown upon in Romano family.

Anastasia seeing this as her chance quickly escapes out of there.

"WHY DID YOU LET HER GO?!" Arabella screams at Ermanno.

In the next second, a loud smack resonates in the room following by an indefinite silence. Arabella's bottom lip quivers as she remains frozen on the floor, holding her face.

"Next time there won't be a warning Arabella! Stay away from her. If you hurt her again, I will kill you!"

Anastasia slowly walks in the middle of the packed hallway, completely lost in thought. Suddenly someone comes to stand in front of her.

"Hey Ana." She looks up to find Eleanora standing in front of her.

"Where were you gone? I was searching for you in your last class but the teacher said that you skipped." Nora frowns a little but after seeing a somber look on her Anastasia's face, she quickly changes the topic.

"You can always tell me later about it. Let's go the Cafeteria, I'm hungry anyway."

Anastasia tries to shake her head when suddenly she starts to cough loudly.

"Ana!" Eleanora exclaims worriedly and takes off Anastasia's bag for her.

That's when her eyes falls on Anastasia's blood soaked shirt.

Nora freezes in shock.

"ANASTASIA!" Nora screams out in fear when Anastasia's body falls down on the floor with a loud thump.

"Oh God Ana!" She tries to shake her but Anastasia does not respond.

Nora is horrified at the sight of blood rolling out of her mouth.

Everyone starts to crowd them but no one approaches to help them. Instead, they whisper among themselves or just starts to film it.

"Nora!" A familiar voice rings in Nora's ears making relief spread across her chest.

"H-hades! A-anastasia, my f-friend...." She cries out.

"It's going to be ok. We will take her to the doctor." She finds Angel beside him.

"FUCK OFF ALL OF YOU!" Angel shouts at the audience making them scramble out of there in fear.

Without caring about the blood on Anastasia's body, Hades lifts her unconscious body in his arms and starts to walk out of there.

Whereas Angel helps the shaken-up Nora to stand on her feet. He grabs her and Anastasia's bag and follows Hades.

They meets Elijah, Nora's personal bodyguard outside waiting for them who have already started their car.

Hades gently places Anastasia's body in the back seat. He and Nora slides in the back seat with her whereas Angel settles down in the passanger seat.

"Drive Elijah." Angel mutters under his breath.

****************

Ermanno slams the door open of his father's study. To his surprise, he finds his oldest brothers Adriano and Giovanni present there.

"What are you doing here? School's not over yet." Giovanni narrows his eyes slightly asking his youngest brother.

"Fuck the school! Anastasia--my twin sister-- she is alive!"

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