RAPHAEL'S POV

I stayed in class for the whole hour, just for her.

As soon as it was over I was out of there.

I needed a plan.

I left school as fast as I could, kicking myself on how I could be so stupid.

I didn't mean to run into her, it was a complete accident!

It wasn't my intention to hurt her!

That accident was the best thing to ever happen to me, I realised as I saw her beautiful face for the first time.

She was like an angel.

No, she was one.

Her skin glowed, her hair shone, and she had little freckles dotted across her face.

She was perfect.

When I made eye contact, I couldn't look away.

Her eyes were so green, like that amazing emerald type of green.

She even had dimples!

When I realised she was speaking to me I quickly broke out of my trance.

Looking back on our conversation, I regret everything I said. I didn't mean to say anything rude back to her, but I didn't know how else to get her to stay and continue talking to me.

Why else would she talk to me?

I needed to say something that would make her continue our conversation.

Typically I had girls swooning over me so I never really had to initiate the talking.

Plus, whenever I did I always had my shield of confidence.

That seemed to disappear today around her.

I'd never been in a situation where I wanted to talk to a girl, until today.

How has this girl made me, a mafia heir loose his confidence?

Me loosing my confidence today was unheard of and also scary.

I had never once pouted for not getting my way in my life!

As my driver took me home I couldn't get this girl out of my head.

Alina.

God, even her name was perfect!

Her name literally meant beautiful, fair and kind.

All that was going through my head was the hurt expression she had on her face when she explained to me why I couldn't sign her cast.

I'm so mad at myself for hurting her feelings.

Fuck!

I really, really wanted to sign her cast!

That way we could've become friends, maybe even something more.

As soon as Paul was at the top of my driveway I thanked him before sprinting inside.

"DAD" I screamed trying to find him in our big ass house.

I got no reply so I continued screaming as I ran upstairs.

"MOM"

I heard their footsteps running down the corridor, so I followed the sound.

As I ran around the corner, we almost bumped into each other.

My mother had a scared look on her face as she checked me over.

"What's happened, why are you screaming! Are you ok?" She asked me with panic in her voice.

"No, no I'm not ok. I need your help!" I begged them.

My parents had a look of panic on their faces.

"I'm.........I'm in love" I told them with a deadly serious face as I let out a deep breath.

My parents faces split into ones of joy.

"Oh my, you scared me there son!" My dad told me as he took me in his embrace.

"This is a scary situation!" I told him.

"Ahhh, young love! Is this girl going to be my daughter in law?" My mother asked with a smirk on her face.

I hope so!

"I need your help! What do I do?" I asked them, groaning as they kept smirking at each other.

When my parents really saw my face they finally took the whole thing seriously.

I was going to do everything I could in my power to make her mine.

The first thing on my list was to make it up to her.

I knew exactly what to do now.

I realised then and there that I was going soft, but only for her.

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ALINA'S POV

I came home from school with a smile on my face, which hadn't happened in a long time.

I relished in the feeling.

My group of friends were so nice.

We had our last classes of the day together.

It made the lessons so much more enjoyable.

I was included into all of the conversations, something that didn't really happen back in the States.

My old friends were closer to each other than me, and I felt left out at times.

I was currently waiting in the kitchen for my mom as we had to go to my doctors appointment.

I saw her and Adrian come through the foyer together, Adrian having a big grin on his face.

He bounded straight towards me in order to tell me the good news.

"Mom's managed to switch my classes, so we should have some together now!" He told me, trying to contain his excitement.

This day just kept getting better and better!

"I can't wait! This is going to be so much fun! I can introduce you to my friends. They'll love you, they're so kind!" I told him.

He looked shocked at what I said.

"Really?"

I was a little confused. Of course they'd love him, he is my twin after all.

"Yeah, they'll love you if you just be yourself. They'll be in some of our classes as well" I replied happily.

"You want to introduce me to your friends? Are you sure?" He asked me, a look in his eyes wanting clarification.

"Why wouldn't I? Unless you don't want to meet them!"

He cut me off straight away.

"No! I do, I promise!" He told me hastily with a big grin on his face as he embraced me.

Mom coughed behind Adrian trying to get our attention.

"I hate to break you two babies up but we've got to get going if we want to get to your appointment in time Alina" she said.

I saw Adrian go a little red at being called a baby after we separated.

I laughed a little at that.

He's still the baby of the family; he's only a couple of minutes older than me.

"Can I come with you guys?" Adrian asked.

"Sure!" I told him.

I missed him today in school. It was nice to be with him again.

Me and Adrian caught up on each other's day on our journey to the doctors.

He held my hand as we waited to be called and for as long as he could throughout the appointment.

My appointment overall went great, my mom gave me a big cuddle whilst telling me how proud she was of me.

I felt really proud of myself as I really tried to eat more .

I wasn't fully out of the woods yet, as I needed to continue at this pace for a couple of months if I wanted to recover properly.

The doctor said that there was still a possibility of me needing a feeding tube if my appetite dropped instead of increased.

The doctor also said that my injuries were healing as they should be.

My mom was so proud of me that she even said that we could have my favourite for dinner tonight in order to celebrate.

I choose lasagna, obviously.

My whole family was waiting for me once I arrived home.

They all gave me kisses and cuddles to congratulate me on my effforts, and how well I've been progressing.

I noticed everyone giving me smiles and congratulations at dinner as well.

They asked me how school was, and I was so excited to tell them about all of my friends.

When I mentioned that there were some boys in my friend group I saw my Dad, Romeo, Luca and Marco all give annoyed looks.

Matheo didn't say anything. He quite frankly seemed like he wasn't in the moment as if he was on a another planet.

I noted that I should avoid talking about the male species to them, as I could tell they didn't like the thought of me being friends with boys .

According to Romeo, they are slimy creatures that will infect me, so I should stay away from them.

I gave a "are you serious" look to my mom and she stood up for me.

I love my family.

Having people love and care for you is truly unreal.

It made life so much better, and easier.

I laughed all through dessert with my family and my life felt complete for once.

I enjoyed myself, truly for once .

I decided to head up after wishing everyone goodnight and taking the elevator so my dad didn't have to carry me up the stairs.

Today was one of the best days I've ever had!

I had my favourite meal, I made friends, Adrian's moving to my class.

It was perfect.

I did my nightly routine and snuggled into bed with a smile on my face

It wasn't long before I fell asleep.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

I awoke suddenly to the wind outside making a racket against the trees from one of the worst nightmares I've ever had.

It wasn't really a nightmare, it was more of a memory of Emma and Jason in that hellish place.

I shut my eyes trying to stop the silent tears flowing down my face.

I curled up in a ball trying to hide from the shadows in my room that seemed to be moving, reminding me of Jason and Emma's presence in the nights, drunk and stumbling up the stairs. Me being frozen in fear in case they wanted to hurt me with alcohol in their system.

The alcohol made the abuse 10x worse.

I can't stay here.

Before I can think better if it, I hobble as fast as I can out of my room.

I go to the closest room to me, which is Matheo's.

I don't care enough to truly think about what I'm doing, I just need someone.

I need them now.

I swallow as I push open the door slowly wanting to get out of the corridor, and into the safety of my brothers room.

I hobble quietly to his bed.

"Matheo" I whisper

I don't get an answer.

"Matheo" I say again whilst poking him.

He jolts awake, which makes me flinch back, allowing a fresh flow of tears run down my face.

"Alina, what's wrong? Are you ok?" He asks me nervously, not knowing what's wrong.

I shake my head before taking a breath and continuing.

"I had a nightmare. Can I sleep with you tonight, please?" I finally managed to croak out.

He smiled sadly at me before holding open his duvet indicating for me to get in.

I complied and made sure that I was right next to him trying not to shake from fear due to my memories.

I didn't want the scary shadows or the nightmares to get me.

Matheo was like my shield. If I was with him, they couldn't reach me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked me.

I shook my head as I tried to get Jason's menacing face splattered with my blood out of my mind.

I turned around so that I am now facing him.

I sniffle before asking him a question that's been on my mind for a while.

"Are you ok?"

He furrows his eyebrows at me.

"Of course I am, why? If me that should be asking you that" He told me.

"It's just that you seem kind of distant lately. Like you're not really in the moment. It happened at dinner tonight" I told him, hoping I haven't invaded his privacy.

He took a deep breath before making eye contact with me again.

He took my hand in his.

"Do you remember when you first came back home to us. How I was a dick to you?" He asked me .

I nodded sadly as I remembered those times.

I'd like to think were passed that now's

"It turns out that my brain was making me lash out at you because I cared for you so much. I got diagnosed with IED just before you came home" he told me with sadness in his eyes.

I internally gasped. I learnt about this in school last year.

People with IED aren't in control of their actions when they have an episode.

"I didn't tell anyone as you just returned home. I wasn't going to take the attention away from you. I thought I could control it, but I couldn't." He continued.

"So, right now I'm on some medication which stops my episodes. The side effects do include some spacing out but it's working miracles so far. I don't know if there are any other side effects but if there are then that's fine. As long as it keeps you safe and happy then I'm willing to do anything" he reassured me as he looked at me.

It was then that I saw him truly for the first time.

His walls were down.

He wasn't guarding himself, he'd laid himself bare for me.

I could tell in his eyes how vulnerable he was in that moment.

I hugged him with all my might in return.

I saw that his eyes lit up as he hugged me back.

"All I've ever wanted to do and will continue to do is protect you Alina. That a promise. A pinky promise." He told me with a smile as he held his pinky out.

I put my pinkie in his as I started to fall asleep.

Just as I was falling asleep feeling safe in his embrace I told him

"Do not hurt yourself for my sake. If you need to go off those tablets because they cause you more harm than good, then please do it. What you're doing now is more than enough for me"

He was putting in the effort behind the scenes that I didn't know about.

"I love you Matheo" was the last thing I told him before I fell asleep.

Once again I fell asleep with a smile on my face, even after some bad events.

Sadly I forgot that rain always has to come again after sunshine.

A/N - let me know your thoughts on this chapter please!

There will be an Elias Pov in the next chapter so stay tuned!

Please let me know if you want to see anything specific in the next chapters!