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solandis (m.) a delicate flower

EMILIANO

Nobody ever looked at me like that.

No matter how I appeared, I was always seen as the guy who'd hook up and then leave, someone with no commitment. Of course, I wasn't committed either. Being in something as such always felt suffocating for me.

Then came this girl who stood beside me as if she could trust me with her whole life. What even more surprising was that I didn't seem to want to break her little hope either.

We exchanged numbers today, one other thing I've never done with anyone else before.

Belle that was so sudden lmaooo

Using punctuation or capitalization is not Rosabelle's favorite, I think. She's a bit clumsy and a little messy, just like me, yet somehow very unlikely to me as well.

Emi I like surprises.

Belle same man same but not thst big ones that*

Emi Do you like... ever chat, Belle?

A huge grin appeared on my face when I anticipated her response. She's probably rolling her eyes at my message right now, and trying to suppress her smile as well.

Belle 🙄🙄 ever heard of aesthetics, old man?

Emi You seem like the only person who'd call grammatical errors aesthetic.

Belle that's it i'm not going with you

Emi 😞😞😞

Belle ?? seriously how old are you?

Emi Does my age matter?

I wonder how she'll react though. It's amusing to watch the shocked expression Rosabelle makes, the way her doe eyes widen, or the way she opens her mouth in surprise. Though, I wouldn't be able to see that right now, I can certainly imagine it.

Belle hmm

Emi I'm thirty-one, Belle.

This time, her reply took more time than before to arrive, and I could already predict her reaction.

Belle ...... OH MY GODD OH MY GODDD MANNNN you're literally more than a decade older than meeeeeeee i'm only twenty

Emi I know.

Belle 😳😳 How'd you know?

Emi Feels like talking to a teenager when I'm talking to you.

She is certainly not a teenager. But it does feel more than good to rile little Rosabelle up.

Belle 😒😒 that's age-shaming to another level you konw? not correcting my spelling mistake only to make you dwell in sadness 😈😈 grammar naziii 👀

Emi You'd know the pain if you've been staying with two robots for two years of your life, and to make it worse, one of them has been there since my birth.

Just as I hit the send button, a knock on my office door interrupted. I sighed, my palm pressing on my mouth to suppress the chuckle that was about to escape me.

What a coincidence.

"Come inside," at my order, the door opened, revealing one of my men who stood behind it. "Boss, your brother is here," he said and stepped aside, letting the taller individual enter my room followed by a small child.

"Dyadya!" Inessa, my little niece, rushed to me as soon as her emerald green eyes met mine. She settled her tiny frame on my lap, her hands immediately roaming around the stuff spread on my table, probably searching for my phone.

Belle huh? wdym?

Emi I'll talk to you later, Belle.

After sending my last message to Rosabelle, I gave my phone to my niece who eagerly waited to take it after finding it in the palm of my hand.

Then I fixed my gaze on her father, the man who also sat himself comfortably on my couch. "I and Genevieve are going out tonight. Can you babysit Ines?" He asks after settling his gaze on me.

I smirked at the question. "Leaving us alone again, Ale?" He rolled his eyes, fixing his gaze upon his daughter whose eyes immediately left the screen of my phone after hearing the words leaving my mouth. "You are leaving us, papa?" She repeated my words, trying to leave my lap in a frantic pace, but I stopped her from doing so by wrapping my arms around her waist. "I was joking, Ines. Papa isn't leaving us. He'll just go out with mama."

"Can we go?" She asks in her low tone as she turned her wide eyes up at me. I caressed the strands of her black wavy hair and grinned down at her. "No, Ines. They won't be able to make babies otherwise."

"Emi," Aleksandr warned, his eyebrows furrowed as he eyed Inessa once again whose attention again went back to the princess game she was playing.

Damn, the girl filled up half of my storage with her games. If any of my men saw my phone, I'd have to give up my reputation.

"Don't make the kid boring like you and your wife, Ale," I mused. "Teaching her something beyond her age won't make her appear cool." He retorted in response, making my grin wider.

But before I could get a chance to speak further, he stood up from the couch, deciding to take his leave. "Ines," he called his daughter and she looked up. "Yes, papa?"

A slight smile broke free from his mouth, but it disappeared in a whim. "Be careful, love." He said. An unreadable emotion waved beneath his eyes when the little girl stepped down from my lap and made her way to her father. He crouched down to her level at her signal as she placed a light kiss on his forehead. He did the same with her and whispered something in her ear, which I took a mental note to ask her about later.

It's a rare occasion when I get to watch my brother showing some emotions, and it's beyond necessary for me to know of his emotional dialogues to blackmail him later.

"Bye, papa!" Inessa shouted before turning around and running back to my way. I grinned and pulled her onto my lap again as she resumed her deeds. Aleksandr only gave a nod in my direction before heading out of my room.

I turned my attention back to my niece and watched as she tried to apply the lipstick on the cat's cheeks but failed to do so, probably because lipsticks were supposed to be applied on lips, and that's how the game was organized. "What's your cat's name again?"

"Angela."

Aha, Angela it was.

"And what's the other one's name?" She shot me an unamused stare. "I told you, dyadya. It's Tom." She huffed before shaking her head, and a chuckle escaped my mouth at that. "I forget their names, baby. What can I say? I'm getting old."

"Get married."

"Right. Can you find me a wife then?"

She smirked cheekily at the words. I raised an eyebrow in confusion and right when I was about to ask what was going on inside the tiny head of hers, she showed me the phone screen where the notification from Rosabelle could be seen.

I momentarily became speechless at the kid's bold move.

Seriously, how does this one-year-and-eleven-months-old kid understand this?

"Can you promise me something?" I sighed before asking, biting my lips to suppress my laughter when she made a playful face but then nodded her head cutely. "Don't tell your papa about it, hmm?" I whispered in her ear.

My brother would most likely to kill me if he finds out I've been messing around with an Italian mafia princess.

"Our secret!" She chirped as I nodded, and she made a pinky promise with me. "Now tell me," I decided to change the topic so the kid would forget about it sooner. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes!"

"Kitkat or Snickers?"

"Kitkat!"

I took her small frame in my arms and stood up from my chair, deciding to walk out of my office room. "Dyadya?" She called out before wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Yes?"

"What is this?"

She pointed at something behind me, and I gave her a response only to be asked another question. After all, that is all she can do; ask, ask, and ask.

I loved this child's brains sometimes.

✈︎

"So, do you have any other plans besides?" I asked Rosabelle on the phone.

After putting Inessa to sleep, I decided to talk with her again, failing to hold back my urge to hear her voice. "Ehh, why do you ask?" She queried from the other end. "Just want to know, Belle."

I suppressed a smile when the saccharine sound of her laughter reached my ears. "Look who's curious now."

"That's right. Can you tell me now?" I asked again in an impatient tone. She hummed from the other side, as if pretending to think about something. However, then what she said made me nearly choke on my breath. "How about getting kidnapped by a Russian mafia?"

What?

Surprise coated my face as I looked out of my window, wondering what got me so infatuated with this crazy girl.

"Emi?" Her voice was filled with concern as she asked from the other side when I remained quiet in response to her question. Then I chuckled, shaking my head as if being pulled out from a reverie. "You want to get kidnapped, Belle?" I queried in a hushed tone, enticed enough to get her all flustered, though I wouldn't be able to see her expression.

Likewise, she was taken aback by the sudden change of my tone. Her reply came after a moment, but gone was the sass from before, replaced with a rather timid sound. "I was joking..."

"Were you?" At my words, she let out a nervous chuckle. "Yes," but managed to reply anyway. "Hey, my dad would be worried if I were to be... kidnapped or something."

A devious grin formed on my lips at her response. Though the information was of no use to me, I listened anyway. After all, it's for to listen Rosabelle's voice I've called her.

"How'd he know, though?" I knew very well about the response, but I asked only to hear what excuse cute Belle would make. She became speechless again for moment, the other line becoming silent.

When she didn't say something, or couldn't utter any words, I laughed. "Goodnight, Belle."

She seemed to sigh in relief at my words, making my grin wider. "... Goodnight," she said after a moment. Then just as I was about to end the call, her next words stopped me from doing so. "I... Have a tracker with myself."

"Guess I'll have to be careful then?" She chuckles slightly at my words, the nervousness from before disappearing. "Yes, very careful."

"Alright, Belle."

"Bye."

The line went dead afterwards. However, I kept looking at my screen for a while, unable to decipher the emotions that flowed through me.

Though, I knew one thing for sure.

Rosabelle de Luca was a distraction in human form. A tempting distraction I didn't want to get rid of.

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