Screams and shouts can be hard from the other side of the closed door, a small girl, barely six was hugging both of her knees, leaning to the door. Her cheeks wet with tears and eyes filled with pain, she bit the hem of her sleeve to prevent her tiny sobs from being heard by the arguing couple. Clutched tightly on her hands is a small box wrapped with a paper colorful wrap and a piece of bow - her efforts wasted because even today, they're at it again.

She wiped her tears away, smiling slightly to hide all the pain. She knocked on the door, the screams went quiet, everything fell into a blur.
When the door finally opens..

. . .

Rin's POV

I woke up by the sound of a tiny beeping coming from my phone; it's 6.30. Reaching out to my nightstand, I pushed the button to shush the busy machine off. That memory certainly isn't the best, well, it wasn't the worst either though. I still wonder what had become of my parents after that happened. My childhood memory is filled with gaps and holes, but I'm recovering it bits by bits everytime I sleep.

I yawned, pulling my hair up into a ponytail and making my way to the bathroom in my sleepwear. It's still early anyway, none of them would be up and about roaming across this apartment's floor. Beside, t-shirt and sweatpants are the best clothes a girl could ever had. I changed into a pair of decent clothes to go out with and make my way towards the kitchen are for breakfast.

A buttery aroma instantly filled my nose, followed by a sweet aroma of maple syrup I'm familiar with - pancakes. I took a seat as Ema placed a plate in front of me, well I was right. The pancakes look fat and fluffy, with maple syrup and butter to accompany it. I sighed in content before digging in right away, my stomach was empty since I didn't eat dinner last night.

"Morning," Somebody greeted as he sat down next to me. I turned around with a full mouth to see one of the brothers dressed in a private school uniform, I recognized him as Iori. "Up and about so early?"

"Hmm," I responded with a full mouth, swallowing chunks of pancakes down my throat before making an attempt to continue the conversation. "Got work, school?"

"Bright Centrair Private Academy," He smiled. "Which highschool did you go to?"

"Hinode, never finished." I responded briefly, to preoccupied by the wonderfully tasty pancakes. Unlike Ema, cooking is one of my weakness, I have survived living on take-outs, cup-noodles, and instant food. "Well, fancy having this..'conversation'...sadly, work is waiting."

"Well, see you after it then."

"You too,"

I stood up, walking to sit down at the empty couch, opening my phone to call my manager to pick me up not in the usual adress since I'n pretty sure I haven't tolde her of my little change of residence. Hm, five miscalls, conclusion; I haven't told her yet. I sighed and texted her the adress of the Asahina Residence, adding a small note of apology. When suddenly, a flash of light blinded me.

"Say cheese!"

When I opened my eyes, a phone is pointing its camera towards me with the person behind it being one of the twins. Tsubaki grinned while he looked at the result of the picture. I frowned in annoyance, he caught me by surprise! The picture would have me having a blank look or a totally surprised look. Are you kidding me?

"Delete that," I deadpanned.

"Aww, that's why you should smile." He waved the phone teasingly in front of my face, "and have good reflexes."

"This is blackmail." I frowned deeper.

"It is not!" He laughed and argued. "Why don't you smile anyway?"
"That," I snatched his phone from his grip. "Is apparently not your business." I pressed the delete button before throwing the phone back at him, heading towards the door.

"See you after work, imouto-chan!"

"Hmph," I huffed in annoyance, people like him sometimes bring out the worst in me, let's hope that it's just sometimes and not eveytime.

. . .

"Well, we are running late because of you!" the blue-haired manager ranted while turning the car wheels frantically, passing by some honking cars with mad drivers - let me tell you, Amaya's driving isn't the best and plus when she's mad, it became the worst. I gripped the handle above my head tightly, still begging the devil to not take my soul just yet, I survived almost twenty before - why die now?

"Okay! It's my fault, I'll take responsibility or whatever, just slow down the damn car!" I finally snapped even though I rarely snapped, it's a life-death matter here, hello? "I swear someday we're going to get in trouble because of this and I'm not having my arrested face in the news headline!"

"Geez, drama queen much?" She snickered at my panic tone.

"Geez, mad driving much?" I retorted as the car came to an abrupt stop, my face will hit the car front window if not for these safety belts. My twentieth time of being thankful they invented cars with seatbelts, "ouch!"

"Soo, how's it going with your new family-ish thingy?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows together - one of the skill that she has and I don't. "It's Asahina right? As in the twins voice actors?"

"Yeah, the one annoying and one glasses twins voice actors," I huffed. "You won't believe it but there are thirteen male specimens living in the house!"

"Thirteen!?"

"Yep."

"How lucky!"

"What?"

"I said you're lucky," She giggled. "I mean, hey, living with thirteen god-like boys wouldn't be too bad right? The adonis genes must've been passed down to all of them."

I rolled my eyes, handsome boys don't fluster me. After years of working in the modelling industry, I've modeled with some of the hottest looking models - and I've formed an immune system for sparkling looks. "Lucky, sure."

The car stopped with a screech. We're in front of a building I don't recognize. Amaya opened her door as I opened mine, she gave me a little smirk as I gave her a shrug in return.

"Well, let's kick-ass."

"Yay," I said in a flat tone.

. . .

I finally arrived at the house on eight pm sharp, Amaya dropped me off the front of the house with a little whine of not being able to see the adonis creatures or my step-brothers. I finally gave in and allowed her to meet them, only, some other day. As I stepped into the porch, the door opened to reveal one of the brother I recognized as Iori - the thousand-watt-smile one.

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Welcome home Hoshino-san," He smiled, opening the door for me to open before closing it back. "I thought you were Kaname-nii since he said he still have a client around seven o'clock."

"Doesn't he work as a monk?" I asked curiously.

"Hm, it's more of a buddha-host-club," He laughed nervously, twirling with the pendant of his cross-necklace. "The others are having dinner, would you like to join then?"

"Hn,"

After dinner, I've been thinking about my childhood over and over again. All I remembered was my father's death and that was when Mother locked herself in her room for days and she cut her ties from the outside world forever. I was moved to Japan by my mother's orders and I changed my name for modelling and blah blah, you know what comes after that.

Well, I don't know what happened.

I don't know how bad it is.

I don't know what changed.

But I want to know, no matter what and how.

. . .

edited

[word count: 1303 words]

for old readers; this is the revised version of chapter two, i hope you liked it and thank you for your patience.

for new readers; hello! after reading this chapter, the third chapter may not make sense to you since I haven't edited it yet. I reccomend waiting, bur if you're still curious then you're welcome to read more. thank you for choosing this book.

i love you all, goodbye.

seira❤