"Why am I so weak?" Kai punched the wall of his room, frustrated.

"You're not weak," I told him honestly. Kai was by no means weak. It was just that Diego was too strong.

"I'm sorry you had to see violence because of me." Kai sighed, covering his face with his hands.

I inspected his wounds to see they were turning blue with each passing moment. "Wait here. I'll bring an ice pack." I instructed him.

While on my way to the kitchen, I saw Eveline cleaning the mess left behind by the one-sided fight. A vase had fallen over and broken somewhere during their fight.

"Do you need help?" I offered, watching as she meticulously collected the broken pieces of glass.

"Don't touch it with bare hands. You will cut yourself." She warned me when I tried to pick one of the broken shards. She passed me a pair of gloves, "I asked Noah for help, but he said he was tired."

After we were done cleaning, she followed me to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water.

"Aylin, are you upset big brother came back?" Eve asked in a small voice, avoiding my eyes.

Yes.

"No. Why would I be?" I didn't want her worrying about it.

"Anyone can tell you're lying." She laughed dryly. "I know I shouldn't be saying this. I have no right to say this. But can you give him another chance?"

How many scars do we justify just because we love the person holding the knife?

"I'll think about it." I can't give Diego another chance to break my heart. Not even for you, Eve.

"Why didn't Ezra and Stephen stop the fight?" I asked. They were standing there the entire time watching Diego mercilessly beat Kai.

"Everyone is already used to it," Eve sighed, "Every time big brother comes back, Kai will without exception start a fight with him. And big brother never backs off. Ezra used to stop them at first but things would just turn even more bloody, so they don't intervene anymore."

But still, they should do something!

'It's his fault, who told him to fight someone twice his strength?' the voice chided in.

I took out the ice pack from the freezer. But on my way, I heard a heated argument coming from the downstairs study. I immediately recognized the voices, Stephen and Diego.

Hearing my name in their argument, I decided to listen for a little while. I will be gone before they even know. Thankfully the door was half open giving me full access to what they were talking about.

"Why didn't you inform me you are coming back?" Stephen asked, his voice telling just how pissed he was.

"Why didn't you inform me that Aylin is back?" Diego shot back just as fiercely as Stephen.

'Now, that's some quality entertainment.'

"Why are you back anyway?"

"A little birdie told me the old man dropped dead. Thought I should come to pay my respect."

"The truth, Diego."

I heard Diego sigh heavily at being called out, "My last mission didn't end well. The higher-ups believe I need a break to deal with it."

"Whatever the reason is, I need you to stay away from Aylin." Stephen firmly commanded him.

The respect in my heart for Stephen increased a little.

"And why will I do that?" I heard the sound of glass breaking following right after it.

"She hates you, Diego. She already has enough on her plate, don't add more to it."

"She doesn't hate me!" I heard Diego shout followed by the scraping of the chair.

"Keep telling that to yourself and you might actually end up believing it." Stephen scoffed.

I quickly went inside the kitchen again, knowing one of them would be coming out now that the argument is over.

Hearing footsteps approaching, I opened the refrigerator, pretending to look for food in there. The footsteps stopped right behind me, and I prayed it wasn't Stephen. He always seemed to know when I did something wrong.

"You know, it's rude to eavesdrop on your brothers."

It wasn't Stephen. But I had forgotten Diego was even worse. Stephen will just scold me and get over it. But that wasn't Diego's style. He would hold this over my head for as long as he can.

"You have no proof. Besides you two were being loud and I just happened to pass by." I said, trying to sound confident.

"You were passing by that corridor for 15 minutes?" Diego called me out on my blatant lie. "Hmm, now why do I find that hard to believe?"

He knew from the start I was listening and still has the guts to call me out for that.

If you had so much problem with me listening in, you could have just stopped talking.

I closed the refrigerator and once again grabbed the ice pack for Kai. Passing Diego, I climbed the stairs to the second floor.

I looked back to find Diego following me all the way to Kai's room. I didn't want to talk to him, so I didn't complain.

Just as I reached Kai's room he snatched the ice pack from me, "Give it to me."

Before I could even try to take it back, he roughly pushed the door open and walked in as if it was his own room.

"The fuck you doing here?" Kai shouted, enraged.

"Tsk. Language, little brother." Diego clicked his tongue.

"Damn, talk about having a sister complex." Diego snickered looking around at the paintings of me. "Is that why you don't let any of us in here?"

"Why are you here?" Kai snapped.

"I am here to show my caring side to Lili." Diego claimed, winking at me. He sat beside Kai and pressed the ice pack to his eyes.

"Ow!" Kai flinched back.

Was he here to hurt him again?

"You're hurting him!" I snatched the ice from his hand. After carefully compressing his swollen eye, I stood up to leave but Diego stopped me, holding my hand.

"I'm hurt, too." He said, pointing to his split lip.

So?

"Treat it," he demanded.

Is he honestly crazy?

"I'll beat Kai, again, if you don't." he threatened.

I felt disgust crawl up at his words. I didn't want Kai to get beaten up for me but I also didn't want to treat Diego's wound. I didn't want to do anything related to him.

It was typical of Diego. He would always blackmail me to get what he wanted.

Noticing the disgust in my eyes, Diego straightened up, "I was just joking, Lili."

"Goodnight, Kai," I told Kai, ignoring Diego. When I turned to leave Diego stopped me for a second time. I tried to free my hand but his hold was too tight, though not painful.

"Happy Birthday, Lili." He whispered, looking straight into my eyes.

"I want to sleep. Get out." Kai broke the moment, shouting at Diego.

After I went to my room, I got another surprise waiting there for me.

My entire bed was filled with presents of different sizes. I saw a note lying in the middle.

"A little compensation for all the birthdays we missed together."

They call this a little?!

I counted at least 40 presents there. I would be lying if I said I wasn't touched by the gesture.

I took my time opening all of them. Thankfully, they didn't share the same idea as Ezra and gifted me things I can make use of now. Not in the distant past.

I felt a smile blooming when I unwrapped the gift Kai gave me.

It was a painting of me wearing a bear costume for my school competition. Sadly, though, I didn't win that year. A boy who had dressed as a hot air balloon did.

Stephen had gone up to the judge claiming they weren't being fair, and it should be me and Eve who deserves first place. Because according to him we looked like angels even in bear costumes. They disqualified us after the ruckus he caused. But it was still fun.

Is that why he refused when I asked for one of the paintings? Because he already had one prepared for my birthday?

I moved all the presents out of the bed. I was really tired after a more than exhausting day.

Everything still felt like a dream. With Diego coming back I didn't know what to think anymore.