[ An author's note: Good morning, guys! I'm feeling really happy for being on a roll here, omg. You cannot imagine the grin I have on my face right now. Anyway, how's the winter break going for you guys? I hope you're done with your Christmas shopping! I finished mine yesterday and, man, the malls were croooowded. Stay safe and battle it out like a ninja warrior, everyone! P.S. Enjoy seeing Matt Terry (Axel Van Allen) on that gif on the right. Also, for maximum quality, play the song I posted when you read about a piano in this chapter (wooops!). You can never go wrong with Coldplay. :) ]

4 • Cold Winter

I'd been staying at the mansion for almost a fortnight.

I had slept for four hours but I couldn't sleep after that anymore due to the nightmare I had. I was running away from something -- someone - while my whole body was in agony from trying to escape so fast, my throat went dry and I began to pant hard. It was a cold winter that day -- I ran as fast as I could, seeing my parents' and siblings' faces. Mom and Dad hugged each other as they smiled at me with love in their eyes; and Greg, picking on our little sister Jemma, who was laughing hard and getting annoyed at the same time. I ran and ran but instead of me getting near them, the road lengthened instead.

They cheered and encouraged me to come to them but I couldn't, as much as I tried.

"Come, Venise, come!" they hooted, their smiling faces directed at me.

"Hurry up, slow poke!" Greg shouted, his hands encircling his mouth. My handsome brother grinned as I huffed. Jemma beamed and gestured for me to hurry up. I ran as fast as I could -- until everything went dark and I fell onto the snow. There were cuts and blood on my arms and legs, making me cry in agony as the blood oozed from my skin, bathing the snow beneath me. I closed my eyes, sobbing and moaning from the pain, and then...

And then someone choked me. I couldn't move my arms to try to push away my attacker. That scared me so much. My eyes bulged out and the person tightened his hold around my neck, squeezing my windpipe with his thumbs. I was turning deathly white when the face became visible before my bloodshot eyes.

Roman.

I screamed and hit him as hard as I could, those amber eyes flashing daggers at me, his handsome face turning wild and deadly. His eyes glowed suddenly to a dark crimson, like blood. He began to laugh harshly and tightened his hands like a vise around my neck, making me choke and sputter as the my air started closing in.

Then everything went dark right before my eyes.

I woke up after that, tears running down my cheeks. There were tear-stains on my pillow. I sat bolt upright on the bed for an hour, staring blankly at the wall in front of me. Why did Roman show up in my nightmare? Why did he try to kill me in there? Could he be...

Could he be the one who murdered my family?

No, no. That couldn't possibly be the --

But nobody really knew who killed them, huh? Nobody saw who killed my family. Roman was the one who hated me the most in this house...he was the one who hoped that I stayed here only a little while, or none at all. He told me to stay away from him because he didn't want to see me. Why did he despise me so much?

I finally got up from my bed and went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and bathed absentmindedly. My mind was still on the second Van Allen male in this house. Could he really be the one?

Because if he was, I couldn't stand living here in one roof with the murderer of my family.

I changed to one of Georgie's hand-me-downs, and then I went to find her. I had to talk to someone in this house. I knocked on her door but there was no answer, so I opened it, thinking she was still asleep since it was only six in the morning.

She wasn't there. Maybe she was downstairs? I went down and headed to the living room -- no one was there, either. I tried the kitchen...but there was no one again.

Where was Georgie?

Hmmm...

She was probably outside. But who would even dare? Unlike me, who had to run away from my stalker, not one person would come out when there was a blizzard. She could still be in the house. I mean, we were in a mansion, after all, and she knew the place more than I did. Even though it has around one hundred and fifty-five rooms.

The guys still didn't talk to me, shocker. However, I did notice Gabriel staring at me most of the time, seeing through me or something. And Axel, who said hi to me once or twice this week but that was all. Nothing more. Alistair still ignored me, although he watched me pretty closely (and he always went out quite frequently, but I didn't know where). Then there was Roman, who hated me so much that he didn't even acknowledge my presence unless I accidentally got in his way. I mostly stayed in my room.

Today, I wandered inside the mansion. I opened a door that led to a music room, where a black grand piano was at the corner, facing the floor-to-ceiling window. There was just a piano and Rembrandt painting hanging on the wall. I heard the river water gushing from outside, soothing to my ears, letting my mind off Roman Van Allen for a moment.

I remembered my mom, who'd encouraged me to play the piano. She had even hired a tutor but that had gone down the drain because I was actually terrible. I'd put pepper inside my tutor's snuffbox. I laughed at the reverie. He was a good teacher and even though I had done that awful thing with his snuffbox, he'd forgiven me in the end. I walked toward the grand piano, my fingers trailing the fine, smooth wood. I pressed a key from one of the smooth, ivory board, eventually seating myself down on the stool and started playing.

I played Moonlight Sonata. It wasn't an easy one but I learned after several lessons and, in the end, all the hard work paid off. Mr. Skohinski had finally learned to admire me after I'd learned it after countless months of being horrible. My family had been proud of me, as well.

I stopped since the music was too somber. Poising my fingers on the ivory keys, I played the music from one of my favorite bands, which was Postcards from Far Away by Coldplay. Feeling the music, I began humming along as I played. The door was closed and I was not playing loudly, so I really hoped that no one would be woken up by the sound I was making.

I wasn't aware when the door suddenly opened, though, and Axel Van Allen stood in the doorway, his shoulder leaning on the frame, watching me with amusement in his turquoise eyes.

"Didn't know you could play well," he began.

I immediately stopped, my hands jamming accidentally on the keys which made a horrible sound. My eyes widened like an owl's. He was so good-looking this morning; it looked like he just got out of the shower because his sleek, dark hair was damp. Why were all the guys here so handsome? It was insufferable.

Axel's eyes gleamed merrily. "Easy there. I'm not that frightening," he teased, amusement tinged in his deep voice.

I hadn't realized that my mouth was hanging open since I first noticed he'd been standing in the doorway, so I closed it shut with an audible snap. The sound practically echoed in the quiet room.

The young man in front laughed, making me blush. "I wasn't frightened," I mumbled, looking at the piano keys.

He stopped laughing but his eyes were still scintillating. Could eyes as gorgeous as his shimmer like that? Jesus. "Well, you certainly looked like you were." I didn't speak, since I was still embarrassed, and then he added, "You were great."

That got my attention.

"Excuse me?"

He was still leaning on the doorframe when he uncrossed his arms. He gestured to me and the piano with a hand, like I was supposed to think the two were the most obvious thing in the world to put together. "At playing the piano?" he said slowly, like I was speaking alien. Of course he meant me playing the piano. I was not myself. Not when I was with one of Georgie's brothers. I sucked in a deep breath.

"Um...thanks." I cleared my throat. "Why are you up early?"

"Why are you up early?" he shot back.

I shrugged. "I couldn't sleep well."

"Right. Well, I always wake up early. Everyone here does. Well, except for Roman, and occasionally, Alistair. But that's just occasionally." Really? Axel didn't look like the morning person type.

I pursed my lips at the mention of Roman, so I changed the topic instead. "Have you seen Georgie?"

There was silence. Then, as if no one paused, Axel shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. Wandering the house like she usually does, I guess."

"Right." I knew he was hiding something, but I ignored that today and stood up from the seat, putting my hands in the front pockets of my green sweater, suddenly feeling chilly.

"Have you eaten yet?" he suddenly asked as I neared him, wanting to head out of the room.

I hesitated. "Um, no -- why are you nice to me all of a sudden?" I couldn't help it. My first night here about two weeks ago, everyone gave me the cold shoulder -- with the exception of Georgie, of course. Axel gave me the cold shoulder as much as his other siblings. Now he was talking to me all of a sudden and asking me if I'd eaten yet?

He raised one arrogant brow. "Don't you want me to be nice to you?"

"That's not what I meant, Axel. I don't want your pity." I bit off. "That first night at dinner, two weeks ago...all of you guys hated me. I'm startled, that's all."

"Didn't I just greet you this week?" he chuckled.

I wanted to wipe that smug, all-knowing smile from his face. "Yes. You said hi to me twice, and then you ignored me after that. Naturally, I thought you just wanted to greet and ignore me like your brothers again."

Axel actually had the guts to smile charmingly. "You're wrong, Venise. And I don't hate you," he said gently, shaking his head. "I just can't believe that Alistair allowed someone to live here. That's never happened. Also," he sang, leaning forward indulgently, "I can't believe you counted the times I greeted you. How sweet."

"You arrogant, vexing --"

He actually tweaked my nose. Tweaked it. "Don't frown, pretty girl. You'll get wrinkles." When I was about to open my mouth again, he added, "I don't hate you, Venise. Okay?"

I looked up at him, my head just below his chest. My neck was starting to ache from looking up. I grinned back. "That's good, I guess. I don't like it when people hate me, you know? It's just..." I sighed. "I don't know. I hate it."

"Don't worry about me hating you," he said with a little wink.

We smiled at each other, but mine quickly faded away when Gabriel passed by, stopping to look at me and his brother.

"Well, good morning, Gabe!" Axel chirped.

Gabriel looked at me for a moment, then swivelled his eyes to him. "Morning." It looked like he wasn't sure what was happening just now. I understood him.

"Good morning," I said quietly, my head bowed down low, not wanting to meet his eyes.

He looked at me again, giving a little nod. "Hey."

With that, he left and disappeared. I stared at his retreating back, sighing.

"Don't worry about Gabe," Axel said, nonplussed. "He's just quiet most of the time. Secretive. I don't know what's on his mind sometimes, but you'll get used to him."

"Okay..." I swallowed hard.

"He's not mad at you, Venise, if that's what you're thinking. He's just very...distant at times."

Oh, distant was right. But Gabriel not being mad at me? I didn't think so. He didn't really mean to greet me, as it looked much like it. And we hadn't talked in a long while after that disastrous night.

"Where's Alistair?" I asked casually, changing the topic like a bullet.

"As usual," he replied with a sigh, "he's in his study. Doing things that are boring. I'd rather doze off than do his work."

I furrowed my brows. "What does he do?"

"Keeping up the management of the estate, investing on stocks, dealing with other business pit bulls across the state. Man, I once looked at his paperwork and I didn't want to check them out again. Ever." I laughed at that, making him grin toothily. "I'm not kidding, Venise! I seriously couldn't take math and strategy work. I mean, I'm not bad at both, not that I'm boasting, but yeah."

I kept on laughing. "Thank you."

He raised a brow, looking suspicious and confused. "For what?"

"For starting a good day. I haven't really laughed like I meant it since..."

"Since...?"

I bit my lip. I didn't want to tell him about what happened to my family. But I wanted to tell Axel. I felt like I could confide in him. "Since my family died."

"Oh," he murmured, pursing his lips together. "I'm sorry to hear that."

I sniffled a little. "It's okay."

He touched my arm lightly and leaned down as if he was about to kiss me but, instead, he just cocked his head to the side slightly while saying, in a light voice, "I'm sure that they're very proud of you. And I'm sure," he said with a little pause, pointing to my stomach with a long finger, "that that belly of yours is freaking famished. What do you say we go get some grub?"

"Sure. I am sort of hungry," I admitted, sheepishly.

"You see?"

I gave a snort of laughter. I thought he was just like his other brothers, but he wasn't. And, somehow, that comforted me. He wasn't like Alistair, Roman, and...Gabriel. I really didn't know what Gabriel meant when he asked me if he and his family "weren't human." But it gripped me. I knew there were many weird things going on in the mansion, and this family was somehow different from normal people. It was only a matter of time until someone figured it out.

"So tell me something," Axel queried, as we entered the kitchen. He opened the Subzero fridge and took out a carton of orange juice. He grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and poured a drink for both of us. He also brought out burritos from a fresh Taco Bell brown paper bag and handed me one. I took a bite.

"Like what?" I asked as I munched, taking the glass he gave me that was filled with orange juice.

"Anything." He took a big chunk out of his burrito. I sipped the juice, making a sour face as the citrus flavour touched my tongue and slid down my throat. Axel laughed, drinking his in one gulp. He looked at his glass. "Florida's Natural. Sure keeps me going in the morning."

I took another sip, restraining myself from reacting sourly to the taste again. I normally didn't drink orange juice. Greg had always asked why I didn't like it, since it was way too weird for him to know that his sister wasn't such a big fan of orange juice like he'd been. To be honest, I wasn't a fan of sour food and drinks. "Do you have milk, instead?" I asked politely, keeping my face together.

"Sure do." He flashed me a quick grin, making his dimples appear on his cheeks. "Here, give it to me," he said, gesturing to the glass. I gave it to him and he poured my juice into his glass, then he brought out the milk carton from the fridge, poured it into mine, and handed it back to me. "Cheers." We clinked our glasses.

After a moment of silence, I noticed him looking at me. "Your eyes are amazing," he told me, peering at my stricken face. He chuckled, saying in playful defense, "What? They are."

Was he flirting with me? I only dated once -- that was two years ago. I was never actually sure what flirting was. Or how to do it. By the time I knew my date was flirting with me, I'd always thought it the last minute. It was so lame of me.

I stopped leaning on the counter and looked at my glass, suddenly flushing. Axel had a way to make me blush, didn't he?

I walked around the counter and grabbed his glass, then I went to the sink.

"There's a dishwasher, Venise," he said in an amused voice.

"I know that," I mumbled, my voice quivering slightly. God, I hope he didn't catch my tone. What was wrong with me? He's just a guy! A really handsome, totally gorgeous guy... "But I like doing things on my own without help from technology." I grinned sheepishly, shrugging. "Well, most of the time."

He came up beside me and helped me dry the first glass with a towel. "Wow," he chuckled, rubbing the glass with the cloth. "Never thought you'd like doing this."

"Well, some of us are not rich, Axel," I muttered, handing him the next glass which he took and rubbed with the drying sheet. He then placed it to where it belonged, along with the other one. As he set them back in the cabinet, he leaned back on the counter, crossed his rather lean but muscular arms, and looked at me as he gave a lopsided smile.

"I see."

I stared at him. Why did he keep smiling? I mean, I liked it that he smiled because at least he was not angry, but... "So. Um, what does your name mean?"

"My name?" he asked, confused a bit at the sudden switch of topic. I couldn't just stand there, with him looking at me and dimpling in that charming way he seemed to have down-pat.

"Yes, your name. Axel?"

"Right." He furrowed his brows a little. "It normally stands for 'father of peace' but my parents had a different meaning. My name means I can control --"

He was about to continue on when Alistair suddenly came into the kitchen, holding papers in his hands.

"Axel," he said with a nod. He looked at me. "Venise."

Alistair's brother smiled; I greeted him back.

He looked at his Axel, eyeing him suspiciously. "What're you two talking about?"

"My name," Axel replied coolly.

Alistair narrowed his jade eyes. He grabbed some coffee for a few minutes, then he left the kitchen in quick, long strides. Axel looked at me and grinned. "He's doing paperwork again."

I didn't care about the paperwork. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing. Alistair's just really serious and superior. Since, after all, he is the eldest. Anyway, that's just Alistair for you. We have different personalities here. You may think the twins have similar personas, but that's not true. Georgie and I are mostly alike but I can be serious when I want to be."

I nodded. "And so...what does your name mean again?"

He hesitated for a while. Then he spoke. "It just simply means that I see the finer things in life."

"Oh." That wasn't the answer I was quite expecting. But I did not let it go further. In fact, I was enjoying his company so much that I surely didn't want to ruin the moment when he was actually being nice to me. Like how I ruined the companionable moment with me and Gabriel, who still wasn't speaking to me. Except for the good morning thing today, he was still as cold as he ever was.

"And yours?" Axel piped in, poking me in the rib.

I blinked. "My what?"

"Your name. What does yours mean?"

"Um, my name? Uh...it means..." I cleared my throat. "Goddess of beauty and love."

He grinned, his beautiful eyes roaming up and down my flushed face. "It suits you."

I blushed deeply. I hated myself for that, it was embarrassing. "Thanks" was all I could manage.

We were silent right until high heels echoed through the silent house. Georgie appeared in all her tall and fashionable glory. Wherever she had been, she didn't look like she'd gone outside, like I had first expected.

"Hey," she greeted warmly, her eyes shimmering at the sight of me and her brother, standing side-by-side near the sink.

"Hey,"