Chapter VII ۞ Thays ۞ Part III

"I LIKE COOKING TOO!"

I chuckled, "If the constant smell of burned stuff coming from your apartment is an indication of that, I suggest you to stay far away from the kitchen!"

"That only happened twice, Thays," he insisted with annoyance all over his face. "Twice and you keep bringing that up."

"My drink only fell on you once, and you make my life a hell since then because of it. Once." I exclaimed as annoyed as he was. "Rancoroso infernal." Muttering, I opened my fridge and took the butter, the cheese, the eggs, and the sliced salami from it, putting it all over the island. "Everyone in my family is skilled at cooking, except for my youngest sister, Larissa."

"Is she the 10th one?"

"Yes. You also need to ace that. Let's start from the top. My grandmothers, my parents, the first triplets, the second triplets, and the youngest triplets," I said with cutting the Italian homemade bread.

He hummed something, and I looked up to him, just to find his amber eyes on me, "I'm still surprised that your mother had four pregnancies and three of those were all triplets. You are the only one who's came alone, right?"

That made me giggled. Everybody acts like that. "Yes. I'm the only one. The 7th. The odd, but the best out of them. And mamãe didn't do an insemination in vitro like many think, it was all natural. That's what makes it all so special."

"What's the age difference between you all?"

"A year. The first triplets are two years older than me, the second triplets are a year older than me, and I'm a year older than the last triplets in the family. Mamãe didn't rest between us," I mocked giggling and took a bite of one of the salami slices, and gave another to him. "And it was all accidental, none of us were planned. She was just that fertile."

"Wow, that's a lot. How old was she when she has your eldest siblings?" He asked and took one more slice from the tray.

I slapped his hand, "Stop stealing food. And answering your question, mamãe was 22. She was 22 and papai was 24, two years older. They began dating back when she first arrived at college, although they were in different courses. But they knew each other way before that."

"So, she had you all while in college?"

A nod, "Yes. They got married a year before she first had the first triplets, because they both wanted to get married young. Thankfully, they are still healthily married. But mamãe got back to college a year after she had the youngest triplets, at 26."

"Then she had you at 24."

"She did."

"That means she's 51 and your dad is 53, then." I nodded again, giving him a slice of cheese, while I ate another. "And if you are 27, the first triplets are 29, the second ones are 28, and your youngest siblings are both 26."

"At least you are good at math," I exclaimed with a small grin on. "To complete the cake, my maternal nonna is 70 years old, and my paternal nonna is 75."

"My parents are both 56, and they had me at 28. As you know, I'm the eldest out of their five sons. No twins or triplets, like your mom. But we are all two years apart from each other. Luke's 26, Graham's 24, Ethan's 22, and the youngest is Henry who's 20."

I bit my bottom lip, "In my family they all named me and my siblings with the 1st name being one that is more common in Brazil, our middle name being Italian, and our last name from dad."

"Thays Emmanuelle Rossetti," he said, tasting the sound of my full name on his tongue, and I felt a shiver ran down my spine when I heard it in his deep voice. "I don't have a middle name, only my name and both of my parents surnames together. What about your siblings? Better yet, tell me your grandmothers and your parents first," he leaned forward and I had to use all of my will not to stare at his biceps, or at his abs since he was still shirtless.

Jesus amado, what a walking temptation.

Gulping, I snapped out of it, putting my attention on the bread again. "My maternal nonna is Brazilian, so her name is Gabriela Melissa Oliveira. While my paternal nonna is Italian and her name is Caterina Alice Rossetti. Nonna Caterina moved to Brazil from Sicily, in Italy, at 36 years old, when papai was 14."

"Was that when they met your mom and her family?"

A nod, "Yeah. They moved to the same neighborhood still in Campos do Jordão, São Paulo, where I was later born and so were my siblings. Mamãe was also born there, as were her parents. At the time papai moved there, she was still 12, so they stayed as best friends."

He giggled softly, "So they went from childhood friends to lovers?"

"Kind of, yes."

"What are they? I mean, professionally."

"My nonnas are both in the beauty industry. They own a famous beauty brand in Brazil, together, called Flores de Afrodite, that means flowers of Aphrodite, and my two youngest siblings help them there. Now, mamãe is a doctor. A brain surgeon, precisely. She owns a handful of hospitals there too, which one of my siblings help her with. While papai is an engineer who has lots of farms and a famous wine factory, and my third brother is his right arm."

Aaron looked stunned, "So, business also runs in your family, I guess. Although in a different way. You said that four of yours siblings work with you, right?"

"Mm-hm. Managing the resorts and hotels I have at the bay cities. They didn't want to work with beauty, medicine, farms, wine, or in the bank. So, when I gave them the option of working in such a thing with me, they loved it," and it was good for me too.

"What bank?" Oh?

"Ah, my maternal and paternal nonnos both founded a bank together, to personally take care of our family's finances. The Oliveira-Rossetti Bank is now managed by my eldest sister. Part of my fortune is there too," eating one for slice of salami, I gave him another as well.

His eyes showed pure surprise and it was amusing to see, "And the other?"

"A private bank in Switzerland."

"Smart move. I did that too."

"Switzerland is the best place to keep large quantities of money. No government can mess with that, so it's the best option for business people like us," other banks aren't as trustworthy. Even my family's. "But they think I put it all there," I grinned.

"Back to the names."

Oh. "Right. Mamãe has the longest name out of all of us, Maria Beatriz Oliveira-Rossetti. Papai is called Massimo Giuliano Rossetti."

"Very Italian, indeed."

"My paternal nonno was simply Guillermo Rossetti, while my maternal nonno was called Mateus Henrique Oliveira. They both passed away in a train accident together, when I was 9, so I remember them faintly."

Aaron pressed his lips together, "I'm sorry for that. I lost my paternal grandfather when I was 13, it was quite the hit. His name was Zachary Solomon," my eyes traveled to him and he was looking down at his hands. "And he was a lieutenant in the British military."

"Then he was an honorable men."

A faint smile appeared on his lips, "He was." But then he exhaled. "Anyways, I'm really curious about your 9 siblings.".

Rolling my eyes, I gave him another slice of cheese, "Alright, now we are in my siblings. The first triplets are respectively a girl and two boys. Isabela Graziella, Miguel Enrico, and Lucas Lorenzo Rossetti. The second triplets are also respectively a girl and two boys. Juliana Cecilia, Pedro Giovanni, and Gabriel Leonardo Rossetti."

"Then you."

I nodded. "Then I came at 7th. And the last triplets are two boys and a girl. Leandro Alessandro, Gustavo Paolo, and Larissa Amalia Rossetti. Amalia being the youngest out of all of us, the caçula of the family," a proud smile took over my lips. "She resents me for leaving them when she was 15, and never moving back there. But I get it. I was the closest to her, she missed me a lot, but I needed to prioritize my future. Thanks to that, I am this independent now."