1 SOFIA

SOFIA

My mum never failed to show me the picture of my dad whenever I asked but looking at him now the picture felt like a lie. He was tall, very tall with short black hair, electric blue eyes and a lean face. His features held no emotions and were blank like a rock. He wore a dark suit, open at the top with the same color of trousers and shoes that probably cost more than my entire being. Beside him stood 4 other boys with similar looks but shorter, muscular and a variation of blue or green eyes.

"SOFIA" my dad's gruff voice resonated through the air. I almost jumped at the sudden sound of his voice. I stood in front of all of them clutching my suitcase with my backpack strapped to my back. "how was your flight?"

"great" I replied in a small tone almost intimidated by his gaze. The silence that ensued was awkward, annoying and choking. Truth be told, we had nothing to say. I wondered why my mum sent me here, all the way from L.A to New York. She suddenly insisted I needed a father figure but I secret guessed she was trying to get rid of me and I wasn't going back soon.

The mansion was very large, obviously. It's a mansion. It had tall white columns like in ancient Greek architecture, it was white with gold trim. It was fenced round with wrought iron, very tall I was sure nobody could scale the fence. It felt like a fort and a prison.

"good evening Mr. Carter" a tall lady dressed in what seemed like maid clothes said walking towards our awkward gathering. "dinner is served sir". My dad nodded and we headed into the house. The interior of the house was better than the outside, a gold chandelier hung in the room we stepped into. I dropped my bag by the door and left my bag pack on. I followed the boys to the dining room, it was large with gothic and white credenzas and cupboards with cups and plates and some with wine in them. The table was long made of mahogany with fluffy matching seats. Everybody took their seats; left to me I would have sat at the other end of the table but they all eyed the seat beside my dad so I took it. Removing my bag pack, I settled into my seat. Dinner was served by a long train of maids bearing trays with food and drinks. Curried rice and pork. I groaned internally. I'm allergic to pork.

"I'm sorry, you couldn't rest before dinner" my dad said "your flight took longer than usual" he stared at his watch. The room was silent again with no one speaking until I cleared my throat and spoke.

"I'm Sofia Carter and 16 years, do you have names?" they all raised eyebrows at me.

"very well then, I'm your dad, Lincoln Carter and I'm 33 years" young. That means he had me when he was only 17 years. Teenagers and the things they do.

"Alessandro, and I'm 28" he was muscular like all of them, but bulkier, his hair was scattered on top of his head and his eyes were green.

"Vincent, I'm 23 years" he was a bit shorter than Alessandro but equally muscular, with longer hair and blue eyes.

"Theodore, 19" he was tall too, muscular with the longest hair and blue eyes.

"then me, Giovanni but call me Gio, his twin" he pointed a finger at Theo who rolled his eyes at his brother. They looked alike a lot but Theo looked more mysterious and deadly than Gio. "we're your uncles" he added. We proceeded to eat, well they did but I was more interested in shoving the meat to one side of my plate. The others were practically inhaling the food into their stomachs.

"is there something wrong with the food?" my dad sked.

'I'm allergic to pork" I said in small voice. He nodded and we continued to eat in silence. Then a question popped into my head. "why'd you leave mum?"

Everybody stopped eating, the tension in the room could be felt and if a pin dropped to the floor at that moment, I was pretty sure it would be heard. Dad stabbed his food and turned to me. I couldn't read what was in his eyes but I could see mixed emotions, annoyance, sadness and anger. Theo coughed and muttered something about getting water, he stood and pulled an annoyed Gio with him. Vincent excused himself and walked out with Alessandro following close behind.

"I didn't leave your mum" dad finally said. "she left me and went to L.A with you" I stared at him suddenly feeling foolish. Mum always gave the impression that she was the victim but I guess it was a lie.

"you had me when you was young?"

"yes" he ran his hand across his face "it was kind of an error; we were both drunk"

"so I'm a mistake?" he turned pink.

"no, well at that time but you're a blessing now Sofia" he squeezed my hand and smiled. I smiled back.

"very touchy, can I go back to my dinner?" Giovanni appeared at the door of the kitchen with an amused grin. My dad rolled his eyes at him but still had a smile on his face. My eyes started to droop. I was getting tired and the day was slowly passing away.

Dad led me up the stairs to my room, it was a long walk and I considered just lying on the floor and calling it a night but with some words of encouragement, we finally made it to our destination. It was a large pink door. Pink is my favorite color. Too tired to look around and see what it looked like I just took a warm shower and jumped into my pajama top and shorts. Snuggling into my duvet, I was out like light.