Sylvia picked up the cup, taking a slow sip of her coffee. As she set it back on the saucer, her gaze lingered on Lucius.
"You should have co to the mont you learned the truth about my brother," she said with a small chuckle. "Now, the more I complain, the more foolish I’ll seem."
Lucius let out a quiet sigh, his fingers intertwining as he clasped his hands together. "I’m sorry, Sylvia," he admitted. "I should have made an effort to understand you better. Instead, I ignored your feelings and labeled you as nothing more than a rebellious girl." His voice softened. "Honestly, I just thought it would be best if you stayed away from all of this. But I could never explain it to you in the better words."
"Indeed, you never could," Sylvia said, her voice calm yet firm. "I learned that my brother saved your life. You might bla yourself for simply existing, but you shouldn’t. Matteo saw you as soone precious so that he gave his last breath to protect you. The least you can do is honor his sacrifice by living your life well, without regrets."
Lucius was taken aback. Sylvia had never spoken with such maturity before. He had expected anger, resentnt and even hatred. But instead, her words carried an unexpected wisdom.
"I thought you would bla ," he murmured. "If I hadn’t been in Italy, Matteo would still be alive. My brother, Antoine, would still be alive. So many lives would have turned out differently..." His voice trailed off as he turned a bit gloomy.
"I did bla you at first," Sylvia admitted, her fingers lightly tracing the rim of her cup. "But what good would it do? Holding onto that anger would only mock my brother’s sacrifice. I don’t want that. I want to honor his choice—because in the end, he saw you as his brother. That’s why he gave everything to protect you."
She lifted her cup again, taking another slow sip of coffee. Across from her, Lucius followed suit, finishing his own in silence.
Then, Sylvia set her cup down and t his gaze. "I forgive you, Lucius. You should move forward and live your life well, with Layla. She was the one who protected you in the end, and now, I understand why you’ve always been drawn to her. Why she was the one for you and not the others. I’m sorry for always pestering you."
Lucius stared at her for a mont. "Sylvia, I never expected you to say all this," he murmured. "I thought you would yell at ... and I was ready to bear it. Matteo was your only family in this world." His voice wavered, unable to continue.
"I’ve learned to live alone all these years, Lucius. You don’t need to protect ," Sylvia said. "Just focus on yourself and your life."
Lucius exhaled softly, shaking his head. "I can’t let you fall into danger. That’s the least I can do for Matteo’s sister. I know you were always uncomfortable with it, but I want to protect you. Even if you never saw as your brother, I’ve always seen you as my little sister, the one who always threw tantrums." A warm smile tugged at his lips as he recalled their past interactions.
Sylvia looked away, her fingers tightening around the cup. "But I don’t see you as a brother," she mumbled. She added, "I could never see my crush as my brother... Don’t scold ."
"I’m not saying anything," Lucius murmured.
Sylvia studied him for a mont before shifting the subject. "You didn’t bring Layla with you. Why?"
Lucius leaned back slightly. "She went to her maternal ho," he explained. "Besides, she thought you might not be comfortable with her presence. She wanted to give you space."
Sylvia humd. "That was considerate of her. Say sorry to her on my behalf. I even troubled her in the past. This ti it is for the real. I am not acting," she stated.
"I will. And I trust you this ti, Sylvia. Also, you should apologize to Roger too. I don’t know what happened between you both, but it isn’t good to hurt soone that badly. Rest is upto you," Lucius suggested.
Sylvia contemplated but didn’t say anything.
"It’s the ti we should leave," Lucius said and raised his hand. Sylvia offered to pay, but he refused and paid the bills. Once done, they both parted ways.
Sylvia felt quite better to talk with Lucius face-to-face. As she drove the car to her apartnt, her eyes widened to see the fire brigade team outside. She parked her cat in the parking lot and rushed near the yard, where people had gathered.
"What happened?" Sylvia asked from the people.
"One of the apartnt upstairs caught fire," a middle-aged woman said.
"Oh, is everything fine?" Sylvia asked.
"A man got injured we heard," the second lady said.
Sylvia recalled about her cat. She had left Coco alone in the apartnt. But luckily her flat was unhard, but she wondered which man got injured.
"I heard the man saved the kids as their mother wasn’t ho."
Sylvia heard the conversation among the people. She went ahead to check and saw the ambulance. What shocked her it was none other than Aiden, who had got injured.
"Aiden! What happened to you?" Sylvia rushed to him as she saw the doctor was putting a bandage on his forearm.
"Oh, Sylvia. It’s nothing. I just got a cut. Nothing serious," Aiden told her, dismissing her concern.
"But you don’t look good," Sylvia said. "Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?" She gazed at the doctor, who was closing the first-aid box.
"It wasn’t a serious injury," Aiden said.
The dia had co there, asking for the man who saved the kids. Aiden spotted them and thanked the doctor before dragging Sylvia along with her.
"Where are you taking ?" Sylvia asked as they finally stopped within the huge garden of the residential complex.
"How did your eting go?" Aiden asked.
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