The Hawk and The Rabbit.

The next day at dawn, a prickling sensation on his chest jolted a young man with dark, sleepy hair and tanned skin awake. He blinked, disoriented, the remnants of sleep clinging heavily to him. It felt like a small animal, warm and heavy, was curled up on him. Before he could fully grasp the situation, a pair of giggling voices erupted in his ears.

"This doesn't make sense. Who could possibly dare lay on my bed?' he thought, opening his eyes carefully.

To his surprise, he discovered two ten-year-old kids sitting on top of him, one boy and one girl. They looked alike, being twins; the boy had blonde hair while the girl had silver hair, but both had bright golden eyes that stared intently at him.

"Good morning, Zio!" The two small figures bounced on the mattress, their blonde and silver hair a stark contrast against the dark sheets.

He clenched his jaw and thought, 'If I just ignore them and close my eyes, they'll probably disappear.' Slowly, he closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep again.

The twins shared mischievous glances and brought their lips close to each of his ears.

"Zio, do you think we will just disappear if you close your eyes and go back to sleep?" they said simultaneously.

The man furrowed his eyebrows but kept his eyes closed, repeating to himself, 'Ignore them. Ignore them.'

"We are here to stay with you, Zio... forever," they both sang in a high-pitched, sing-song voice that made his headache even worse. "You can never escape us..."

They giggled and continued, "We want to be with you. We love you so much."

They really weren't going to give up, were they? The man sighed heavily before opening his eyes again to look at them.

"Stop," he yelled, opening his eyes abruptly, his golden eyes glowing fiercely. "Stop doing that. I don't want to play with you or have anything to do with you. I just want to sleep today."

His eyes returned to their normal color when they saw that he had finally calmed down. "So get off me now, please."

The twins looked at each other, then at him.

"Don't worry... I won't close my eyes," he added, rubbing his temples. The twins grinned widely at each other. 'What an exhausting life I have,' he thought, pulling himself up.

He looked at the twins, who just stared at him expectantly. "What?" he asked them.

"You know what we want," the twins said innocently, smiling.

He pulled his head back and groaned tiredly. He knew what they wanted. He grabbed both of them by their waists and carried them onto his shoulders. Both squealed with joy.

'This is definitely not how I planned my morning,' he thought with a grumpy expression.

He walked out to the living room with the twins still on his shoulders. "Now," he started, "let's have breakfast," he said with his most authoritative tone.

He turned to the dining room and saw breakfast laid out on the table. 'Oh, it's ready. Did the chef make this already?'

A woman with black hair pulled up into a ponytail, dressed in a simple black dress, and with tanned skin just like the man, came rushing out of the kitchen with a plate of food. She placed the plate on the dining table and greeted him cheerfully with a bright smile when she saw him.

"Good morning, Achille," she chirped.

"Did my baby fratello sleep well?" she asked in the same friendly tone she used before.

Achille closed his eyes and let out a sigh of frustration. "No thanks to you and your kids, Valentina and don't call me baby Fratello."

"I'm glad I ruined your morning and no I won't stop calling you baby fratello," Valentina said with a bright glint in her golden eyes.

She looked at her twins, clasped her hands together and said, "Alright, Giovanni and Giovanna, that's enough. Get down from your Zio right now," she said sternly. They pouted, holding onto Achille's face and mumbled, "Yes, mamma."

The twins quickly kissed the top of Achille's head. Achille glared at them, and they giggled, knowing that Achille hated this.

Achille rolled his eyes and placed them each on different chairs. He then took the chair opposite Valentina, which was beside the twins, and began eating his breakfast.

After eating breakfast, the twins quickly fell asleep on the sofa in the living room while Valentina and Achille stared at them.

"Tell me, why are you and the twins here, in my villa, in the first place?" he asked grumpily.

Valentina laughed lightly at her brother's expression and replied, "They just really wanted to see you. They didn't sleep a wink last night. I don't understand why they like you more than me."

Achille snorted as he sipped from his coffee with his legs crossed as he sat on the sofa opposite the one the twins were on. "I don't understand it either," he muttered under his breath. Valentina ignored him and turned to the twins, caressing their heads.

Then a sudden realization hit him, and he asked, "How did you even get into this villa?"

Valentina sighed deeply and said, "We came very early in the morning. When we arrived, we saw your maid, Signora Giacinta, leaving. She let us in."

Achille nodded in understanding and said, "Oh, I completely forgot I gave my staff three days off."

Valentina pulled her hand away from her twins and stood up. "That reminds me, I have a message from Nonno."

"What message?" Achille asked, looking up from his coffee.

Valentina approached him and handed him a note from her pocket. "He said something about Enzo being unable to handle the job alone."

"And you know how Enzo is," she added with an awkward undertone to her voice.

"Yeah," he said as he opened the note and read, 'A rustle in the undergrowth, a feather astray, a moonbeam misplaced.'

Achille smirked smugly at the sentence. It was something only he and his Nonno understood. 'These are the signs to read when the prey chooses a different path,' he thought.

"Patience, patience. The rabbit may have escaped the coop, but it cannot hide forever. And when it least expects it, the hawk will be there, waiting," Achille mumbled to himself.

He smiled to himself, his eyes closed, thinking, 'I'm the hawk, and whoever escaped is my prey.'

Valentina stared at him, unsure of what he was thinking. It was her specialty to know what was going on in people's minds, but for some reason, she couldn't read Achille. That's what made him quite frightening to her.

He felt her gaze and slowly opened his eyes. "What? Were you trying to read my mind again?" he asked.

She flinched slightly and looked away. "Not really. I mean, yes, I was curious, since you're smiling like the Cheshire cat," she said teasingly.

He shook his head and chuckled at her remark. "Don't worry, I'm quite happy about this," he said as he finished his coffee.

He stood up, waving the note in the air. "This compensates for the morning you and your kids ruined. I'm going to get dressed... this is gonna be fun."