Chapter Thirty-One: Leo's Present

"So...? Are you guys trying to say that you have not purchased presents for her birthday which is only at a distance of less than two hours?" Leo asked his brothers with raised eyebrows.

The time had passed so quickly and it was already a month since Emily returned to her home, the Alessandro Mansion under Domenic's guardianship.

In the past two weeks after the incident in the kitchen where, according to Leo, he succeeded in making her laugh, she had finally started mingling with them once again.

Though it was not really that much, like she would only speak when asked a question, but it was still something.

At least, she was no longer ignoring their existence in her life.

With Jackson's help, the brothers already had finished preparing one of her birthday presents as a group. 

However, they still needed to prepare gifts individually. But looking at his brothers' faces Leo did not need the ability to read their minds to know that none of them had prepared anything yet.

"We are just not sure what to gift her. There's no use in gifting clothes or other expensive things. She would never accept them. And we have no idea what to gift her that would leave her no other choice but to accept." 

Crist explained his and others' problem to their youngest brother. The only reason why they were all surrounding Leo's bed at just one and a half an hour before midnight, was because they got to know that their youngest brother had already bought a present for Em.

Not only that but Leo was more than a hundred percent confident that Em would not be able to reject his gift at any cost.

Even though he's an idiot and liked to brag all the time, but somehow he convinced his brothers, probably because they were too desperate to find a solution to their problem.

None of them had any kind of experience in giving presents to a girl. They just could not gift her a pair of socks, watches, ties, shirts, or even underwear to their baby sis, now could they?

These were the gifts that they exchanged between the six of them at their birthdays or Christmas.

Therefore, their knowledge about what to gift to a girl, especially their baby sis, was next to zero.

"Don't waste our time. Just tell us what you bought and how are you planning to make her accept it." Mark spoke in an irritated tone as he glared at his youngest brother.

However, Leo was not ready to let go of such a huge opportunity of teasing his big brothers.

Therefore, he raised his eyebrows as he eyed his brothers one by one before speaking, "Oh my! What kind of behavior is that? Did no one teach you that there's a certain way to ask for someone's help?" 

This time he was met with multiple stairs and raised eyebrows.

Maybe teasing his brothers was not the best decision.

"Ah! I was just joking. Don't mind my nonsense. And as for what I have bought..."

He looked at his brothers who were eagerly waiting for him to complete his sentence, the desperation was clear in almost all of their eyes.

"She loves drawing and sketching...so, I decided to buy her a complete set of all the drawing equipment. Her love for art and a little persuasion from my side and that's it! She would accept it." Leo finally revealed the secret.

"Wow, brother! You actually have a brain. Not bad." Crist said with a mocking smirk playing on his lips.

"Hey!"

Leo was definitely offended as he glared daggers at Crist.

"Alright! Since we all now know what to do, let's not waste any more time. Let him sleep and you all too retire to your rooms." Domenic ordered as he lightly patted Leo's shoulder once, signaling him to not start bickering with Crist.

Leo huffed but nodded his head once. There was no other choice after all.

"Yes, boss!" 

The rest of his brothers mockingly saluted Domenic before hurriedly fleeing from the room.

Leo just smiled as he looked at his eldest brother who was just shaking his head at their antics.

"Good night."

Domenic muttered in a small voice before he left Leo's room.

The youngest Alessandro Master waited for about ten minutes before he silently walked out of his room.

Making sure that there was no one in the hallway, he started walking towards the room at the very end of the hall.

Ever since the fire incident, Emily was staying in Domenic's room while the Alessandro Master himself was sleeping in the guest room downstairs.

They had taken down the lock of his room's door. The reason was simple. They were not allowing Emily to again shut herself inside a room.

He knocked once on the door to let the person inside know about his presence before opening the door and creeping inside the dark room.

"Goodness, girl! Why this room reminds me of some scene from a horror movie? Switch on the lights for heaven's sake!" Leo whispered as he tried to adjust his eyes in the darkness.

Just as he finished whispering the room was illuminated by bright light and his eyes landed on his little sister who was sitting on the bed with her eyes staring directly at him.

However, there was something in her eyes that he did not like at all. There was panic, even guilt and she was constantly nibbling on her lower lip. Something that she did while being nervous.

"What is it, Em? Are you worried about something? Is there anything troubling you?" Leo asked as he walked towards the bed and climbed on it, sitting beside his little sister while facing her.

Emily dropped her head on his shoulder as she let out a deep sigh. Her long hair which she had left loose formed a curtain around her face.

He immediately started patting her head lightly to make her relax, however, he found her muttering something.

"Look at the door."

That's what he thought that she had said.

"The door...?"

Leo was confused but he still turned towards the door of the room and watched in complete horror as the door, which he had forgotten to close, shut with a loud bang.

He gulped down his saliva to moisten his suddenly dry throat. His fingers tightened their holds around his sister as he tried his very best to stay calm and not show his fear.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."