three

The guests were gone, but two families were still there. The Carters and The Kelloggs.

Arthur Kellogg, showed up after dinner, during the after-party. Missing the entire speech and first real-life glance of Julia Carter. The man was angry to find his son unconscious in a girl's bedroom, but he was not surprised. His tattooed and muscular figure was a party killer as many of the guests were skeptical of his presence. He intended on arriving late, just to let them enjoy themselves without fear for a while.

The two families sat down in the living area to sort out the situation without causing a bigger problem...

Jia sat the furthest away from Valentin, who was still a bit dazed from the shock she gave him. Arthur was the first to speak after the statements she made about her son and what she did to him.

"I apologize for his behavior, Miss. Han. I will discipline him on this matter. You know how young boys can be very immature sometimes, let's put this matter behind us?"

Jia was upset at his horrible way of apologizing,

"I want to go home, I refuse to live here."

Unknown to Jia, no one in that room would let her leave. Especially the one she shocked unconscious.

"Julia, be reasonable," Mina told her daughter.

The girl closed her eyes, looking down to the floor,

"Would you still tell me to be reasonable if something happened to me? My family wouldn't tell me that."

The Carters felt hurt by her words, she was referring to the Hans as her family rather than them. Elijah put a hand on his daughter's shoulder,

"Julia, Valentin isn't the way you see him be."

"I saw him raise his hand at me, should I let him hit me?"

Jia moves his hand away from her shoulder, looking over to Mina, "Be reasonable?"

She felt tense, her emotion beginning to get the best of her,

"...I don't feel comfortable."

The girl felt claustrophobic, a panic attack could begin at any second. She wished her grandmother or sisters were with her at this moment. She missed her home already, after only being here for a couple of hours. She wanted to go back in time to her trainee years when she was happiest being with girls who were always there for each other in the hardest moments. When her grandmother would bring food for them to eat, while they were supposed to be dieting.

Cameron walked closer to his sister,

"It's okay. This can be discussed some other time."

He helped the girl up, and was eventually shrugged off by her not wanting to be touched, "Goodnight."

Everyone watched as she left the room, her energy dimmed and darkened. It brought chills as it was different than how she appeared earlier when she arrived at their home. Once she was gone, the discussion continued without her.

"Isn't it time for you to tell them, Elijah?"

"Tell us what?" Asked Eugene, staring his father in the eyes.

"...I made a deal with Arthur a few years ago, I wanted to find my daughter..."

The carters were silent, not sure how to react to his reasoning. They all wanted to see Julia again.

"Arthur promised to help find her, and if he found her then Julia would be promised to Valentin."

"You promised my sister to that bitch?!" Ian finally spoke up after holding back his feeling about the entire evening. His dad's actions truly pissed him off, arranging for his sister who he just met to a perverted bastard.

The youngest of the brothers stood up, being the tallest of everyone in the room, he towered over them with a menacing smile. His eyes were slowly turning a teary red, as no one here could protect his sister.

"Ian, sit down," Eugene commands his little brother, who was acting out of line in front of another powerful family.

"Sit down? Fuck no. You couldn't protect my sister and you still can't. She can do more to protect herself than any of you ever can. I wanted to beat this fucker up when I found him in my sister's room..." Ian's attention went over to the silent Valentin, still suffering from the effects of the shock.

"...This bastard with no home training, no decency to respect other's space. What was going to happen if my sister hadn't buzzed your ass? Were you going to hit her? Touch her where you shouldn't have?... Answer me, you bitch!"

Ian was about to swing at the boy, but Cameron managed to grab him before he could do anything else,

"Let's give them room to destroy more innocent lives."

The younger boy was reluctant to leave, but he never fought Cameron's judgment. If he thought it was best to leave, then it probably was. The two left, leaving four of the Carters and the two Kelloggs...

"...I apologize for my sons, they love their sister."

"Yes, I love my family as well. It is very important, to have family and expand it by a certain time. I can't wait to see my grandchildren." Said Arthur, laughing with Elijah.

Ezra wished he left while Ian and Cameron did, wanting to not witness his dad and Mr. Kellogg laugh off the situation at hand. It brought back many memories he never wanted to remember, but it was a story for another time. Even with Jia with them again, his father is still the same horrible man.

Ezra looked over to his only brother still in the room, he wondered if Eugene felt the same way that he did or at least a bit of how he did.

Eugene was to take over the mafia after his father passed it on, did he agree with the things Elijah has done within his entire career? Was he going to follow in his footsteps?

Ezra wanted no part in this lifestyle, his dreams were already in the making. He was in medical school, studying to become a surgeon, he'd rather save people than hurt them as his siblings did so often when his father would send them to dangerous and sketchy places. He lacked sleep in worry that they'd be hurt out there, it stressed him out when they came back with bloody clothes from head to toe. Especially for Ian, he was barely an adult, despite him being 18, he was still a child in the eyes of Ezra. A child that needed protection from himself and the world around him, he didn't deserve to be fighting for his life when he was such a soft-hearted boy.

Cameron and Eugene were fine when together they were unstoppable. They could most likely defeat an army on their own, Cameron would chop enemies into pieces with his sword skills while Eugene levitated and stuck them with lightning. Ezra never saw them in action, but that was all he could imagine when thinking of them fighting.

"...alright? Ezra?"

The boy was lost in his head, he noticed his mother speaking to him, concerned. He wanted to scoff, where was this when his sister needed it,

"Huh?"

"Are you alright? You look unwell." 

He could use that to his advantage to leave,

"I'm just tired. It's late, goodnight everyone."

The boy hurried out of the room, in case someone wanted to stop him...

Eugene spoke out after watching Ezra leave,

"I think that it's a good idea. I don't like Valentin that much, but with two power families united as one...good things will happen for us."

"You raised a smart son, Elijah."

"Thank you, Mina and I did a good job with this one."

Eugene knew the drinks had already gotten to his father's head, he was willing to play the part of an obedient child if it would keep everyone out of harm's way from a drunk.

The boy was holding back all of the things he wanted to say, he wanted to swear and throw hands at everyone in the room. Much like Ian, his youngest brother whom he looked up to. Ian was enough heat for the entire family, they did not need anymore when he knew when to call out the wrongs and rights in society.

Eugene was seen as the composed one, never refusing or giving up when things were too hard. He was the one who'd carry everyone on his back when they were tired, despite being tired himself. He would risk it all to keep them happy and everything running as they're supposed to be. He'd let them take out all of their anger on him when they needed someone to blame or hate.

"What will we do about these two? This boy did something the girl didn't like...now, she might try to run off." Arthur voiced, to see if anyone had any ideas of how they should get the two together.

"Let's arrange some dates, dinners are good starters."

Eugene added some extra input, "Jia is a different type of celebrity, an idol. They can't be seen together, it will cause chaos to her career. We know how Jia is about her career, am I right?"

The Carter father som duo laughed with each other,

"Got that right, a private dinner should be good."

Arthur nodded, "let's schedule a date, soon."

Eugene thought that soon was too soon, this mess just happened today. Jia needed time to sort out herself and get comfortable here, they had already thrown an unnecessary party the day she got here. He'd need to keep a close watch on them, he did not want Valentin close to his sister.

"Can Valentin be trusted alone with my sister? I'm skeptical about him from what happened today."

"Right, Eugene was it? Go with them to make sure this one stays in line. Don't sit with them, but observe them from another table."

Eugene mentally released a sigh of relief, best that he was there rather than no one or Valentin's bodyguard who'd probably turn a blind eye if he did anything to Jia.

While Eugene was manipulating the discussion downstairs, the other three siblings were cheering up their sister by leaving things at her door and leaving. They left her fruits and candy, thinking sugar will make her happy.

The girl stood up from her comfortable spot to find a pair of pajamas. She wanted to take a bath before she went to sleep, it was more relaxing and helped prevent her skin from acne. When she was just starting puberty, her back suffered worse, more than her face. She became more focused on her hygiene and cleanliness, the obsession never stopped after she saw her skin clearly and softened.

Just an hour later the girl was back in her original spot of comfort, in a cropped tank and high-rise pajama pants. She couldn't find her pajama shirt which was paired with the pants so she just settled for what she found in her dresser.

The sound of an opening door was heard, Jia sat up with a worried face, her hands reaching under her pillow in case she needed to protect herself.

Jia fixed herself, crisscrossing her legs as she watched him walk somewhat closer to her, "Do you need something?"

"I have a few things to say."

"Okay, I'm listening."

Eugene shifted his weight to another leg as she began speaking, "I wanna apologize for not speaking up for you...also, father arranged a date for you and Valentin. I made sure you won't be alone with him, I will be there to keep a watch on you two..."

"What? A date?"

"Yes, with Valentin."

"I'm not going."

"You don't have much of a choice, it's going to happen regardless of what you decide. I'm sorry."

Jia ran a hand through her recently blow-dried hair, confused and irritated at the situation. Her heart ached in pain as she tried to calm her nerves and blood pressure.

"Can you leave?"

"Of course, goodnight sis."

"Goodnight, Eugene."

The eldest brother left the room, locking the door behind him, as she probably thought the door was locked by her reaction to him entering without knocking.

Jia removed her hand from under her pillow, hovering it over her phone. She debated if she should call her sisters and tell them about this bubble she was in, but she'd feel guilty about making the situation blow out of proportion. Her grandparents would have probably killed the boy and her sisters would never let her out of the house again while also assisting in killing the boy.

Her father whom she just met set up a date with the guy that almost assaulted her. He wasn't even her legal guardian, just a host parent while she lived in the states for now.

Jia laid her head down on the fluffed pillows on the side of her. She closed her sad eyes, taking deep breaths in an attempt to slow her heart rate down.

"I want to go home..."