"Princess... when you grow up, be like your mother." Dad said as he helped me to make the paper aeroplane so that we could fly it together on our terrace.

"But how can I be like mom? I am Alora, ain't I?" I said, making a confused face, looking up at my dad as he laughed at me.

"Yes... You're Alora. I mean you don't have to look like your mother, you have to be a kind person like her." Dad said while patting my head.

"Dad...how do you become this kind person?" I asked him while focusing on my paper planes to make it nice.

Dad showed me a warm smile and caressed my head as he said, "That's a good question. Look, when someone makes a mistake don't get angry with them quickly, don't scold them, don't say anything wrong to them, and when they come back to say sorry, just give them a nice smile and say I have forgiven you."

I made a confused face and asked, "But what if they don't let me play and hush me away? I will do the same to them."

Dad shook his head and approached me, "No, no, princess. If they bother you and you do the same things with them, then what will be the difference between you and them? But if they bully you, then there is another way to punish them."

I nodded my head in agreement.

"So, what should I do?" I asked. "What if they bully my friends or mom and you?"

"In that case, you should be like Daddy..." He chuckled at me and continued,"...if anyone hurts you or your loved ones, FIGHT. Do whatever you think is right to protect your loved ones, to protect yourself."

The word 'fight' caught my attention and I started to make assumptions about what that could be.

"Dad... can I not just hit them in the first place?" I asked, giggling at the thought of punching and kicking someone.

But what is this fight exactly?

"Hm... your mom says to give people a second chance but you should not give a second chance to a bad person."

"But Dad, how would I know who is good and who is bad?"

"You can know that by their actions."

"Oh, okay!" I said as I pouted my lips.

"So, after giving them a second chance, if they change after that, then make them your friends. But if they don't, learn to stand on your own and fight for yourself."

I started jumping by the word fight as I came to the thought that it was some kind of an interesting game.

"Fight with whom?" I asked cheerfully. "Will you play that game with me, Dad?"

Dad chuckled and pinched my cheeks, "I will teach you how to play when you are of the right age."

I pouted as he started walking away with my planes. "But I am already 6 years old."

Dad didn't give any reply, instead, he turned back to me, "Come princess, let's fly these planes." Dad called for me as he gestured towards the sky. I ran towards him happily, forgetting about that game.

"Go hug the sky... Yay." I giggled as Dad flew a plane high.

We both started giggling and viewed the setting sun in the sky.

A sweet memory of our conversation about being grown up and being kind, all flashed before my eyes. The gentle caress of my Dad and his answers to my stupid questions were much better than the world's fake care.

"Don't test me!" A deep voice full of anger and warning came to me.

I was frozen in my place, not having the courage to protest.

"Can't you speak, Alora?" I swallowed hearing the rage in his voice.

My already lowered head lowered further in sadness.

"Raise your head and look into my eyes." This time the voice was almost filled with irritation.

I somehow raised my head and took a glance at him. There he was standing in front of me as usual, a hand in his pocket, face filled with irritation and anger, eyes burning like fire, giving me the same dead vibe as before.

Don't look at me like that. It scares me.

Even if I looked up at his face, I didn't find anything to say to him...

"See? This! This is the reason I declared that you are stubborn and spoiled!" He yelled pointing a finger at me. "Have you been like this since your childhood?"

I am not spoiled. Don't question the way my parents raised me.

So many negative emotions filled me and a warm drop of tears fell from my blurry eyes, then the other drops followed them and dropped one after one.

But I kept my emotions locked inside me, I wiped my tears, took a long breath and looked into his eyes. He didn't deserve my emotions.

"I accept that I made a mistake by breaking your rules, so give me whatever punishment you want. I will accept it."

Enzo's face looked amused with a bit of shock by my response but he quickly covered it with his usual stare.

The sound of heavy rains and thunder came from the study room window.

I was still in his office, standing in the middle of the room with my hands intertwined, while on the other hand, he was walking around the room to calm his increased anger.

He picked up his phone from the table and started calling someone.

"Hurry up and come to my room." He said and quickly hung up.

Enzo started walking towards me and stopped right in front of my face. There was only a little distance remaining between us.

His stare was making me even more nervous at the thought of the punishment he was going to give me.

But I also didn't look away, I stared back at him with full confidence in accepting whatever punishment he would give me. Then I saw his jaw clenched and he looked away, looking anywhere in the room but my face.

Suddenly, the door opened with a thud, causing us to turn in its direction. Carlo panted as he came in, after seeing me, he walked towards Enzo.

"Quello che è successo?" Carlo asked him in Italian. (What happened?)

"Non sai cosa è successo?" Enzo growled as he turned his face to Carlo. (Don't you know what happened?)

"I don't. What are you talking about?" Carlo furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion.

"I broke the rules." I answered.

Both of them turned to me at the same time. Carlo came walking to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"What rules?" He asked me and I looked at Enzo.

"Enzo had made some rules for me to follow, out of which I broke one." My eyes were still on him.

"It's okay–"

"It's not okay!" Enzo shouted from his place.

I ignored him and turned to Carlo's direction to face him. I took his hands in mine and said, "Carlo, please don't feel sorry for me. It will be better if I am just being punished for my fault than feeling sorry about myself."

I showed him a tiny smile and nodded to clear his doubts on whether I was okay or not.

He sighed and walked to Enzo. "This is not right. What was her mistake that you are punishing her? I am sure that won't be a big deal.”

"It is a big deal, Carlo." Enzo replied in a calm yet cold tone.

"Tell me the mistake." Carlo insisted.

"That is a personal agreement between me and her, so I can't tell you." Enzo replied.

Carlo showed him a frustrated face and sighed heavily.

"Enzo! Forgive her for this time."

"She has to understand that not obeying my orders is prohibited so that she never thinks of breaking any in future."

"Then punish me already, do it fast." My voice was full of frustration.

They looked towards me but I only looked at Enzo. I stared at him for a moment while patiently waiting for his reply.

He took a step towards me, when suddenly a sound of thunder came, and I flinched at the sound which caused my eyes to shut.

"Go and do 10 rounds of the ground." He stated. I opened my eyes and saw his dangerous face with eyes full of hatred.

I didn't break eye contact with him. Again the sound of thunder came, and once again caused me to flinch. I closed my eyes to calm myself down as I had to do what he said.

"Enzo! Che dici?" Carlo said angrily as he came in between us. (What are you saying?)

Enzo didn't break eye contact either and replied to Carlo, "è la sua punizione per non aver obbedito ai miei ordini." (It is her punishment for not obeying my orders.)

"But, it is too much! Can't you see how heavily it's raining outside? She will get sick.”

I gulped down and turned to Carlo, showed him a smile and nodded my head and said I would be alright.

"No." He said as he breathed out while shaking his head rapidly.

I took a step forward to Enzo and raised my face to have a clear look in his eyes. He did the same as he looked down at me.

"I am accepting it." I stated boldly.

He gave me a shocked stare mixed with confusion. There was silence for a moment before he spoke again.

"You better complete your punishment without any cheating or taking any rest, otherwise, you will get an extra punishment for–" I cut his sentences off halfway.

"I won't."

His eyebrows were slightly furrowed as if he was trying to process my reply.

"Alora...I will go with you–”

"No, Carlo. If she has committed a mistake, then she will have to face the punishment alone." Enzo cut him off by looking at him with cold eyes.

Carlo gritted his teeth and as he was just trying to argue with him, I held on to his arms trying to calm him down.

"Hey! Don't you believe in me? I am stronger than you all. The 10 rounds are nothing for me." I tried to tell him that I would do it easily.

He sighed disappointedly and replied, "I know the rounds are nothing but yet too much in this heavy rain. I am worried about your health."

"If she gets sick, we have doctors to check on her." Enzo interrupted between us.

I totally ignored his rude comment and only focused on how to make Carlo not upset.

"My immune system is very good at its job." I chuckled at him by making a joke.

He didn't smile, "And what about the thunder? Are you not afraid of them?"

I paused, thinking of a better answer to that question. I once told him about my fear of thunder and lightning, and he understood that it might have caused me for a reason. I curved my lips into a tiny smile and without giving him an answer, I walked to the door and got out of the room.

There were many other phobias I was carrying with me, but this fear... this was the most horrible one.

Anyway, it's now a part of me.

*****