The fresh sunlight from the window of my room had spread all over, lighting my face along with the entire space.

I woke up and sat on my bed for some time while I recalled the moments from a few hours ago. It was midnight and I also slept late even after I came to my room.

When I got everything recalled, my smile went bigger. I even started chuckling lightly and patted myself on my arm by remembering what I did last night.

"Mhm...you did the impossible, Alora. I am proud of you." I said to myself and giggled in my thoughts of mischief.

I got up from my bed and walked into the bathroom to wash my face before taking a shower when suddenly I sneezed. It was the first one since last night. I already knew that my immune system would betray me at any time.

Well, I think...

Then I sneezed again. After I freshened up and wore some light outfits, I came out of my room to come downstairs.

The moment I was walking down the stairs very carefully to not slip as I was jumping and after I came in the middle way, I spotted Carlo and Enzo coming from outside while having bags in both of their hands.

"Morning, guys." I heard Max shout while coming out with Galen and Rome from the other room.

I stepped down the remaining stairs and walked towards them. When they noticed me all of their faces lit up except Enzo's. He was looking at me annoyingly. Well, yeah, that's what I was expecting.

"Hey. Good morning." I said to everyone. One by one all of them patted me on my head and wished me morning.

"Where are you two coming from?" I asked curiously.

Enzo and Carlo faced each other before answering me.

"This is for you." Carlo handed me the plastic bag which he was holding.

"For me? What is in it?" I asked.

"Open it."

I partly opened the bag and my eyes widened with happiness. It had satin hair ribbons and so many of them, all different colours.

My eyes sparkled at the gift I just received. They insisted that I should show them wearing it, so I wore the ribbon bow and did a little twirl to show them.

"You like it?" Carlo asked, raising both of his eyebrows in waiting for my reply.

I looked up at him and said, "Is that a question to ask? Of course, I loved it."

A bright smile formed on his face which also made me smile. I stepped towards him and hugged him while he immediately hugged me back and patted me on my head.

My uncle and Aunt never bought anything for me other than the really necessary things. Once Tim had bought me some hair clips, and ties, and when Uncle got to know about that, he punished me by locking me into a dark store room. Since then I have been afraid of dark rooms, not when I am sleeping by closing the light as I can handle myself in sleep but when I get to know that someone locked me from outside.

I was only 15 at that time when it all began, and that punishment became my routine as they said I make mistakes in every work. That's how the darkroom became my fear but the darkness became my friend.

"Thank you so much. You don't know but it's too much for me." I said while pulling back from the hug and looking up at him.

He grinned and again patted my head making my hair a bit messy but that was not important for me.

"I am glad that you liked it." He said smiling brightly.

Then we chatted there for a moment while I asked them where he went and from where he bought them early in the morning. Carlo told me that Enzo and he had gone to buy some medicine for me as they thought I would be sick by this morning. And then they found a shop from where he bought these gifts for me. The next moment Carlo revealed that Enzo also bought me a few pairs of socks because he already knew I would catch a cold. Enzo was hesitating to give me that in front of them, I guess. Yet he gave me the socks bag and I said thank you to him for that. The socks were cute like they had a cute little bear on them and I liked it. Enzo chose my taste. Impressive.

Well, they were right though. I was having a cold. But the most unexpected thing was Enzo thought that and did that which was uncommon for me. He also whispered to me to wear socks every time from now on even though I do wear socks.

As we were chatting, suddenly Enzo cleared his throat which got all of our attention.

He unwrapped the other bag and took out a few sprays. Wait– is that disinfectant sanitiser spray?

"You must be thinking why I bought this." Enzo said bringing my attention from that spray bottle to him. To his eyes.

I simply nodded while the four of them stood near me watching us so interestingly as if we were going to create a drama right now. I was watching Enzo to see his reaction to their actions but he seemed to not care. He was only looking straight at me.

"Because we need it right now. You especially need to cover your mouth and nose with this mask." He finished his words while taking out some masks from that plastic bag.

I glanced at Carlo and tilted my head up in confusion while waiting for him to clear it out but all I got from him was a chuckle.

So, I turned back to the monster before me and asked, "May I ask why?"

"Because of germs and infections." He simply said that.

I could feel lava inside me right now because of his way of speaking.

"I only have a cold, and you two bought me the medicines. I don't need a mask and spray."

"The sanitiser is only for the five of us, not you." He stated.

"No buddy, we don't need that," Rome said looking at Carlo, Max and Galen for agreement and they all nodded a yes. Enzo watched them with an annoying and boring face which was showing I won't spare any of you.

Yes. I am happy. This is called happiness when you have your supporters who always take your side.

Enzo did not stop there, he said he would use those sanitisers and then opened a bottle and sprayed it on his palms to show me that he does what he says.

I chuckled at seeing him like that. I stepped towards him and I saw that the four of them were busy chatting together.

He noticed me and stood straight, making a poker face with no expression at all.

I stopped right in front of him, there was enough space between us yet it felt like we were too close. His face remained the same but mine formed into a mischievous smile.

"I am sorry that I couldn't thank you properly last night. Thank you." I said remembering the fun I had.

He narrowed his eyes at me, filled with annoyance. I started chuckling so loud that the four knights must have heard that because after that I also heard them giggling.

"I will take revenge for that. Don't think that I will spare you. That shirt was from one of my favourite brands and you–" He said pointing his finger towards me and paused while making a furious face but it seemed more like he was sobbing. He was sobbing in the memory of his once favourite but now finished shirt.

A bunch of laughter tried to come out of me but I zipped up my lips, closing tightly to not let that come out. Because if I laugh at this moment, he will surely kill me after watching me laugh at his expression.

But then suddenly I felt a strong sneeze was going to come out, I had to open my mouth at that time, I closed my eyes waiting for it to come, and then I sneezed again. But I forgot to cover my mouth with my hands as I was holding the bag.

"... chu..."

Suddenly a few drops were sprayed on my face and I heard some loud gasps from behind but as my eyes were closed I smelled it.

Wait! Disinfectant sanitiser!

I wiped my face with my palm and opened my eyes only to see that irritating face. Then I remembered I was still standing in front of him, so I backed off a little. As I was about to burst on him for what he did, he opened his mouth.

"You were going to sneeze without covering up your mouth and nose, and that too when I was just in front of you."

"Because it happened so fast that I forgot to cover it!" I yelled out my frustration.

He sprayed that sanitiser right on my face too twice. Twice!

Everyone started laughing loudly as if we were jokers and they were watching our show. I glared at them but all they did was that they started laughing even more while punching each other's arms.

"You are spreading infections and germs." He said boringly.

"Hahaha...I was right. I knew from the very first moment that something funny was going to happen." Carlo said, wiping a drop of tears from his eyes.

"You two...I enjoy your drama a lot. Both of your fights are far better than those in TV shows." Rome said.

I was right too when I thought they were excited for us to create a drama. I released a humourless laugh and looked straight into his eyes.

~~~~~

I talked to Max and cleared out everything about that punishment and told him not to be upset because I was fine. Just like that, he came back to normal being a chill guy and having fun.

It had been two days since I had a cold, and all of them took great care of me, especially Enzo. He also told me to rest for a few days if I didn't feel well, so I was taking a break these two days. Yesterday, Enzo also made me hot vegetable soups and one time when I forgot to take my medicine after lunch, he suddenly came out of nowhere and asked me to take my medicine right at that moment. I was fully confused by how he knew that I forgot to take it. But then I gave up on my thoughts and left that query.

I was now in a gym room, which was also huge as expected like the other ones. After we were done with breakfast, Enzo told me that I should do some exercise and he would also teach me some fighting techniques for the day.

Enzo and the three knights came with me to work out. Max said that he was not in the mood to exercise, so he will complete his tasks. For the first time, I saw them in gym outfits and mostly caught a glimpse of Enzo in a different outfit. He would always wear suits, so it was amusing for me to see him differently. Like still covered in clothes but different from those suits.

Isn't it funny that I was now calling him by his name but only internally, while in reality, I was still using that monster nickname? But it was weird too that he had been tolerating my every step and word. He just showed me that I have been irritating him and he was annoyed by me. But he never complained nor did he stop me from doing that. Rather he listened to me, listened to my nonsense and sometimes even joined in my babble talks.

As more days passed by, he surprised me more and more with his different forms. As if I was discovering him in a new way.

I started with the treadmill while Carlo and Rome were carrying dumbbells, Galen was using a punching bag and then I spotted Enzo. He was doing pushups.

Twenty minutes later, I felt bored doing that so I started roaming around the room while using every machine one by one for each five minutes, but those were also making me bored. Then I thought about coming to Galen because that punching bag seemed more interesting.

I stood on the other side of the punching bag and punched it as hard as I could. Galen lowered his power and started punching at the same time as me. We kept doing it like a process when I punched it hard for once which caused him to back off.

"I am out of energy now, I can't do this anymore." I said, breathing out heavily as if I had just climbed down from a mountain.

"Not yet! It's time to learn the fighting techniques." Enzo said, well, more like shouted from behind.

I turned to him and he gave me a boring look. There was no chance that I could argue with him and he would listen. Well, maybe he would listen but still I gave up.

*****