Aeliana really wanted to burst out into laughter but held herself back and spoke to him.

“But brother, I’m not making him not play with you.”

“What?”

Aeliana lifted her head up and placed her hands on her hips. He played many pranks on her, she might as well play one back. 

She pointed at him and said, “Brother Darius doesn’t want to play with you because he finds you boring!”

As if lightning had struck Marius, his face paled. He stared at Aeliana in devastation before tears welled up in his pink eyes. His lips quivered as he spoke,

“...He finds me boring..?”

Aeliana widened her eyes in horror. In her head sirens were going off. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he added,

“D..does that mean h—he hates me?” he hiccuped and sobbed.

In a panic, Aeliana quickly hugged him and shouted, “No! Brother Darius doesn’t hate you!! He will never find you boring too!”

“Then why won’t he play with me…” Marius cried louder, rubbing the tears coming out of his eyes.

Aeliana shook her head and grabbed hold of Marius by his cheeks. With her tiny hands, she forced him to look her in the eye.

“Brother Darius will never ever find you boring or hate you!!”

Marius sniffled, “But—”

She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of her room, “Then we will ask him!” she exclaimed.

They ran down the hallway until they reached the room the twins slept in. Aeliana didn’t care if she was being rude but she burst the door open and called his name out.

“Brother Darius!”

Darius who was reading his book looked up in confusion. He turned towards the loud sound and saw his twin and Aeliana standing there.

“What is it?” he questioned before his eyes fell on Marius who had red eyes and a snotty nose.

He jumped up from his seat and dashed towards them, his eyes as big as saucepans.

“What happened!?” he asked, looking at both of them.

Marius sniffled and looked down at the ground in response while Aeliana tugged on Darius’ sleeve.

“Brother Marius thinks you find him boring and hate him,” she explained.

Darius turned to Marius, “Is that true?” 

“...” Marius didn’t answer, finding the ground extremely interesting instead.

Darius hugged Marius and said, “I don’t hate you, why did you think that?”

Marius slowly wrapped his arms around Darius and muttered, “Because she—”

“Because brother wouldn’t play with him!” Aeliana quickly butts in.

Darius held a puzzled look on his face before realising. He laughed and shook his head, “Sorry Marius, I have been reading the entire time. Let’s go play okay?”

Marius blinked his tears away before responding, “Promise?”

Darius nodded, “I promise I will play with you more.”

Aeliana looked at them before quietly slipping away. In the end, she helped them reconcile so it was time for her to rest. She returned to her room and without a second thought, she jumped onto her bed and fell asleep.

She was so tired, that she didn’t have dinner that day and slept till the morning. She stirred in her sleep before drowsily blinking her eyes open. A yawn escaped her mouth as she stretched her short arms.

Outside her room, she could faintly hear footsteps but she didn’t pay attention to them and went back to sleep. The footsteps grew louder and her door was burst open.

“Hey you!” Marius yelled, walking over to her bed.

He threw the covers up and grinned evilly. Aeliana sleepily shot him a glance then buried her face into her pillow. However, Marius was quick and grabbed her pillow away, throwing it to the side.

“Wh—”

Aeliana wasn’t able to voice out her displeasure when she was suddenly pulled by Marius. Darius held on to her teddy bear, showing no signs of stopping Marius.

“Let’s play!” he exclaimed whilst dragging her out of her room without even letting her change out of her nightwear.

“I don’t want to!” she voiced out but Marius rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t say you can choose now come with us!”

‘You piece of leftover rice! I already said no!’

Aeliana wasn’t able to fight back as Marius was stronger than her. She was alas dragged outside where a large blanket was laid out close to a large tree. There were different types of board games spread on the blanket.

Marius released his hold on her and extended his arms out towards the blanket with board games. Darius did the same but with one arm as he continued holding on to her teddy bear.

“Tadah!” the two exclaimed.

Aeliana stared at the scene before slowly a smile appeared on her face.

“When did brothers prepare this?” she asked as she went ahead and took a seat on the blanket.

Darius handed back her teddy bear and sat beside her while Marius proudly lifted his chin up, rubbing the tip of his nose.

“It was nothing, we prepared it quickly!”

“We woke up at dawn,”

Darius’ words contradicted Marius’ words, making him frown.

“Ah Darius! You weren’t supposed to tell her that!”

“I wasn’t?”

“Yeah! We don’t like her remember!”

Darius furrowed his brows at Marius, “But I like her?”

Aeliana’s eyes grew big for a second from Darius’ words. He likes her? That was news to her. Thinking back to her second life, the way Darius looked at her was filled with pity.

“You like her?!” Marius yelled in shock.

“Yup.”

Marius had a strange look. It appeared to be mixed with shock and worry. He leaned close to Darius and whispered but funny enough, Aeliana could still hear them.

“But didn’t he tell us not to like her?”

“Yeah but I never understood why.”

“..Later won’t he scold you..?”

“I think I’ll be okay and also... you don’t hate her either right?”

“Huh?... Says who!?”

Marius whipped his head towards Aeliana and pointed rudely, “I don’t like you! Never ever! Just because you helped me once and you got this doesn’t mean I like you!”

Aeliana was pretty immune at this point to Marius’ outbursts so she nodded, taking nothing to heart. One thing that did stick with her was Darius admitting he didn’t hate her.

Marius groaned before taking a seat beside him as he grumbled. Aeliana let out a quiet laugh before grabbing one of the board games.

“Let’s play this one!”

Darius looked over at the board game she chose, “Oh this board game has punishments in them.”

She rattled her brain a bit, “Punishments? What kind, brother?”

“If you land on the big red skull here, you have to take a punishment card out and do it,” he answered.

“Let’s play let’s play!” Marius excitedly agreed, already forgetting what happened not long ago.

They moved the other board games aside and laid out the game in the centre. Darius helped explain the rules to her and soon they began to play. The first one to reach the end wins, however, there are punishments spread out throughout the game and if one lands, they have to do it.

After playing rock-paper-scissors, Aeliana was the first to roll the dice. She shook it inside her palm before throwing it onto the board. It rolled a couple of times before finally stopping at the number five.

She took the tiny character she had chosen from the game selection and moved it five steps. She smiled happily when she saw she didn’t land on the skull that was just one move below her. After her turn was Darius then Marius and it continued until one of them finally landed on a skull.

The first to land on it was Marius who shouted in shock. He had a pouty look on his face as he took one punishment card. His eyes swiftly looked at the words before groaning out loud.

“What did brother get?” she curiously asked, bringing her eyes over to the card.

On the card, it said that he had to act like a dog for two whole rounds. Darius patted his back while Aeliana burst out laughing, holding her stomach tightly. 

Marius glared at her, “Stop laughing!”

“Marius, you have to act like a dog remember?” Darius chimed in, his eyes clearly holding amusement.

Marius glared at Aeliana and his twin, his fists shaking before he quietly muttered, “..Woof..”

It fell silent before they laughed at Marius. He gritted his teeth before throwing the dice over to Aeliana who barely managed to catch it while laughing. She threw the dice and safely moved forward and when it was Darius’ turn, he rolled a one.

He quietly moved his character one step and sighed, “Why must I get one at this time…”

Marius cackled and held up the stack of punishment cards. He had an evil grin on his face since he wasn’t the only one getting punished. Darius took a card out and read it out loud,

“For the next five rounds, you are not allowed to speak, smile or laugh.”

Marius could be seen snickering while Aeliana suppressed her laugh as she said, “It’s okay brother, this will be easy for you!”

Darius glanced at her. He was about to reply to her when Marius hit him on the back.

“Woof!” he showed an X with his fingers, indicating he wasn’t allowed to speak from now until the five rounds are over.

Darius pouted and nodded, listening. The next three rounds continued and Marius was bursting with energy once he was able to stop barking like a dog. It was Aeliana’s turn again and she threw the dice.

Seeing the number she got on the dice, she nearly let a sigh slip out. The number on the dice was a three and the skull from her character was also the same amount. She solemnly moved her character to the skull and took a punishment card.

“What does it say!” Marius asked, sticking closely to her to read her card.

He was even more excited since this was her first punishment throughout the whole time they had been playing. Aeliana furrowed her brows together as she tried her best to read the words.

“You must…kiss the person…on the…on… brother what does this say?” she gave up at the last part, handing it over to Marius.

Marius read it before saying, “You must kiss the person on the cheek. The person is the one on your right side.”

“My right side?” 

Aeliana turned to her right. Darius was sitting there frozen stiff. The two made eye contact but Darius was the first to avert his eyes. Marius smirked, laughing at his twin.

“I pity you Darius but a punishment is a punishment!” he turned to Aeliana and pushed her towards Darius.

She got on her knees and stared at Darius. Darius kept glancing back at her but he never moved, keeping himself as still as a wooden block. When he saw her moving closer, he hurriedly shut his eyes tightly, waiting for it to happen.

She lightly pressed her lips on his left cheek for a brief moment before pulling back. She clapped her hands and beamed,

“I did it! Now it’s your turn to roll.” she grabbed hold of the dice and placed it inside Darius’ hand then sat back down.

Darius had a dazed appearance as he held his left cheek. His cheeks and ears had an obvious reddish colour dusted over them. It didn’t take long for him to snap back to reality and finish his turn. 

They continued playing until Flora found them. She shrieked in shock and carried Aeliana up, lecturing the three of them after seeing her still in her nightwear. They were forced to stop the game as Aeliana had to change clothes and the twins had their lessons.

“Brother!” she called out to them before they left.

The twins turned to her, awaiting her response. She brightly grinned, waving her arm as wide as she could.

“Let’s play again later!” 

The twins’ eyes grew round. Marius cleared his throat and looked away, folding his arms up to his chest. Darius relaxed and returned a smile back at her, nodding as he waved goodbye to her.

As Aeliana’s figure disappeared inside the mansion, Darius turned to his brother and laughed.

“She’s cute right?” 

Marius didn’t respond to his question but he already knew the answer as he saw a smile bloom on Marius’ face.