ADRIANO

He woke up early as usual and instead of going to take a shower and get ready for work like he usually did, he laid a bit longer and stared at his wife. She looked at peace in her sleep state and for some reason, the sight made him feel a warm feeling in his chest.

Everything that happened between last night was only just a start of the world he was about to bring her into. A world that was filled with pain and pleasure. He allowed himself to bring her into only that one aspect of his dark world.

Ismeralda didn't understand that even though she was his wife, there were certain things that he wouldn't bring anybody into. There were things about him that only him would ever know. The only person who even knew just a little bit about it was Julio and that was because he had been a witness to some of it.

Some of those experiences had shaped the person who had become. He was a beast, monster that could not be tamed. He couldn't remember what it was like to have a heart of what it was like to feel anything except anger. He lacked the ability to love anything or anybody and to him, that was the best way to live.

Ismeralda couldn't have any idea about what it's like to be him. He could see it in her eyes that she was the type of girl that wanted love and a fairytale ending and that is not just something he was willing to give.

He needed to bring a distraction into the house, someone who would make Ismeralda not to notice the distance that he put between them. Their relationship was sex and nothing more.

~*~*~*~

ISMERALDA

When she woke up in the morning, Adriano was already gone and she felt a twinge of disappointment. She was a fool to think that what happened last night that it would change anything between them. She dragged herself out of her bed and then walked downstairs to the kitchen.

She would have a cup of tea and then take a shower and go shopping. She really didn't feel like spending the whole day in the house alone again. It was too depressing and she was running low on books so she needed to go book shopping too.

But when she got to the dining room, she saw Julio sitting at the table and having breakfast.

"Oh, Julio! I had no idea anyone would be down here." She spoke. She all of a sudden felt very embarrassed about her choice of clothing. She had on a thin sleeved camisole and very short, lacy shorts that might as well be panties.

"Good morning, Cognata! Your husband summoned me. He said he needed me to be your bodyguard for some time before he got someone for you." He explained.

"So, in other words, you are my new babysitter." She snorts.

"Don't say it like that, Isme. It's insulting to both of us." He laughs.

She simply shrugged in response.

"Listen, I am fun to have around. I promise. I don't move around with a stick up my ass like my big brother."

She chuckles softly and says, "Well, I guess I could give you a chance then."

"That's all I am asking for, Cognata. Now, go take a shower, then come and have breakfast and we can head out and have some fun today." He says and shoves her towards the staircase lightly.  

~*~*~*~

An hour later, she's dressed and ready and finishing up her breakfast while watching her brother-in-law have his third serving of food.

"How can you eat so much food, Julio?" She asked.

"My motto is; eat like you're about to take the electric chair." He tells me with a smug look on his face.

"Where did that even come from?" She asked while she laughed.

"When a criminal is on death row, before he is killed, they give them a lot of food. It's their last meal before they send them to the afterlife."

"So, you eat as though you are about to be sent to the afterlife?"

"Hey, if I died while eating, I'd die a happy man." He said with a grin on her face which made her laugh.

He took the final spoon of his food and then pushed the plate away from him.

"Let's leave now before the traffic gets too bad." He says.

She nods and then gets up, grabbing her phone and her wallet and walking to the elevator with him.

"So, where to first?" He asks.

"The bookstore." She replies to which Julio responds with a raise of his brows.

"Books?"

"Yup!"

~*~*~*~

Two hours and fifty books later, Ismeralda and Julio seat in a restaurant and have lunch with Julio of course having a huge meal as usual.

Julio is the very opposite of his brother. He is fun, charismatic, jovial and very carefree. She'd been laughing every single second since they had been together something she had not even done up to three times with her husband. A part of her wished that her parents had given her to Julio instead of his grumpy brother, Adriano.

Julio understood her better and he wasn't as guarded as Adriano which made him easier to talk to.

"I remember when we were kids, right, we snuck out of the house and hid in the storage house the whole night. When we finally came out, there was carnage at the house. Everyone was looking for us and when we finally came back, my mom asked us where we had been and instead of lying like we had planned, my dumb brother blurted out the truth. My mom was seething with anger when we told her and she yelled and yelled. I had never heard my mom speak so much Italian and so fast. And all Adriano and I could do was laugh. Luckily though, my dad had been on a business trip and my mom had not informed him that were missing else that would have been terrible for us." He laughed hard as he remembered the memory and Ismeralda laughed along too.

He had a very contagious laughter and she couldn't help but laugh with him. Again, she wondered why Adriano couldn't be more like his brother.

"Tell me about your own mischief that you had while growing up."

"Okay. When I was about eight, my dad yelled at me for something that I can't even remember anymore but I was so pissed that I walked into his bedroom while he and my mom were out and I took his very expensive watch and broke it then I buried it behind my house as though I was getting rid of a dead body. When he got home, he didn't notice until the next morning that the watch was gone and that was when all hell broke loose. Till this very day, he doesn't know I was the one that broke it." She finished speaking with a smirk on her face.

Julio let out a loud laugh. "I should probably tell Adri to be careful with you then."

"No, I guess it'd be better to see the look on his face when he finds out I am not one to be messed with. "

"You're right that would be more fun."

He said and they shared a laugh.

~*~*~*~

After spending the day together, Isme and Julio spent the rest of the day watching movies on Netflix in the theatre that Ismeralda didn't even know was in the house.

They watched movies till they both fell asleep.