Chapter 39 - Settling in

Present day - End of March, early April

Rose POV

The first days at the house went by quickly. Dimitri and Spiridon were busy with checking the security and learning the ins and outs of the place. I tried to stay out of their way, spending a lot of time in my assigned bedroom. It was what my body needed anyways, as I spent most of that time sleeping. The past few weeks caught up with me and I clearly needed the rest. I finally succumbed to the fatigue of being on the run and adrenaline-filled all the time, and sleeping so much had helped me clear my head.

The door to the bedroom was lockable, which added a much needed layer of security. Somehow I had gotten used to sleeping close to the men, and the first nights were hard. I fought against the urge to ask Dimitri to join me in that bedroom, or go to him. But it was for the better, I knew I could trust him but I couldn't be dependent on him. It was scary enough as it was to rely on someone else so much. And I was sure that he was relieved to be away from me after having to be so close to me for so long. I had clinged onto him and he most likely thought that I was unbearable.

In the solitude of my room I again realized how used to Dimitri I had grown. And even Spiridon. Spiridon still managed to make me flinch if he caught me off guard, but in a short time I had become used to both of them. When we first arrived at this house I had been struggling to keep myself together and Dimitri had anchored me, allowing me to seek safety from him and providing it to me without needing to ask. Touching him and seeking comfort from him came as naturally as breathing, and it was an adjustment to not be around him so much, especially during the nights.

The best part of the room was still the gigantic bed that had four posters and railings with curtains hanging from them, Dimitri had called it a canopy bed. The first night I had tried to calm my nerves and thoughts enough to fall asleep, but the new place and solitude were messing with my head. It was well after midnight when I had caught movement on the outside, almost causing a shriek of terror until I realized I had spotted Spiridon making one of his rounds. The wall made of glass was unnerving at first, but slowly I started to appreciate the way I could see the lake and the forest from the bed.

Ever since that first night, I had opted to close the sheer, white curtains around the bed and cocoon myself in there. It felt like a safe nest laying there. It felt better than closing the entire room with curtains.

Less than half a drawer of the dresser to the left of the door was filled with my clothes, in addition to the knitted sweater and my jacket hanging in the wardrobe. The princess had cleared out most of the things, but there were a few items left in the wardrobe. A dress fit for someone much taller than me in addition to a few warm sweaters.

The bathroom was amazing, sand-colored large wall tiles adding a nice contrast to the darker floor. It felt more luxurious than anything I had experienced before, and that first evening I bathed for so long that the water started to cool. The towels were a stark contrast to the rough ones from the motels. These felt amazing, very much like the bedding. Both seemed to be made of finest quality offering the softest feeling.

I could really get used to it.

I got up after laying in bed the entire morning. My stomach was churning and I knew I had to make an appearance in order not to make Dimitri and Spiridon think I was sick again. They were getting more comfortable with my need to rest but both were still wary whenever I showed the same behavior as the first symptoms of my sickness.

The staircase was still making me uncomfortable, but each time I used it the discomfort eased a little bit. As I ascended the stairs I heard them in a heated discussion, in other words a heated Spiridon while Dimitri offered small hums of agreeing or disagreeing.

"I'm telling you, this place was designed for one guardian to be able to protect an entire Royal family. The Dragomirs had money and clearly no expenses were spared when it came to this place. Everything is reinforced, the outer perimeter is not only warded but loaded with technical surveillance as well."

"Yes, thank you for the fine demonstration last night," Dimitri said dryly. I made my way towards the kitchen counter and sat down on one of the tall chairs. Dimitri was in the middle of frying thin pancakes and Spiridon roamed around drinking orange juice straight from the carton.

"You're welcome. But I kind of had to, I mean it was clear that you didn't believe the alarm system would be so effective. And it worked, right?" he exclaimed. "Besides, I needed to test out if you still got my back."

The last words were said in a much more serious tone so I quickly fired my question. "What alarm? I didn't hear anything last night?"

"Oh yeah? That's because you're comatose when you sleep. Like now, emerging from your cave at, what, almost noon?" Spiridon goaded. I frowned, chagrined by the fact that I had been so lazy and getting up so late. And I didn't like knowing that I slept that deeply, not having even stirred at the alarm.

Dimitri cut in. "Don't listen to him. First of all, it's not noon yet. And secondly, you see this?" Dimitri said and showed me his wrist. It looked like he had a clock on, although it didn't have the same time dial as the one I had seen Igor wear. "It's a smart watch, the entire surveillance system is connected to this. Spiridon and I get the alarms to this directly, that's why you didn't hear it. Unless we deliberately start a panic alarm you won't be bothered."

"Speaking of panic alarms, we should probably have a safety drill after breakfast," Spiridon chimed in and tried to snatch a pancake. Dimitri foresaw it and moved the plate just as he was about to grab one.

"Shouldn't I wear one too? I could help."

Neither of them said anything to my suggestion.

Dimitri and Spiridon had been outside, testing the wardline over and over again. I stood on the deck and as I saw them work I realized the wards extended further than I realized. The entire lake was included, as well as a lot of forest area. Both men were only small dots as I saw them work, barely discernible in the distance. The weather was cool but not cold, and an eerie layer of mist settled upon the lake. I wanted Dimitri to return to the house so that I wouldn't have to be alone, the gray blanket of clouds felt suffocating.

I went back inside and downstairs to my room. I felt stupid but hid in the large bed anyways, surrounded by the curtains in my own little nest.

After a while I heard a noise and looked up to see Spiridon pressed against my window, trying to peek in before he made his way indoors and to my room.

"You know, I could only barely make out your bed from outside. Those window tints are really something," he said and came over to me. "You in here?" He moved one of the curtains aside and peeked in, seeing me wrapped in like a burrito. "Nice hut, looks comfy. Although, get ready for the alarm. Dimitri will launch it any minute now."

I got up from under the covers. True to his words a shrill alarm sounded from the main areas. That would be impossible to miss, and I felt a little better. Spiridon shut it down after a few seconds.

"What should you do when you hear that sound and we're not here?" he asked when I saw that Dimitri joined us.

"Hide," I said, although my answer sounded more like a question. They both nodded and Spiridon pressed further asking me to show them where I would hide.

"Under the bed?" This time my answer truly was a question.

"Too predictable," Dimitri said and eyed the room. "Neither your bedroom or bathroom door will hold for too long, they can be broken down. But if you have the time I would still recommend that you lock both doors and stay in the bathroom. That is, if the alarm sounds while you're in this room."

"Will you also hide?" I asked, hopeful that they would join me if we ever were in that situation.

"We will work on neutralizing the threat. But one of us should always be near you, so this is only an extreme example. If one of us is with you, you will only need to follow our orders," Dimitri said firmly.

They both moved out of my room and I followed them. They showed me different hiding spots throughout, assuring me that I wouldn't be left alone unless it was the last option. I would always have one of them as my near guard, and it reminded me of what Spiridon had said at Walmart when Dimitri had been my far guard.

After we were finished Dimitri asked me if I wanted anything from the store, and demurely asked him to bring me some sweets. With a small, albeit exasperated smile he agreed. He said his goodbyes leaving me with Spiridon alone.

"So, are you looking forward to meeting the princess again?" Spiridon asked. They had told me that she would be back tomorrow along with the same two guardians. Guardian Matthews seemed pretty nice, it was intriguing to see a woman in that line of work after being told it was only men who could do that. From the looks of it, she could hold her own. The other guardian still scared me.

I wasn't really sure if I looked forward to seeing the princess, she still made me nervous. But on the other hand I wasn't as opposed to it anymore.

She could of course change her mind anytime and disclose our location to someone who wanted to harm us, but so far she had shown nothing but kindness. Letting us stay here was beyond anything I would have ever expected from someone of her position and stature. She had let us into a place that clearly was some sort of sanctuary, a place for reminiscence. Every room was filled with some sort of memory of what her family had been like, and knowing she had lost them all made me feel pity for the princess.

"Earth calling, Rose."

I looked up to see Spiridon's smile and I wiped a strand of hair away that was tickling my cheek. "It's been nice with some peace and quiet after everything. But she seems sweet, and it's her house after all. Can't really have an opinion about her coming here, we're the guests after all."

"Dimitri's making sure there's plenty of food here, I think he's planning some kind of Easter dinner for tomorrow."

That reminded me, it was about time I made myself useful. "I'm going to start the laundry and clean a bit. Do you have anything that needs washing?"

"Thanks, but I already got chewed out for making the joke about the laundry room being your office, don't think I can push Dimitri's buttons further. And I don't think you want to handle my dirty socks without a hazmat suit."

"Oh please, like I don't know that men are disgusting. Trust me, I've seen it all, one time one of the guardians gave me a sock that was so freaking stiff and crusty from sweat that it held its shape on its own."

He looked disgusted and uncomfortable. "Yeah, uh, sure, sweat." He cleared his throat and started heading downstairs. "Why don't we deal with the laundry together? I'll grab mine and Dimitri's."

I shrugged my shoulders and followed him. I went into my room and gathered the laundry I had and headed over to Spiridon's room. He was picking up clothes from the floor, clearly not having bothered to keep it tidy. I noticed a laundry basket by the door and placed mine in it before I looked around his room. I had no idea how he'd managed to make such a mess considering we hadn't stayed here for that long.

He must've felt my judging eyes and sent me over to Dimitri's room to grab his laundry instead. I hesitated by the closed door, feeling like I was invading his privacy for going into his room without his permission. Spiridon must have sensed my apprehension because he snuck up to me, making me jump. He chuckled slightly, pleased by his ninja skills, and opened the door. He gently pushed me inside over the threshold. "There, now you can blame me. Get to work."

I looked around Dimitri's room and found some familiar things. His worn out book was on the bedside table, only now it had a friend. Under it was another book by the same author. This house had several books so I wasn't sure if he had borrowed it from the library or if it was his. There was a hair tie next to the books, but other than that most surfaces were devoid of stuff. There was a queen sized bed with a plush headboard, in addition to the bedside table. The long side of the bed was placed almost against the wall made of glass, leaving a small gap to allow the curtains to be pulled closed. There was also a wardrobe with a one hinged door.

It was clear that he had placed all his clothes inside the wardrobe since none of them could be found on the floor or the chair. His bed was made and his shoes neatly placed in one corner. This room seemed to be the opposite of Spiridon's.

I couldn't find his laundry at first, and felt weird for snooping around. I opened the door to his wardrobe and found most of his clothes neatly hanging in there, no sign of any dirty clothes. There was no laundry basket and the drawers had only neatly placed t-shirts, socks and underwear in them. The sight of his underwear made my stomach somersault, and I closed the drawer so quickly that my finger remained in the wrong place, effectively squishing it. I cursed silently and held my hand against my chest, trying to ignore the throbbing pain. I was about to give up and turned around to exit his room when I found a small bag made of cotton hanging on the inside handle of his door.

A brief look inside the bag revealed that I had found what I was looking for, and headed towards the laundry room. I quickly sorted Dimitri's laundry and Spiridon brought his. It was mildly comforting doing something familiar, and it felt even better when Spiridon left me alone. If his room was saying anything, he did not like to clean.

When I had put on the first load of laundry I grabbed the vacuum cleaner and got to work.

After finishing the section with the smaller bedrooms I noticed that Spiridon was wiping down surfaces with a cloth. My heart warmed by his gesture, although he was doing it all wrong.

"Let me fix that for you," I murmured and grabbed the cloth from him. The cloth he had been using was more than damp, to the point it was wet. I didn't think any of the furniture was delicate but if we were unlucky it could leave marks. I walked over to the laundry room and he followed me. When I was by the sink rinsing the cloth off he stood next to me, so close that his chest brushed my side as he tried to look over my shoulder. I fought hard not to react, and managed to not tense up. I wrung the clot and he hummed slightly, acknowledging his mistake, I suspected he hadn't done that at all.

I gave the cloth back to him with instructions on how to use it, as well as some other cleaning items. I moved on to vacuum the rest of the downstairs, and by the time I was done Spiridon deemed himself to be ready too. With a quick glance I realized our standards of cleaning were quite different, but I decided not to say anything. I could fix it when he was making his rounds. He pushed my hand aside and grabbed the vacuum cleaner. Again, I was struck by his consideration for me as he carried it upstairs. This time, he was the one vacuuming while I worked on the rest.

In the upstairs living room with the fireplace I was wiping down a box called Monopoly when Spiridon started chuckling. "Rose, we really, really have to play. It's been forever."

"What is this?"

"It's a board game where you buy properties and try to bankrupt the other players. Don't worry, we'll teach you."

"That sounds kind of boring."

He huffed. "No, I'm just not describing it that well. It's a lot of fun, and so satisfying when your opponent runs out of money and can't pay up."

"I'm not that good with money, I don't think I'll be able to play."

His eyes grew more gentle. "You'll get the hang of it."

I placed the box, the board game, back on the shelf and resumed my duties. Spiridon did the same. I got increasingly frustrated with seeing how carelessly he bumped into the furniture, and how many spots he left behind.

"You know, why don't you let me finish up? I'm sure you have other things to do."

He looked at me with a sheepish expression, turning off the vacuum cleaner and placing it down. "I suppose so. I'm a bit hungry actually, do you want something?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever is fine."

I couldn't help but glance at him every now and then while he was working in the kitchen. It was clear that he was unaccustomed to handling food. He had decided on canned soup, but even that seemed difficult for him. He had set the oven plate on the lowest heat which meant we would probably eat the soup for dinner by the time it was heated up. I walked over to the stove and turned it higher. "Need help?" I asked him innocently.

"I can cook, you know?" he muttered.

I grinned in response. That seemed to set him off even more. "Okay, so I might not be a master chef but I can sustain myself if needed. But I just haven't had the need."

"You never had to cook?"

"No, not really. At the Academy we were served all our meals, and afterwards it's kind of always been included. Benefits of this line of work, I suppose."

"But Dimitri knows how to cook. He's even making dinner for us all tomorrow."

A flash of bitterness painted Spiridon's expression before he smoothed it out. "He grew up with some luxuries I didn't have."

I frowned, not really understanding what he meant.

"He's always had his grandma and mom around, not to mention all his sisters. He's grown used to helping out in the kitchen and with the household. He's always had a home."

"And you haven't had a home?"

"St. Basil was my home."

"But what about family?" I pressed.

"I don't have a family. I don't even know who my parents are. Or were, who knows."

My hand that was stirring the soup stilled. I turned towards Spiridon who was watching me with a peculiar expression.

"Just don't start with the pity party, okay? It's actually quite common for dhampirs to be left on the doorstep of an Academy. I'm just one of many, and from what I know about your past, you and I are quite the same."

"I never knew who my parents were either." I paused and realized there were far more similarities than just that. He grew up in an Academy, similarly to me. I had started off the same way, only to end up in the Institution. But maybe those two weren't so far off.

"With some major exceptions of course, for example how we were treated when growing up, you and I are quite the same indeed," he said, probably having guessed where my train of thought had taken me. He came over to me and gently nudged me with his elbow, and my hand started stirring the soup again. "With that said, while there are similarities between our upbringing, I don't want you to play down anything you had to go through. I know I'm not, the very little I know about the way you were treated is more than appalling."

He reached into the kitchen cabinet and grabbed two bowls for us, and I ladled soup into them. We ate silently by the kitchen counter, and I ended up pushing around the soup with my spoon.

"I can tell you're still dwelling on what I said earlier, but I can assure you that I fared well. One reason for being so close to Dimitri is the way he always included me. Don't get me wrong, we were at each other's throats, like you have no idea how much we used to fight. But he made sure I didn't have to spend every school leave alone with the rest of the orphans. Everytime I visited his home his mom babied me so much, to the extent I actually think he was jealous."

"His mom babied me too, I think. I don't remember that well."

"I heard you met his grandma. Scary woman, huh?" I giggled and shrugged my shoulders. I didn't know her well enough to think that, but remembered her being stern. "She's always called me out for my bullshit."

"And that's a good thing?"

His mischievous smile was saying more than enough.

"What about Dimitri's father?"

His mother being a dhampir, I knew his father had to be Moroi.

"You should ask him, it's not my place to tell," he said firmly and it was clear that I needed to drop the subject.

We finished our lunch and he excused himself. I cleaned up in the kitchen and proceeded to finish up the rest of the house. The house wasn't dirty by any means, but it had gathered some dust and I guessed it was because the princess wasn't here that much.

I noticed Spiridon coming up the stairs and that he had changed into workout gear. He headed towards the guardian quarters.

I had always thought that the moment when you're done cleaning and your toe presses down the button that draws in the cord to the vacuum cleaner is so incredibly satisfying. This time wasn't any different.

I heard Spiridon's footsteps behind me and turned around. The light gray shirt he was wearing was soaked in sweat, and his cheeks were flushed. He gulped down a bottle of water as he walked towards me. I noticed how the damp shirt clinged to his body revealing a very similar build to Dimitri's. I had never paid much attention to the appearances of the guardians around me, with some exception of Igor, and I felt weird for starting to notice these kinds of things.

"What?"

I looked up and noticed him staring at me. "What, what?" I said defensively.

"What, what, what?"

I huffed to the annoying man and moved aside, giving him room to access the staircase behind me.

"Good talk. You done with that?" he said and nodded to the vacuum cleaner. I nodded and watched him carry it downstairs before I went to the fridge and grabbed something to drink.

I stood by the window and looked out over the lake. It still felt unreal being here in this house with all these luxuries. Not to mention the peace and quiet it offered. I headed to the downstairs laundry room with the rest of the cleaning supplies.

When I exited the laundry room I saw Spiridon emerging from his room wearing only his training shorts. I stilled by the sight of his bare upper body, covered in a sheen of sweat. He was carrying a towel in his other hand, clearly on his way to take a shower, but instead of turning right and going into the bathroom at the end of the hallway he hurried past me towards the main area downstairs. I followed him, trying to ignore the way his muscles moved with his quick steps. I especially ignored the two dimples in his lower back, right above something else I was ignoring really hard.

"Probably Dimitri, don't worry," he said over his shoulder and quickly grabbed the tablet from the coffee table. "Yeah, it's him. He might need help with the groceries," he said while looking at the small tablet.

My mouth felt dry so I just nodded. He was breathing heavily and the fabric of his training shorts clung to his body in a very interesting way. More interesting was the way his chest was flushed from exertion, very similar to the way the pink tinged his cheeks. I noticed that he was as lean as Dimitri, but with a slightly more tapered waist. Dimitri looked bigger, more powerful somehow, but it was clear that Spiridon didn't lack in that department.

My silence must've made him look up, and I scrambled to move away from the situation. Stupid, treacherous mind for taking in the appearance of him twice now. I didn't understand what my problem was, and I excused myself to my room. I used the bathroom quickly and finished off with splashing some cold water on my face.

As I made my way upstairs I felt strands of hair stuck to my damp temple, and I tried to wipe it away from my face with the back of my hand. When I looked up Dimitri was in front of me and I was part amazed, part annoyed that someone of his size could move so quietly.

His eyes took in my appearance and I felt myself blush. I knew I didn't look my best, my shirt was stained and I was sweaty and gross from cleaning the entire house. I tried to grab one of the many grocery bags from him but he shook his head and angled his body away from me, clearly conveying that he wouldn't give them to me. I watched him move over to the kitchen and place them on the floor by the fridge.

I helped him stove away the purchases while I mentally made a list of all the food we had. "Did you eat lunch?" I asked and realized we hadn't left anything for him.

"I'll just make a sandwich, it's too late for lunch now." I was about to offer to make one, but he seemed to sense what I was going to say and gave me a challenging look. I backed off and decided that I needed to shower anyway.

"Rose, before you go, I wanted to give you something."

I turned around and noticed that he had a small bouquet of flowers in his hand. Light pink roses to be exact. I kept staring at them, not really understanding.

"These are for you," he clarified, and I suddenly became aware of my mouth hanging open. I shut it so hard my teeth rattled.

"Why?"

One corner of his mouth twitched. "Why? Why am I giving you flowers?"

I nodded, suddenly aware of my stupid arms just hanging to my sides. I felt awkward and wished I wasn't so grimey.

Now the smile reached his eyes, but I got the impression he was fighting the urge to smile wider.

"Every single church holiday I would give flowers to my mother. I saw the roses and it made me think of you, and I wanted to give them to you. It's Easter weekend after all so it seemed appropriate to hold on to some traditions, you're the lady of the house."

My arms finally seemed to find the connection to my will and with some hesitation I took the bouquet from him, eyeing the pale roses. Truth to be told, until now, I didn't really like roses despite my name, but that was only because I was forced to spend so much time tending to the headmistress' roses outside her office window. The thorny stems would only make me curse silently as they pricked me.

I didn't hate these roses.

He turned around and searched the kitchen cabinets for a vase, finding one in an appropriate size and filled it with water. He placed it by the sink and moved over to the fridge.

I walked over to the sink and grabbed a pair of scissors and started tending to the roses, cutting them to the appropriate length. The thorns of these roses didn't feel as sharp as the ones I was used to, or maybe it was just my imagination. One by one I placed them into the vase, eventually admiring my work.

While I didn't like roses, I did like these. I liked them very much. I realized I had been so taken by his gesture that I had forgotten to thank him.

"Thank you," I murmured shyly. He stopped what he was doing and gave me an indulgent smile, his eyes the warmest shade of brown I'd ever seen.

"You're welcome, Rose."

I started heading downstairs but only made it a few steps. "Uh, Dimitri?"

He quirked an eyebrow and smiled at me as he waited for me to continue.

"Can I take them with me? The flowers I mean, to my room?"

The smile he gave me made my heart flutter. A row of straight white teeth were visible behind those lips as he smiled widely. "They're yours, you can do whatever you like with them."

In that case, they were definitely coming with me. I knew just the spot by the dresser.

I was nervous about playing Monopoly, thinking I would be absolutely worthless, but fought hard to push away those feelings and just let myself enjoy the moment. As we were setting up the game they let me choose which piece I wanted to play with. I chose the little dog, thinking it was cute. Spiridon quickly grabbed the car which left Dimitri to choose his. He toyed around with the pieces that were left for a moment before settling on the top hat.

"Wait, I know just what you need," Spiridon said and left the room. As he was rummaging in the kitchen Dimitri whispered some pointers to me. Just before Spiridon re-entered the room he sat up straight, revealing nothing to his opponent. Or our opponent.

Spiridon grabbed Dimitri's pinky finger and while Dimitri looked annoyed, he didn't pull his hand back as Spiridon drew a little smiley on the tip of his finger. I realized why he had done it so I took the top hat and balanced it on Dimitri's finger, giggling as I admired our work. The little smiley face was just under the top hat, and Dimitri was watching our snickering with an exasperated face.

"Are you done?" he said dryly.

"Yes we are. Ladies first, get ready for some serious asswhooping," Spiridon goaded.

The game progressed and Spiridon kept taunting both of us to the point I wanted to slap him. I wasn't good at the game, quite careful with my money. I would look over at Dimitri before buying real estate, and he would give me a slight nod if he approved. Eventually, I landed on one of the deep blue slots at the end of the course and wanted to pass up buying it, but he ever so slightly nodded. I frowned, not sure if I agreed with his strategy. So far I had managed to land some of the brown, light blue and orange properties, all cheap and in the beginning of the course. I also owned two train stations. This one was just too expensive.

"Are you going to buy it or not?" Spiridon demanded impatiently. I nodded slowly and bit my lip, thinking that it was a mistake.

He seemed to sense my apprehension. "I'll buy it then," he said and started counting the bills.

"The lady said she'll buy it."

Spiridon glared at Dimitri before he turned towards me. "Okay Rose. Let's say you buy that property. What would it take for you to sell it to me?"

The corner of my eye caught Dimitri's wink, and I was sure Spiridon had missed it. I looked down at my property cards. "Why don't you give me the orange one you have, as well as the brown one, in exchange for this one?" A secret, barely perceptive nod from Dimitri.

He eyed his cards and accepted my deal with a huge grin plastered on his face.

After the transaction it was Dimitri's turn. "Rose, I see that you are in possession of something I want." His tone was so formal, so void of emotions. "Would you be interested in trading your two train stations for these two properties?"

He held up one of the light blue ones, as well as one of the orange ones. I looked down at my properties and realized those two were the only ones missing, and if we were to do the trade I could start buying houses and hotels on the brown, light blue and orange property strips.

"Not so fast, pumpkin. Throw some money in there as well, you're going to have all four stations," Spiridon said.

Dimitri pulled out a couple of bills and added them to his offer, which I accepted.

It was my turn, and I was ready to buy houses. I had a lot of cash, mainly because I hadn't spent much money on expensive properties, and the houses were reasonably cheap to buy. At least compared to Spiridon's dark blue properties.

It seemed as if Spiridon only now realized that I practically owned one and a half sides of the board. "No, no, no. You can't buy that much, only one house per property during your turn."

Dimitri seemed to have anticipated Spiridon's bitching and zeroed in on him, demanding he show us which rules stated that. So the game paused for almost ten minutes while Spiridon was reading the rule book, only to then forfeit his claim. I bought several houses on most of my properties, still saving some money in case I would have to pay rent.

Spiridon also bought houses during his turn, but only afforded one on each property. With a shaky hand he rolled the dice and landed on a brown property of mine, which already had three houses.

"Pay up, sucker!"

It was my time to goad him and I watched him gather most of his bills as he paid rent to me. That was only the beginning of my reign of terror, and he would at least have to roll the dice twice before he was pass all my properties and be in the clear.

The game went on, and it only took three more turns before Spiridon went bankrupt.

"Motherfuckers!" he yelled and rammed his fist into the table. All the little houses and pieces rattled, and I flinched back, still grinning from ear to ear.

"I thought you said we should get ready for some asswhooping," Dimitri said innocently. "Your ass was thoroughly whooped, was it not?"

Spiridon growled and exited the room, and I heard words like "beginner's luck" said under his breath. I giggled and started clearing up the table, placing the little houses in the box.

"You did well."

I smiled as I collected the property cards. "Couldn't have done it without you."

He leaned closer to me and I stilled, not sure what he was doing. I felt his breath hit my neck as he whispered. "Don't let him know we helped each other. It'll be our little secret."

I quite liked the idea of having a secret with Dimitri. He straightened himself and placed the board into the box and got up from his seat.

Spiridon had been right. Monopoly was fun. And it was indeed really satisfying seeing Spiridon go bankrupt.

We said good night and I headed downstairs to my room. I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, smiling to myself. Once again I was given a piece of normalcy, and I knew I would remember this night for the rest of my life. I turned my head to the left and eyed the roses Dimitri had given me.

My smile grew even wider.

Author's note: We wish you all a fantastic, peaceful and safe Christmas!