Another arrogant foster brother?

"No.. no.. no.. let me go.. let me go.. leave me.. no.. no.. run.. run.. run...."

"Grace..?"

" No.. no.. NO! Leave me!"

"Grace wake up! Grace!"

I woke up with a bolt and looked around myself to see Dylan was staring at me. He was looking worried. I was having a.. nightmare of that night.

After Max informed us that Robin escaped from jail, all the girls were terrified. They had scooted closer to me. I was scared it would be an understatement, I was also in the same state as them.

A thought suddenly came in my head and when I looked up to see everyone's worried eyes on me, I knew everyone was thinking the same.

'I was the one who hit him and so.. I am his target!'

After that, Dominic ordered Max to increase the girls' security. They all agreed and left. The girls hugged me before leaving.

I went to bed early as I was not in a mood to have dinner. I was overthinking when I slept, that caused the nightmare. I looked at the clock hanging on the wall in front of me. It was 02:50 a.m. .

"Was I loud?" I asked Dylan in a low voice. Because I never scream loudly in my nightmares.

"No." He looked at me calmly. I looked at him, confused. If I wasn't loud what was he doing here at this time?

"I woke up to have water, but my jug was empty. I was going towards the kitchen and thought to give you a look."

"Ohh.." I sat straight and wiped the sweat by my hands.

"Why are you so calm?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked even after understanding well.

"Girl! You just had a nightmare. And I know it was about that night. And here you are behaving like nothing happened! Why are you acting so calm?" He sounded a little frustrated.

I am used to it. I know how to handle it myself.

"Why? You wanna give me a hug? You can give it to me by being calm also." I tried to crack a joke to avoid the question.

He smiled at me in amusement.

"Come here." He opened his arms to give me a hug. I didn't delay.

After some time we broke the hug.

"Ok time to sleep. Lay down. Want me to stay?" He asked while helping me to lie down.

"No. It's ok, Dylan."

"Ok. I am staying."

I gave him a look and heaved a sigh. I understood whatever I said he was going to stay anyway. So, I closed my eyes to welcome a dreamless sleep.

Morning

I woke up in the morning around 8:00. Dylan wasn't in my room at that time. I don't know if he stayed the whole night or not. I thought to ask him later. I freshened up quickly and walked downstairs to the dining room. I was starving as I didn't have dinner yesterday.

The delicious smell of food immediately hit my nostrils making my tummy growl loudly.

"Good morning." I politely wished Dominic after sitting down who was the only person present in the dining room.

"Good morning, Grace." He looked up from the file he was going through.

He closed the file and gave me his full attention.

I looked around for Dylan. Why wasn't he here?

"Where is Dylan?" I asked him.

"He just went to sleep." He looked at me to read my expressions. I didn't make him wait for long.

I looked at him in shock.

"He was awake by your side till morning. I had some work with him so I went to his room to find him. When I didn't find him there, I knew where to find him." He stopped.

I was blank.

"I found him sitting beside you, caressing your head."

I looked at him with widened eyes but still didn't say a word.

"Now I would like to know what was he doing there all night? Awake?" He put his hands on the table.

I looked at him blankly. I don't know what was going on in my mind at that moment. The thing that Dylan sacrificed his sleep for my comfort or the thing that I have to tell Dominic about my nightmares?

Though I know Dylan already told him but he wanted to know from my mouth.

"I am waiting." He broke my chains of thought.

I sighed while looking down.

"I had a nightmare last night." I said quietly.

"How often do you have them?" He asked immediately but the seriousness didn't waver a little.

All those softness from yesterday was gone. He was back to that person when I first met him. He was back to that cold person.

"I don't ha-.."

"Oh, just for you to know, I hate lies." He said boringly.

Ohh, well..

"I often used to have them before." I murmured.

"The cause?"

"The incident." He doesn't need to know about the other reasons.

"Any other reason?"

"No." I replied.

I don't want him to know more than that. I don't want his pity.

"It's not that serious. I can handle them. You don't have to worry." I said looking down.

"I will see if I have to worry or not."

I don't think there is a point in arguing. So, I just nodded.

"Listen, Grace. You don't have to worry about anything. He can't even step on your shadow. I won't let him. So, I want you to stop thinking about him. I don't want you to neglect your health and food in worrying about him. It shouldn't happen again. Is that clear?" He said calmly.

He isn't happy with me neglecting dinner yesterday.

"Yes, si... Dominic." I guess the tone he used messed up my mind. Thus I was going to call him 'sir' mistakenly.

"Better." He nodded and ordered Maria to bring the food.

Maria was the cook and full time housekeeper. She was a sweet lady. I met her yesterday.

After breakfast, Dominic said that my room was ready for me to move in. He asked Maria to move my belongings in the room. He also said that I can decorate it the way I am comfortable after the moving was done. He also gave me the numbers of my friends to call from the landline till he bought me a new phone. I didn't tell him that I already have a phone.

Shit! I forgot to call Lydia. I will just call her after the moving is done.

I didn't see my Damon in the morning. And Dominic went to the office after assigning every worker their work. Nobody was allowed to talk to me apart from Maria but I didn't have any problem with that.

I thought about calling the girls. I called all of them and talked to them. They said that they would visit me Sunday, which was in two days. I was on the couch in the living room and was talking with Lava. She was the last one I called.

"Miss, Grace. Your room is ready." I turned around to see Maria standing beside the couch I was on.

"La, I gotta go. Will call you later. Bye bye." I ended the call after bidding bye to her.

Yeah, nickname. The girls call each other with nicknames. They said it makes the other person feel special. So I started to call them with the names they call each other. Like La for Lava, Nate for Natasha, Sofi for Sofia, Rin for Erin and Rays for Sarah.

After the call I followed Maria to my new room.

I opened the door and went inside. It's a huge room, almost double in size than the guest room. The walls were painted with light green and veins and flowers were drawn with dark green. I absolutely love creativity.

There was a double bed in the middle of the room, a small bookshelf, a study table by the window. A recliner in front of the bed. I need to swap the place of the table with the recliner.

The bathroom was at the right corner and the walk-in closet was just beside it. So that you can walk into the walk-in closet from the bathroom also. There was a huge dressing table with everything I despise with a huge mirror. In front my bed there was a TV, hanging and there is a small cabinet with a glass door that has a lot of movies and TV shows.

I have my own personal TV!

Ok, I would like to make some changes. Maria offered to help me but I politely declined as I don't have much to do. I need to kill time with something, right?

After she left, I locked my door. And folded the sleeves of my shirt that I wore with jeans. My scars were healing. I hope they fade soon. I shook my head to concentrate on the work in hand.

I found my backpack in a drawer of the walk-in closet. I opened the bag and took out the things one by one. At first I took out my Nay Nay's photo and gave it a kiss. I did the same with my late foster grandparents photo. Then I took out the letter and read it a few times. At last I took out the name tag that has my name.

I looked at it intensely. When a baby is born in a hospital, the hospital community gives a name tag to the family to write the baby's name and tie it in a hand. So that when the baby is kept with the other babies, they don't get confused. That means, someone from my family named me but they didn't want me. Some drops of tear slipped from the corner of my eyes thinking about it.

I quickly put all the things back on my backpack and then hide them in a secure place.

Then I started my work of redecorating the room.

After some hours, someone knocked on my door. It was almost lunch time. I pulled my sleeves back and opened the door to reveal Dylan.

"Hey, there, little one."

I rolled my eyes at the new nickname with a small smile. I welcomed him in my room.

"Woah! You changed the room! It looks better!" He commented.

Well I didn't do much. I just pushed the study table in a corner and placed the recliner by the window. Because the view outside was way too beautiful for me to enjoy while studying. I also changed places of some showpieces.

"The dressing table looks empty.." He said something more like a question.

"I removed all the make up items from there and kept them in a drawer in the walk in closet. I am not a fan of makeup." I shrugged my shoulders while answering.

"You don't fail to surprise me." He smiled at me.

"Well, thank you." I bowed a little.

He laughed.

"Ok, let's go and have lunch. Then we will do some gardening."

"Perfect!"

After lunch, which was delicious, we took a walk in the garden. Then we started gardening. It was a fun day. We enjoyed it a lot. He told me about the flowers and taught me basic gardening.

They day went by without much drama. Until it was time to sleep. Dylan was stubborn to stay in my room while I was against it. He was afraid that I would again have a nightmare. After a lot of bickering and emotional blackmail from my side, I was able to make him go to his room.

Next two days were the same. We both were at home and enjoyed each other's company. They have a treehouse in their backyard! I love it so much.

I also talked with Lydia. I didn't tell her about my adoption.

I didn't see Dominic much in these two days. One day he didn't even return home. Dylan said he was busy with some really important work. Maybe related to business. I also didn't see Damon much. Well, whenever we were in the same room, he treated me like I wasn't even present in the room.

Finally, it was Sunday morning. I quickly got up and had my shower to freshen up. I was looking forward to having a great day with the girls.

I was happily going towards the downstairs, when I heard shouting. I slowed down my pace to listen.

"WHERE IS SHE?? HOW DARE SHE THINKS THAT SHE COULD TAKE MY SISTER'S PLACE?" A new voice shouted angrily.