"Good morning," Bella greeted warmly, a genuine smile on her face as she approached Hazel’s table.
Hazel moved her eyes from the duo, still attacking their pastries like they hadn’t eaten in weeks, and found Leo and Bella standing before her. Leo’s hand rested lightly on the small of Bella’s back, his expression as unreadable as always, though sothing in his gray eyes had softened slightly.
Hazel straightened in her seat, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Good morning."
"May we sit?" Bella asked, already pulling out a chair.
Hazel nodded, gesturing to the empty seats across from her. "Of course."
Leo settled beside Bella, his gaze briefly sweeping the room before landing back on his cousin. He studied her for a mont. The loose hair artfully arranged. The soft cream sweater. The way she sat taller than she had in years.
"You look different," he said quietly.
Hazel’s hand instinctively moved toward her scar, then stopped. She let it fall back to the table.
"Different how?"
"Better." His voice was simple. Honest.
Bella reached across the table, her hand covering Hazel’s for a brief mont. "You look beautiful, Hazel. Really."
Hazel’s eyes flickered, sothing vulnerable passing through them before she masked it. "Thank you."
A comfortable silence settled between them, filled with the distant clink of cutlery and Dom’s muffled exclamation about finding a new favorite pastry.
Bella glanced toward the chaos and smiled. "They’re really enjoying themselves."
Hazel followed her gaze. Dom was now attempting to build a tower out of croissants while Jason tid him on his phone.
"I told them breakfast was on ," Hazel said. "I didn’t expect... that."
"That’s just them." Bella laughed softly. "They’re like puppies. Feed them once and they love you forever."
Leo made a small sound that might have been agreent.
Hazel’s lips curved. "It’s nice, actually. Watching them. They don’t care about... anything. They just exist. Happily."
"That’s Dom’s and Jason’s superpower," Bella said. "Being happy. Making others happy too."
Hazel’s eyes lingered on Dom for a mont longer than necessary, watching him laugh at sothing Jason said, watching the way his whole face lit up when he was happy.
Then she looked away quickly.
"Are you guys staying over here for a few days?" Hazel asked, her voice carefully casual.
Leo nodded. "Hmm. Two days. We had plans for boating today."
"That sounds nice." Hazel paused, then added, almost shyly, "It’s a pity. I was thinking about taking everyone to so pretty spots around here. There’s this hidden lake, a few good hiking trails..."
Bella’s eyes lit up. "That sounds lovely."
Leo studied his cousin for a mont, the way her fingers traced the rim of her teacup, the way her gaze kept drifting toward Dom’s table despite her best efforts.
Then, casually, he said, "It’s fine. You can still take Dom and Jason with you."
Hazel’s eyes snapped to him.
For a fraction of a second, sothing flickered across her face. Surprise. Then sothing warr. She tried to hide it, but Leo caught it.
"That... sounds good, actually." She smoothed her expression, but her voice gave her away, lighter, almost eager. "I’m planning to stay here for a few days as well. Mom and Dad are leaving tomorrow. Uncle and Aunty and Nonna are leaving this afternoon."
Leo nodded. "They told ."
Hazel looked toward Dom again. He had sohow acquired a plate of fruit and was attempting to juggle a strawberry. Jason was recording on his phone, absolutely no help whatsoever.
Bella bit back a smile. "They’ll love exploring with you."
Hazel’s lips curved, just slightly. "You think?"
"I know."
anwhile, at another table, Nicolas sat with his best friend Marcus, both nursing cups of coffee and watching Dom and Jason.
Nicolas’s eyes were fixed on Dom and Jason with an expression of pure disdain. His lip curled slightly as Dom attempted to catch a strawberry in his mouth and missed, the fruit bouncing off his chin and onto the floor.
"Are they seriously acting like that in public?" Nicolas muttered, loud enough for nearby tables to hear. "Have they never eaten anything good before? I feel genuinely embarrassed just looking at them."
Marcus laughed, shaking his head. He was a thin, sharp-faced man with an expensive watch and an even more expensive ego. "Right? They’re acting like they’ve never seen real food. Maybe they’re poor. You know, the kind of people who only eat processed garbage at ho."
Nicolas snorted. "Probably. Look at that one," he nodded toward Jason, who was now attempting to build a pyramid out of croissants, "he’s treating breakfast like an engineering project. It’s pathetic."
"It’s desperate," Marcus agreed, stirring his coffee with exaggerated elegance. "You can tell they’ve never experienced real luxury. Organic ingredients. Fresh pastries. Actual quality."
The words carried just enough to reach nearby tables.
Leo’s hand stilled on his coffee cup. Bella’s eyes widened slightly. Hazel’s gaze, which had been soft and warm monts ago, sharpened into sothing cold and dangerous.
Across the room, Dom and Jason exchanged a glance.
Dom’s eyebrow arched. Jason’s lips pressed together, fighting a smile that was definitely not appropriate for the situation.
"Show him," Jason whispered, barely moving his lips. "Show your royal manners, bro. He’s talking badly about us."
Dom’s dark eyes flicked toward Nicolas, who was still staring at them with that sa look of disdain, like they were bugs under his expensive shoes.
Sothing changed in Dom’s expression.
He sat up straighter. Rolled his shoulders back. Lifted his chin just slightly.
And then—
His whole aura transford.
Nicolas blinked, confusion flickering across his face. The goofy, pastry-hoarding idiot from monts ago was gone. In his place sat soone else entirely.
Dom’s posture beca effortlessly elegant. His movents slow, deliberate, refined. He picked up his cutlery not like soone who had never seen luxury, but like soone who had been trained in it since birth. The way his fingers wrapped around the fork. The way he cut his pastry with precision. The way he brought it to his lips, chewed slowly, dabbed his mouth with a napkin.
It was srizing.
Even Marcus stopped stirring his coffee, his mouth slightly open.
Nicolas couldn’t look away. His disdain had frozen on his face, trapped there by the sight of the man he had just mocked moving through breakfast like he owned the room.
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