Fun time with the family, Marcus edition

It's a rare occasion to have the whole family under one roof. Well, except for…

I will myself not to look at the spot where she used to sit. I wonder when father is going to re-marry? As if she didn't matter. As if she could be replaced. I tighten my fist. First, he kills—

"Oi! Marcus!"

I groan at Hilaria's grating voice.

"You've got a wife yet?" She asks. Always doing everything she can to annoy me. She flutters her lashes and gives me a grin.

Worst of all: father perks up. 

For fuck's sake. He loves to talk about my imaginary marriage.

I will have to shut both of these fools down before this gets out of hand. 

"Oi, Hilaria. You've got a successful poem yet?"

Hilaria's face falls as a collective 'ooh' runs through the dining hall. It's led by Niall's resonating voice. Ha, the absolute brat. He's the only one who I can trust to have my back. Hilaria blushes in anger as she prepares for a counter-attack. You shouldn't start anything you're unwilling to finish, you monkey arse. Marcella puts her hand on Hilaria's arm to calm her down.

Marcella, as if she was ever the voice of reason. She looks at father with a sly smile. Always yearning for his attention and approval. Father nods at her as he'd do to a dog.

"That was mean, Marcus," Gaia whispers next to me before placing her hand on my arm. I wasn't even going to continue, why are they acting like this is my fault?

I sigh. Besides, it's the truth. She's wasting her potential; her chance to be a successful poet. Instead, she parties and wastes time. Just the other day, she had puked on her new shoes; shoes that I bought her. She wasted the shoes, she wastes her life. I would call her a waste of a human being but it might be too much.

"Marcus, apologize to your sister at this instance," father says and I almost laugh at the words he's spouting out.

Of course, he'd say that. Always loving the appearance of having any semblance of control.

"Dada." Gaia's soft voice is only heard because the dining hall is silently awaiting my retort. "I saw the new statue you had purchased. It was as if looking at Jupiter himself."

Father relaxes and gives her favorite daughter an easy smile. "I'm so pleased to hear that, my dove. Bronze really suits his magnificence. And the movement of the cloth! Beautiful."

He starts blabbering about the statue and the sculptor as if it would interest anyone in this room. Hilaria hides a yawn, and even Marcella struggles to appear as if she's listening. Gaia barely looks at my direction, yet the soft smile on her face is clearly aimed at me.

Finally, when the food is taken away and the drinks are being served, I gesture to Hilaria to follow me to the hallway.

"I'm—,"

"Sor—," we both start.

Then, like the monkey she is, she runs to my arms and gives me a quick squeeze. "I'm sorry," she says.

"I'm sorry," I say against her hair and give her a small smile when she retreats. "Monkey arse."

"Donkey dick." She laughs and I chuckle with her.