Back & Forth | Book 1 of Back & Forth Series

I go back to my bedroom after I finish my breakfast. Everyone goes back to do their own thing and I don’t know what to do since Alessio still ignores me. So, for the time being, I guess I’ll just stay in my room and do nothing.

I unlock my bedroom door and step into my room. I turn around to close the door and see Alessio there. My heart stops for a second as I stare at him. He doesn’t show any emotion as he walks past me and enters the room. I awkwardly close the door and sit on the bed bench. I take a peek from behind my hair and see Alessio taking a seat next to me. Uh, what’s going on now? I’m scared.

I awkwardly take my phone from the bed and open Instagram, ignoring Alessio. I keep staring at my phone and scroll mindlessly through pictures and videos of cats. I suddenly hear Alessio sighing and it sounds like a regretful or sad one. Does this mean that he forgive me now? Is he not mad at me anymore?

“I’m sorry for overreacting earlier.” Alessio apologised.

Did I hear that correctly? Is he actually apologizing to me right now? Wow. I didn’t even think that he’ll talk to me for the rest of the day. Just giving me the silent treatment. This is surprising.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re not mad at me anymore. I’m serious about not using my power on you. You have to believe me. I don’t read people’s minds unless it’s necessary. Especially you and the rest of the family.” I explained, frowning to Alessio. He avoids my gaze as he stares at the floor. The look on his face tells me that he’s embarrassed of acting like how he did earlier. I think it’s normal for him to act like that because deep inside he probably still felt the betrayal of his ex so that’s why he also felt like he can’t trust his secret with anyone else just yet.

“I believe you. I’m sorry for accusing you of that. To be honest, now I feel as if the pain inside of my chest has been taken away from me. I feel so much lighter and relieved. I’m sorry for being too defensive earlier. I just haven’t really let go of my past with her. All the hatred against her and her betrayal. I still feel so dumb for letting it all happen.” Alessio explained. Maybe other people also think that way only from seeing what happened but now I know that there’s more to it than just what meets the eye. From his confession it sounds like he was living on autopilot all those years with her.

“Don’t call yourself that. She’s the dumb one for betraying someone as sweet, kind, and funny as you.” I said.

“Yeah I’m not that kind considering I’m in the mafia.” Alessio said, smiling a little at me. I roll my eyes at the remark.

“Yeah. Me too. I guess we’re not that kind after all, huh?” I said, raising one of my eyebrows.

“Yeah. We’re evil.” Alessio said, grinning. Despite the grin, I can still see the pain in his eyes. He probably still feels hurt from what happened in his past even though he kept saying that he’s fine now.

“Anyways, even if we just know each other for a few days, you can always tell me about anything that’s bothering you. I’m your cousin after all. I promise I won’t tell a soul about your secrets. Not even Alessandro and Luciano. Your secrets are safe with me.” I said.

“Thank you for that.” Alessio said with a grateful smile. I can see that this ex of his, what was her name? Laura? Yes, it’s Laura. That girl, is his actual first love. He was deeply in love with her. He literally would burn down the world for her only if it’s going to protect her and make her happy. It’s sad that she waste her relationship with Alessio just for some crappy designer stuff. Only if she can see it through her money hungry eyes. I still can’t understand how Alessio lived his life with her for years and didn’t do anything about her strange acts.

“I’m getting that she was your first love. Is that right?” I asked.

“Yes. It hurts so much that someone I love with all my heart betrayed me in the end. How could I let it all happen? I just realised how weird it was after that vision.” Alessio said. It is definitely a weird relationship. He literally just realised what happened after the vision and the confrontation. It could be a love spell but I’m not really sure about that. Girls nowadays are so eager to be witches and practice witchcraft from posts on social media and internet blogs. Not all spells are bad because there are ones to break a spell or a hex but people nowadays use witchcraft only for their own benefit. It doesn’t matter if anyone else would be hurt in the process such as putting a love spell on someone.

“Despite me being a claircognizant that sounds like the know-it-all, I’m not really sure about what happened to you. Could it be a love spell? It could be. Who knows if she actually practices witchcraft and made you love her so blindly. I think if she actually practice witchcraft, she’s probably an amateur one so you don’t have to worry about it anymore.” I said. I really hope that’s not the case but something inside me is telling me there’s a chance of it but I’m not entirely sure about the assumption.

“Okay. What the hell, this is so weird. Are you serious you’re not using any of your power on me? I seriously feel like a different person now. The memories of my ex starting to fade away. I don’t care about what happened anymore like fuck her. Not in a sexual way but I wish she goes through hell right now for what she did to me and possibly other good guys she fooled.” Alessio said. Hell yeah! I swear if I meet her someday I’ll make her pay for everything she did. Even if it’s going to hurt her badly in the end. She deserves it.

“There you go! Anyways, I’m not using any power of mine. I’m happy to help you go through your heartbreak in an hour though if that’s what this is even.” I said.

“It’s possible you just got another power. If that’s what this is, it’s literal magic. I feel like the memories of her was just a nightmare that already passed and won’t even return to me.” Alessio said. That’s a good thing to hear. That means he’s finally letting go of the bad memories.

“If it’s a new power, what do you think it is?” I asked. I can’t really think of anything right now. What could this new power be?

“Definitely emotional healing. Are you sure you’re not thinking or focusing on anything else when you’re talking to me?” Alessio asked.

Emotional healing? That actually makes sense. I don’t really recall trying to use my power on him though. Is it really that unbelievable?

“No. Nothing. I’m just talking with you like usual with no intention of using my powers.” I said.

“How interesting. Thank you so much though. Starting from tonight, I’ll be able to sleep soundly without any racing thoughts about her.” Alessio said, sighing in relief.

“You’re welcome I guess?” I said with uncertainty. “Who knows it’s actually you doing this to yourself. Like you decided to heal yourself from your heartbreak and you healed yourself because of that. I seriously don’t feel like it’s because of my power.”

I guess once you allow yourself to heal and let go of the past memories and self, the healing can happen right away so, that might be the case with Alessio.

“You’re probably right. Maybe after I’m telling you everything between me and her pushes me to heal myself from the inside. To heal myself mentally and emotionally.” Alessio said.

Wait a minute. Aunt Emilia can do mind manipulation with her mind control power. Why didn’t she do something to make Alsssio forget about his ex if he reacted that badly to the betrayal? Or have she?

“Aunt Emilia has a mind manipulation power, right? Did she ever do something to make you forget about your ex?” I asked.

“Yes. I told her to do it. She tried but it didn’t work. She felt some kind of resistance coming from me and despite all the strength and might she used to erase my memory, her power didn’t work at all.” Alessio said. Resistance? Huh. That’s weird. How did that happen? Does this mean that on some circumstances we can’t use our power on each other? Maybe it happened because Alessio resisted the power subconsciously so Aunt Emilia can’t do anything about Alessio’s emotional pain. If that’s the case, I won’t be able to use any of my powers on him if he still has the same resistance. So that means Alessio did heal himself.

“Well, that means if I’m about to use my power on you like how Aunt Emilia did, it won’t work again. This means that you’re the one who use your own power to heal yourself.” I explained.

“Now that I think about it, you could be right. Thanks for listening to me venting. It definitely helps me releasing my memories of her and all the pain she caused me.” Alessio said.

“You’re welcome. I’ll gladly listen to you again if you want to get something out of your chest.” I said.

This makes me so happy. I can’t believe I just helped Alessio heal his trauma. It’s kinda ironic that I’ve helped someone to heal but can’t help myself. I want to but the thoughts of my parents haunt me again and again everyday and I’m not really sure about what to do. I want to talk to someone about it, like really talk about it and not just say ‘yeah, they did bad things to me’ or ‘my parents hate me and don’t care about me’. Not something like that. I want to tell someone about what they did to me all these times in detail.

“I’ll count on you, cousin, or should I say, sister?” Alessio said, grinning at me.

“Aww. Stop. You’re going to make me cry. I’ve always wanted a sibling and hearing that feels so wonderful.” I said, pouting. Happy tears well up in my eyes from hearing the sweet words.

It’s so nice to hear him considering me as his sister. This is so cute. I’ve always wanted to have a sibling who I can talk and spend time together. Now that I have Alessio and Alessandro, it feels like the dream finally comes true.

“I’ve always wanted a sister too. Come here. Cry out those happy tears.” Alessio said. His arms are stretched to his sides. I move towards him and wrap my arms around him. He does the same thing and then we let go of each other after a moment.

“You have me now. If you want to talk about anything, you can always come to me. I’ll be there for you.” Alessio said, smiling softly at me.

“Thank you, Alessio. That really means a lot to me.” I said, giving him a grateful smile as I shed a tear.

“You mean a lot to me. To all of us. Don’t hesitate to tell me about anything that’s bothering you, okay? You can consider me as your brother now.” Alessio said, grinning at me.

“I will.” I said, smiling back at him.

I’m not sure if I’ll be telling him or anyone else anything too personal about my life before I got here but I’m glad I have people to go to when I’m ready to let it all out.

“Okay. Let’s practice for tomorrow’s interrogation now. We have to make sure that Salvo confesses about everything in detail so we can get every information from him directly, not only from reading his mind. If you succeed in doing that, he won’t be able to refute his own statement.” Alessio explained. That’s right. We have to make him say everything with his own words. If we don’t have the actual proof other than Salvo’s words, then it won’t be enough to threaten the other traitors.

“Okay. For now, what do you want me to get out of your head? Work stuff or the most embarrassing thing you did or what?” I asked, grinning at him. I wonder what his worst embarrassing memory. Maybe I should do that. Only if he allows me to, though. I don’t want what happened earlier happened again.

“Do your worst.” Alessio said, smirking smugly at me. The worst? I’m definitely going to have so much fun doing this.

“Okay. I hope you won’t regret saying that.” I said, smirking back at him.

“Just do it and we’ll see about that.” Alessio said. The challenging look still showing on his face. Alright. If you say so, Alessio.

Okay. What should I do now? Should I search through Alessio’s mind first for his worst and most embarrassing memory first and then get him to tell that secret? That sounds pretty easy to me but I don’t think I should use that strategy on Salvo. It will be such a time-wasting process since we need him to talk immediately after we ask the questions so it’ll look and sound as natural as possible. It’ll make him look like he has a slip of tongue. So, what should I do to make it happen?

“I don’t feel like I need to say anything right now.” Alessio said. His words snap me out of my daze. I look at him and see him furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, probably wondering why my power isn’t working. Of course it’s not working now. I haven’t even done anything to him.

“That’s because I haven’t used my power on you yet.” I said, deadpanning him.

“Oh. I thought you’re failing so bad because you’ve been silent for like three minutes. You better hurry up now. Time’s ticking. You’re the one who suggested this anyway so you better try to make it work.” Alessio said.

“Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m still strategising in my head.” I said, rolling my eyes slightly.

I guess I just have to try to make him tell me the most embarrassing thing he’s ever done. No need to overthink what the secret is, just control his mind to say whatever he thinks is the most embarrassing thing he did in his entire life. Let’s do this.

I look up at him and then stare right into his eyes. He just stares back at me and then he smiles. Okay. Why is he smiling at me right now?

“When I was 16, I found my father’s drug stash in his office. There was a bag of acid, weed, and cocaine. I don’t think he has ever used any of them because the bags are sealed tightly as if they haven’t been opened. Without thinking any further, I ripped a tiny hole on the bag of acid and popped one into my mouth. Mind you, I never used any drug before that so, it was my first and also last time consuming it.

“I left his office. I haven’t felt anything weird as I go back to my bedroom. I guess I fell asleep but then long story short, I got way too high that I ended up running around the house completely naked with a full blown hallucinations. I told everyone that we don’t need no clothes anymore because we’re finally back in the prehistoric period. It felt so real that time because my surroundings literally turned into a forest with tall trees and different kinds of plants. There were also lots of monkeys everywhere. I even had one perching on my shoulder as it grabbed my hair.

“After all the commotion I caused, my mother and Alessandro immediately dragged me back to my room while I was giggling like a girl. My mother ended up using her power to clear up my mind and after that, I just fell asleep.” Alessio explained.

Wow. That was something else. I never do drugs my whole life and I definitely won’t do it after hearing what happened to Alessio. Kinda ironic that we’re actually the ones who sell drugs despite not consuming any. It’s a smart move, I guess. How did he even remember all those things though?

“Wait, what? Aren’t people who use acid won’t remember their trips? At least that’s what I know from a quick reading on the internet.” I said.

“That’s my experience. Maybe what my mother did made me remember all that.” Alessio said, shrugging. Silence stretches between us and then I see Alessio staring at me with wide eyes.

“What the fuck? No no no no no no. Tell me I did not just said all of that.” Alessio said in panic.

Gotcha! I really got Alessio to tell me the most embarrassing thing he has ever experienced in his entire life. This is amazing. I can definitely use this secret to threaten him in the future. Not maliciously, obviously. I might plan something malicious only if he does something evil to me or someone else though.

“You definitely say that yourself. Very loud and clearly.” I said, grinning at him. He buries his red face in his hands and then groans.

“Fuck. How did you do that?” Alessio said, looking at me with embarrassment.

“I’m just doing my job. You’re the one who told me to do it.” I said, shrugging as I grin at him. That’s on you, Alessio. Don’t joke with someone who has literal superpowers.

“Please don’t make me talk about it any further. It’s embarrassing enough to remind myself about that experience.” Alessio said. I want to know more but what he said definitely sums up everything that happened.

“Okay. I promise I won’t but damn, that was crazy.” I said, shaking my head as I imagine the hilarious scene in my head.

“Thanks to my stupidity.” Alessio said, sighing to himself as he stares at the floor.

This is so fun to do. If Alessio allows to do this again, I’m definitely going to take the chance. There’s no way I’m missing this opportunity to find embarrassing yet funny stories from his past.

“Anyways,” I said, still grinning at the embarrassed Alessio. “Should I fish out more confessions out of you? You know, for practice.” I keep my mischievous gaze on him and he shakes his head vigorously.

“No. Don’t. That’s enough to tell the two of us that you’ll do great tomorrow for the interrogation.” Alessio said.

“Okay then.” I said, shrugging and feeling kinda disappointed. “Can you tell me how did it feel when you said all that to me? Did it feel as if you talk normally or like you were forced to say all those things?” I asked.

“I felt normal. I didn’t feel like I was controlled or anything. It was actually shocking that I said something I’ve kept to myself for so long.” Alessio explained, smiling. The look of embarrassment still linger on his face.

Poor Alessio is actually embarrassed. But anyway, what he said about not feeling anything bad is good. That means Salvo wouldn’t feel me controlling him. He’s just going to think that he confessed what he did on accident and that’s it. He won’t suspect us doing something suspicious on him.

“Okay. That’s good to know. I can’t wait to use my power on Salvo and make him tell us his betrayal and everything he did.” I said, grinning at Alessio. He returns my grin with the same excitement.

“Can’t wait to hear him confess. He’ll absolutely look stupid after admitting his treachery.” Alessio said.

“Now that we know we can make Salvo confess, what should we do now?” I asked. There’s not much we can do right now since we can only do things around the house and I’d rather stay inside even if Alessio would allow and accompany me to go outside to the garden. So, we’re down to a few indoor activities. I definitely don’t want to continue my self-defense practice now though. I want to save my physical energy for tomorrow’s practice.

“I don’t know. Maybe we could watch a movie.” Alessio suggested. A movie? I wonder what Alessio likes to watch. I mean like the genres? Does he like action movies? Comedy? Or maybe romance? I’m up to watch anything but I’m really curious on what kind of movie he likes to watch.

“What movie?” Alessio asked.

“I’m not sure. Let’s see what’s available.” Alessio said. He goes to the nightstand and then grabs the TV remote control. He walks back to me and sits next to me on the bed bench as he turns on the TV. Actually, I’m not really in the mood to watch anything at this time but let’s see if something catch my attention. Who knows there’s something interesting I actually want to watch now.

“Do you want to watch this?” Alessio asked. I look at the TV and see the poster of the most recent Jumanji movie. I’ve watched that movie a few times. It’s a fun movie but it’s not something I really want to watch again at the moment.

“No. I’ve watched it a few times.” I said.

“I’ve watched it too.” Alessio said. He then continues to scroll through the selection of comedy movies and then stops at another movie.

“How about this?” Alessio asked. I stare at the selected movie and frown. It’s one of the Johnny English movies. It’s a funny movie but I’ve also watched it a numerous times. I don’t think I want to watch it now.

“No.” I said, shaking my head.

Alessio keeps scrolling through various movies from different genres, and I keep saying no. Besides every movies he chose, I also don’t find anything interesting and fun enough to watch right now. At this point I’d rather go take a nap than doing anything.

“We’re out of choice.” Alessio said after we reach the last interesting-looking movie in the list.

“To be honest, I’m not really in the mood to watch anything right now.” I said. My eyelids start to feel heavy as I stare at the bright screen in front of me. I used to watch movies to fight boredom but now, it can’t really help me fight it so, my last option is definitely taking a nap even though it’s still in the morning.

“What do you want to do then?” Alessio asked. The TV screen goes black and then Alessio stares back at me, looking as bored as I am now.

“I guess I’m just going to take a nap.” I said. Alessio shrugs as he gets on his feet.

“Fine. Go to sleep. I’m just gonna catch up with my emails now.” Alessio said, tossing the TV remote control on the bed.

Emails? Damn. Thank god I don’t do corporate jobs. Even as my part-time job. I certainly don’t plan to take any corporate jobs in the future either. I could never be organized. I’ll probably forget replying to important emails after reading it. Also time-management-wise, I’m definitely suck at it. I’ll probably going to only procrastinate doing my job and do it at last minute. I will also get distracted a lot by so many things that other people might not get distracted with such as playing with a pen by making it bounce on my desk over and over again.

“Boring.” I said. Alessio turns to me and then gives me a look.

“I have a job unlike you.” Alessio said.

Me? Not having a job? Then what does me reading people’s mind is considered as? A voluntarily act?

“I don’t have a job? I have to read people’s mind. Y’all are literally exploiting me.” I said, rolling my eyes at Alessio. He scoffs humourlessly at my remark.

“Exploiting you? While you’re living in this luxury? That’s the least you can do.” Alessio said. He then smiles at me, letting me know that he’s just joking about his previous words.

“I’m joking. Now go get your nap. I’m going to take my laptop from my room first and then I’ll go back here.” Alessio explained.

“Okay.”

Alessio quickly leaves the room and now I’m left with my own thoughts.

Alessio is right. Even though he only intended what he said as a joke, I think it’s true. I can’t take me living in this luxury for granted. I know everyone said that I can stay here, I still feel like I need to at least do something and one of it is reading people’s minds. At first, I did this mind-reading stuff only for the money and apartment Alessandro has offered to me so I can escape my parents. But now that I know I’m loved and cared for by my family here, I feel like I can’t leave them just like that. Deciding to live on my own using their money feels like a crime. By living here, at least I can be useful for the famiglia. The best thing is, everyone is appreciative of what I do to help the family business and no one blames me for doing something not according to their plan. Maybe not yet. We’ll see about that in the future.