The night was quiet in Rome's dimly lit room.
Papers were neatly stacked on his desk, but his attention wasn't on them. Instead, his hands lingered over a frame that held a child's drawing.
"Wow, with the way you keep wiping that picture frame, it's going to break soon. Haha."
Gio teased from the other end of the line during their video call.
Rome, however, acted as if he hadn't heard him at all.
After carefully fixing the frame that held the drawing Egypt had given him—what he considered the very first family picture the twins had ever made—he reached for another small treasure. Right beside it, he adjusted the candy Egypt had slipped into his hand earlier that day, its wrapper carrying the simple word thank you.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he remembered the twins' bright, innocent faces.
How he wished the hours would pass more quickly, just so he could see those tender, heart-melting smiles again.
