Title: Fragile Bonds

She was thirteen and felt like a ghost. Her foster home was a battlefield of bruises and silence, where kindness didn’t exist, and loneliness clung to her like a shadow. Every morning, she woke up with the same question: Will it ever get better?

The answer came unexpectedly one day when the principal’s voice crackled through the intercom, summoning her to the office. Her heart raced—what had she done now? But the moment she stepped in, she froze. Five towering figures stood waiting, their presence filling the room.

“This is Alexander, Mikhail, Kirill, Damon, and Will,” the principal introduced. “Your brothers. Your biological family.”

Family. The word sounded foreign to her ears. The brothers explained how they’d been searching for her, the youngest of their fractured family. Alexander, the eldest, spoke the most, his voice steady yet distant. They were taking her home.

Her heart dared to hope.

Their home was enormous—an echoing mansion filled with rooms she couldn’t count. She had clothes that fit, meals that weren’t scraps, and a bed so soft she didn’t know what to do with it. But what she craved most was the one thing that wasn’t there: love.

At first, Kirill tried. He’d smile at her, ruffle her hair, and make her laugh. For a fleeting moment, she felt like she belonged. But soon, even he grew distant, as if something inside him cracked. The others? Alexander was cold and commanding, Mikhail was sharp-tongued and dismissive, Damon avoided her entirely, and Will—quiet, detached Will—barely acknowledged her existence.

She couldn’t understand why they acted this way. They didn’t hurt her, didn’t yell. They gave her everything she needed except the one thing she wanted: to be wanted.

What she didn’t know was that the brothers carried scars of their own. They were afraid to get close, terrified that love would only lead to more pain. So they stayed distant, convincing themselves it was for her sake.

But their coldness only deepened the void inside her, making her question if she was u