Lennox, Leonardo, and Jakub are brothers. Each one of them has his way to go about his day. And it infuriates their youngest sister, Arlecchino, to the point where she’s going to lose her sanity over it.

Going to the library is Lennox’s favorite time of the day. He enjoys the quiet atmosphere and its coziness, which help him finish whatever work he has left. Moreover it’s the first place he thinks of to go when he doesn’t want to interact with anyone, as it puts him at ease.

Hitting the gym is Jakub’s hobby, to vent his anger or just because. He feels as if he has excelled to another level when putting in more work; it gives him the satisfaction he needs.

Training at the dojo is Leonardo’s forte. All day, all night, after school is over he’s there, before dinner he’s there. It’s his way of clearing his mind of all the stress and pressure that he feels, to loosen up and lessen the tension.

“All these are their ways of disconnecting themselves from the real world, to distract themselves. If they keep going this way, it’ll be destructive for their souls and spirits as well as their minds, and even worse losing themselves to something they’re not,” Arlecchino mentally cusses at her elder brothers, as she knows that they don’t care about their health.

At a rare blue moon, they are sitting in the living room all together. For once Arlecchino decides to speak up about the situation because it has been going on for so long. “You three are morons. Why do you keep on running away from life’s troubles and sufferings in such ways? If one day your coping mechanisms (if you can even call them that) aren’t there anymore, what are you going to do?” She continues, “finding the meaning in and behind every nook and cranny is exhausting! So how about you find the meaning in your life before it goes. Rather than running away from it! ” she exclaimed.

“If you want the life you want, then don’t hate it. Find yourself, your purpose, and your message in the midst of this mess, because God didn’t create you for nothing,” she sighs. "Life without love is pointless, but love without life is meaningless.

Realizing your mistakes is the first step, but the second is not sitting around and doing nothing about it or just avoiding it. You need to destroy, demolish and slay it, for you know it’s to be killed.It’s your choice whether you want to live a life that is filed with love and passion or to live it as a lifeless puppet that goes on with their day, that is filled with sadness, agony, and loneliness. A life filled with routine and no element of surprise is a depressing life, if I might say,” she ended as she walked out of the room, leaving the boys with their thoughts.

-----------------------------------------

“To think that I’d be in such a place and time, after all those years of thinking that nothing would change, nothing would get better, everything would only gradually get worse and worse by the second.

But look at me now, in a place I can finally call home,” a 27-year-old Adrius thought as he looked at the innocent, soft, and radiant jade eyes looking back at him.

As he thought back to his past…

At the moment that a 19 year-old Adrius opened his eyes, thoughts started to run wildly in his head: “Ugh, here comes another day, with the same routine, same chores and the same old sickening people, same old same old. UGH! I don’t want to get up, just thinking about it makes me ache, all that I want is to sleep all day all night.” In the end the 19-year-old got out of his bed and went to the bathroom, but he thought of it as a hassle – anything that he thought of as a chore was a hassle. Once Adrius reached the kitchen he opened the fridge. “I guess no breakfast for today,” he sighed, as the fridge was practically empty. Since he woke up at 10:00 in the morning, he had 45 minutes to get ready for work. He went to his room and wore the first thing that came into sight without giving it a second thought, then left his apartment – if you could call it that; with all the trash, glass bottles, and clothes everywhere, it was more of a pigsty than anything else.

While he was walking down the road to his workplace he was thinking: “What is there in this world that could ruin my already ruined life?” As he entered the employees’ back room to change into his uniform, he was greeted by some of the employees. He returned that gesture with a curt nod and a “good morning.”When he finished he went to the counter of the café to greet the customers and take their orders. However, just as Adrius thought that his day was going to get even worse, a drop-dead gorgeous young woman walked through the doors of the café, with vibrant, bright, and shiny brown eyes looking into his green ones. It was the first time in a long time that Adrius saw such eyes that were…that were so… full of life and hope? Adrius was taken aback byit, but snapped out of his trance once he heard her soft-spoken voice. “Um, could I get one cappuccino, please?” He nodded. With paper in one hand and a pen in the other, he asked “your name, please?”

“Lucina,” she answered.

“Okay, your order will be ready in 3 minutes. You can take a seat and when your drink is ready we’ll call upon you,” Adrius instructed, and she gave him a beaming smile while nodding.

As the days went on, Lucina kept on coming into the cafe every day. The relationship between the both of them started to bloom, and Adrius started to understand that the happiness he was looking for was something that, if you find it, you never stop searching for it.

They started dating. Adrius realized for a second time that always trying to find happiness was not the answer to everything –even though it helped him to take care of himself. It was to commit to Lucina. The days passed and they got married.Adrius’ life was no longer about finding happiness; he wasn’t doing the things he wanted to do but what he needed to do to bring something to the table, to make sure that his wife was safe and unharmed, her and the infant in her belly...

As a hand rested on his shoulder and a kiss was planted on his cheek, Adrius snapped out of his trance, turning his head to meet the person that the actions belonged to, his one and only lovely wife Lucina. “What were you thinking so deeply about that you got distracted and did not realize the sweet little Valeria fell asleep?” questioned his wife.

“I was just remembering my life before we met and comparing it to now…” He paused before continuing. “How it was all black and grey, until you taught me the meaning of finding happiness in whatever I do. However, now it’s no longer happiness…” Yet again he paused, but this time making his wife curious in the process. “It’s love, that from the moment that I married you became the main thing that I would be looking for every day, so that I could always bring you and our sweet little Valeria the best of the best. That is filled to the brim with all my love, because you two are my main priority for now, to keep you safe, happy, and satisfied, to always be protected from the monsters, and to always know that I love the two of you so much,” he ended.

As much as his wife was touched by his words, she couldn’t help but linger on the phrase for now. “Dear, what do you mean for now?” she asked.

“Well you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, my dearest,” he replied nonchalantly.