267 It’s a crime, brother
Pat pat pat
Aaron rubbed Kairen’s back. He did it as gently as he could so that he wouldn’t mistakingly touch his wounds or make his body ache.
“Stop crying. Your condition will worsen if you keep this up. Lie down first. We can talk again later, hmm?”
He said those words while his own eyes were red as if he was just barely holding back his tears.
Sniff sniff
Kairen didn’t listen to him at all. With his head still on his brother’s shoulder, he cried like a lost little kid who had found his mom after wandering the streets for hours.
He had waited to meet this man for so long. He missed him too much. He didn’t want to let him go.
“Ron... Hic...”
“Yes.”
.....
Ron answered with a soft voice.
“Ron...”
“Yes.”
“Brother.”
“Yes.”
“Hic- ugh cough”
Hasn’t it been only a few months since he was thrown into this world? Why did he feel like he hadn’t seen his brother for ten years? He felt that he hadn’t seen this face for so long that he had almost forgotten what he looked like. As if he hadn’t heard this gentle voice for so long that he had forgotten how it felt before.
“Hey! Kairen! We can continue to talk later okay? You will get worse at this rate. Once you’ve got a little bit better-”
“No.”
Kairen gulped down the hot liquid that was raising up in his throat as he shook his head. It was hard to talk, but he still had to say a few things.
“You will... d-cough... disappear again.”
Sniff sniff
“...”
“You will...leave... Huff... Again... Huff...”
He gulped down the blood rising on his throat again as he took deep breaths. His insides were burning, but he didn’t want to let go. He was scared that once he opens his eyes, his brother wouldn’t be by his side anymore. That was how things were till now. This man appeared everywhere, but when Kairen tried to reach out to him, he vanished. He ran away. Kairen had to stick to him at all costs.
“Don’t...”
Why did the wounds ache so much? Weren’t they treated? Kairen had seen that his body was bandaged all over when he woke up a few moments ago so why did they hurt so badly? He was getting nauseous and dizzy.
“...Leave... m-Mmm...me... Ugh...”
He clenched his brother’s clothes with all his might.
“...”
Aaron looked down at Kairen’s hands toughly holding his clothes, which had fever force than a little kid’s grasp. This boy was not in a good condition. He had to go back to rest right now.
Pat pat pat
“I won’t.”
He looked at the boy’s head which was on his shoulder, the shoulder that was wet with his baby brother’s tears. He couldn’t see Kairen’s face but he knew that he was crying. He was like a little kid. Aaron was right at calling him his ‘baby brother’ as he was really like a kid. He had always been. Even if he grew up to be an adult, to him this boy was nothing but a silly child.
“I won’t go anywhere this time.”
Pat pat pat
“I won’t. So calm down.”
Pat Pat Pat
“Ugh... Re...ll...”
‘Damn. It hurts...’
Kairen now thought that he really should have listened to Ron when he told him not to move.
“Yes. Really.”
“Pr..o...m...”
“Yes. It’s a promise. I promise okay?”
Aaron could feel the body of his brother getting relaxed a little bit. He sighed internally.
“Now calm down and-”
Bang
The door of the room flung open before he could finish his words.
“What happened Mr. Hey I heard you yell just now-”
Claire jumped inside the room with a startled face, only to freeze in her spot upon seeing the scene before her eyes.
“W-what?”
She looked at the man with shoulder-length light brown hair who was sitting on a chair beside the bed and was patting the person who was supposed to be unconscious.
“What the- Who are you?”
She yelled as she jumped back all of a sudden and grabbed the door, pulling it towards herself and hiding behind it as if it was a shield. Her gaze shifted from Aaron to Kairen.
“You are awake- huh? Why are you hugging- who is that man anyway? What the hell is going on?”
Claire looked like she was about to go crazy from shock at any moment.
“...”
The older man in the room glanced at her with a blank face.
‘Isn’t she overreacting-‘
“Ah?”
Mr. Hey flinched as he noticed that his hood was down and his face was not hidden anymore. He hurried to grab it and pull it up, but he couldn’t move his hand as he couldn’t let go of Kairen who was limply leaning on him.
“Hey! Answer me! Who are you? Where did Mr. Hey go???”
She took another step back and closed the door a little bit more as if to get ready to protect herself if the man suddenly jumped at her.
“...Claire...”
“How the hell do you know my- Oh what the fuck? Why do you look like that bastard so much? Huh?”
Claire looked at Kairen, and then at the man who was holding him, then at Kairen again.
“Sniff sniff.”
Kairen was still sniffling without giving a damn about what is going on around him. Dealing with his pain was hard enough that he didn’t have the energy to deal with this girl anymore.
“Claire, it’s me.”
“You? What? Who?”
“Calm down first.”
‘Argh, didn’t I say those words too many times today?’
Ron looked down at his brother. His body had started trembling at some point and it was heating up as well, but the boy still refused to let him go even after his promise. Didn’t he believe his words? How saddening.
He could force his silly brother to lay down if he wanted, but he was scared that using force might make his injuries worse so he decided to wait a little bit longer till he calmed down completely.
And now, there was this girl whom he had to help calm down.
“Huh? Ah?”
It was just then that Claire saw the familiar cloak the man was wearing. Although the hood was removed, she could still recognize the cloak.
“That’s... Mr. Hey’s...”
Her mouth opened wide.
“W-what have you done to Mr. Hey, you bastard? You thief! You’ve even stolen his cloak! Where is my Mr. Hey????”
She closed her eyes and screamed.
“....”
.....
“How could you steal that old man’s clothes? Oh my god!”
“....”
BANGG
“ACKK!”
“KYAA!”
SLAMM
Then, there was another bang, two loud screams, followed by another loud noise.
“What the hell? What are you doing Asa?”
Asa, who had suddenly landed on Claire’s back and made them both fall to the ground, hurriedly stood up.
“I- Oh sorry. I just heard you scream so... So... o...o... oh... ooh?? OH!!!???”
She started to make strange voices as soon as she raised her head and saw the two men before her. Her eyes opened wide enough for her eyeballs to fall out.
“C-Claire...”
She pulled Claire’s sleeves as she leaned towards her, almost staggering.
“...You didn’t say that your Mr. Hey was... such a... handsome... young... man...”
“....”
“....”
“....”
The whole room went into silence.
‘Handsome young man?’
Aaron blinked.
‘Who? Me?’
Well, he was indeed handsome and young... but he had not heard those words in such a long time that they felt odd. He didn’t think someone would call him like that ever again.
‘Handsome young man?’
Claire blinked.
‘Who? Mr. Hey?’
Well, this man was indeed handsome and young... but wasn’t her Mr. Hey an old man too ugly that he hid his face all the time? Why was Asa calling him Mr. Hey?
‘Handsome young man?’
Kairen blinked.
‘Who? His brother?’
Well, his brother was indeed handsome and young... but why did Asa say those words as soon as she saw his brother? Did she fall in love at the first sight?
‘No brother. She is too young for you. I’ll find you a suitable girlfriend so don’t even think about Asa. It’s a crime!’
Though he knew that his brother wasn’t that kind of a person.
“Ah? Huh?”
Asa, unfazed by the heavy silence even a little bit, continued to babble whatever she liked.
“Why do you look alike... huh? Are you relatives or something?”
She pointed at Aaron and Kairen.
“But who is he?”
Claire asked.
“Isn’t he that soil dude?”
“Mr. Hey? No way!”
“Yeah, I’m him.”
“Huh?”
Claire froze on her spot once again.
“Huh?”
Blink Blink
“Huh?”
Blink Blink
She was unable to process things anymore.
“Argh-”
Kairen on the other hand was unable to deal with the pain anymore.
“R..on- Cough.”
Blood burst out of his mouth.
“R-ren!”
“Cough cough... Ugh...”
Kairen was once again struck with an unbearable amount of pain. He threw up blood each time he opened his mouth. His vision was once again going blurry.
“R... Hey, healer... D... som...thi...”
That was the last thing he heard before fainting again.
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