Episode 64

"You're too cruel"

"I know"

Alex dipped the wet cloth in water and squeezed it before placing it on Kei's forehead. Kei flinched a bit being completely knocked out and burning with high fever.

"Is he going to be fine?" Akio seemed really stressed.

"He's just worn out, he'll recover" Alex replied tending to him.

"Sorry.." Akio replied, he basically had to call Alex over the first thing in the morning. Moreover the girls had to stay with Zhuang and Alex all night so he was apologetic about that as well.

"I can't believe you did it till he passed out... Kinky I must say" Alex said jokingly trying to lighten the mood.

Akio stood there with a bent head, even more devastated than before.

"Just sit down, stop stressing me out with your stressful expression" Alex tapped next to Kei on the bed.

"I don't know what came over me.. He just said those hurtful words.. Like he's been taking me for granted, he's not seeing my efforts at all..." Akio sat down with still a bent head.

"Kei has always been sensitive to his environment.. So it's not that he doesn't see your efforts... It's just that he feels bad because he can't reciprocate those efforts back to you..." Alex replied.

"Last night, I told him everything, about the past... And the present..." Akio said.

Alex gave him a look of disbelief but then saw the look on his face and only then he came to believe it.

"Was it hard telling him?" Alex asked.

Akio shook his head in agreement.

"Do you think things will change from now on since he knows all that?" Alex asked.

"I don't know.. I feel like we keep on coming to a dead end with our relationship.. I keep on trying to hold onto him but he keeps slipping away, he even asked me if I'd wanted to marry like he wants me to bind him by force or something... He's not willing to do things on his own.. What's the point of it all if he has to be forced to be in a relationship.. I don't want him to do things half heartedly.."

Akio replied

" So that's why you rejected him... " Alex was finally able to see things from Akio's perspective.

It was true that Kei was too insecure and always acted like Akio deserved better than someone like him... It was only a given that Akio wouldn't want to marry someone who might back away later saying 'you deserve better than me', he wanted Kei to make a decision he'd stick with rather than forcing himself into things.

"I thought I had to give him enough space to heal... Of course I have needs too, both physical and emotional but I hold myself back because I really want this guy to be able to rely on me and not feel wronged... But he's just being..." Akio stopped to look back at the unconscious Kei a bit and his expression softened.

" Honestly you got it all wrong, the fact that you're giving him unwanted space is what's making him insecure, what he needs presently is not space, he needs reassurance and closeness" Alex replied

"Well then he got it" Akio's expression turned to a childish frown which made Alex chuckle

"Can't believe I'm seeing you act like a brat" Alex said while chuckling.

Akio's face remained pale, though his ears went a bit red.

"So tell me"

"Tell you what?"

"How is it to take an alpha from the back?"

"How'd you know?"

"How would I not know?"

"I feel like there's a knock on the door..."

"There absolutely isn't"

"I'll check... In any case!"

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"Are you sure that's okay?"

"Yeah"

What are they even talking about and why am I stuck with this here. Hello I'm still a patient?!

Aoi had my little brother in her arms, he was half awake but looked too sleepy to raise his head from her shoulder. While father had the girls in a single prom that they used for Adrian when he was little, both of them were asleep.

"What are you guys talking about.. Don't leave me out..." I kinda ended up saying it a bit desperately...

Its obviously kinda lonely to be left out, I even had to take a leave from job because of this sickness and now I'm getting left out from the issues at home too...

Aoi smiled and came inside

" Natsu, there's a party today that I must attend and even though I really don't want to leave you... There's an issue at hand.." She said.

"What issue.." I asked which made her and father exchange some looks "You know I sometimes wonder if you're my father or hers"

"Where'd that come from?" He seemed a bit surprised.

"You're always taking more care of her and spending more time and showing more understanding with her" I replied and father stood there a bit dumbfounded.

"Are you seriously being jealous of her?" He asked

"Of course not, I'm just mad that you both are so attached and dependent on each other that there's absolutely no space for me" I said.

"It's nothing like that, I'm a bit hesitant to tell you, it's just that if I tell you maybe you wouldn't allow me to go" Aoi said.

"What? Are you getting into something dangerous?!" I suddenly got all attentive.

"Okay there's something I haven't told you" She said.

"What is it?" I asked sitting up.

"Hey lay down, don't be careless" She said placing a hand on my shoulder.

"But what is it?" I was anxious.

"Okay I'll tell you about it all but I want you to relax and trust me on it..." She said even though father did give her a look to not do this but I pulled her wrist to make her focus on me.

"So about Mari....."

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The whole mansion was well decorated with lavish items, a red carpet laid out at the entrance while the receptionists would carefully examine the invitation cards of the guests before letting them in.

Mr Strauss also stood by leading some guests in personally and by his arm was the woman who was supposedly his current wife. He'd had alot of wives, she could be fourth or fifth, they barely lasted with him.

The guests were led into a huge hall with alot hustle and bustle. Alot of officials were gathered and being served costly wine. Everyone was engaged in atleast some incomprehensible business conversation that it'd be impossible to understand unless you were from the elites.

Funnily enough, all the guests appeared to be alphas, you'd barely see an omega guest around unless they were a partner of some alpha or something.

Ian was still upstairs, sitting lifelessly on the chair infront of his dresser while the maids prepared him.

Kirihara Mari made an entrance, she was dressed in a beautiful black sleeveless, knee-length laced flare dress with black high heels, her hair rested upon her shoulders and chest.

Mr. Strauss welcomed her, though she brought an unusual guest with her which shocked Mr. Strauss.

"What a huge surprise!" Mr. Strauss said as he saw the person next to her "I'd never expected you'd actually come, Ms. Himari Aoi"

Aoi walked in dressed in a charming ombre navy blue gown featuring one shoulder neckline with cut out back, her heels were not as high since she wasn't accustomed to any of that. Though one can only imagine how hard it must be to clothe a dress blind person like her in such clothing. If it weren't for Mr. Zhuang, she would have worn a suit to the party. He had also done her hair up in an updo after curling it while watching tutorials all over the internet. Since it was a last moment thing, they just had to trust Zhuang on this and he'd done it quite well. She looked elegant.

"How could I reject the invitation especially when it came from the future inlaws of the Kirihara family" Aoi replied.

"Seems like you were informed of it beforehand, the Kiriharas and Himaris are close as expected, I had planned to make this announcement publicly today, we can finally seal the deal" Mr. Strauss spoke in a composed yet posing a frank tone.

"Indeed" Aoi replied.

"If you both excuse me, I'd like to join the birthday boy" Mari said.

"Seems like Ms. Mari is all over him, be patient, he's all yours anyways" Mr. Strauss laughed, Mari also faked a smile a bit and so did Aoi. If anything, both were good at acting.

Mari finally excused herself and a maid led her upstairs as per Mr. Strauss's guidance.

"Congratulations Ms. Himari, I'd also heard you announced your own wedding" Mr. Strauss said "Is the person from any family I know of?"

"Thankyou, I really think you don't" Aoi replied.

"Oh so is the person not from a well known family?" Mr. Strauss replied.

"He's a teacher at a well known academy" She responded "a very good one"

Mr. Strauss seemed a bit disappointed at her response as if it was a total waste. Only then Mr. Ryan joined in, he'd seen Aoi and came to make a conversation.

Upstairs, the moment Mari opened the door to the room, Ian stood up suddenly, he was dressed in white suit with his hair all combed back, looking quite handsome. He dismissed the maids and waited until they left.

"My brother..?" He asked frantically as soon as everyone left.

"Why do you worry, I made a deal with you didn't I?" She said.

"You still haven't told me what you want in return" He asked

Mari did not respond. She just fixed his bow tie.

"Happy Birthday"

The guy before her was stunned a bit, he'd been in so much stress that he'd almost forgot what the whole party was about.

"Th.. Thanks" He said with a slightly bent head, she also noticed that he was wearing the bracelet Mari had given him the other day.

A maid came in carrying a box that she left on the table before leaving the room with a bow.

"What's that?" He asked.

"A birthday gift?" She responded, he proceeded to it and started unwrapping it.

As he stripped off the final layer of the gift sheet and opened the huge box his eyes widened a bit.

"How'd you know..?"

The box was full of a variety of paints and brushes with a drawing board and scholar sheets along with sketch books.

"A little bird told me" She responded and at the same time little Lian came to the room with the maids behind him.

"Brother" He said and Ian's eyes swelled up as he rushed to hug the little boy tightly.

The little boy cupped his elder brother's face in his little hands "Happy Birthday brother"

The next moment Ian literally burst into tears, he had his time with his brother before the maids finally took him away.

Coming back from the bathroom after fixing his face, Ian came to Mari who was waiting by the door.

"Is he really going to be safe?" he asked Mari

She nodded with a resolute expression.

"Thankyou" He whispered, his eyes were a bit swollen around the corners, but even that looked handsome on someone like him. He was a very handsome boy no wonder he'd been in the luring business.

Later on when almost all the guests has gathered Ian came outside with Mari by his side. The whole hall filled up with claps and cheers of birthday wishes as he descended downstairs.

People even came to wish him personally as he maintained a professional look and dealt with them quite formally as if he was already accustomed to playing this role. Some of them had seen him for the first time and they were completely in awe.

Around the same time Lian was also brought down. Ian's face had some visible traces of worry. He almost leapt forward as he saw his father approaching towards Lian with Mr. Ryan until he saw a woman approach Lian first, she looked familiar. He had seen her somewhere before but couldn't tell where...

"That's Himari Aoi" Mari whispered since Ian's eyes were fixed upon that woman.

"Himari..." Ian came to a realization about the name, a thought made him somewhat scared "What does she want?"

"She'll take your brother for tonight.." Mari said and Ian's eyes widened.

He turned to her "You.."

"Don't get it wrong, she already has a partner, she's only going to save him for today" Mari said and Ian relaxed a bit.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Important announcement please" 

Heads turned to Mr. Strauss who deliberately stood on a high ground raising his glass.

"Happy Birthday to my dearest son first of all, second I want to announce the engagement of my dear son to the new head of Kirihara estate, Ms Mari"

For a moment the hall was pindrop silent and then suddenly there was a roar of applause, even though alot were somewhat whispering and murmuring but they maintained the congratulatory faces and met the announcement with appreciation.

Ian also acted very well and received the wishes very diplomatically.

The last to come and congratulate was Mr. Strauss, everyone else was busy feasting by then and talking. The whole place was a hustle and bustle.

Aoi kept Mr. Ryan busy and kept little Lian company too. She did not give him the chance to go anywhere alone with the boy.

Instead Mr. Strauss did see Aoi heading towards the garden with young Lian. He did try to approach but Mari approached infront of him and kept him busy with random discussions.

The party ended with Ian and Mr. Strauss seeing off guests successfully.

Mr. Strauss's friendly look turned cold after everyone left, though seeing Mari he still tried to maintain it.

She was about to leave too.

Mr Strauss pressed a hand at Ian's back and whispered into his ear

"Go spend the night with her..." He whispered pushing the boy forth.

Ian was a bit hesitant about it.

"Mr. Strauss, if you don't mind, can I take your son for a date for the rest of the night?" Mari came blunt about it, even surprising the two men there.

Mr. Strauss nodded quickly.

"Yes Yes, he's yours anyway" He responded.

Ian stood there awkwardly but eventually followed Mari out to her car.

She opened the door for him, it was raining again.

The two set off.

There was utter silence in the car. Though the rain got louder and louder along with the thunder as they made way to the Kirihara mansion.

That place was already spooky enough for Ian since only Mari lived in that huge place covered in white sheets, it looked more like a ghost house than a human's.

He found himself almost nervous as the car stopped. He had done all sorts of jobs before that included alot of weird customers that took him to even weirder places but for the first time he was a bit nervous.

She opened the umbrella and helped him out too. As they reached the gate, Ian stopped.

"Can we not do this..?" He mumbled standing there, for the first time reluctant to take a customer.

"Huh why?" Mari asked.

He obviously had no answer to that.

She opened the door to enter the mansion, he held onto the back of her dress.

"Please be gentle..." he whispered.

"What do you mean?" She said and there was a sudden party popper blast infront him.

"Be gentle in what? Naughty kid! " Alex chuckled.

"He totally didn't see this one coming" Zhuang mumbled.

Ian's face completely turned so red he almost tried to run away though Alex held him by the collar of his shirt.

In the middle of hall there was an odd looking cake. There he saw his brother standing with a little child.

"Where's Aoi?" Mari asked.

"She went ahead and left the kid to us since she wanted to go back to his side" Zhuang shrugged.

"Come on in" Alex dragged Ian by his shirt's collar all the way to the cake.

Lian also excitedly came to hug his brother's leg. Little Adrian excitedly copied the boy and hugged Ian's leg for no reason.

They all started singing happy birthday to him. Ian stood there being a complete mess, this was the first time that a birthday actually felt like a birthday to him. This was the first time he hadn't cried himself to sleep on a birthday, this was the first birthday he didn't have to take on a customer... This was the first birthday... He was with both his brothers... His little family....

He blew at the candle that Alex lit on top of the cake. He looked towards Alex and Lian both, he couldn't help but feel so flustered...

"Sorry for that cake, Adrian totally dropped the box" Alex sighed.

"It's perfect... I'm happy..." Ian said with a genuine smile, he was almost shivering with excitement and happiness.

"So you can smile afterall kid" Alex said patting the boy's head.

That was the trigger, Ian rushed into Alex's arms, surprising him for a moment. 

"He's quite an expressive kid" Alex said while running a hand up his back. Ian stuck to him so tightly as if a young child would do so to his mother. He could finally show his childish side.... He could finally relax and stop acting, he could finally be himself...

Mari just sat in a corner watching this little party playing with a little locket around neck.

She almost envisioned her little family with her, Aoi, Kei and Yuki celebrating a birthday in some distant past where the whole place was alive and lit up just to watch it slowly fade into the current darkness and the chirpy birds replaced by the loud thunder bangs.

"Yuki...."