c h a p t e r – f o u r

"Loki, come over here! You're not allowed to go there." The loud voice of the man that almost lived in this house had woken me up with a headache after sleeping the whole day. As I looked where the voice of Ace is coming from, I've seen an unfamiliar kid peeking inside my room with the slightly opened door. Soon after, Ace have showed up and pull out the kid away from the door and when he was about to close the door, he notice that I was looking in their direction. "Hey! You're awake!" Ace exclaimed.

"Yeah, thanks to you, you idiot!" I grumbled to him making the kid giggled on what I've said and Ace just gave him his so-called deadly glared that is actually funny, not terrifying. When I attempted to sit on my bed, Ace had come near me with the kid to help me. "You never told us that you already have a son. Who's the mother?" I asked him curiously as I glance over the kid who is now hiding behind him.

"My Mom." He replied.

"What the hell! You did that to you own Mother!?" I vociferate at him in surprise of what I've discovered. He's really a gross hopeless case. This is giving me a headache. I actually didn't know if he's the reason of this headache or the shouting I did while I'm in this state.

"Idiot! He's not my child, he's my brother!" He shouted back at me, giving me more of this headache.

"Oh!" I replied nonchalantly while glancing again to the kid behind Ace which is again giggling on us. "Hey kiddo, want some sweets?" I asked him while smiling at him.

"It's Loki, my name's Loki. And no thanks, I'm not fond of sweets like the other kids." The kid, I mean Loki, said seriously then glanced over Ace with a smirk.

"What wrong with being fond of sweets." Ace retorted, making both Loki and I laugh at him.

"Bro, good thing he's not a fool like you." I said to Ace while holding my laughter and doing a fist-bump with his little brother. "I think I'll have a new best friend from now on." I added while beckoning Loki to come and sit next to me.

"Hey! That's not fair. I really shouldn't have let you come with me here." Ace protested while giving Loki his very own funny glare which Loki and I just ignored. We started talking about random stuff including about his brother. It is really fun talking to this kid. Loki also got the humor like what Ace have and he even talks like a mature grown man which is definitely the major difference between him and his brother. Comparing his maturity to Ace, well, let's just never talk about t.

A day after that hideous party, I am feeling like hell. It seems like why whole body is full of bruise and broken bones. I still don't know what happened after I passed out last night and how I got home and treated. Probably Mom and Dad already know what happened, but I'm still hoping that no one has told them. I wanted to be the one to tell them the whole story about that.

"Ace? Can I ask you some—" I stated talking to Ace but he didn't even let me finish speaking.

"No! I'm not going to answer any of your questions! Go ask your new best friend over there!" He replied like a foolish and jealous little child. He attempted to leave the room but I stopped him from doing that by throwing something that first touched my hand, unfortunately, I first got the empty small medicine tray from my bedside table. "Aww! Now that you already replaced me you're just going to hurt me like a stray cat?!" Ace uttered.

"Holy Lord!" I whispered to myself. "Ace, first and foremost…" I started with a calm and low tone of voice. "Will you just shut up first and listen for what I'm about to say!? Second, don't act like a 5 year old jealous kid! Third, don't compare yourself into a stray cat because I would rather hurt and throw things on you than a stray cat!" I yowl at him, making both Ace and his brother a bit startled. As I calmed myself after that, I asked Loki to leave us for a moment because I wanted to talk to Ace about something. Loki then adhered and started walking out of the room.

"Lock the door Ace." I ordered him since.

"But—"

"No buts Ace, just do it." He was about to protest but I stopped him from speaking. Soon after, he just walked over the door and locked it.

"Look Alex. I know you're suffering about something due to the trauma of what happened in the party, but I'm not ready for this and I'm never going to be ready at this. Okay?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I mean, yes we've known each other for quite long time and I even known you from head to toe since cleaned up your body last night and even changed you clothes together with your underwear of course, but—" He was speaking awkwardly but I can't help but blurted out into his face because of what I've heard.

"You did what?!" No wonder why the paint and cosmetics have cleaned up from my body. Also, I've been in my pajamas when I woke up. I even checked what I'm wearing under my pajamas and it is really different from what I remembered wearing when I went into the party last night.

"Your Mom asked me to do that, and as a good and caring friend, I did it. But still I don't…"

"You don't what Ace? Could you stop pausing at the middle of your sentences, it's annoying!" He really got that bad habit, dude.

"I don't want to be in a same sex relationship!" He shouted in me with his eye closed. I blinked several times as I process what I've just heard from him before I burst out laughing. I can't help but laugh of what he said, the thought of that didn't even crossed my mind even for a single time I've been living on Earth. "Why are you laughing? Isn't that what you're about to confess? That is why you ordered Loki to go out and leave us here? Also the locking of the door, isn't that the reason why?" Once again, I let go of the laughter I've been trying to stop from getting out because it's draining my last bit of energy.

"That's gross Ace! How could you even think of that? Did you take a marijuana? Or you just got hit in the head with a coconut together with its tree? I'm just going to ask you if Mom and Dad already know the reason why this happened to me, but never mind that now. You should just only focus on getting rid of that wild imagination of yours." I said to him while still trying to stop my laughter from going out. He was about to defend himself from the embarrassment he have but we are interrupted by a knock in my door. He just went into the door to open it and also to derive our attention to the person behind it.

"Dinner's ready, do you want me to bring your dinner here?" Mom asked with a touch of confusion in her face but she just brushed it away.

"No need Mom, I'll join the table." I said to her while wiping out some stray tears in the corner of my eyes. Mom didn't replied and just gave me her beautiful smile and started walking back outside of the room.

"You better join us, maybe you're just hungry for thinking such stupid things. Also, Loki must be down there already." I said to Ace while carefully moving into the side of my bed. Ace just rolled his eyes and walked towards me to carefully help me getting off the bed and walked into the kitchen. I just felt so lucky to have this bud in my life.