GET TOGETHER TIME

-Haruka POV-

"Charles, I know your relationship with Levi Ackerman is not just an employer-secretary relationship." My brother said that, which surprised me.

"What do you mean by that, nii-san?" I was clearly taken aback.

"I knew everything, Charles. About you liking men also." My brother spoke, which doesn't really answer my question.

"Did Harumi onee-san tell you this?" I asked. Right, she's the only one who would know besides Hanabi.

"Well, you could say that." My brother replied shortly.

"Mattaku, I knew that I shouldn't trust h…"

"But Christine is not the only reason. You could say that I noticed it even without Christine telling me." My brother cut me off.

"Nii-san, what exactly did you know?" I asked him, looking straight into his eyes, and he just smiled before continuing speaking.

"The first thing that made me curious about your relationship with Levi was when he threw a birthday party for you. I believe you both are not even that close to throwing a birthday party like that. I had my suspicions since that time, but I couldn't really break it down until the Ackerman new resort grand opening day. The fireworks. People may not understand because it was written in Japanese characters. You saw that too, right? It was Levi's doing, am I right?" My brother asked me. I knew it. There's no way not a single person noticed, but I'm glad it's my brother and not someone else.

"Yeah, it is. So, that's the reason?" I looked at him again.

"Well, you could say that. And of course, after what Christine told me yesterday, I've completed the puzzle. I was a bit surprised when Christine told me everything yesterday. Charles, are you serious about him?" This time, my brother asked me with a serious face. Is he mad at me?

"What are you trying to say?" I asked him back. Seriously, I don't know how to answer that one question.

"What I'm trying to say is, what do you feel about him? Do you like him? Or... do you love him?" Again, this is really hard to answer. What do I feel? How could I answer that when I'm not sure about my own feelings?

"Nii-san, to be honest, I'm not even sure how I feel about him. But one thing for sure is, I don't want to see him hurt or lonely. When I'm with him, I feel like I can be myself, like I don't have to pretend to be something I'm not. And the thought of him not being there... it feels wrong, Nii-san. But is that love? Or is it just... comfort? I don't know." I tried my best to keep my calm, avoiding eye contact with my brother.

"Sometimes, Charles, love isn't about grand gestures or overwhelming passion. Sometimes, it's as simple as wanting to be the person who makes someone else's world a little brighter. It sounds to me like you already care about him deeply. But seriously, Charles, all I wanted is the best for you. Just take it one step at a time. You don't have to have all the answers right now. If you do need some advice or help, you can always ask me." My brother said that to me sincerely. I never had a conversation like this with him, so I'm a bit surprised.

"Thank you, nii-san." I don't know how to reply to that, so I just say thank you.

"Don't overthink it and go get some sleep. I'll be heading inside first." With that, my brother left the garden. I look at the sky while thinking.

'What if it's not just comfort? What if it's more? Could I really be someone who makes him happy? Do I even deserve him? I guess there's only one way to find out.'

//SKIP//

-Levi POV-

"We're here." Haruka said that as we arrived at our destination. I was surprised when he said we were going somewhere by the Auclair Family's private jet yesterday. 

Now, here we are, in front of the Auclair Family private villa at Annecy Lake. I didn't know they also own a private villa here. Well, it doesn't surprise me, and what I wanted to know is, why did he bring me here, and not to mention, his siblings are here too, except for Hanabi. The way Christine and Chris looked at me made me a bit uncomfortable, and Haruka doesn't seem like himself either. Chris and Christine went off ahead, leaving the two of us standing in silence by the entrance.

"Haru-chan, are you okay? You don't seem too good." I asked, breaking the silence between us.

"Huh? Of course I am. What do you mean by that? I'm all good. By the way, what about the kittens?" Haruka asked, trying to change the topic. He's clearly hiding something from me.

"I sent them to the cat hotel last night. Luckily they are still open." I replied with a smile.

"Thank you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you inconvenience. Well, I'm glad I told you earlier. Haha." He laughed, but I could see the effort he put in there.

"No worries. You can always count on me, you know? By the way, what's really going on? Why bring me all the way here? And your siblings are here too." I asked him, looking for an answer.

"Believe me or not, you're the reason why we're here." Haruka replied with an annoyed face. Now, it feels more like him. 

"Huh? Me? What do you mean?" I asked him again. I'm not stupid, I just didn't get what he's trying to say.

"Hanabi said you wanted to spend the time together again as the reward for winning all those games last time. So, she decided to do that here and this weekend since she won't have much free time in the future when her internship period is done. She even invited more people, including Lauren. The more, the merrier, she said. They did arrive here last night, by the way." Haruka explained to me, and that's when it hit me. I totally forgot about the rewards.

"Why don't we head inside now?" Haruka continued to talk while making his steps inside the villa.

"Who else is here?" I asked as we stepped in.

"Well, Hanabi said he did invite someone, and I'm not really sure who. Maybe…"

"Dr. Auclair, you're here." Someone cut Haruka off, and we both looked in the direction of that voice. A guy with white hair. Wait, I believe I've seen him somewhere before.

"Ethan Lorenz, is it? Then I guess you're that someone Hanabi personally invited." Haruka said while looking at that man. Right, he's the doctor we met in Germany.

"Ah, yes. I happened to be here, and Charlotte invited me here." He replied awkwardly, and his face is a bit red right now. Is he blushing?

"Are you sure you just happened to be here? Or did you and Hanabi get…"

"Onii-chan, Levi, you guys are here." Again, someone cut him off, and it's Hanabi this time. Hanabi walked towards us.

"Ah, right. This is Ethan, the senior I told you about, onii-chan. He has some work here, so I thought about inviting him here also. And Ethan senpai admired you so much, so this is good, right? He can meet you and also have fun with us." Hanabi said with a cheerful smile.

"Yeah, he did tell me that already. Well, is there something going on between the two of you?" Haruka said, looking at the both of them while smirking.

"What are you talking about, onii-chan? I told you I invited him because he happened to be here." Hanabi seems to be taken aback a little.

"Yes, Dr. Auclair. There's nothing going on between us. Just a close relationship between seniors and juniors." This time, Ethan spoke. Seriously, they're not good at hiding their relationship, haha.

"Haha, I'm just kidding. But if there is something, take good care of my little sister, Ethan. So, what are we going to do now? I believe you already made the list of activities, right?" Haruka said that while looking at Hanabi. He seriously just changed the topic like that.

"You guys should put your belongings first. Come to the kitchen after that." Hanabi replied while glaring at Haruka. Maybe she's still feeling embarrassed about before. 

"Alright. Let's go, Levi. Oh, by the way, Ethan, just call me Charles. I'm not working as a doctor anymore." Haruka said that, and then we both made our way towards the stairs to the second floor.

After we finished lodging all of our belongings, Haruka and I went down to the kitchen. Everyone is here, including Lauren, Harry, and Aiden. The countertop is full of the ingredients. Wait, don't tell me we're going to have a cooking battle. Right now?

"They're finally here. We were all waiting. Did you two just enjoy your time together first before coming?" Christine said while smirking. She's clearly trying to tease us.

"What are you talking about? We just put our belongings in the room and came down. So, what are we going to do now?" Haruka rolled his eyes, making his way towards the countertop.

"We're going to prepare the dishes for the picnic and cooking challenge at the same time." Hanabi said that excitedly.

"You sure look excited for someone who never cooked for herself." Haruka said that while chuckling.

"Shut it, onii-chan. I have Ethan on my side." Hanabi replied while pouting.

"Oh, really? Let's see what will happen then. So, what are the dishes, and are we going to prepare them in pairs?" Haruka asked while looking at the ingredients.

"You're right. We're going to work in pairs, and I already drew out the pairs. Ethan and I, Haru onii-chan and Levi, Lauren and Harry, Christine onee-san and Chris nii-chan. We're going to prepare the dishes for the picnic, and we'll draw the dishes after this to be fair. As for Aiden, he's going to be the judge, and he will be preparing for our lunch." Hanabi announced the pairs and explained what we're going to do.

"You sure made a good list of the pairs, didn't you?" I spoke while smirking, looking at Hanabi.

"Of course, and I'm sure you like it, right?" Hanabi smirked back at me. Haha. She's putting me and Haruka in pairs on purpose.

"Ahem. Let's just proceed with drawing the dishes, shall we?" Haruka's trying to get everyone's attention.

"Oh, right. Here. Each pair, please draw one." Hanabi said, bringing the small box that contained the papers of the dishes list, I guess. Haruka's the one who drew for us. The result is we need to prepare the desserts.

-45 minutes later-

Haruka was the one who drew the paper, and we're the ones in charge of the desserts. I was told to make the fruit tarts while Haruka's making the chocolate muffin and yoghurt honey fig parfait. Now, we're almost done preparing.

"You're surprisingly good at this, Levi. I didn't expect you to be so precise." Haruka broke the silence between us as we both were busy earlier.

"Precision is important in everything. Desserts are no exception." I replied confidently.

"Yeah, yeah. You're the great Levi Ackerman after all. You know, maybe you could've been a pastry chef, you know. The brooding kind who doesn't talk much but makes the best cakes in town. Haha." He said that while chuckling.

"And you'd be the customer who's going to buy everything because he's got a sweet tooth." I said that in a teasing tone.

"Well, you might be right, I guess." He said that with a smile.

"You two really are an interesting pair. Makes me wonder what else you're keeping from us."

TO BE CONTINUED!!!