Aiden

He lifted his head and his gaze came to rest on Haru—beautiful, adorable Haru, who was chuckling away merrily at whatever story Uncle Jin had managed to spin.

Patricia noticed Aiden watching Haru and said, "He's Haru, right? And the other one is Reo, your stepbrothers. I can't believe they're the president's nephews. It's a small world."

Aiden nodded.

"I remember you mentioned them back then," she said. "You said the little one was very cute."

"Yes." Noah decided to join in the conversation. "Not just cute, but beautiful. That's our Haru for you."

Mason said, "Apparently, he has the Shrine Maiden gene. Have you heard of that, Patricia? It runs in the Onos' family bloodline."

"Shrine Maiden gene." She thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, the president mentioned it once. But I thought that's just, you know, one of those Japanese myths or something. Don't they usually make stuff up to make everything seem mysterious and intriguing?"

Stuffing a piece of sushi into his mouth, Isaac shook his head. "It's real," he said, his mouth full of food.

Noah said, "Eat or talk, choose one."

Isaac swallowed the food and then said again, "It's real, the Shrine Maiden gene. Legend says that it passes down the bloodline but usually skips a generation or something. The most important thing is that it has the power to seduce men."

Patricia chuckled. "Really? You make it sound like a supernatural thing. But then I guess you don't have to worry about that since Haru is a boy."

Isaac said, "Are you kidding me? Us not having to worry is far from it. Even though Haru is a boy, he attracts not only women, but men as well. We have to give it our all just to protect him from shady men who stalk him, you know."

Patricia looked quite shocked at hearing that.

Noah said, "Stop blabbering on about stupid things, Isaac."

Connor said, "But it's true, isn't it? I had to intervene one time when I happened to see Haru on the street. He was still in high school and I was heading toward the apartment to meet up with you, Noah. A bunch of guys were harassing Haru."

Patricia said, "Bullying, you mean? It's pretty common in high school, amongst students."

Connor said, "You'd think it was bullying until you see one trying to kiss him and the other pulling his pants down and trying to stuff Haru's dick into his mouth."

That revelation had Aiden seeing red, and Isaac choked on his food in shock. Naturally, Patricia looked disgusted.

"Holy shit!" Mason uttered.

"Holy fuck!" This one came from Noah.

Aiden said, his voice dark, "Haru never mentioned this." He asked Connor, "When was this?"

Connor shrugged. "A couple of years ago. He was sixteen."

Isaac asked, "You didn't just leave Haru to fend for himself, did you? You helped him, right?"

Connor nodded. "Of course. I gave those guys a good bashing." He laughed. "Haru asked me not to tell you guys." He paused. "Shit, I just broke that promise. Oops. Please don't tell him I mentioned that, okay?"

Noah sighed. "Too late now. Shit, Connor, we're best buddies and you didn't tell me this?"

"Sorry, Noah, but Haru looked really scared and he said he didn't want to worry you guys, considering what you guys were going through back then."

Despite the fact that Aiden was shocked at what he had just heard, he couldn't agree more that they were going through a tough time back then, after losing their parents and struggling with life, just working hard on trying to make ends meet. Haru had always been too considerate and kind, especially to the brothers, and had done his best not to add more burdens to any of them. Yes, Aiden understood the logic behind Haru's action and yet…

Yet, he was still rattled, and yes, pissed. Some random guys had nearly gotten the chance to kiss Haru, after all, and yes, sucking the boy's cute penis. Fuck, it was a given that he, Aiden, was the only one who had the lucky obligation to do that. No one could touch Haru but him, that was for sure.

Patricia said, "Wow! That's a bit frightening, isn't it?"

Isaac said, "You bet."

"Oh, that's right, Christmas," Mason said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to him. "It's tomorrow, isn't it?"

Christmas. The brothers had been so busy traveling and just enjoying the sights and the food that they hadn't thought about it.

"Then today is Christmas Eve," Isaac said. "Holy shit."

"But we don't see any signs of Christmas here," Noah said.

The other side must have just finished their own little conversation because Higa-san said, "Christmas is not a celebration in Japan, since we aren't Christian."

Uncle Jin said, "Christians are a small minority here."

Higa-san said, "But giving loved ones presents is widely done on Christmas Eve here in Japan." He chuckled. "We almost treat it like Valentine's Day. I gave my wife a present this morning and she was very happy."

Isaac said, "We usually do something small, like a nice dinner during Christmas back at home. But since we're traveling…"

"It slipped our minds," Aiden said. He turned his gaze to Haru and asked, "Do you want to celebrate Christmas, Haru? We could do something back at the suite."

Haru said, "I don't mind."

Isaac nodded in excitement. "That'd be awesome, bro."

Uncle Jin chuckled. "Then why don't we have a dinner celebration tomorrow evening, to celebrate Christmas. I've never been able to do that before."

Reo nodded. "That's a good idea, Uncle."

Uncle Jin said, "I'll inform my staff. Ah, and Higa, why don't you take my nephews and their brothers shopping? Aoi might be a small town, but there's a tailor shop that sell top-range kimonos."

"Kimonos?" Isaac asked.

Uncle Jin nodded. "Get a couple each. It'll be my presents to everyone."

Isaac was so excited at the thought of getting some fancy kimonos for a present that he yelled out, "Yay! Kimonos! Awesome!" Which made Uncle Jin laugh in amusement.