Haru

I raised my eyes to Reo, wondering what that heartthrob was spouting about now.

Isaac asked, "What type of gene is that?"

"The shrine maiden gene," Reo replied.

Isaac raised his brows. "Shrine maiden gene? Is that even a thing?"

Reo shrugged his broad shoulders. "I think it just means a certain type of appearance. The ancestor from our mom's side of the family used to have one every generation. It's always a female though, and she said that person is apparently supposed to be very beautiful."

He turned his gaze to me as he continued. "Mom said you look just like the shrine maiden on her side of the family—her grandmother, to be precise. Another was our great-grandmother."

He smiled cheekily at me, probably to tease me, as was his habit. "She also said our great-grandmother was petite and so pretty in her younger days that the family had a hard time keeping her safe. One guy even attempted to kidnap her. When they caught him, he said it was Great-Grandmother's fault because she put a spell on him, being a shrine maiden and all."

Isaac couldn't help himself at hearing the ridiculous tale and burst out laughing.

I frowned at Isaac and said coldly, "It's not funny."

Isaac managed to calm down and wipe his tears. He said, as he wrapped his arm around my neck and tousled my hair, "So, you have your great-grandmother's gene, the shrine maiden gene. That's awesome. That just means we will have to work harder to protect you from creepy old men who want to fuck you."

That guy! Being extremely blunt as per usual. Like I'd want to be fucked by some creepy old man.

If I wanted some under the sheet action, it would be with Aiden, and with me taking the lead.

Mason, who was half asleep throughout the whole narration, chuckled. "You have my sympathy, Haru." He rested his chin on his hand as he leaned on the tabletop, his eyes on me. "You need to become a man as soon as possible. It will solve that problem."

Isaac eagerly nodded in agreement. "And that means getting yourself a girlfriend and losing your virginity."

I had had enough of this silly talk. Suddenly, we were talking about my virginity now, were we? Like that was a public topic open for discussion.

Reo looked as though he couldn't contain himself and joined in the band of harassment, too. "That's right, you're still a virgin. Most of us lost ours when we were sixteen or seventeen."

God! He made it sound like it was a crime to still be a virgin at eighteen.

Noah joined in. "Aiden lost his when he was sixteen. I think it was on his sixteenth birthday, too. Wasn't it with that popular cheerleader from high school? I remember she was hot."

That was news to me. Aiden had lost his virginity to a hot cheerleader from his high school at sixteen?

Sixteen? When I had first met Aiden, he had already been sixteen, nearly turning seventeen. That meant he had already kissed and had sex with some hot chick way before he had met me.

I didn't know why, but suddenly, I felt a little pissed at the thought of that.

Aiden said, his voice firm, "Please stop talking about my sorry past, and it's normal for boys to do that sort of thing at that age."

Noah nodded. "It's a teenager thing. Most go through it."

Reo said cheekily, "Most. So, we can confirm Haru is in the minority here? And will not likely lose his virginity?"

Isaac shook his head. "Nah, Haru is just late. Maybe it's because of the malnutrition that ruined his growth."

He leaned toward me and whispered, "Is your little brother down there doing all right? I mean, you know, getting hard and stuff? Do you need some porn magazine or DVD to get you going? I can lend you some of mine. I know you don't read or watch porn, but that's because you're late, but if you're interested, I'm here to help, bro."

I wouldn't be so pissed with embarrassment if Isaac didn't act so suspicious in front of everyone as if we were conspiring on taking down the world, like a duo of infamous villains. The fact that his voice was so loud for a whisper meant that everyone in the room could hear him, crystal clear.

I noted Mason trying to hide his smile while Reo and Noah grinned with obvious enjoyment at seeing my deep, dark secret being revealed for all to hear. As for Aiden? He was still staring at me, his eyes so dark and intense it made my heart race and my stomach flip in dread.

God! I didn't want to face him.

Was it so abnormal for a boy not to read porn? Was it so abnormal for a boy to stare at his handsome brother and get hard while fantasizing about fucking him?

Of course, it was abnormal. God! I knew I was a sicko. A creepy weirdo.

Reo was still chuckling away with hilarity, and I glared at him, wanting so much to strangle his neck.

Being my biological brother, he should be on my side and understand my case. It wasn't like I wasn't struggling with my problem swinging the other way. Not to mention the fact that I also had unrequited love with Aiden, and wanted so badly to kiss and fuck him that it made my head spin sometimes.

The hormones! It was the hormones.

Aiden's deep timbre came firmly, which drew my attention to him.

"Isaac, stop leading Haru astray. Haru is fine the way he is," he said, which instantly made me blush.

Yeah, I blushed a lot in front of him and knew it wasn't normal. Girls blush when a hot guy talks to them. An eighteen-year-old boy shouldn't blush when his older stepbrother was talking to him.

He continued saying, "I'd worry if he goes and does things like that too soon. His body is too fragile."

Fuck me! I could only sit there and stare at him in astonishment. What the hell? Did he think I had a chronic sickness or something?

Reo looked as though he couldn't contain himself and laughed loudly. There were even tears in his eyes. When he managed to stop, he said, "Daddy Aiden is worried his daughter Haru will grow up too soon."

I went bright red and snapped, "Oi! Can we stop talking about me now?" I turned to Aiden and said clearly, "For your information, I am not fragile and am perfectly healthy."