Chapter 28

"I have the painkillers, who wants them first?" Archer asked jokingly, holding up a pack his Caroline had ordered him and Samuel to buy while they cooled off – neither of the older brothers had known they could get that angry before, they had never needed to. He wanted to lift the mood a little after everything that happened.

What the 27-year-old hadn't expected was both men immediately snapping their heads in his directions before shouting, "Me!" What he expected even less was the two to start bickering on their own as Samuel came up behind him.

"I'm worse, you can wait."

"You're the one who said mine wasn't nothing."

"You're the one that pointed out my ankle was bruising."

"I'm bleeding out."

"Not anymore you aren't."

Henry and Joshua kept up the childish interaction as Marcus turned to the two families' heirs. "Do not ask, I have no idea what happened. I came in here to find them laughing. When John brought over a customer who happened to be a junior doctor to help treat them, they started bickering over her and that's why her brother is also here, he is a med student. Every so often they'll make eye-contact and laugh again." Marcus could understand the looks of confusion. Most of the two second sons' interactions had brought to light unimaginably cute sides they had never known to exist, that and their renewed smoking habit. However, any family member that saw the two now would think they had never met Joshua nor Henry before in their lives. They were acting like completely different people.

That was not a totally wrong assumption once one considers how drastically they alter their personalities when it comes to family. Of course, neither men would normally act like this, not at this age at least, however that may have been the case while they were in high school or the first year of university.

Hanna tapped Samuel's and Archer's shoulders, both stepping aside to let her in. Seeing the two young men still acting like children, she sighed. "What are they arguing about now?"

"Who takes the painkillers first. I feel like I am about to lose my mind."

"You and me both."

Marcus turned to Hanna, neither of them understanding what had happened. John had taken one look at the two and immediately dismissed himself, going back to his food, ordering a bottle of chilled wine. From what Hanna had seen, he went through half the bottle himself already; that just about expressed what John had thought of his son and Henry suddenly acting like different people.

Caroline had yet to find out about the two since she was discussing things with the police until a couple minutes ago.

In Hanna's hands, she held a bottle of water and two glasses, from the looks of it she was the only one who was going to deal with the two. She took the box of pills from her shocked son's hands and sighed again, crouching down by the two young men.

"For the love of god, I have no idea what has gotten into the two of you but stop this playground bickering."

The siblings, who were both bandaging the respective wounds, bit back a smile as they watched the two beyond beautiful men grumble under their breath before shutting their mouths. They did not think it was possible, but the two perfect people really were acting like primary children competing in a playground. Clearly it was not a usual sight but that made it no less amusing.

Hanna put the glasses down on the floor separately before opening the bottle and pouring water into both. She put each glass in front of each of the couple before taking out four pills. "You will both get the painkillers at the same time, so there is no use arguing. Hold out your hands." The mother couldn't help but feel like a teacher mediating two children, she had never needed to mediate her second son before, it was a strange experience to do so at the age of 23.

She went to put two pills each in the outstretched hands at the same time before pausing. "I cannot believe I am about to say this, but if the two of you try and race I will what the both of you, so god help me. Understood?" She got two disinterested nods, Henry and Joshua too busy now glaring at each other. Giving up, Hanna released the pills into their hands.

Apparently neither of the young men had listened to what Hanna had said, because they both threw the pills back as fast as possible before chugging their respective waters. Henry noticed Joshua being a half-beat faster, prompting him to suddenly kick out at the man's bruised ankle with all the strength he had left in his legs. While it did not amount to much force, Joshua's ankle had been sprained quite badly, the junior doctor guessing that is could have a hairline fracture. This meant that light knock that came from the impact made the older man keel over, spitting water all over the other.

"What on earth?" Caroline asked, coming just in time to see this all play out.

Marcus stood up, saying nothing as he shook his head and exited the bathroom, all he hoped for now was that John had not finished the wine because he now needed some too. Samuel and Arche both saw the chance to escape and attempted to leave it to their mothers'; unfortunately for them, the aforementioned mothers stopped them in tandem.

"Both of you, stop." At the same time as Hanna spoke, not turning back herself, Caroline blocked their path with her arms. "Caroline and I are going back to our seats and get back to brunch. You two are going to find out what the hell is going on and the help both of them back when they calm down. And Archer, you can forget about having Haerin for the next week; the kind of person who jumps over tables has no need for our personal assistant."

Hearing the last part of what the Lore president has said, Samuel quickly realised what was going on. All he could do was brace his own mother's wrath. Luckily for him, Caroline was tired. "Samuel, I am not going to say anything now since I am sure you know exactly what you did wrong, but this evening we are having a very in-depth conversation about violent behaviour and acting appropriately in public. Understood?" The man could only nod, holding back a sigh of relief. Later was better than now, especially when it came to Caroline Reyes's anger.

With that, both women left, dignified faces until they neared the table. It was only then did they allow themselves to look at each other, both holding back a smile.

"As insufferable as the childish antics are, they really are too cute."

"I know. They remind me a little of when Marcus and I were growing up. Although it is quite amazing how comfortable they are around each other. It's like they are different people."

"Well, more like they are back in primary school. Very cute but also very annoying."

"Agreed."

Their respective husbands heard the last couple of lines as their partners' sat down, both older men thinking 'very annoying' was an understatement.

In the bathroom, each older brother had gone their younger counterpart, Samuel taking off his dark green jumper to replace Henry's now bloody cardigan, Archer pressing an ice pack down on Joshua's bandaged ankle as the junior doctor expressed her suspicions on and advice for the injury. She made it very clear that no weight should be placed on the ankle and to keep it wrapped tightly, also suggesting a compression tube for extra support. As she spoke, her younger brother collected the various items they had used from the restaurant's first aid box to return them to their place. Unsurprisingly, the only thing he had to said about Henry's injuries was to avoid getting them wet for 3-5 days and try not to overwork considering his strange condition with his legs It was once his sister was done, the two left the bathroom together.

Having to pay attention to something other than each other meant the two had calmed down a little. Not only was their behaviour unexplainable, but the two did not, at this time, understand just how drastically they had acted. All they knew was that they were more comfortable with each other than they had thought, the awkwardness not nearly as bad as it was before – it was all an understatement in reality, but that was not something either seemed to want to consider in regard to them together. The glaring and childish bickering had finally stopped.

In the short silence that followed, Joshua finally had a chance to really take in what had happened, without getting overly emotional or embarrassed this time. All in all it had been a mess that ended with Henry taking the shards of glass for him. He had seen all the cuts and blood pouring out from the blond man's arm, it looked as if half the bottle had gotten stuck in in arm. The more he thought about it, the heavier it weighed on him; it also made him realise that he had never thanked Henry properly. Instead, he had gotten angry at how the younger man dismissed his own injuries.

That was not how he was raised to act.

"I didn't say earlier, but thanks for catching me. Sorry you got injured try to protect me."