Vol. 2: Aiden to Haru - Chapter 23

Haru has finally revealed his forbidden feelings to his older stepbrother Aiden, which, to his amazement, is reciprocated. Now the couple has been dating for six months, and after a grueling exam period, the two, along with their brothers, head over to Japan for a much-needed, long overdue winter vacation.

Just when Haru is beginning to enjoy the trip and his blossoming relationship with Aiden, the appearance of Aiden’s old flame threatens to destroy Haru’s newfound happiness. Adding to the already unpleasant situation is the emergence of changes in two of his other stepbrothers’ behavior toward him, which confuses Haru, stirring up different sorts of emotions within him that are hard to explain.

Haru Six Months Later

My right hand was shaking like crazy by the time I was done with the essay, at the same time the exam proctor’s voice echoed across the hall. “Time’s up. Pens down, please.”

I gladly loosened my grip, with the pen landing on the sheet of paper on the desk with a light thud. I groaned, suddenly feeling so damn exhausted.

The final portion of this semester’s exam was grueling, and I admit I hadn’t a clue how well I did. If I was optimistic, I’d say it was fifty-fifty, since I sucked at economics.

After taking a sip of water to satisfy my thirst, I relaxed back against my seat, my head now swirling. The words were still floating around inside my head, and I suspected it’d take a few more minutes until they disappeared and left me in peace.

I felt something hard, like the end of a ballpoint pen, poking on the side of my arm. I didn’t have to turn my head to see who was working on gaining my attention.

Jess said, “How was it?”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose as I mumbled, “Shit.”

Jess chuckled. “That bad?” When I nodded, she said, “At least it’s over, right?”

I nodded again. Damn right.

It was over. The weeks of studying my ass off were finally over. At least until next semester started.

About fifteen minutes later, we left the examination hall, along with throngs of other very relieved-looking students. I didn’t blame them. None of us had looked like we had had any sleep since the last of this semester’s lectures ended, marking the beginning of the dreaded exam period.

As we walked out the door, I felt like a ton of weight had been lifted off my shoulders. This last month had been stressful, not just for me, but for Reo, Mason, and Isaac as well, since they, like me, were university students. If I remembered correctly, Isaac had his last exam today, whereas Mason and Reo had theirs yesterday.

“Time to chill and celebrate,” Jess said, spreading her arms out as she grinned brightly. “It feels so good to stretch, though it’s a bit cold.”

“Yeah, it is,” I said, tucking my hands into the pockets of my jacket.

“So, are you looking forward to it?” Jess asked.

I turned to look at her, wondering what she was talking about. “Looking forward to what?”

She grinned. “To going to Japan. I’m so envious of you.”

Now that she mentioned it, I hadn’t been thinking about the trip since I was too worried about exams.

We had put it off, my brothers and I, due to studying, and of course, Noah’s and Aiden’s jobs. Well, for Aiden, he could take his vacation anytime he wanted, but for Noah, he had just started his employment, and it wouldn’t look good if he just up and left for a vacation so soon after.

Since everyone insisted they wanted to go, Aiden had suggested it was a good idea to wait until the Christmas holidays, which also marked the end of the fall semester for me and the others.

“I’m looking forward to it,” I said, smiling. “It’s going to be our first trip together, and out of the country, too.”

Jess said, “First time you’re going back to your homeland?”

I nodded.

Though I had been very young when I had first left Japan, along with Mom and Reo, and I didn’t remember much, I still missed it, especially the winter season when the village was covered in snow and me and Reo spent our time playing outside, eating delicious seasonal food, and best of all, bathing in the hot spring.

“Take heaps of photos,” Jess said. “I want to see you guys having fun.”

“Mm-hmm.”

A bit later, I was on the bus, heading home, and Jess was tagging along, claiming she hadn’t feasted her eyes on a gay couple being lovey-dovey for months now. I was surprised Jess had banned herself from reading BL manga so she could concentrate on studying. I bet she’d binge-read tonight when she got home as a reward for working hard. This blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty was a hard-core fujoshi, after all.

“Tadaima,” I said as we entered the apartment.

“Okaeri,” Mason’s voice came from somewhere in the kitchen.

Jess and I headed in that direction, and as we went in, we saw Mason giving us a warm smile. As usual, he looked charming, even more so today with that golden-blond hair cut and styled. He must have just had it cut this afternoon, since it didn’t look like that this morning before I had left for the exam. He was currently preparing some root vegetables, slicing them into pieces. I noted two chickens, still raw and in their packaging, sitting on the countertop, and I suspected we were having roast chicken tonight.

“Preparing dinner?” I asked.

Mason nodded. He glanced at Jess. “Hey, Jess.”

“Hi, Mason,” Jess replied.

“How did your exams go?” Mason asked.

I pulled a face. “Can’t remember much now. I just know it was shit.”

He chuckled merrily. “But you studied hard, so I’m sure you’ll pass.”

Jess, already putting her bag down and taking her jacket off, was now rolling up her sleeves as she said, “It was super easy for me.”

I didn’t expect to hear anything less from the golden girl. She had been the top student in our grade back in high school, after all. The girl had beauty and brains. I bet the guy who managed to claim her heart would be a damn lucky person.

That idea caught me off guard.

Wait a minute! Reo!

He liked Jess, didn’t he? Now that I thought about it, he had always shown signs of liking Jess in a romantic sense. I mean he was always teasing her and doing things to draw her attention to him.

“Tadaima,” a voice echoed loudly from the hallway. “Anyone home?”

Speak of the devil.

I flicked my gaze to Jess and saw her jolt in her spot the moment she heard Reo’s voice. She was blushing red, too. This intensified my suspicion that Jess also liked Reo in a romantic way.

“In the kitchen,” Mason said. “We’re preparing dinner.”

“We?” Reo’s voice came again. “Don’t tell me that brat Haru is helping you with the cooking, Mason. He’ll burn the food, and we’ll have to have takeout for dinner again.” This was followed by a merry chuckle.

I frowned. As usual, that blood brother of mine was making fun of me.

When he grandly appeared at the door, I gave him a good glare and said, “I’ve only ever burned our meal once, Reo, and that was two years ago. I’m better at cooking now, thanks to Aiden.”

“Is that so?” Reo said, clearly showing signs of doubting my statement. He flicked his gaze to Jess then and gave her a smile. “Hey, Jess.”

“Hi, Reo,” Jess replied, still blushing.

Reo came over and tousled my hair as he asked, “How was the exam?” He turned to Jess and patted her head, too, which made her flush even redder in the face.

Jess said, “It…it was easy.”

I, on the other hand, didn’t comment, knowing he’d lecture me if I were to tell him I wasn’t confident in my results. Instead, I rushed to the door and before disappearing, I said, “I’ll just put my bag away. By the way, Jess is staying for dinner.”

Mason said, “Good. Let’s celebrate now that everyone has finished their exams for this semester.”

In my closet-sized bedroom, I left my bag on the floor. I was just unzipping my jacket when my cell phone buzzed. Quickly retrieving it from my jeans pocket, I saw that it was Aiden’s name on the screen.

“Hey,” I said to the man I had been in love with since middle school and had been dating for the last six months.

“Haru?” Aiden’s deep voice came through. “How did it go?”

I sighed. Everyone just had to ask about my exam, didn’t they? I guessed it couldn’t be helped. I had been stressing out about it, after all, and they were worried.

“I don’t know how well I did, but it’s over and done with now,” I said as I fell back on the bed.

“It’s good to hear you sounding relieved,” Aiden said.

He could tell I was relieved by the sound of my voice? As expected of Aiden.

“I’m glad. Even if you failed, you can always repeat. There’s no need to rush.”

I guessed he was right. There was no need for me to rush. There was no need for me to kill myself stressing out about not passing exams. If I couldn’t do it the first time, there was always a second chance. Worst case scenario would be for me to change courses.

“I’ll be home in half an hour. I’m just leaving the office now.”

This was Aiden’s habit, since we started dating. He always either phoned or texted to tell me when he’d be home.

“Okay,” I said. “See you soon.”

“Yeah,” he said. “See you soon. Love you.”

“I…I love you, too,” I stammered.

I heard him chuckling, probably amused, and I quickly ended the call. I headed back into the kitchen to see Reo preparing the chickens while Mason put the vegetables onto the baking tray and Jess cleaned the countertop. I rolled up my sleeves and pitched in as well, helping Jess with the cleaning.