The screen turned blank after the chapter ended, Aera sighed while relaxing his body on the sofa, "can I lay my head on your lap?" asked Han his eyes still staring at the screen, Aera turned his head to look at him with a rise eyebrow but Han Beom didn't move, "sigh, you can"
He sat properly and let Han's head on his lap, "you now know I'm gay yet you defenselessly lay on my lap?" he asked laughing at the boy between his arms, Han looked Aera in the eyes and told him with a smile "because I know you would never do a thing to your adorable little brother~"
"Pff- hahahhahahaha" Aera laughed loudly, he tried to hold back but no matter what he tried he'd remember what Han just said and start over, "why are you laughing?! You really won't do a thing to me, right?!"
'Cute' thought Aera while ruffling the boy's hair "haha yea yea I won't, I'm not into those stuff so don't worry" Han's tensed muscles relaxed and he released a breath he didn't notice he was holding. "Haha it seems you don't have faith on me" teased Aera, slowly the room went into silence, it was a cold one and made both of them uncomfortable but they didn't know what to do or say so they remained quiet.
"Is the reason you're cold toward everyone is because of your sexuality?" Asked Han, he decided to break the silence first so he asked that question. The seconds turned to minutes and the minutes felt like hours, waiting was unbearable but he needed to be patient because when he rose his eye sight to Aera's face, he saw him staring blankly into nothing, he knew this look, it meant 'should I tell him or not?' and 'what might happen afterwards?'
Aera hummed and nodded his head, "it's one of the reasons. I've always been a material for those around me" he paused and looked down at Han's face, he was slightly surprised from what he just heard, Aera shook his head and reworded his words "everyone were jealous of me because I was genius, the elders in my family used to compare their children to me so I ended up being hated by them too"
"What about your parents?"
Aera tensed at the mention of them "they-" he stopped, eleven formed between his brows but it was gone when Han's finger touched it "you don't have to answer, so don't frown you look scary like that"
Giggles filled the room before it went down, "well... I wanna tell you dear but I don't want 'you' to frown"
"No promises~" Han sang forcing Aera to laugh loudly this time. "You're unbelievable haha, ok ok... They... sigh, they caught me kissing my classmate so I was scolded badly, they also took everything from me, my games, my phone, my rights... My classmate. And I've been treated horribly since then. Actually I don't remember the last time I saw them, nanny kept calling me and asking me to at least visit in special occasions but I don't want to... I don't wanna be around those beasts..."
He looked down at Han and gasped "why in heavens are you crying?!" he pulled Han Beom and made him sit down properly, he sat on the ground in front of him and grasped both his hands while Han's head is lowered and sobbing, "hey hey~ don't cry~ that was in the past and now I'm strong and capable to protect myself" he coaxed him, one of his hands wiping away the boy's tears and the other patting his hands.
"But- but to- today- hic" Han cried loudly unable to hold back anymore, his hyung went through a lot and today he caused him trouble, "it's ok Han dear~ really! So please don't worry about it. What matters now is that no one will cause you trouble~ hehe"
Han Beom stared at that happy face and wondered if it was there before they met or was it always dark like it was in front of Ho Seok. His tears flowed again and he ended up crying loudly while hugging Aera who was about to fall but managed to go back on his knees.
After crying 'till he slept, Han Beom was lying on the guest's bed, Aera patted his head one last time before he stood to leave the room, before he shut the door he heard Han mumble something. His fists clenched on the table when he remembered what he just heard
"Please don't leave hyung"
He didn't think of his parents nor any person he had knew so far, he just called for him and only him. As much as happy he's feeling about that, he knows this is wrong, Han's still a high school student, he's just going through what those the same age as him go through and once it's all over and he enters the university he'll eventually forget him.
For some reason, his heart aches at the thought of being forgotten by Han, he wouldn't mind if anyone forget he exists, even the twins too! He won't run after their heads if they forget him but with Han... It's all different, the boy stole a special place in his heart in a short period of time and he wasn't willing to let go of him nor how he feels toward him.
A love between two brothers had always been his dream, his siblings never talked to him neither did they interact with him because his parents told them to not do that, filling their minds with some weird reason like, he's sick and he might infect them or he's mentally sick so they should not get close to him or he'll hurt them.
They brainwashed his old and young siblings and they probably had already brainwashed his six year old sister he didn't get the chance to meet, they went through all this trouble to not let them be influent about those stuff Aera is into.
"Fuck" he mumbled angrily. He's glad he told Han Beom half of the truth and kept the other half, he doesn't know how he'll react once he finds out the rest of his story... The dark part...