I Don’t Want To Be A Wife!

Continuing The Dream

While Leonard was putting bandages on his bruised arm, more specifically on his fingers that got cut after he was cutting onions, he heard the ring bell and wondered who was visiting him, it was five in the morning and he doesn’t think anyone he knew was awake at that time.

Leonard armed himself with a knife and went to the door, no robber or killer would ring the bell but the knife was just to feel safe and he was right about taking, because the moment he opened the door, someone attacked him and while he was struggling, he ended up injuring them, cutting the attacker in the stomach but it wasn’t good enough to escape and he was soon held down and his face was pushed to the ground.

A few minutes later, a man walked in and crouched down in front of Leonard, lifting his head, to face him, their eyes met and Leonard immediately recognized the person.

“Jack.’ Leonard said, with bored eyes, he was worried for nothing, it was just Jack playing another joke to entertain himself.

“Hi, cousin.” The man smiled and told his men, to let go of Leonard, they did so and Leonard slowly got up and went back to his kitchen to check on the dough, he was working ok before he was disturbed, by that annoying cousin of his, who seemed to be back in the country and no longer overseas, which was a misfortune for him since he didn’t like Jack being in the same country as him, mainly because of this kind of stuff.

He googled a few recipes and decided to make Blueberry Streusel Muffins, he remembered that Lin told him once that he liked blueberries the most so this will be perfect.

Motivated again, Leonard opened his fridge and strolled around the kitchen, to see if he had everything he needed; unfortunately for him, he didn’t, so he had to go find a shop and buy the things he needed. He wore his coat and got his wallet, then went back to the kitchen to see if he forgot to write down anything.

While munching on a cookie, he successfully made a few hours ago and was planning to also give Lin some of it, Jack suddenly appeared and took a bit of the cookie, surprising Leonard a bit, since he thought he was long gone. He wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings and just ignored Jack’s existence like he always does, thinking that he would get bored eventually and leave, as he usually does but this time.

But this time, it seemed like he stayed and was staring at him while he was walking around the apartment, which wasn’t big by the way, he only had a room that was also considered a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom so it was rather a shock that Jack was willing to stand in here for more than ten minutes, after all, he was the kid who stopped being friends with someone from owning a small home.

“It’s tasty, did you make it?” Jack asked, taking bites off Leonard’s cookie and not stopping even after Leonard moved his hand away, he seemed to like it.

“Yes, and stop munching on it, if you want it, just take it.” Leonard gave the already half-eaten cookie to him and walked to the door, Jack following after him like a lost puppy.

“What do you want?” Leonard stopped after walking a few steps away from his apartment complex and turned around to look at Jack, who continued walking and stood right in front of him, tiptoeing to reach his face and smirk, saying: “You.”

“Too bad for you, you can’t have me, now go home or I am going to call aunt Nathalie,” Leonard said, knowing that Jack was scared of his mom, even though his father spoiled him rotten, his mother was able to save him from being a complete brat, who doesn’t respect or care about anyone or anything, by being strict and pushing some boundaries over him; he didn’t turn out that well in the end but it was the best she can do with the way his father was treating him, as if he was the king of the world, that he can have everything he wants in the world without anyone saying anything about it.

“Don’t be mean, I just want to spend time with you.” Jack hugged his torso and gave him puppy eyes, it made him think about Lin and how different they both were, Lin looked innocent and cute when pouting, but Jack looked like a cunning wolf, trying to get what he wants, he could see it in his eyes, he was good at reading people’s expression and one way to do was to look at their eyes, it betrayed their owner and spoke the truth, the difference was wide, even though both did it to get what they want, one looked innocent and the other looked mischievous and while he felt warm when looking at Lin, he only felt disgusted when looking at Jack.

‘Am I overanalyzing this? Or is it just because I like Kin?’ Leonard thought, his mind going far away and dreaming about Lin and his smile, but before his thoughts could stray away from any farther, he felt a hand reach his butt and he had to wake up.

“And I don’t, so leave me alone.” Leonard pushed Jack away and tried to continue walking, but Jack stopped him, hugging him from the back tightly and not letting go.

“I don’t want to!!” Jack shouted, shaking his head, making Leonard shake his own, what was he going to do about this child, who was twenty-one years old, and owns a business that he started on his own?

“Fine but let me go, you can go with me to the store.”

“Store? Ew, why?”

“If you don’t want to, that’s your choice because I am going.” Leonard shook off Jack and started walking, the latter quickly following after and linking their arms together, acting all lovey-dovey as if they were dating, while Leonard was disinterestedly looking at the front and nodding at everything Jack said.

‘Why does he like me in the first place?’ Leonard wondered why Jack stuck to him all these years when he never showed him any affection or talked to him for longer than necessary, he felt bad for treating, the way he did, but the way Jack acted, always playing pranks on him and messing with him, to get a reaction out of him, like he did today, which was shock and fright this time and he must have filmed it, he was sure he would put it in a file, in the pc reserved to him only, his pictures, videos and information about him.

It was quite shocking to find the pc and seeing the stuff on it was a bit traumatizing, it made him creeped out and scared to come back to his house, for his safety, he even thought of getting a restraining order, but he overcame it with time, thinking of Jack as a child who was playing and everyone has a weird cousin, right? (Not really)

When they entered the store, Jack started complaining about the smell and the atmosphere, Leonard ignored him and went to get a shopping cart, being ignored by Leonard wasn’t a new thing for Jack, who simply continued talking and didn’t let it bother him, after all, he liked that about him, his coldness was one of the things that made him come back to him, it so regretted and interesting to see someone hate on himself, but his obsession with him didn’t start there.

It started ten years ago, when he was eleven and Leonard was fourteen, his mother was visiting Leonard’s home to attend his aunt (Leonard’s mother) funeral and to stay with Leonard and comfort him, she brought him with her because she didn’t want to leave him with his dad, knowing that he would do something outrageous if she wasn’t home with them.

He didn’t like it he didn’t like going to other people’s houses and especially not a house that someone just died in them, yikes.

After a week in the house, only playing video games in the room given to him, he was bored, so he decided to explore the house and look for something fun to do, or someone to play with because his mom told him that his fourteen-year-old cousin was in the house and that he should go talk to him, he didn’t care much about it when she said it but now, he had nothing to do so he will grace his cousin with his presence and allow him to play with him.

Things didn’t go as he planned, he ended getting punched in the face by his angry cousin, when he tried to joke around the subject of his mother’s death, Leonard got angry and left the house that night. He came back the next morning and apologized to him for hitting him, which he expected because he is the only son of Lai Eui, the richest man in the city, but what he did next was unexpected, he grabbed his collar and brought their faces close and said: “You speak about my mother again and your jaw won’t be the only thing I will break.”

Even though Leonard apologized, he wasn’t afraid to do it again, it was his father who asked him to do it, so that their business with Jack’s father doesn’t fail or break off, because of a kid’s fight, Leonard didn’t want to cause any trouble for his father but he also didn’t want the so-called cousin of him to insult his mother, the only he ever loved and will continue to love forever and ever.

That’s how Jack fell in love, Leonard punched and that made his heartbeat through the roof, it wasn’t exactly the punch that made him love him, but his expressions did, they were so amusing to him, that’s why he tries to get as much as he can of reactions from Leonard, be it by k********g him, attacking him, assaulting him, hitting him with a car, if it may cause Leonard to react then he would do it.

“Why are you staring at a cucumber? Put it down or put it in the cart.”

“I am just imagining you sticking it in me,” Jack said, seductively staring at Leonard, who only looked at him disgusted and continued walking to go find the sugar; Jack giggled to himself, liking Leonard’s expression, it’s the most frequent one he sees, alongside his cold face; he put down the cucumber and followed after Leonard and only focusing on him, not seeing the person who was walking towards so they ended bumping into each other, which pissed j******f and he started screaming at the person, attracting Leonard’s attention, who quickly came to see what was wrong.

“Lin!?!”

At 5 am, Lin woke up to Layla calling his name and shaking him, when he asked her what she wanted, she said that her period came, she only found one pad and she needed to change and wanted to get snacks and pizza, so Lin got up from the bed, yawning and wore his slippers, asking her what snacks she wanted, she didn’t know what she wanted so she suggested to go with him, he refused at first but she insisted and he did not choice but to cover her in a blanket and tell her to take a heating pad with her, in case her cramps kick in and decide to make an appearance.

They did make an appearance halfway through the car ride and the heating pad came in handy, since Layla was in her first days, it was quite painful and Lin was tempted to just turn around and go to the house and throw Layla on the bed, cover her in blankets and give her everything she wants, but he couldn’t because they basically don’t have any snacks at home, the last time they went shopping was two weeks ago and the ate all the snacks last week, you reap what you sow, after all, they ate it all and now he was regretting it.

They walked into the only store they could find and luckily, Layla’s cramps have calmed down so she was able to walk to the store, linking her arm with Lin’s and hugging the blanket, Lin got for her last month as a congratulation gift for passing her exams.

The first they looked for were chips, it took Layla ten minutes to decide which one to take and when it was narrowed down to three chips, so Lin just grabbed them and put them in their cart, telling Layla that he will eat what she doesn’t like, Layla nodded happily and they went to check the sweets next and that’s where they bumped into Jack, who wasn’t happy to see a straight couple, linking arms and being all lovey-dovey, the guy asking the girl if she was okay, as if an ox bumped into them, so irritating.

Leonard, who heard the noises, rushed to the scene, seeing his crush and rival in front of him, along with Layla who was glaring at him and holding Lin’s hand tightly, which made him a bit jealous, who wasn’t going to deny it but he knew Lin treated Layla like a sister so he didn’t have to worry about Lin catching feelings for her, he has to worry about Layla crossing the line one day.

“Good morning, it’s a lovely morning, isn’t it?” Leonard said, with a lovely smile, catching j******f guard because he has never him smile genuinely, it was always either a fake smile or a cold one, never like this one, that made him seem like the happiest person on earth.

“It became awful after seeing your ugly face.” Layla rolled her eyes at Leonard, she thought she finally had time to spend with Lin, without Leonard being around them but no, even in the very early morning, he had to be an annoying bee and buzz around them.

“Layla, be nice,” Lin said in a stern tone, making Layla angry, she was already in a bad mood because of Leonard’s sudden appearance and the man bumping into them, and Lin scolding her was the icing on the top for her, she let go of his arm and started walking away.

“I don’t mind, I got used to her mad dog behavior, it’s kind of cute,” Leonard said with a smirk, Layla glared at him before she left, giving him the middle finger as she entered the candy aisle.

“What are you doing here?” Lin asked, wondering why Leonard, who worked at a club as a bartender from 8 pm to 4 am, doing at a supermarket at nearly 6 am, isn’t supposed to be snoring at this time?

“Just buying groceries, I want to try cooking myself lunch later and I know I am going to be too lazy to do so once I sleep.” Leonard’s ability to create half-truths, almost lies but could pass as reality, was always immeasurable, the business industry taught him well.

“Oh, have you gotten used to living on your own?” Lin felt bad for Leonard, each time he called him and ask him for advice, like a few months ago, when he had only been living on his own, for two weeks, he asked him how to do his laundry.

Lin tried to explain to him how to do it but Leonard had no idea what he was talking about, so he had to visit him and spend the day with him, teaching him how to do laundry and house chores and Layla hated that day and clung to him all night, while they were watching a movie and chatting about Lin’s new job as a babysitter.

Being a babysitter wasn’t something Lin thought of doing ever since his younger brother was born, because little kids are annoying and hard to take care of, but he found it suitable after having to deal with his younger brother for twenty-five years, Layla for two years, almost three and Leonard for a couple of weeks, they were all immature and hard to deal with and if he could not want to rip his hair out when he was with them, then he would be able to take care of a few kids.

The first kid he took care of was Layla’s classmate’s daughter, the classmate, whose name was Eli, had a five-year-old daughter along with her boyfriend, but both were studying and struggling financially, their families were in another country and only Eli’s family were supportive, the boyfriend’s family didn’t speak to their son again or send him any money after they found out he had a child before marriage; they didn’t have enough money to hire a babysitter so Layla suggested that Lin does it, for a very low price and to get more experience before babysitting stranger’s kids.

So, he accepted and refused to get paid, he was sitting at home all day anyway, but Eli insisted and he accepted that he will take five dollars an hour, it was pretty low but that was all he was going to accept from a broke college student because he was there before, five dollars wasn’t a plant that grew on trees, it was a struggle to get it.

The girl was nice and easy to take care of, she was well behaved and didn’t give him much struggle, so when Eli’s boyfriend got his degree and found a job, they decided to enroll their daughter in a kindergarten, he was pretty disappointed about it but Eli promised that they would visit so he couldn’t say much, other than goodbye and give Liz, Eli’s daughter, a kiss on the cheek and one last candy before she left.

That day was sad for him and Layla noticed that, so she suggested that they got out to an amusement park and have fun, Lin agreed while having a pout on his face, that soon turned to a smile, after he ate cotton candy, Layla was happy to see Lin smile, but soon her mood got worse, because Leonard was there, was he following them? We will never know, what we will know is that on that day, Leonard tasted cotton candy for the first time and he liked it.

In the same way, Layla was enjoying her time, stuffing her face with marshmallows and glaring at Leonard, while he was flirting with HER Lin and she didn’t seem to be the only one who hated that, seems like the invisible man did too.

And speaking of the invisible man, who was being treated as such by Leonard and Lin, he wasn’t happy, he didn’t like it, he wanted all of Leonard’s attention to himself, but he couldn’t get it, even when he tried all of his usual tactics, that used to work on Leonard and immediately get him to look at him, but this time, he simply ignored him and walked away with that man, which irritated him more and made him more determined to get his attention, but nothing worked, even when the man with him pointed out his behavior, Leonard shrugged off as a child’s play and told him to ignore him as well.

The man looked troubled but he agreed and started ignoring him as well, which made him furious so he went to the candy aisle and started eating the sweets while complaining about Leonard’s behavior.

“What are you looking at?” Jack shouted at Layla who was staring at him and giving him a weird smile.

“Want to team up?”

“For what?”

“To break them up of course.”

“I am in.”

It had been a long day for Layla, she was dead tired and ready to go home, to eat dinner and cuddle with Kin, so when an unknown car stopped in front of her, she simply ignored it, thinking that it was someone waiting for one of her coworkers, but when the car followed her and stopped in front of her, she assumed it was someone trying to hit on her which got her annoyed and ready to face the person whoever it was, to give them a piece of her mind.

But instead of a stranger exiting the car, it was Kin, which surprised her since that wasn’t their car and she never saw that car before, but she knew it was an expensive car, just by the looks of it, where the heck did Kim get this car from?

“Where did you get this car from?” Layla asked him, standing right in front of the car and not getting inside of it, even though Lin opened the door from her.

“From a friend.” Lin responded with half a lie, but Layla didn’t believe him and demanded an explanation, so he told her that the car broke down before he could get home and his friend happened to pass by, offered him a ride home and even helped him rent a car, the car right in front of them.

“That’s very suspicious and what kind of friend is that? This car looks extremely expensive, how can you afford to even rent it? And how odd it is that your friend happened to be passing by you when the car broke down?” Layla crossed her arms and waited for another explanation from Lin, who ran out of them and decided to just break the fourth wall, because why not?

“Plot convenience, never heard of it?” Lin simply said, not really having a proper explanation to give to her because that was what really happened, well most of it, he couldn’t answer her questions because if he did, she would know who he was, she would know that it was Leonard, the friend he had been talking about.

“No and can you tell me your friend’s name?” Layla asked, wanting to make a background check on this person and to see what was their motive for being around Kin and doing so much for him, because that ain’t normal, no friend would get his friend an expensive car to rent just out of the blue and as far as she knows, Kin doesn’t know any rich people.

“It’s.......Leo.” Lin avoided eye contact when answering the question, which made Layla even more suspicious of him.

“Why did you take so long to answer?” Layla asked, wanting to continue the interrogation but Lin not so much, expressing his discomfort in his next sentence.

“Can we just go home already? I am cold, hungry and tired.” Lin pouted and tried to appeal to Layla’s soft side, which worked like magic.

“Fine, I will let you off the hook this time but I will get an answer from you eventually.”

“Okay, whatever you say.” Lin said then grabbed Layla’s hand and took her to the car door and said: “After you my lady.”

“So extra.” Layla chuckled and got in the car, Lin doing the same and starting the car, so they could go home and rest, since both of them were pretty tired.

“Who is keeping a secret? Me? No one, I won’t do that, ever.”

“You are being oddly too suspicious, if you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay but just remember I am always here if you want someone to listen to you.”

“Okay, thank you, La.”

“No problem Lu.”

“Now, if you will excuse me, I have a date to catch up on.”

“Date? What date?”

“I am dating Leonard, since two days ago maybe?”

“WHAT?!?”

“I have to go.”

“Nicholas, code red.”

“Code red? Did we have a code red?”

“Lucas is dating someone and it’s the guy I used to have a crush on AND the most known playboy in the city.”

“Yuhi Leonard?”

“Yes!”

“Oh no, he is walking down a bad path.”

“I know and Leonard is not even gay, so there must be something wrong, I need to investigate.”

“Okay, good luck.”

“You are coming too.”

“I have a job.”

“I will pay triple the amount you are getting paid to be my sidekick detective.”

“I will get my notebook.”

Later on that day, the two friends were stalking Lucas and Leonard, turned out the apple doesn't fall that far away from the tree, if the tree was Kin and the apple was Layla but anyway, back to the stalking.

“What are they doing?”

“I don’t know, I can’t see that well, oh wait, they are coming this way, s**t, hide!”

“No! Act normal,” Layla said and immediately got up, she lifted Nicholas with her and put his arm around her waist and took off black hats and masks from the faces, told him to start laughing and walk.

“Layla?” Lucas asked as he approached the two of them, with Leonard by his side.

“Oh, brother, fancy seeing you here.”

“Yeah, what are you two doing here? I thought you were going to study together?”

“We got bored and decided to go shopping, what about you? I thought you were going to watch a movie.”

“The movie Leo wants us to see doesn’t start until two hours so we decided to walk around for a bit, right babe.”

Leonard held the urge to gag when Lucas pinched his back and nodded with a smile.

“Let’s go on a double date then!” Layla said with excitement.

“Sure,” Lucas replied and told her to pick the first place they go to. Layla agreed and started walking away with Nicholas, holding hands together.

“That’s why I told you, we have to go on a date,” Lucas whispered to Leonard, he was a method actor and knew exactly how to make everything seem a reality.

“But I hate it.”

“And I hate you but you don’t see me complaining.”