Ironies of life

Chapter 10: Who are you?

‘I know my mother wanted to punish me but I didn’t know she wanted to torture me in the process.’ Naoki thought in his anger.

He knew it was a childish reaction, but as soon as Dante had sat down, Naoki had disappeared. He locked himself inside his room and began packing his bag.

“I’ll climb out through the window and live at Loin’s this two weeks. Dante thinks he’s so smart, but I’m even more intelligent,” he said aloud to himself, then shook his head. He must be going insane if talking out loud to himself was any indication.

Dante took his time eating dinner, Mrs. Hiro was a very good cook, but when he couldn’t hear any noise he became suspicious. He went up to Naoki’s room and tried to open the door, only to find it locked.

“Naoki open the door.” he requested.

“Yeah right.” A slightly muffled voice retorted from the other side.

“I hope you are not thinking of leaving the house.”

“What are you going to do if I leave?” Naoki closed the zip on the bag and brought it next to the window.

“I’ll tell your parents.”

“I don’t care, you’ve already ruined my life. There is nothing else they can take away from me. And I would rather kill myself by falling through my window than spending two weeks locked in here with you.

“You have really dark ideas.”

“Look who's talking.”

“You scare me, Naoki.”

Hearing that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Naoki quit his plan to escape and opened the door, furious.

“How dare you tell me that! After all this years trying to hide from you, afraid of your next move against me. How can you say I scare you?”

“Why are you always yelling?” complained Dante, stepping inside the room to stand next to him.

“I swear your attitude is going to kill me!” Naoki was ready to explode.

“I thought you were going to die falling through your window.” Dante was stayed calm, as if he didn’t even notice how close Naoki was to punching him.

Naoki’s laughter filled the air in response to Dante’s joke. ‘Okay, that’s a good one.’ he thought immediately.

And then realize he was talking about Dante and his laughter halted abruptly. With just a few words, Dante completed his goal of calming Naoki and creating a smooth environment. As always he was manipulating the situation and making the moment his moment. Naoki felt like an i***t for laughing and the fury of knowing he was being manipulated invaded him.

‘This guy is a monster. If I don’t pay attention I’ll end up in his territory.’ Even if it was hard to admit, the only way Naoki could ever beat Dante in his own game was by not listening to him, so Naoki would have to yell over him, no matter how immature he looked to Dante. Never, never listen to Dante. No matter what. His manipulative words will tie you until you become his puppet. Even if it’s the most innocent sentence, even if he is not talking with you. Listening to Dante Hartell is like listening the song of a siren, you can’t help but get engaged.

“First of all you are not welcome in my bedroom so don’t ever come in again, second of all you are so not funny-” His poisoned words were interrupted by Dante.

“I think it’s funny. In what way could my attitude kill you?”

“Listen. I know you have a reason to do all of this. I know you have a reason to bully me all the time and make my life miserable. I know you hate me Dante Hartell but guess what, I hate you even more. I hate you so much, and you will regret everything you’ve done to me.” Naoki spat viciously as he attempted to push Dante out of the room, but Dante had other plans and firmly took hold of Naoki’s wrists, halting them both.

“I don’t hate you but watch your hand. We don’t want to get aggressive.”

“Loin told me.” Naoki declared, glaring into Dante’s eyes.

It was like looking at a wall being demolished, an avalanche of debris falling down his face and showing what was behind that intentional calmness. The first second Naoki could see the fear in his defenseless expression. However, Dante was all anger and wrath immediately after.

“That French bastard is going to curse the day he was born.” He spit fire through gritted teeth, throwing away Naoki’s wrist and stormed down the hall toward the stairs. “I’m going to make sure he doesn’t walk properly ever again.”

Naoki’s heart went wild. He wasn’t expecting that reaction at all.

“Dante stop! Stop it!” He ran after his enemy and ripped the coat from his hands before he could put it on, throwing it to the side. “Don’t even consider hurting Loin.”

“How are you going to stop me, Einstein?” In a blink of an eye Dante tied Naoki’s hands with a scarf he had pulled from the coat rack before pushing Naoki to the floor.

“He didn’t tell me the reason, okay?” Naoki revealed, hoping to stop the vengeful man from leaving. “He just said there was a reason why you were a jerk, but he wouldn’t tell me what the reason was. He said it wasn’t his right to say it.”

Naoki had hoped that acting like he knew the reason would make Dante confess what it was, but hurting Loin wasn’t an option and he would do anything to keep his friend safe from the bully. After all, Dante was only interested in ruining Naoki’s life.

Dante stopped what he was doing immediately and sighed in frustration before leaning on the wall next to him. He looked askance at Naoki, taking deep breaths before shaking his head and looking away.

“You must have an award in Stupidity, Naoki.” murmured the blond.

“Funny, I’ve always thought the same about you. From the very beginning,” retorted Naoki, who had stood up with his hands still bound. “And I’m so sick of you,” he raised his tied hands pointedly. “My mother is going to hear about this, we have security cameras in the house since someone stole my bike. So she is going to believe me. And I’ll tell her everything else, everything you have done to me all these past years. I have a lot of proof.”

“You are a jerk.” Dante pointed out, once again a perfect display of cool-headed. He went to the kitchen and began to clean the mess from having dinner.

‘Now I understand why Loin didn’t want to tell me. Whatever it is, Dante would kill him if he said a word… but at the same time… what is it that can break Dante’s fake wall and make him so angry? I need to find out.’ Naoki approached the kitchen quietly and observed Dante working. He really seemed like a babysitter but Naoki knew he wasn’t even close to a babysitter. ‘What is it, Dante? You don’t even care about the cameras, you don’t care about me informing my parents? What is it that makes you so nervous? Why does Loin know it? I need to know it. I’ll be more careful but I can’t sit and watch.’

Naoki went inside the kitchen and sat down on corner of the table.

“So you have a weak spot.”

“Move your butt from the table. It’s not clean.”

“How disappointed is everyone going to be. Now that they thought you were perfect.”

Dante turned off the tap and faced Naoki, staring hard into his eyes.

“Every time you open your mouth it makes me want to fight you.”

“Why have you accepted being my babysitter?” Naoki interrogated. “What are your plans? Why are you here? Why did you force me to go to the prom?” Naoki was spilling out all his questions without pause, increasing in volume and frustration with every word. He didn’t notice Dante’s footsteps, or the determined stare locked on him as he strode forward.

“Why do you hate me? What have I done for you to treat me like this? Why do you want to have my mother’s favor? Why does Loin know your reasons? What ARE your reasons? Wh-”

But he was interrupted by Dante’s kiss.

The freckled bane of Naoki’s existence took hold of his nape and kissed him without any warning. Naoki tried to draw away, but he was too shocked to really react. He stared at Dante’s closed eyelids, felt Dante’s hand pushing at the back of his head, felt the warm, moist, and unsurprisingly soft lips pressing hard against his own, but despite it all, he couldn’t bring his arms up to push Dante away.

Finally Dante stepped back and free him but Naoki didn’t move a muscle.