Love's Captive Sorrow

Chapter 5

When Ethan Walker turned fifteen, Alexander Hayes was finally granted permission by his grandfather to return to the country. He first went to the overseas investment department to gain experience, and after a year of qualifying results, he formally took over.

15, 23, 31.

Ethan wrote down a set of arithmetic progression on a scratch paper.

"Adrian Hart, do you love me or not?!"

The glass coffee table in the living room was kicked to pieces by Alexander Hayes, but Ethan Walker walked out silently, picked up the broom, and cleaned up the messy debris on the floor. He calmly cleaned the iron tea canister, placed it back in the cabinet, unbelievably composed.

"Say something! Do you love me or not?!"

Love, but he didn't dare tell you.

Coward.

Ethan Walker curled his lips, his gaze darting between the two.

Adrian Hart still wore that gentle and timid expression. Alexander Hayes pressed on relentlessly, glaring at him with crimson eyes. Neither of them remembered how many times they had argued since Alexander Hayes returned to the country. His brother did not agree with him staying overnight.

His brother turned down the position of Hart's officer, saying he just wanted to make good cop.

This time, his brother agreed to participate in the police department's two-month special training program without any prior greeting from him.

This meant that Alexander Hayes had just returned not long after the two were separated for another couple of months.

Ethan Walker wonders if Adrian Hart did it on purpose.

But his brother was becoming less and less active in the relationship, and sometimes Ethan Walker didn't know whether to envy him or pity him.

"Calm down, Ethan's still here."

Adrian Hart's genial demeanor completely infuriated Alexander Hayes.

"What's wrong with him being there? What doesn't he know about us? Did you know when I was in London with a high fever? Your brother could tell I was sick by glancing at me from the video, could you? He's a child and he likes me more than you care about me!"

Ethan Walker, leaning against the kitchen doorframe, clenched his fists behind his back.

Alexander Hayes' good-looking hand was pointing at himself, and his heart was beating faster and faster, apprehensive and excited.

"Yes, I like Alex."

A comment that made both Adrian Hart and Alexander Hayes look over, and Ethan Walker shrugged and smiled innocently, showing his tiny tiger teeth and trying not to look flustered.

It was just his nature, the more scared he was, the more he feigned calmness.

"Brother, if you can't make Alex happy, can you let me have him?"

It was a confession Ethan Walker had been planning for five years.

It might not be the most appropriate occasion, but he no longer wanted all three men to be wrong.

Adrian Hart wants a plain life.

Alexander Hayes wants the thrill of standing tall.

And Ethan Walker, wants Alexander Hayes.

At fifteen, he still had the thin teenage bones, his face still babyish, but his gaze was firm and hot.

"You like me? Come on, how old are you."

For some reason, Alexander Hayes' first reaction was fear at the sight of seriousness written on the childlike face he remembered.

"Brother's eight years older than Alex, too."

Alexander Hayes turned sideways, subconsciously turning his back on Ethan Walker.

"Adrian Hart, your brother likes me, will you let him have me?"

"If you like ...... ah too!"

Alexander Hayes' fist had swung up with all its might.

Then, grabbed the door and walked out.

Ethan Walker looked for a moment at the living room door that had been slammed shut by Alexander Hayes and pursed his lips.

First confession, failure.

Lesson learned, can't be so impulsive.

"Brother, I'm sorry, but I really like Alex."

It was impossible to say you didn't feel guilty.

If it wasn't for his brother, Ethan Walker would have burned to death in that fire at the Lee house after his mother.

But he wasn't Adrian Hart, not so much suffering from weakness.

What answered him was a sigh from Adrian Hart.

"Ethan, I saw it coming."

"...... Brother?"

Now it was Ethan Walker's turn to be shocked; he had never mentioned it in front of his brother these past few years, even though he hadn't been hiding it.

"Actually, you and Alex, are the same person."

Adrian Hart rubbed his aching temples and leaned on the couch, speaking languidly.

"Put aside the age gap, you are just as smart and excellent, the same for the purpose of learning to hold back, many times Alex said you are too precocious, but he is not the same, fifteen years old know how to use the power of revenge, sent his own uncle to prison."

"He should be angry that I'm fearful, but what could he give up for me? He wouldn't have stayed in England three years ago if he'd been willing to be with me in peace."

Ethan Walker was silent.

What he'd been keeping inside his heart and couldn't bear to poke at, his brother actually understood.

Alexander Hayes slumped over the steering wheel and looked into the empty, darkened entrance of the building, where no one had come out after him.

The anger that filled him turned into a deep powerlessness.

What Adrian Hart and Ethan Walker both understood, Alexander Hayes vaguely sensed.

That's what made it all the more angry.

Anger at his own inability to choose, anger at not seeing a future for the first relationship in his life that he wanted to cherish.

Is it too much love for Adrian Hart, or frustration at not being strong enough.

Around the same time, it's more of the latter.

It's just a truth that Alexander Hayes wouldn't understand until years later.

Adrian Hart went to special training as planned, and Ethan Walker was in the middle of his senior year of high school.

It had been a week since that tense night, and Ethan Walker had been sending Alexander Hayes a few messages every night after reviewing his homework.

"Alex, I'm not a kid anymore."

"Alex, I like you."

"Alex, I can wait for you."

"Alex, my brother is not for you."

Bold and direct, the way Ethan Walker loves someone.

Even if the reply he receives is a rejection over and over again, he still perseveres.

Too young soul, full of majestic deep love, do not know how to show weakness, do not know how to retreat, not to mention do not know how to play tricks and pretend to be pitiful.

Just tell you over and over again, I like you, I can wait.

Ethan Walker came out of the shower to find a man crashing through the door, smelling of alcohol.

Alex, lost weight.

Brother's not here, are you here for me?

"Do you have any idea how much of an asshole your brother is!"

Suit thrown to the floor, loose tie ripped away by Alexander Hayes' hand, shirt collar buttons chipped open a couple of times due to his rough movements.

Gasping from anger, his chest rose and fell violently, the knot in his throat sliding up and down with the slight swallowing motion, and his swan-like, elegantly muscled neck extending to his collarbone.

"Busy with special training? So busy that you don't even have time to return messages? Knowing that your own brother likes his boyfriend, no reaction at all? Also said what if I like you ...... if I like you he how? To fulfill us? Huh?"

Ethan Walker deliberately ignored the sourness in his chest and picked up the top of Alexander Hayes' sumptuously textured suit, finding a hanger to hang it carefully.

"Come here."

The drunken, raspy voice was particularly oppressive, and Ethan Walker hesitated to step forward.

Alexander Hayes looked, right now, dangerous.

He was untouched, but he knew, more or less cluelessly, what that danger meant.

Alexander Hayes was drunk, but he was sober.

"Alex ...... Well!"

The teenager's youthful body was pinned down on the couch, his thin lips trembling as he was kissed.

"You like me?"

This kid, when did he grow up and still look, well, this good.

"Well ......"

"Knowing that I love your brother, you still like me?"

"Yes."

"Good, then I'd like to see how much you like me."

"Well ......"

Adrian Hart, aren't you generous, and you still don't care?