Chapter 11
1111 Words
Adrian lowered his gaze to check the time, then looked up again, putting on an impatient expression.
“I’ve got half an hour before class. If you have something to say, say it quickly.”
Without hesitation, Lucian reached out and gripped his shoulders, answering seriously,
“Five years ago, I didn’t leave without telling you on purpose. Everything was forced by circumstances.”
The moment those words fell, Adrian’s expression changed at once. He had already wanted to avoid the past, yet the person in front of him kept bringing it up again and again.
The frustration inside him flared, and he could no longer hold it back. Through gritted teeth, he demanded,
“What circumstances? What kind of circumstances made you ignore me when I was so sick I was practically dying at home five years ago - too busy going to farewell parties with your friends? What circumstances made you not even call once when I had pneumonia and was in the hospital for a whole month? What circumstances made you disappear for five years without a single word, not even one attempt to contact me?!”
The more he spoke, the more Adrian lost control of his emotions. His eyes gradually reddened, and his voice could no longer maintain its earlier coldness.
What he couldn’t accept most was that during those five years abroad, Lucian had kept in regular contact with their parents. Only he had been abandoned, cast aside as if they had never known each other.
It was obvious that he cared too much, in fact. And because he cared so deeply, he couldn’t accept it. And because he couldn’t accept it, he had to act indifferent, had to stubbornly force himself to resent the person in front of him even more.
Seeing the redness at the corners of Adrian’s eyes, Lucian felt as if his heart were being squeezed tight. He knew it was all his fault.
So now, aside from trying to make amends, he had almost no other choice.
“Baby… don’t cry. It’s not that I didn’t want to see you, and it’s not that I didn’t want to keep in touch. I just… wasn’t allowed to.”
Adrian looked up at him, his eyes filled with doubt, clearly unconvinced by that explanation.
“Who could stop you? Who has that much power, to control both your thoughts and your actions?”
Lucian didn’t avoid the question and answered directly,
“It was Dad. He wanted me to go abroad to study and, at the same time, take over the branch office there.”
Adrian curled his lip, his expression full of doubt.
“Dad told you to go study. It’s not like he told you to cut off all contact with me.”
Lucian looked at him, his eyes filled with both love and regret:
“Dad made me cut off all contact with you, completely, until you turned twenty. That was the only condition for me to come back and see you again.”
The more Adrian listened, the tighter his brows furrowed.
His mother had been married to his father for ten years, and he had lived with the man all that time as well. In his eyes, his father had always been gentle, tolerant, and exceptionally considerate toward the family, especially toward him.
Someone like that, how could he possibly have made such an unreasonable demand?
Thinking that way only made Adrian more certain Lucian was making excuses. He shot back immediately,
“Don’t try to fool me. Why would Dad suddenly make up such a ridiculous condition for no reason?”
Lucian fell silent for a few seconds, his gaze dark and unreadable, as if weighing something carefully.
Then he asked slowly,
“Do you know why I kissed you yesterday?”
Adrian had been forcing himself to forget that unexpected kiss, yet being suddenly confronted with it left him completely off guard.
“W-why are you suddenly bringing that up?”
Adrian stammered, his voice no longer carrying its earlier firmness. Not only that, the tips of his ears slowly turned red.
Lucian noticed that reaction clearly. In an instant, all the gloom in his heart seemed to be swept away.
Adrian had kissed another man, and yet this boy not only showed no disgust, just the mere mention of it was enough to make his ears turn red.
That thought flickered through his mind, and his heartbeat quickened by a beat. Perhaps the answer he had been searching for was no longer far away.
“Because I was jealous.” Lucian said, his voice low and steady, each word enunciated clearly. “I love you. I couldn’t stand the thought of you liking someone else, so I lost control and kissed you.”
Adrian froze. His already wide eyes opened even further.
In truth, he had vaguely suspected it last night. But hearing Lucian admit it with his own ears still made everything feel a little unreal.
Without giving him time to process it, Lucian continued:
“When you were fifteen, Dad had already noticed my… improper intentions.”
He paused briefly, then went on, his voice growing heavier.
“He was afraid I would influence you, so he found a way to separate us. He said… at the very least, I had to wait until you turned twenty. By then, whether I wanted to pursue you or be with you, he wouldn’t stop me anymore. Otherwise, he would kick me out of the house. And I would never have another chance to be with you for the rest of my life.”
Lucian understood his father’s intentions very well. The man had never wanted the two of them to be together.
So he chose the most direct method, separating him from Adrian.
Back then, Lucian had only been twenty. In his father’s eyes, that kind of feeling was nothing more than a fleeting youthful infatuation. As long as they were kept apart long enough, time itself would eventually wear it down.
Moreover, Adrian was only fifteen at the time, far too young, and especially trusting of this older brother. That was exactly why he couldn’t leave things as they were.
He was afraid Lucian would, driven by his feelings, disregard everything else and even resort to improper means, unknowingly manipulating or influencing Adrian’s emotions.
So, no matter what it took, he was determined to separate them.
Only when Adrian had fully matured, when he had enough awareness and strength to make his own choices, would it be acceptable. By then, even if he stood before Lucian, he would no longer be easily influenced.
- Writer
