Chapter 14
1275 Words
That evening, Adrian really did come home on time, instead of lingering outside with his friends like he usually did.
The moment he appeared at the dinner table, Lucian smiled, his tone natural and familiar,
“Ari, come here, sit next to me.”
Adrian paused for a moment. The tips of his ears flushed red at once, but outwardly he still forced himself to sound rough, raising his voice,
“Just eat. Why are you talking so much?”
Lucian understood perfectly. The corner of his lips curled up slightly as he let out a quiet, knowing chuckle.
Watching this from the side, Emily couldn’t help but feel a pang in her heart. Lucian had taken the initiative to make peace, showing his goodwill so clearly, yet her son remained curt and stubborn as ever. Seeing it, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for Lucian.
Damuen knew far more than his wife. He quietly observed the interaction between his two sons, his expression unchanged, yet his heart grew heavier.
The peaceful dinner passed without incident.
Night fell. Adrian lay in his room, scrolling through his phone while his thoughts wandered, when a knock sounded at the door.
“Ari, open up,” Lucian’s voice came from outside.
Adrian’s fingers suddenly stilled. Thinking back to what had happened that morning, he felt a flicker of embarrassment.
Truthfully, after learning everything, he was no longer angry with Lucian, he had already, quietly, forgiven him. It was just that over the past few months, he had been sulking and acting far harsher than necessary. If he suddenly turned around completely now, wouldn’t that be too embarrassing?
Thinking that, he still kept his tone cool, calling out from inside the room,
“It’s late. Shouldn’t you be sleeping? What do you want with me?”
“I brought your gifts over, time for you to unbox them, baby,” Lucian replied, his voice laced with barely concealed fondness.
The corner of Adrian’s lips lifted unconsciously.
He quickly suppressed it, trying to keep a composed expression, but his steps had already quickened as he hurried over to open the door.
Outside, Lucian was struggling with a large cardboard box, nearly covering half his face.
The moment the door opened, he carefully shifted his body and slipped inside.
Adrian stood there watching, inwardly wondering if Lucian had brought him… a TV.
But he was wrong.
Lucian set the box down on the floor and bent to open it. Inside weren’t any electronics at all, but more than a dozen gift boxes of various sizes, neatly arranged.
He didn’t stop there. Turning around, he hurried off to his room, and a moment later came back carrying another identical box.
Only after everything had been neatly placed in the middle of the room did he carefully lay out the items inside in front of Adrian. There were dozens of gifts, each one meticulously wrapped, refined down to the smallest detail.
Lucian sat down and began to explain slowly, as if turning over fragments of old memories:
“This is for your sixteenth birthday. This one’s for seventeen… eighteen… nineteen… twenty…”
He paused for a moment, his gaze dimming slightly.
“For the past five years, I couldn’t be there to celebrate with you, but I never forgot.”
His fingers moved again, brushing over the next set of gifts.
“This one’s for getting into college. This, I bought it while I was on a business trip in Spain. And this one, I picked it up while traveling in Asia. It reminded me of you, so I brought it back.”
He spoke slowly, enunciating each word clearly, because every gift was tied to a moment in time he had missed.
Each sentence fell, little by little filling the emptiness in Adrian’s heart.
Five years apart had once seemed too long to ever make up for. And yet now, these gifts were quietly erasing that distance.
It was as if, all that time, Lucian had never truly left him, as if he had always been there, quietly and steadfastly, never letting go.
To say he wasn’t moved would be a lie. But Adrian still saw himself as straight; a broad-shouldered man like him, what kind of sight would it be, crying his eyes out in front of his brother?
So he could only press his lips together, tilt his head up toward the ceiling, and force the tears back.
“Do you like them?” Lucian looked at him, his voice low.
Adrian nodded. “Thank you.”
“Then go ahead, open your gifts.”
Adrian rubbed his hands together, lowering his head slightly as he murmured, “Where should I start?”
“Up to you.”
“Then… the one for my sixteenth birthday.”
He sat down, pulled a gift box closer, and carefully opened it.
Before long, the room was filled with Adrian’s excited exclamations,
“Wow! Is this a game console? It’s an older model, but it still works. I love the farming games on this one!”
“A watch? This looks so cool! Totally my style right now.”
“A jacket? It’s exactly my size. How did you guess?”
“Colored pencils? Caran d’Ache Luminance?! Damn, how did you know I like this brand?”
…
After a while of opening gifts, the corners of Adrian’s lips had lifted all the way to his ears, his smile so bright he didn’t even bother pretending to be aloof or annoyed anymore.
Lucian sat beside him, resting his head against his hand, quietly watching. His gaze was gentle, laced with a faint smile, as if he were looking at a little squirrel busily hoarding its treasures. Seeing Adrian receive the gifts he had carefully prepared over the years with such enthusiasm, how could he not feel happy?
“Do you like them?” he asked.
Adrian looked up, his eyes still shining. “I love them. Thank you.”
Lucian tilted his head slightly and tapped his cheek. “Don’t just thank me with words. Give me another kiss.”
Adrian immediately grabbed an empty gift box he had just opened and tossed it straight at him, glaring.
“In your dreams. Not happening.”
“What?” Lucian laughed. “It’s just a brotherly kiss. What’s the big deal? You used to kiss me all the time when you were little, didn’t you?”
Adrian paused for a moment, then the tips of his ears quickly turned red. He turned away, his tone irritable,
“That was when I was a kid. I’m grown now, also straight, okay?”
“Then why are you blushing?”
“f**k, I’m hot, alright?”
“The AC’s on,” Lucian replied lazily. “I don’t feel hot at all.”
“I’m a real man, young, full of energy. Of course I run hot!”
Lucian raised an eyebrow, his tone teasing,
“Come here, your big brother’s cool. Let me give you a kiss and pass some of that cool air to you.”
Another empty box flew his way, along with Adrian’s loud shout,
“Damn it, just shut up!”
Lucian laughed, raising both hands in surrender.
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing you. Keep opening your gifts. If you don’t finish tonight, I’m not letting you sleep.”
Adrian shot him a look, his gaze a mix of irritation and embarrassment, yet the corner of his lips couldn’t help but curl upward.
He lowered his head and went back to opening the gifts, his movements a little quicker this time.
- Writer
