There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 701: Side Story 3. Stellar Blossom - 36

Certainly, fifteen-year-old Joon was very different from the seven-year-old Joon.

Gone was the innocence in those black eyes. They had turned deep by forced maturity. Zein easily found his old self inside those eyes: a kid who had to bear the responsibility of another life while living under the abuse of the environment. They could see his reservation, mindful steps, and careful words in everything he did.

Honestly, it was rather saddening.

But then, sometimes, they could see sparkles inside those black eyes, and Han Shin said his brother definitely smiled more than the real fifteen-year-old Joon. It gave them hope that the sliver of freedom he got in the past week wasn’t for naught.

That even if it was small, he was healing nonetheless.

"Anyway, you should go to the hospital and have a check-up, Joon," Calix advised after the reunion was done. "Or would you rather the doctor come here?"

"No, Sir--I’ll go," Han Joon refused politely while standing up. "It’s not like a medical checkup can be done from home, right? And I had been cooped up here since I got out of the hospital."

"I’ll help you change!" Shin raised his hand as he saw his brother move toward the stairs.

"I’ll prepare the car, then!" Bassena stood up too, and raised his palms toward Calix--because his car was in another building and had a pair of baby seats attached there.

Calix laughed and dropped his key on Bassena’s palm. "So you’ll be the one going with him? Guess we’re no longer needed, Laurel."

"Huff. Kids grew up too fast," Laurel sighed and shook her head in lament.

While Bassena was taking out Calix’s car from the garage, Han Shin was staring at his brother’s back. No matter how many times he healed it, Shin could never completely erase the scars etched from the many years of abuse. On one hand, it was a trace of misery. But on the other hand, at least for Shin, it was a trace of his brother’s bravery and tenacity.

It was both sad and beautiful.

"Hyung...do you also remember what happened before you were fifteen?" he asked quietly, but the voice carried well inside the silent room.

"Naturally."

"It’s...painful, isn’t it?" Han Shin bit his lips and lowered his head. "I’m sorry..."

He had already said it so many times, but at the time when Han Joon was fifteen, Shin knew nothing. He was just a kid, and while he knew their father was scary, he didn’t know yet about the abuse. Even after he saw his brother’s bloody back, he didn’t know it was a deliberate wound inflicted by their father.

That was how well Han Joon hid everything from him. And so, at that point, Shin had never said sorry to his brother.

"Shin," the footstep that was yet to be silent arrived in front of the healer, and a warm hand patted the fluffy black hair. "I didn’t do it for you to apologize to me."

Han Shin raised his head. "Yeah, I know," he smiled helplessly before grinning. "Thank you, hyung, for helping me grow up like this."

"Are you happy?"

"Yeah," Han Shin answered without hesitation.

There was no reason for him not to be happy when his hyung was alive in front of him, smiling.

"I’m glad," Han Joon nodded, patting his head just like always, with that unchanging calm tone. It just turned cheekier later on.

Han Shin grinned and was about to follow his brother out of the room when Joon paused and looked around the room.

"Shin,"

"Mm?"

"This is House Mallarc’s mansion, isn’t it?"

"...yeah?"

Han Joon looked at his hand for a few seconds before glancing at his nervous little brother. "What is my relationship with Radia?"

Han Shin pressed his lips. He couldn’t answer, but he also couldn’t lie to his hyung. For all he knew, Joon and Radia didn’t have an established relationship yet at that point, and it would be weird to suddenly announce that they were husbands.

So, he just pulled his zipper up to his chin and mouth, shaking his head desperately.

At that, Han Joon let out a soft laugh of curiosity. Han Shin raised his brows in surprise. This laugh was also new--not the mischievous or mysterious kind of laugh that adult Joon had. It was fresh and made him sound a bit bratty?

How interesting.

Han Shin followed his brother curiously to the porch, where Zein, Laurel, and Radia were waiting. Bassena had already perched behind the steering wheel, tooting the horn like a kid about to go sightseeing.

Even Zein shook his head exasperatedly.

Before climbing down the steps, Han Joon turned toward Radia. "Are you not coming?"

The crimson eyes narrowed. "Why should I?"

"Hmm...that depends."

Radia’s jaw hardened at the sight of the smile so familiar during his teenage days. That life-ruining, heart-tickling smile with a twinkle inside the black eyes.

It took him much self-control to reply. "Depends on what?"

"Whether this is for a promise ring," Han Joon raised his hand, where a clear mark circled the base of his ring finger. "Or a wedding band."

"Oh, for fuck’s sake."

Radia grumbled and walked quickly toward the car while Han Joon chuckled. He was planning to go with his car later--just to take care of the administration since he was Joon’s legal ’guardian’--but what did it matter if Joon already found out anyway?

"How interesting," Laurel muttered while watching the merry childhood friends going away in their collective father’s car.

"What is?" Zein asked.

"Don’t you think Radia started to act...’younger’ too?"

"Well...it is the period where he fell in love," Zein shrugged, and they chuckled together before Zein returned to check on his sons.

* * *

During the ride through the Peak, the car was deadly silent despite the high energy before they entered the vehicle. Han Shin exchanged glances with Bassena, but the latter just shrugged because...well, he truly had no idea what happened.

Looking at the two people sitting in the back through the rearview mirror, Han Shin bit his lips before turning his head and peeking behind the car seat, looking at Radia. "I...I didn’t say anything, okay? Just so you know..."

Radia shot the healer a sharp look. "Shut up and look forward."

"Yes, Sir!"

Han Joon chuckled and tilted his head to look at Radia--who, for some reason, had been overly worked up since entering the car. "You changed, huh? You used to be more fun, but you’ve become so uptight."

Radia turned toward the man sitting next to him, eyes narrowed dangerously. The tension was so thick that even without being told not to, Han Shin and Bassena wouldn’t dare to look back. It was weird too, since Han Joon was supposed to be fifteen mentally.

"I’m changed? What about you?" Radia raised his brow. Encountering this version of Joon seemed to trigger his puberty hormones. "You used to be so quiet and reserved back then."

Was that why Radia got so worked up? He recalled the memory of baiting and flirting to no end, only to have this boy pull the brake and make him run away for the first time.

It was a reminder of his pathetic moment and Radia was feeling annoyingly petty.

"I was, wasn’t I?" Han Joon chuckled while turning his face away, looking at the scenery of the Mortix Hill outside.

"You hide it well."

"I don’t really have any choice back then," Han Joon tapped on his smiling lips. "Although I don’t need to do that anymore."

Radia frowned slightly, recalling the incubus staring at him half-naked and ’helping’ him jerk off before promptly...rejecting his kiss. Fuck; if it was that kind of Han Joon--the wild, the unrestrained, the cunning--he would be screwed.

He was already feeling screwed.

"Umm...so, you have been hiding yourself even since then, Hyung?" Han Shin asked without looking back, only glancing at the rearview mirror.

"Well...it wasn’t very hard when I didn’t really spend much time around people," Han Joon shrugged nonchalantly, but the eyes staring at Radia through the reflection in the window were filled with mischief. "It was kind of hard maintaining it with someone kept jerking off on my bed, though."

*cough!*

Han Shin and Bassena gasped, looking back with widened eyes. "What the hell?!"

Han Joon smiled and pointed forward. "Eyes on the road, Bas."

"It’s autopilot..."

"Don’t trust a machine blindly."

"Yes~"

Han Shin, who was spared because he wasn’t the one driving, looked at his teenage older brother while clutching the cushion. "Uhh...hyung?"

"Yes, my dongsaeng?"

"You were fifteen, right?"

"Should be almost sixteen."

"But you’re a teenager...right?"

Han Joon chuckled. Was his little brother a prude one? It was rather normal for teenagers his age to pursue their sexuality. "Yes," he said with a nonchalant smile. "I was at the peak of my puberty."

"O...okay."

Radia stared at the man--the brat--incredulously. Fuck. It really was him. The bewitching fox.

But there was no way he would lose to this brat. "What a waste. You shouldn’t hold back, Joon. We could get so much fun."

"Ah, I didn’t want to," Han Joon leaned his head against the window. "It wasn’t the time yet."

The sunlight falling on his face seemed to blur the harshness of time, softening the edges of that adult face and making him seem like a teenager again. The tone he used, which had a juvenile stubbornness and a bit of a whine, made Radia feel like he was slipping into the past.

"The time...for what?" Radia narrowed his eyes.

Honestly, he was still curious about that, too. Perhaps because it was a period of whirlwind emotions during the peak of their puberty, after they reconciled in that hotel, Radia never questioned it much anymore.

He was a kid falling deeply for someone for the first time, so he did not bother revisiting the process. He was just having fun stealing time with Joon, hiding behind everyone else like they were playing some scandalous affair.

Afterward, it didn’t matter anymore. Even after they turned adult, Radia never thought back about it.

Until now.

"Because you were only lusting over my body at that time," Han Joon replied with the same smile Radia saw the day he ran away from Joon’s bedroom, and the deep eyes pulling him into an abyss. "So I wait until you lust over my heart too."

Radia turned away and clenched his jaw. Yeah. It was that beguiling fox, alright.