My Demons

Chapter 25: Wish You Hell

Chapter 25

            To my dismay, Misaki did not return the strawberries that my brother had given to him nor did he throw them away. He actually ate them! It was the whole flower fiasco all over again! Did he not understand why I was so angry about it? It was even just yesterday morning! There’s no way he could have forgotten already.

            Even worse, Haruhiko continued to send boxes of fresh strawberries to my lover. My jealousy raged and I continued to buy him strawberry products as well. Sometimes it would be fresh strawberries; sometimes strawberry cake or pie; sometimes chocolate covered strawberries; and once even strawberry wine. My anger escalated each time that Misaki refused to throw away the stuff my brother was giving him. It quelled a little bit each time that he indulged in one of my gifts instead, but still refusing to turn down the others upset me.

            I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why I was so angry and jealous. Was it because I was afraid that my brother was trying to take my lover away from me? Was it because I had no idea that Misaki liked strawberries that much, yet he told Haruhiko, whom he had only known for two days, that he absolutely loved them? Was I mad at my brother or at my lover? Or was I just angry with myself?

            These kinds of thoughts didn’t stop swirling inside of my head no matter how hard I tried to make them go away. My biggest concern was keeping the two of them separated from each other. I didn’t know what Haruhiko was planning, but I was sure that it involved telling Misaki just what had happened in my past. There was no way in hell I was going to let that happen.

            After a week of the strawberry war, I could tell that the boy had had enough. He was forcing himself to eat the products and he was groaning every time I gave him something. I could hear his voice in my head screaming at me to stop spending all of my money and to save it for something important like retirement.

            He finally snapped, slamming his hands onto the table in front of couch, almost spilling his glass of strawberry flavored soda in the process. “That’s enough already!” he screamed at me. I hardly looked up from my paper from where I sat on the opposite side of the table. “Quit buying nothing but strawberries every day! I’m the one who has to eat them! Try putting yourself in my shoes! Look!” He moved his hair away from his face. “I’m eating them every single day, so my skin is all smooth now!”

            “What’s wrong with that?” I groaned in annoyance. “If you don’t like it, then why don’t you start by turning those down first?” I pointed to a stack of boxes of strawberries that were sitting on the table. Those were all from my brother.

            Misaki sighed and sat down in defeat. As if to prove that I had won, he sipped slowly on the strawberry soda. I went back to reading the paper, trying to keep my thoughts on something other than my brother.

            “If you want me to turn down his gifts, then why won’t you just tell me his phone number?” he grumbled with his mouth still around the straw.

            He had asked me several times now for Haruhiko’s number so he could call and explain that he couldn’t accept the gifts. I absolutely forbid him to have that bastard’s number! If he got the boy on the phone, I’m afraid he’d spill all of my secrets for real. There was also a small part of me that was terrified of Misaki leaving me for him. Although I don’t know why anyone could be attracted to that weasel, I was still horrified of it happening.

            I simply ignored him, as I usually did whenever he brought up that subject. He sighed and finished the soda before getting up to get ready for classes that day. Before he left, I saw him grab several boxes of strawberry products. I glanced up at him and questioned his actions with my eyes.