Rebirth of Brotherly Love

Chapter 22

An Luo locked the door of his bedroom, and gripped the wheelchair with pale fingers. The suffocated feeling in his chest, like a surging tide, flooded his whole heart without any gaps.

With every breath, his lungs felt like a pair of hands were wringing them. A sourness rose in his nose. There was a warm mist floating in his eyes, but he desperately pressed it back.

Endless Love, an unending, unresponding, desperate love.

An Ze asked him what he thought of this feeling, love. How could he answer? Loving someone you should never love, loving someone who could never respond, what should be done? What could be done?

When he had met An Yang in his previous life, he had still been a young and ignorant man then. But An Yang already had an elegant and graceful bearing. In his memories, An Yang always liked to wear white suits. He always looked elegant and leisurely. Since he had grown up in a rich and powerful family, he had an innate nobility. Even if he sat without saying a thing, he could instantly attract everyone's gaze.

An Yang had a twin sister named An Fei. The relationship between the two of them had always been very good. Whenever they attended various cocktail parties, the gentle and handsome brother An Yang and the beautiful and lively sister An Fei would always become the most eye-catching there.

The brother and sister were often invited by handsome men and beautiful women to dance a graceful waltz on the dance floor. Moving and spinning, their gorgeous dance steps accompanied with music—the handsome An Yang and the beautiful An Fei were a pair of children that would always be the greatest pride of their father.

An Luo, who did not know how to dance or socialize, would only stand quietly in the corner and drink. Cup after cup of ice-cold drink would flow down his throat, and in his mind, he would have not even one trace of warmth.

Drinking was the first thing that the young An Luo learned after returning to the An home. His father had said that a man must be able to hold his drink. In the future, when working in business, you could only pretend to be drunk, without ever being truly drunk.

Young An Luo was forced to handle all kinds of liquor—baijiu, hongjiu, and wine—by the bartender his father had hired. His father made him learn the difference between all the proofs and brands of various liquors within a month, not caring that An Luo had never drank before.

An Luo didn't know how to drink at first. The burn in his throat from the alcohol made him cry even, and his stomach would feel like it was on fire. He would vomit over the side of the toilet in the dark, spitting up all the contents of his stomach, acid water filling his mouth. The feeling of his stomach twisting and cramping was deeply imprinted in the memory of young An Luo.

After vomiting, An Luo, pale-faced, would drag his exhausted body back to the bedroom in embarrassment. When he tried to sleep, he could only feel his splitting headache. He had painful nights after drinking, without anyone around him.

The next morning, it was only the gentle An Yang who would wake up to bring him a cup of warm water.

When the warm water reached his stomach, it seemed to bring warmth to the bottom of his heart as well.

He would fall in love with An Yang, perhaps because An Yang would allow him to cling to that warmth.

An Luo was his father's illegitimate son. He had been raised his grandmother's house since he was a child. Even when he was brought back to the An household, a housekeeper had picked him up in secret. He originally had thought that his older brother An Yang would hate this unknown brother. He didn't expect that An Yang would treat him well, without any prejudice, caring for him as any older brother would care for his young brother.