Yuna Inspired: Our Virtual Family

104

"Your name?" the friends, but Hana, asked.

Jake, still standing nearby Logan, gently brushed a hand against his arm. "Why would he do that?"

"Before we had entered the karaoke room," Kevin intercepted, "we had changed our names to something that sounded cool to win a bit of the girls' hearts." He bit his lower lip and shied away, embarrassed.

Hailey unintentionally scoffed and questioned that Hugo thought "Logan" was a cool name.

"But he chose it for a different reason," clarified Kevin, looking at Hugo. "It wasn't the name that sounded cool." He looked at Logan and added, "It was the person." He could see Logan's slight change of expression from annoyance to confusion. "He's always admired your cheerful and fearless personality, and he felt guilty that he was never by your side and was worried that you'd grow up to not have anyone to rely on. But you grew up just fine, and during his witnessing of your growth, he saw you as the perfected epitome of his flaws."

Logan didn't allow such flattery, even if they were true, to affect his emotions. "So, what?" He snapped. "I was the better choice to raise his son? Even our Dad wouldn't have made such a decision!"

Kevin heaved a heavy sigh again. He had already expected the younger brother to not be easily moved, and he had no intentions to make Logan forgive Hugo at all. He just wanted everyone to know the truth. He ignored Logan's comment and continued, "Each couple went their separate ways that night, and I guess we all know where it led to."

Bruce, however, wasn't willing to accept the fact that his graceful cousin had had a one-night stand with Hugo. He knew she had always dreamed of finding true love and committing herself to her future husband after marriage.

"You could blame it on the alcohol," said Kevin. "Or you could blame it on Hugo, but I do want you to know that just because someone says they plan to do something, it'll fall through. Our emotions get in the way, and it can affect our decisions."

"What are you saying?" growled Bruce. He wouldn't allow anyone to tarnish his cousin's reputation and wouldn't and couldn't believe that she had succumbed to such inappropriate behavior. She was his angel, an angel that could never fall to the other side. The side that he had known.

Kevin, being a doctor and having dealt with similar situations, knew that Bruce was in denial. "I know it's hard to believe, but she was human and like all humans, her current state of emotion had influenced her actions."

"Because she was drunk."

"That too, but I don't want you to think that this had happened because she was forced."

"And how would you know that?"

Kevin subtly smiled. "I think you can answer that yourself. You've been with Hugo the past few years and have seen him. Do you think he's that kind of person?"

Bruce's elevated adrenaline gradually ceased when he recollected calm memories of his time with Hugo. The older man never spoke crudely. Hugo was always polite and occasionally clumsy, but he learned fast. He never got mad and was someone Bruce did respect and wanted to become since Bruce had no older brother to look up to.

While Kevin let Bruce understand the complete picture, he then brought in the climax and got into the birth of Lucas. "Unfortunately, Hugo never saw her again. After much investigation, we found out that she had abruptly moved back to live with her grandparents in the countryside, and Hugo made a promise to propose to her once he had passed his exams, so a few months later, we were going to visit, but her friends told us about her situation. We were then reluctant to go in case we might cause further problems for her, so we decided to wait until the following semester. Of course, summer break arrived, and a bundle of joy stepped into our lives. As for Hugo giving Lucas to Hana, it's not because he wanted to hand off his responsibilities to her. He needed someone to watch his child as he sought answers about her death—if she had really died due to birth complications or from her abusive father."