an unfortunate change in genre

Part 59

"So, A World Without a Hero, huh?"

The brothers sat in somewhat anxious anticipation as they waited for a very important third party to arrive.

There had been other opportunities to talk and plenty that were more appropriate but Cale wouldn't be Cale if he didn't choose to pin a person when it was least convenient.

Sometimes Roksu really pitied Alberu. The poor bastard had signed up to never get away with anything in his whole damn life.

"Yes." Roksu said and he was actually a bit relieved despite his uncharitable thoughts. It was a lot easier to deal with this conversation than the vague apprehension he felt as they waited.

Perhaps Cale knew that and that was why he'd done it.

Or perhaps he was giving the asshole too much credit.

"Can't imagine what your impression of me was after reading that." Cale said with a snort. "Oh wait, I can, you described rather concisely. Ah, how was it that you put it?"

Despite the elegant way that Cale found his words and spoke with the dignity of a noble he still managed to sound like a thug. Really. He was deserving of taking on the role of a minor villain.

Roksu sighed. "And how would you have described yourself?"

Cale laughed. "A lot fucking worse honestly. I was doing everything I could to be hated after all. It's a bit disappointing that I didn't make an even more vile impression."

Roksu raised an eyebrow at him and a puzzle that he'd spent years half-heartedly pondering finally clicked together.

Of course Cale would have faked it. That was the exact sort of insane shit that Cale would pull.

Roksu didn't particularly need to know his motivations. He could guess quite a few plausible ones but really the why had never been what concerned him. It was the incongruent differences between Cale Henituse hidden between the pages of a terrible romance novel and Cale Henituse, his loyal and kind older brother.

"You're seriously insane." Roksu criticized, shaking his head and feeling a bit lighter as they waited.

Was there much more to say?

Roksu's secrets were laid bare and aside from his scruples about how it occurred, Roksu didn't mind that much.

He never wanted to explain about the novel but now he didn't really have to explain it and Cale just knew and they could just understand one another.

That was really what siblings were all about. In so many ways whether you loved or hated your siblings, they were an entity you could understand and who understood you.

Or at least that was how Roksu had grown to understand the term. Of course there was the unconditional love that always had its conditions and there was also the companionship and so many other things that made the bond between siblings meaningful.

But for Kim Rok Soo who'd spent so much of his life alone and so very little of it with people who understood him, there was something special about the understanding.

Roksu Henituse had an overbearing overprotective older brother who could and would do the craziest shit imaginable. And they could just understand one another.

"I only flipped through it briefly but it didn't seem like all that interesting a novel." Cale said contemplatively. "You remembered it really well though."

Roksu shrugged. "I've always had a good memory."

And despite the faults in it, he'd always had a special place in his heart for the novel.