wounds that never bleed | h.ran

chapter eleven

"Hey! Stop smiling when you're alone. It's creepy. You're scaring the customers away," Rindou said as he sat beside his brother at the bar counter.

"Tch. Shut up, Rin." Ran quickly hides his smiles and drinks his liquor.

"Does this..." He pointed at his brother up and down. "have anything to do with y/n?"

Ran choked on his drink a little, coughing a couple of times. He then wiped his lips and glared at his brother.

"Ha! I knew it."

"No."

"Eh, don't lie. Sanzu told me that you made him deliver milk early in the morning, so that y/n could rest for a couple of hours."

"That crackhead!"

"So I was right. You still care for her, huh? Then why are you denying it before?"

"I don't care about her."

"Yeah, yeah. If that's what you want to believe." Rindou swirls his glass and takes a sip. He then paused for a quick while as he was trying to compose what's on his mind.

"What? Do you want to say something?"

The younger Haitani sighed. "I know that y/n is not a bad person, but I'm just worried about you. You tend to give your all to someone without leaving a piece for yourself..."

"What are you trying to say, Rin?"

"If you want to pursue y/n, it's fine. I'll support you, but look after yourself too. I don't want to see you in that state again."

"Thank you, Rin, but I know what I'm doing."

❀

"Yo. Who's that pretty dude who picked you up last time? He's hot-hot... Hot." Maia asked as she sat next to you, waving her eyebrows with a teasing grin on her face.

"That's—the one I'm talking to you about... One of the owners of the bar I used to work at."

"Your ex?!" She exclaimed and gasped loudly.

"Shhh!" You gestured for her to keep quiet then looked down a little. "Yeah. That's him."

"Did I miss a chapter or something? Why did he pick you up? Are you two back together?"

"Ah, no. We're not back together. A lot has happened, but to summarize it all, he had forgiven me, and I ended up living in his penthouse."

Your friend's eyes widened. "Woah! That's... Wow! He was treating you like shit with his snarky remarks just few months ago then... huh?" She paused when she realized something.

"What is it?"

"It's odd... Kinda odd... No, too odd. Be careful, y/n. I don't feel good about this."

"Ran is not like that. He just wanted to move forward, and to do that he wanted closure. We talked about it, and everything went well."

"I'm just saying, y/n. It's not bad to protect your heart. You've been through a lot, and I don't want you to get hurt in the end."

"I won't, Maia. I promise."

❀

You peeked through the shop's door, looking if Ran is outside. You're trying to avoid meeting him because you don't want to go shopping especially if he's the one paying. You may be poor, but you still have pride.

When you feel like the coast is clear, you open the door, and step out. As you were about to walk away, you heard a familiar voice.

"Where do you think you're going?"