𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒

xvii. offer

Chiyoko rapped her fists on the wooden door, pounding her knuckles against the surface of the material.

"Kousuke!" she shouted. "Open this door, little brother!! I have news for you!!!"

Nanami sweatdropped. "Maybe Kousuke-nii's still sleeping," she told her older sister. "We should let him, don't you think?"

"Nonsense," the blonde responded with a guffaw, going back to knocking on the door, a frustrated expression plastering itself across her beauteous face.

"Kousuke!!" the female hollered. "Open—"

The door swung agape to reveal a very, very pissed Kousuke. His golden eyes were narrowed, brows tightly drew in together.

"What?" the male hissed, poison venomously lacing his tone, obviously bitter at the fact that his sisters interrupted his playtime.

"Good afternoon to you too, little bro," Chiyoko put her hands on her hips, innocently smiling.

"Yeah, yeah," Kousuke leaned against his doorway, crossing his arms. "What do you want now? I'm busy."

"Pfft," his blonde sister rolled her eyes. "You're shirtless, so I'm pretty sure your kind of busy is the one where you fuck [Name], right?"

"That's right," the male snickered. "And answer my question before asking me something."

"Of course, your majesty," Chiyoko feigned an accent, mocking a slight curtsy. "Anyway, father wants to see you. It's an important matter of business, he says."

Kousuke sighed, running a hand through his charcoal-shaded hair, annoyance clear in his glowing orbs. "If it's another trip, tell him I'm not going. Bad things happen to [Name] when I'm not with her."

"It's not a business trip," Nanami cuts in. "It's about school and your attendance. Father wants you to go back."

"But I don't want to," her older brother argued. "Tanren Academy still has the game of rules going on. If I go back, something's bound to happen to [Name], and I can't have that."

"Worry not, dearest bro," Chiyoko said, puffing out her chest. "Only you're going back to the academy. [Name]'s going to stay with us at our summer home. Mother managed to persuade father to give us a vacation while you're at school, so we'll be with her at all times."

Kousuke raised an eyebrow. "Sorry," he shook his head, "but I can't allow that. [Name]'s too special for me to leave her with a pack of wildcats."

Chiyoko gasped. "Why, you little brat," she jeered. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

Kousuke stood upright, towering over his older sister with his full height.

"For you guys, it may be, but for me, it's torture," the male scowled. "You don't understand how it feels for me to be separated from the love of my life knowing something could happen to her safety!"

"You're right; I don't understand," Chiyoko growled. "However, which do you think is safer for [Name], huh? Going to that cursed academy hosting the wicked game or staying with people who care for her??"

"Well, she's safer with me," answered her younger brother.

The blonde female glowered. "Twit," she spat.

"Old hag," Kousuke countered.

The two crossed their arms, lightening zapping between them as their golden irises clashed in a silently deadly war.

"P-please," Nanami looked at her older siblings. "L-let's stop fighting, eh?"

Kousuke stuck out his tongue at Chiyoko, blowing a raspberry. The female mimicked his actions, throwing the mocking gesture back with an equal amount of a childish tantrum.

Nanami proceeded to sigh. "You know that there's a catch right, Kousuke-nii?"

The ebony-haired male averted his gaze to her. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, what do you mean?" questioned Chiyoko, fairly as curious as her younger brother.

"Father knows how much hate you loathe for Tanren Academy," explained Nanami. "He told me to tell you that if you can finish just one year of school, he'll pull you out; [Name] included."

"Hey," Chiyoko grumbled. "That's not fair. How come I had to suffer for three years, but Kousuke gets a free past out?"

"Well," Nanami drawled. "This all depends on [Name], I guess. If she can charm father into thinking she's a good wife material for Kousuke-nii, I'm pretty sure he'll let nii-chan do what he wants."

The blonde female gaped at her younger sister.

"Wait," Chiyoko grinned. "[Name] can become our actual sister-in-law then?"

"Yep!" Nanami nodded.

"Kousuke—" Chiyoko turned to her brother only to see the front of the door completely shut in her face.

A tick mark grew on the female's forehead.

"KOUSUKE!!!"

From inside the room, the onyx-haired male sighed, completely and utterly annoyed. It was a good offer, he admitted, but to think his father would actually go as far as to test you . . . that badly pissed Kousuke off.

Meanwhile, you were staring at your lover, blanket brought up to your chest in a defensive position.

"Kousuke?" you called out, worry clouding your eyes.

Ah, that's right.

Kousuke strode to his bed. When he was near you, the male pushed you back onto the soft mattress, hovering over your body, his hands placed on either side of your face as his knees caged your legs between his.

You were his and his alone. No one else but his.

If someone tried to take you away, he'd kill them. Even if that 'someone' was the very father Kousuke grew up with.

You let go of the silky blanket, caressing your lover's discorded face with your fingers.

He leaned into your touch, closing his eyelids briefly.

You then locked your hands around the male's neck, raising your head to kiss the very lips you came to be familiar with, already memorizing the shape and texture.

This caused Kousuke to wrap his arms around your waist, flushing your body against his.

"Kousuke."

The male froze at that deep tone of voice, and you pulled back, sensing how tense your lover was turning.

"We need to talk."

It was Kousuke's father.

❖

the family arc is about to end.