"I'm home!" I yell out.
From the kitchen, a voice answers. I check and see that it's my older brother, Haruto. He's making cup noodles for us.
"How was school?" he asks.
I shrug. "Okay."
He grins at me. "By the way- I'm ENGAGED!"
I scream. "Omigosh! To Akane?"
Akane is his current girlfriend, I've met her, and she's super sweet. She's perfect for Haruto!
He nods. "You're our bridesmaid."
I laugh. "Sure."
He says "I'm going to choose your dress with Akane tomorrow. She wants the outfits to have a common theme or something. You know her, always fashionable."
I nod. Akane is an actress and she loves to buy cute clothes. Then I ask "Where's Mum and Dad?"
He rolls his eyes and sighs. "Still in America doing the wine business. I swear, they should just move to America already."
The cup noodles is cooked, so I take my cup noodles and head to my room.
----
I'm helping Tora file the class attendance sheets for all the freshmen classes now, and it's a pain. There's so many sheets of paper! My phone rings. I see that it's Haruto. I answer.
His cheerful voice fills my ear. "Sis, just checking. Akane found this dress for you, it's light purple. Okay with that?"
I smile. "Yeah, don't worry, I'm fine with anything."
He says "Then we'll get it for you! You can try it on later."
"Okay. See you at home later. Do you want me to cook dinner for you?"
"Nah. Akane and I will eat out. Love you sis, bye!" He chirps.
"Love you! See ya!"
I hang up, smiling to myself. My older brother sure is happy with Akane. Then I feel Tora's gaze. I turn and meet those golden eyes.
They're staring at me unblinkingly, and I can see anger in them. Now what?
He says in a controlled, calm manner "Was that a guy?"
I nod. Is this some interrogation?
He asks again. "Your dad?"
I shake my head.
He stares at me in a scary way and I feel the urge to run away. I stay there, in my seat at a small table in a corner with the papers all over my lap and the table. Tora says in a tight, ultra-calm voice "You are living with him."
It's more of a statement, but I nod. Then he explodes. Tora comes over and sweeps the papers off my lap. He pulls me roughly up by my wrist- the wrist without the silver bracelet- and says in his calm yet scary voice "Who was it? Are you talking to other guys? Are you close to him? You offered to make him dinner, right? His call made you happier than I can?"
I take a step back and step on some attendance sheet. "No! Listen-"
Tora inhales deeply as I rush to speak. "He's Haruto (L/N), my older brother! That was just a normal conversation between a brother and a sister!"
His grip on me loosens and I step away from him. He is silent for a while, before he says in his normal voice "You make me act so stupid, (Y/N)."
"What?"
He closes his eyes for a while. Then I understand. He was jealous.
That makes me want to laugh so hard. Jealous? Seriously? How can you get so worked up? The harder I try to stop my laughter, the more I want to laugh. So I laugh out loud, before I realise it's kind of loud.
Tora stares at me. I feel uncomfortable under his gaze and stop laughing. Then he says "It's alright. Keep laughing that way. I like it."
