A Child's Reality (BBRae AU)

VII

VII
Livid Restraint
~~~

"Hey! Kai! Don't make me call you a third time, Ginger!" His brother shouts down the hall.

He groans aloud to make sure that he hears it. Damnit, Jay, why can't you just leave me alone?

He gets up off his bed and walks down the creme carpeted hallway, a little dreary from the relaxed day he's had, but otherwise, he looks to be perfectly fine and capable.

Once he comes in full view of anyone standing in the living room of the apartment, he comes to a full stop and leans lazily against the wall beside him.

"There's my little brother! Took you long enough!"

Jay Redfield is a precocious young man of just a year over twenty. His fudgy brown hair only contributes to his privileged-kid look, the main attraction being his silver half-frame glasses over his gentle green eyes which clearly run in the family.

Just like his younger brother, Jay stands much taller over their mother beside him. Yet, Kai loses to Jay in the same department, standing at a measly five feet eight inches to Jay's six feet.

The older Redfield son is patronizing at best and intolerable at worst. Keeping in line with this, his voice exudes authority and order, like he was raised to be this way. He wasn't. He was raised as Kai was. How he turned out the way he is currently, Kai will never be able to guess.

Other than their eyes, the two are unrecognizable as brothers. This is undoubtedly due to their father having dark hair rather than the stark red of their mother.

The adorable small woman is standing beside Jay, joy pouring from her face to see her eldest son back home from school again even though it's been a mere month. The resemblance between her and Kai is uncanny.

"Kai, please come all the way into the living room. Your brother hardly ever comes home twice in the same year! We have to take advantage of this time!"

Kai obediently follows his comely mother's orders. Even if he dislikes his brother, he can't stand to disobey his wonderful mother. So kind and warm, she's done nothing he can think of to ever cast her in a negative light. He's sure she has done something in the past, but he doesn't care. He's capricious to her no matter what she asks of him. His mother might as well be a goddess to him.

He calmly goes and sits on the couch. Then, once he's comfortable, he props his head up with his fist as he leans his elbow on the arm of the couch.

"What were you doing in there? You usually come the first or second time someone calls." Jay asks.

"I was texting a friend." He replies with brevity.

"Does he have another girlfriend?" Jay asks their teensy mother.

"Not that I know of."

"She's not my girlfriend, Jay. She's a friend that's a girl. You do realize that there's a difference right?"

He scoffs, "Yeah, that's what they all say." Jay travels over from the middle of the room over to Kai and his brown leather loveseat and sits. The quiet gunshots followed by laughter from the TV with its volume lowered undercuts the one-sided tension between them. "How's the last month been going? Anything new other than this girl?"