Chase Me ✔️

Chapter 13

||> The Three Uncles <||

Four days ago...

The bandages were unruly. Those were the first four words that ran across Ho's mind as he blankly stared at his own reflection by a small square mirror sitting right across from him.

His eyes bore straight into his reflection, skimming through the bandages that have been wrapped accordingly to where his large cuts and bleeding scars remained on his body. Ho has a slight yet discreet trait of being an elite observer and an analytic perfectionist, as being the most silent and solitude out of the four siblings; he had learned and developed those two specific traits whilst growing up and living under his own roof of peace. Thus, both characteristics made him exactly how he was – secretly.

"Ho, your inner perfectionist is showing. At least the bandages are keeping these wounds intact." Dumpling slyly commented as he watched his younger brother continuously glare down at his own bandages that seemed perfectly wrapped and secured over his own battle scars, he had no idea what could cause him to be so worked up over it.

The youngest lowly glowered while he adjusted the wrap and muttered curses under his breath. "Yeah, yeah, I'll take that." He sarcastically spatted, creasing a slight loose bandage that was located on his arm. And much to his displeasure, he tucked the fabric so he wouldn't be able to see the uneven proportion of the bandage that would at least settle his little perk.

Both of his brothers, Dumpling and Linguini, laughed at his retort. The both of them knew how grave is the extent of Ho's perfectionism. The youngest sibling barely showed any signs, although there were a few times that his little characteristic slipped out of him that the two brothers had took notice of whilst they all basically lived under the same roof for all of their years – totally inseparable.

"I don't understand why you'd be so angry over such little things." Linguini interjected with a snicker, the corner of his lips tugging upwards into a sly smirk.

Ho rolled his eyes at his remark. "Yeah, keep telling that to yourself." This time, it was his turn to smirk deviously and for his brother to frown with furrowed brows.

Linguini playfully scoffed with his hand placed by his chest where his heart was. "I do not!" He exclaimed.

In Linguini's case on the other hand, he was the most hot-headed person anybody could have settled in with. He's not someone people could take in easily, where even the slightest joke could immediately make him fired up and burn that faltering laughingstock. It's hard to bring the man anywhere with his developed anger – but that was about back in his younger days when he couldn't control his bubbling and bumbling rage just yet. Though, right after he was concocted with a bunch of moral lessons and a bustling of scoldings, he overpowered his fury and had full control of himself where he let that power overcome him in terms of stressing himself out.

"Now don't you get hot-headed over me, I'm just telling the truth." Ho chuckled as he raised both of his hands in either surrender or defeat. He watched how Linguini sighed exasperatedly with his nostrils flaring in a puff, Ho and Dumpling had to laugh at their brother's demeanour.

Afterwards, the three continued on with their sensible and insensible conversations leading from one topic to another and another. Their limitless talks had included laughters, teasings, sentiments, and a few exchanges of opinions and tactics.

It was, then, Dumpling's turn to smile at his two brothers who started to tease and argue each other; practically barking at one another but, ironically, with grins plastered on their faces.

He has looked over the two men since the minute they were born until to the further end of their times in the future. He could still clearly remember the days they all were still young, wild, and free: they would always play with each other and no divider could separate them in different teams or groups, they would get lost deep inside the woods with their adventurous nature only to get scolded by both of their parents, sharing same and different hobbies, overcoming one obstacle with another, protecting their little sister from other boys who would just toy with girls, and basically just growing up and sticking to them until the end.

Being the magnificent big brother of the trio wouldn't be a miracle for the eldest male, he considered it as a boulder of headaches if comparing the two opposite polars: the quiet and the loud, from each other. Ho would transcendently sit in the corner and waddle on his pretty little mind while Linguini pestered on with lingering fights, he was always stuck in between the two – although, that was the job of the second child – but, he never once complained nor threw a fitting rage of handling his two rascal brothers.

He loved them, more than they would ever know.

"Hey, what are you smiling about?" Ho asked, finally noticing his older brother who had been smiling to himself in the stillness of peace when that should've been his duty to fulfill – except his other older brother had to concur him into a fight which lost him his personality for a short time.

Dumpling only shook his head as he quietly laughed. "Don't mind me, it's just nothing." He insisted before he got off his bed and walked over to his two brothers with his arms spread widely.

This caused the two to awkwardly open their own arms with confusion written across their faces, but that disappeared right after their eldest brother enveloped them into a warm hug.

There were no words left to say in between, and only the lovely smiles and kind eyes were enough to settle with what they have before them.

Brotherhood.

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It looks awfully like a filler chapter – and I HATE doing filler chapters.