Chapter 80 - Vol. 3: Noah To Haru - 80

Aiden

“Did we go too far?” Mason said, drawing Aiden’s attention to him. “I think we really hurt him this time.”

Aiden raked his fingers through his blond hair, frustrated. Fuck! He hadn’t a clue things could go from pure heaven and amazing to hell in just two weeks. Not only was he having family problems at home, but a shitload of issues seemed to have popped up out of the blue at work, too.

First it was a client who canceled on him and then a deal gone wrong due to miscommunication, leading to a lot of time and energy spent on fixing it. Then a second client dropped him, and a third after that, which meant he had lost a shitload of would-be commissions from sales. Only a few days ago, he had lost one of the biggest real estate deals of the year, with that client pulling out in the last minute without any reason whatsoever and offering the deal to a rival company. Peter had said his luck seemed to have gone down the drain lately, and Aiden couldn’t agree more.

At home, things weren’t any better either. He had worked hard on comforting Haru, who had become solemn and distant since that day two weeks ago. Sure, the boy spent the nights with him in his bed, but Aiden couldn’t get the boy to open up to him. Haru had only wanted hugs and a few pecks on the forehead but nothing more, nothing deeper and more passionate. He never talked about that day either. In fact, he just didn’t talk, period, and it was frustrating the hell out of Aiden. It seemed their communication had dwindled and then shut down completely.

Fuck, but he wanted the old Haru back, the cute, adorable boy who was eager to talk and be kissed and touched. The beautiful boy whose mere smile brightened the whole place. The special boy who made this family whole.

“What are we going to do?” Isaac said. “First it’s Noah, and now, it’s Haru.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Wait! Maybe it’s Noah’s fault. He left the apartment and that’s why Haru isn’t happy and now he’s at his limits. That’s it. I’m going to see Noah and make him come home.” He was out the door and up the stairs in an instant, and neither Aiden nor Mason stopped the brother when he said, “Itte kimasu,” and left the apartment a bit later after that, carrying a stuffed backpack with him.

Alone with just the two of them, Mason said, “Aiden, I need to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“First, let’s take a seat.” He nodded toward the chairs at the dining table. When they were both comfortable, he continued, “I know this is bad timing, bro, but I need to get it off my chest.”

Aiden, his face an impassive mask, said, “Okay. Go on.”

Mason took in a deep breath and then said, “I’m in love with Haru.”

Silence. The two brothers just sat there, staring at each other.

Mason said, “I just want you to know.”

Aiden nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

Mason raised a brow. “You know? That I’m in love with Haru?”

Again, Aiden nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“I’d be lying if I said that I am okay with that; I’m not,” Aiden said. “But like I told Noah, I can’t go stopping you and Noah from falling in love with Haru.”

Mason chuckled. “So you’re not going to kick me out like you did with Noah?”

Aiden narrowed his eyes. “You think I kicked Noah out because of that?”

Mason shrugged. “What else?”

Aiden sighed. “I didn’t kick him out. He left voluntarily.”

Mason frowned. “Why?”

Aiden said, “Because he fucked up and he knows it himself, that’s why.” Folding his arms across his chest, he asked, “You know that Noah is in love with Haru, too, right?”

Mason nodded. “Yeah, it’s not hard to see. He’s picking on Haru all the time. It’s the classic of notice-me-or-else-I’m-going-to-die type thing. Bully the one you like.”

Aiden chuckled. “Noah, he’s the smartest in the family, but when it comes to Haru, he’s a mess. He admitted it as much himself.”

“Wow.” Mason shook his head in disbelief. “Now that you say it, he is a total mess when it comes to Haru. So what about you? You’ve been looking like shit for the past two weeks. Something happen at work, too?”

Aiden nodded. “Yeah, a lot of shit happened. I lost clients and a shitload of commissions in the process.”

“It’s not like you to mess up,” Mason said bluntly.

Aiden nodded. “I didn’t. It just happened.” He chuckled. “Maybe my luck finally ran out.”

Mason chuckled. “I don’t ever think your luck ever runs out, Aiden. You’re like, I don’t know, one of those lucky celestial animals that brings in good luck or something, like that green dragon. I don’t know the details, but I think you’re something like that in the family. You make our lives better.”

Something in Mason’s words caught Aiden’s attention. Dragon! Fuck!

Aiden asked, “What about you? Anything happen to you?”

Mason shrugged. “If you call my professors suspecting me of cheating on my tests because my grades are too fucking excellent to be considered humanely possible and me nearly getting hit by cars, which happened like five times in the past two weeks, and that never, ever happened before, or the money I transferred to my savings account got devoured by cyberspace, then yeah, I guess you could say a bit of shit did happen in my life.” He chuckled. “I admit it has been shit and very strange lately.” He sighed. “I feel like when Noah is gone, our family is missing something important, like we’re missing a pillar.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, sometimes I feel like Haru’s happiness connects with how smooth our lives go. Does that make sense to you?”

Aiden raked his fingers through his hair. Yes, that did make sense to him.

“I think I need to call Uncle Jin.” He got up. “Why don’t you start with dinner?”

Mason nodded. “Okay.”

Before Aiden was out the door completely, Mason asked, “Just to be clear, you’re okay with me confessing to Haru when the time comes? I’m serious about dating him.”

Aiden gave him a smile. “Yeah, I’m okay with it. But we’ll have to come up with rules and regulations and schedules.”

Mason chuckled. “Yeah. We’ll figure that out when the time comes.”

In his bedroom, Aiden sighed. Fuck, he felt exhausted. He pulled out his smartphone and then sent a text message to Uncle Jin, asking the old man to call him when he had a spare moment. He was just about to head back out the door when his phone rang. Noting the screen flashing Uncle Jin’s name, he hastily picked up and answered, “Ohayogozaimasu. Isn’t it too early for you to be calling me back?”

On the other side of the line, Uncle Jin chuckled. “Not too early, I’m always up by five in the morning. With you asking me to call you, it must be important. Could it be about Haru?”

Aiden sat down on the side of his bed and said, “Trust you to be so perceptive.” He sighed. “We’re having a bit of family trouble, and I’m not exactly sure what I should do. I love Haru, and I want to protect him. He’s important to me, to every one of us, but it seems the more I protect him, the more I’m hurting him.”

“Yes, it is complicated, isn’t it?” Uncle Jin said. “Relationship. But Aiden, doesn’t love and relationship always come down to what makes you and the other person happy? Perhaps there is a way you can protect Haru but allow him freedom at the same time?”

“Yes, perhaps there is,” Aiden said.

“Remember, Aiden,” Uncle Jin said, “The Shrine Maiden must have all her guardians with her at all time. Her happiness is of the utmost importance; otherwise, misfortune will befall the family.”

Aiden felt his stomach knotting at hearing that, a confirmation of his suspicion.

“I’m sorry I can’t talk much longer, Aiden,” Uncle Jin said suddenly. “I have an early meeting with the heads of department this morning, and I have things that need to be done before that.”

Aiden nodded. “Yes, of course, Uncle Jin. Thanks for calling me back.”

“My pleasure,” Uncle Jin said. “Look after Haru, Aiden. Love him. Cherish him. He needs it.”

Aiden chuckled. “It’s a given.”

“Now then, I really must go.”

Aiden was about to end the call when Uncle Jin said, “Oh, by the way, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this to you or if you’ve noticed when you were here. The mural, the dragon has two heads.”

Aiden frowned. “I’m sorry?”

“The dragon, it has two heads, meaning two separate souls. In the mural, one head was drawn to the side behind the first, so it doesn’t seem obvious.”

Aiden wanted to swear fuck but held himself in check. He asked instead, “You’re saying the Shrine Maiden actually has five guardians? Not four?”

Uncle Jin chuckled. “Exactly that. Like with the rest of the other guardians, Haru will be drawn to that person, and indeed, the other way around. Though it is not necessarily the type of guardian that will bond with the Shrine Maiden the way the other four guardians bond with the Shrine Maiden.”

“I see,” Aiden said, not liking the thought of another so-called guardian barging into their life and stealing Haru’s time from him. But what did Uncle Jin mean that this other one didn’t necessarily have the same bonding with the maiden as the other four?

“All right, we’ll talk again soon,” Uncle Jin said and then ended the call.

When Aiden returned to the living area, Mason was halfway through with cooking dinner. He was just rolling up his sleeves to help when the front door slammed shut, and Reo’s voice came loud and clear. “Fuck!”

Aiden knew lady bad luck had decided to toy with Reo, too, and expected the worst when the stepbrother came into the living room.

“Something happen?” Mason asked.

Reo looked pissed as hell. “Some fuckhead stole my car.”

It looked like Aiden needed to get this family sorted out, pronto, and it started with Haru, and that meant getting Noah back home.