Fevered Kiss (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 31

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"Gulf," his brother said suddenly, and Gulf blinked.

No matter who Gulf was with, his head was always full of Mew. That was how much Gulf loved him. He'd already forgotten about the fight his brother and his sister-in-law were having.

"What?"

"Sorry," his brother said simply.

Gulf frowned. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. You need to apologize to P'Ice."

"No, I need to apologize to you."

"For what?"

His brother scratched the tip of his nose and hummed. It was a childish gesture.

The kids are really growing into their own personalities lately. Thanya has a real temper, Thong is always moving, and Tharn is the quiet one.

Gulf wondered what all this had to with him and waited, while his brother hummed again. "It's different when mom and dad are helping out, but when it's just Ice and I, I always find myself watching Thanya Thong. Tharn doesn't cry or fuss, so I deal with him last. Of course, I think Tharn wants our attention just as much as Thanya and Thong, but he's so quiet that he gets overwhelmed by them and can't let us know how he feels." His brother sighed and turned back to Gulf. "To tell you the truth, Gulf...you were so quiet and serious and all the adults loved you...so I...never really liked you much for it. I think I was jealous because you could get away with more by being so straight-laced than I ever could by rebelling."

Gulf stared. He was the one who had been jealous. What did he have for his brother to envy?

"Jealous of what?" he asked quickly, still shocked.

AA laughed a little. "Mom and Dad were always telling me to be more like you. I always wished you were more troublesome like me, so I wouldn't have to hear that all the time."

"No way..."

It was a real shock. He'd never imagine his brother felt that way. His brother had always been able to do all sorts of things he couldn't do, so Gulf had always thought AA didn't even spare a thought of him.

"Don't get the wrong idea though. I don't feel like that now. I was such a dumbass back then. I'm sure you had all kinds of things you wanted to do, and things  you wanted to rebel agaisnt. But I was always getting into trouble and failing my exams, so mom amd dad were worried about me. But you're so quiet, you never said anything. Am I wrong?"

AA watched Gulf closely, more intensely and soberly than Gulf was used to seeing him.

Gulf thought about it, then he said, "I...I think you're wrong. It's true that I was jealous because you were allowed to do what I couldn't, but...that didn't have anything to do with my being serious. I'm not serious. I'm just a narrow-minded coward. You don't need to apologize for anything."

At this self-deprecating speech, his brother's mouth twisted angrily. "Don't say anything like that, you dumbass. You're not a coward, and you're not narrow-minded. Or, no more than anyone else. Also, I'm older than you! So if I apologize, you should just forgive me.

Gulf stared, taken aback. He couldn't tell if AA was truly angry or trying to cheer him up. His brother usually spoke so carelessly to him. Finally, AA's expression faltered and he scratched the back of his head.

"Watching Tharn made me think of you. So I told Ice that she should take care of Tharn first sometimes, and then she asked why she should leave Thanya crying to take care of Tharn when he wasn't crying. And suddenly we weren't talking about the kids anymore, but about how I was drinking too much with the guy from work or how much it costs to keep my bike...and then we started fighting."

Gulf felt more shocked than ever. He thought that it must be really serious for his brother and Ice to get into a fight. But it turned out they were fighting about things that seemed unimportant to Gulf.

AA glared at Gulf. "You must be thinking we're really stupid to make such a big deal out of such little things, right?"

Gulf rushed to say, "no, of course not!"

His brother sighed. "Everyday life is just a collection of little things. I'm sure the stress from raising kids has gotten to Ice, and it was my fault for not realizing that. I'm going home and apologize."

His brother stood up and Gulf laughed. It struck him as funny that his brother was talking about his own issues after all this time. It also made him happy. He was glad his brother had come to talk to him.

"If you knew it was your fault, you should just apologized already."

"I was just so pissed. I couldn't apologized right away."

"But if you're going to apologize anyway, what difference does it make?"

"I told you, I was pissed. I calmed down on the way here. At that time, I didn't think I was wrong at all."

"Oh, that's not good. I'm gonna tell P'Ice you said that."

They chatted while his brother got his sneakers on, and Gulf showed his brother to the door.

A silver bike stood in front of the apartment, shining in the sunset. In college, his brother had driven a large motor bike, but when he got married, he'd traded it in for a standard. His selfish brother now saw himself as the pillar of his family, and he was changing his lifestyle and his values accordingly. But he wasn't being forced to, he was doing it in order to protect and nurture the ones that were most important to him.

His brother was so amazing.

Gulf wasn't jealous, he was just impressed.

'I hope I can be like him.'

"Hey, Gulf," AA called, as he sat on his bike and put on his helmet.

"What?"

"Was Ice pissed?"

"Totally."

His brother groaned as he started the engine, so Gulf added, "She was also really worried, so get yourself home."

His brother gazed at Gulf through his helmet, looking startled. Then he grinned, and the engine roared to life. "See ya."

"Take care!" Gulf yelled over the noise of the bike.

AA nodded and rode away while Gulf waved until he disappeared from sight.

TBC