Chapter 22 - On a platter

"Stop running your head wild. I am not angry. Just upset about how you behaved with your cousin!" Min Jun elaborated.

Chin Hae was even more confused. 'I didn't mistreat him or bully him. I didn't even come two feet near him. It was you who catered to all his need. Is Min Jun upset as I didn't help in making Young Jae comfortable? But Young Jae didn't need any help, did he? Was it because I left Young Jae alone? Did he think I don't care about my cousin? I know I don't know him much, but I do care about him. We never got a chance to get along before, but in the last few days, I realised I like his company. Obviously, I care for my cousin. Did Min Jun think I don't? Then I had to clear this misunderstanding. What if Min Jun ends up hating me? What if he told BB and Baby-doll? What if they also thought I don't care for people around me? What if…'

"Ahhh!" Chin Hae yelled at the sudden smack he received in the head.

"Stop your overthinking before it reaches till the plot of being disowned by BB or worse change your name and move to mars!" Min Jun whisper yelled at him.

"Mars is habitable to some extent. That's not a bad idea, you know?" Chin Jae answered honestly only to get his head to be smacked again.

"At this rate, I might smack your brain out of the head..." Min Jun said in a defeated tone. 'Why overthinking is not a disorder?' He couldn't help but wonder…

"At this point, I question the existence of my brain… You know?" Chin Jae said what was in his head.

"You do have a brain, but I am not sure about your ability to use it properly anymore… I am done with you. I will go somewhere else and be upset with you for some time..." With that, Min Jun stood up, ready to leave.

A whine of protest came out, and then a hand clutched his wrist.

Min Jun turned only to notice his senior, looking like an abandoned puppy.

"Don't be upset with me. I don't know what I did wrong, but I will not do it again..."

The sadness in his eyes was real. The abandonment he experienced from his family ruined his confidence and threw Chin Hae in an awful path. With years of pestering, he agreed to voice out his fears and pain to his friends. But everyone knew he holds a lot more than what he says. No one pushed him to say more than what he wants once he started to share. They realised he needs more time to accept that they would not vanish from his life.

Min Jun ruffled the older man's hair affectionately.

"You will promise to me that you will not repeat it only after I tell you what you did. Think properly before you promise. Okay?" Min Jun spoke slowly as if he was calming the wounded animal.

Chin Hae nod his head eagerly.

Min Jun chucked and settled himself in the couch back. "This is the first time I am meeting your cousin. When you saw us in a compromising position, you should have punched me in the face or at least try to intervene… But why did you walk out saying 'please continue' idiot?"

"Well… it is you. And you both are adult enough to make a decision..." Chin Hae answered back.

"Yes, Hyung. But I am a stranger to him. How could you just leave us like that?" Min Jun questioned again.

"Because it is you. I know I can trust anything and anyone with you."

"Thank you. I appreciate the trust. But I am still a stranger to him. Will you be doing the same if it was someone else?" Min Jun asked as he was driven to the wits' end with the redundant response.

"If it were someone, I would have killed him..." determination was grave on Chin Hae's voice.

"Then why didn't you do something about me?" Min Jun asked for one last time.

"Because you are Min Jun. You will never force yourself on anyone or hurt anyone I care about..."

"Did you forget the fact the I bent three straight people for no reason?" Min Jun couldn't believe the blind trust his Hyung have on him…

"Well… you flirted with them, and you enchanted them. It is not like you forced yourself on them… Also, my cousin was not even straight, to begin with..." exasperation was laced in Chin Hae's voice. He was getting annoyed with the pointless conversation.

Min Jun was torn between feeling delighted with the fact that his gaydar was still working fine or at the stupidity of his Hyung who was defending him for things he did in the past. He was not even proud of the things he did in his teenage, and his senior was rationalising his deed here…

Min Jun realised there was no point in reasoning with this fool who believes him unconditionally.

"You trust me, Hyung. But that doesn't mean your cousin have to. He looked like he went through too much. And I am a stranger to him. Don't you think you literally betrayed him by leaving him in the hands of someone he never knew… especially when he was not in a state to defend him… That's what you did wrong, idiot Hyung!!!" Min Jun started explaining with the last string of patience hanging within him…

"But it was Young Jae who was taking advantage of you. He was above you and his mouth on your neck… So I thought you were okay with him..."

"Position doesn't define who was taking advantage of who. And he bit me as the fall was sudden. Nothing else..." Min Jun almost yelled out in frustration.

"Oh..." was the only answer he got back from the older guy.

Silence fell on them for a while.

"So don't give him away in a platter everyone… be careful. He needs support and comfort from you as you are the only family he has..." Min Jun tried to mellow the things down with a final word.

"Hey! There are his mother, my sister, and Kang Chin Mae too..." Chin Hae stated the matter of fact with a smug look. He looked like he was up to no good.

"I might whack you way too hard if you keep this charade up���" Having used all of his patience Min Jun couldn't hold back anymore.

"If I can't give him away on a platter to everyone, then how about giving him on a plater on to you!" the playful smile on the lip and amusement on Chin Hae's eyes made Min Jun realise that tables were changing… in a different direction altogether.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Chin Hae tried to intimidate his senior with a face void of emotions with the thought that 'Nothing helps like a good old way of playing dumb.'