“……What if I don’t give it back to you?”
At the coy reaction, Rhino only blinked as if he hadn’t expected such a thing at all. After a moment of silence, Bernard’s low laughter filled the space. Though he’d had a death-like expression just moments ago, he continued speaking with a much improved face as if a spring breeze had blown.
“Don’t worry. I won’t embezzle it.”
“I wasn’t suspicious of that.”
“I’ll contact you.”
As if asking when he’d only been on the receiving end, Bernard answered clearly right away. Rhino, who swallowed an empty laugh, said his farewell that he would leave now. Looking at Bernard waving his hand back, he fiddled with the car keys and turned around completely.
“Oh, and Bernard.”
“Yeah?”
Before opening the car door, Rhino turned around as something suddenly came to mind.
“You remember my birthday is soon, right?”
A troubled look crossed Bernard’s face. He seemed to know what it meant, but Rhino pretended not to know and continued speaking.
“You have to come to the party. Don’t run away like last time.”
At Rhino’s birthday party last year, Bernard didn’t keep his seat and ran away just like that. For Rhino, who had intended to introduce Bernard to his friends, it was quite a disappointing matter.
“……I’m not suited for that kind of gathering……”
“You are. Come if it’s not because of that man.”
“……”
“If you don’t come, I’ll know it’s because of that man.”
Rhino poured out his words and then closed his mouth with an ‘oops’ feeling. He felt like slapping his own cheek. What kind of childish jealousy was this, saying he’d know it was because of that man? However, fortunately, Bernard didn’t seem to have noticed that far.
“I’ll send you an invitation.”
“Ah, okay.”
“You can come with Elliot too.”
For someone saying that, Rhino had a face that showed he really didn’t like it. Bernard suddenly wondered if he even knew what expression he himself was making, but didn’t bother asking.
If it were before, he would have thought everything was a trick to see Elliot. He might have worried about delivering it to Elliot. However, now he knew whose actions all of this was directed toward.
“……I’ll try.”
However, affirmation was still not easy. Rhino made a regretful expression, but perhaps thinking he couldn’t force it any further, showed both hands raised. Having declared surrender, he gestured for Bernard to go inside. However, Bernard didn’t move and waved his hand toward Rhino again. Bernard didn’t leave his spot until Rhino started the car and turned the steering wheel.
Rhino glanced at Bernard through the rearview mirror. Fortunately, he must have taken off the ring in the meantime, as his right hand was clean with nothing on it. He hadn’t said what kind of ring it was, but he could tell what the situation was. The same ring was on Elliot’s hand that had held Bernard.
Rhino’s expression quickly became gloomy. It was like confirming and finishing off the hypothesis that came to mind, but he didn’t particularly want to acknowledge it. He didn’t know exactly what situation Bernard was in, or for what reason he was being swayed by Rubens like this, but it didn’t matter.
He intended to do what he could do himself. It didn’t matter how great a person Rubens Hurt was. It was like throwing his life at something he couldn’t be certain of, but Rhino was used to such things. When he was active in the rugby club, he was always the key to reversing the tide of games that flowed unfavorably.
The smile disappeared from Rhino’s face that Bernard could no longer see.
Rhino wasn’t interested in Elliot. Even if he approached with pathetic tricks, it was enough to just cut off his attention. But the story changed if Bernard got involved. Rhino had no intention of viewing this situation so objectively in the first place. The person he himself liked was important, so was there a need to pay attention to other people too? And he was someone who thought from the beginning that Bernard should be cut off from his family.
Not knowing such inner feelings of Rhino, Bernard always believed Rhino was a good person. He even introduced him as a good-natured and sincere person, a proud friend. Rhino tried hard to meet Bernard’s expectations, but sometimes felt the limits of that.
He knew that during their university days, persistent bullying had been perpetrated against Bernard. They were actions with malice to a persistent degree. When the childish bullying that continued even after their heads grew reached a level that seemed excessive, everyone within the university knew Bernard. He even got the derogatory nickname of the gloomy and disgusting little Weil.
Rhino simply couldn’t stand watching that. He had a fiery side and was also famous as a sensitive and irritable person. Since he started being close with Bernard, he suppressed his personality, but his previous personality hadn’t completely disappeared. Strictly speaking, Bernard only knew exactly half about Rhino.
There had been a time when he tracked down the three most vicious bastards and threatened them, and after that, the three submitted leave of absence applications in a row. Everyone hushed it up, but the most common opinion was that it was obvious Rhino was involved in that matter. However, there was no one who could frankly ask Rhino. After that, there were several similar incidents, but the truth was never revealed and passed over vaguely.
Bernard had even lived completely unaware of those matters, so in a way, it could be said that Rhino had really acted like a fox.
“Sex partner……”
He couldn’t understand Rubens’s mind for keeping Bernard as a sex partner while dating Elliot. There was no way Bernard could endure such a relationship. Surely it wouldn’t last long and…….
“Crazy bastard.”
Just before his thoughts flowed to a more gloomy place, Rhino banged his head on the steering wheel. The horn pressed by his head rang noisily, but fortunately there were no passing cars nearby.
If Bernard completely collapsed, it could rather be an advantage for Rhino. But were such feelings normal? Feeling self-loathing at the thought he’d had himself, he stomped on the accelerator. The car stretched out smoothly without noise.
If he were to date, he thought Elliot would be the biggest obstacle, but who would have known things would get twisted like this? Because he was his one and only friend, he’d delayed his confession for a long time, afraid that if he confessed, Bernard, who didn’t want to lose his friend, would forcibly accept the confession. Thinking about it now, that was rather the more stupid thing to do, but since things had turned out this way, he intended to watch a bit longer.
For now, since Bernard knew his feelings, it was hard to see it as no progress at all. So no matter how much more time it took from now on, Rhino intended to make the choice with the least regrets possible.
However, as his best was always Bernard, the center of all choices was also Bernard. The choice that would hurt him the least. It was always the most difficult goal for Rhino.
***
“Are you hiding something from me?”
Elliot’s voice became sharp at once. Rubens brushed his lips, then smiled nonchalantly. He should say it was time to go back, but it was difficult to leave his sulking lover. More precisely, it would be correct to say he judged it better to smooth over the relationship in advance so it wouldn’t become troublesome later.
“Me to you? No way.”
Elliot scrutinized Rubens’s face carefully. However, perhaps not gaining any particular harvest, Elliot’s sharp eye corners slowly lowered. Then he stealthily approached forward and hugged Rubens’s waist tightly.
Stroking the back of his slender lover who was buried in his arms enough to be engulfed, Rubens suddenly realized he was a little smaller than Bernard. He kept saying he was often sick, so growth must have been delayed after all. His thoughts and gaze kept flowing to another direction. As if to catch such a gaze from Rubens, Elliot put a little more strength into the arms hugging his waist.
“Be kind to Bernard.”
“I think I’m treating him well.”
At the tone that became subtly lighter, Elliot raised his head and met Rubens’s gaze. Rubens bestowed a brief kiss on his forehead as if soothing his lover. Elliot’s eyes took on a gentle air, but Rubens didn’t think those eyes were as beautiful as before. A bored expression briefly crossed his face.
“Somehow he seems to be afraid of you.”
“Unlike you, he does seem to be quite timid.”
Perhaps thinking it was a joke, Elliot laughed a little. Unlike Bernard, Elliot, who was always neatly arranged, had a well-groomed appearance. He quite liked the atmosphere that could only be felt from those who grew up loved. However, strangely now, a different appearance came to mind. Something like the pale back of the one who had completely fainted and entrusted his body at dawn. An appearance Elliot could never make.
“Bernard wants to do well. He gets very nervous when he’s trying hard.”
“Well. He did seem to have a lot of worries about the interview.”
“Father also seems to have high expectations for the opportunity you gave him. To do this much for me. I’m really grateful……”
“It’s nothing. Anyway, there’s no reason to have too many secrets.”
“How is it? Even if he seems worried, Bernard works well, right? He’s admired Rubens for a long time.”
At the words added affectionately, Rubens almost burst into laughter for a moment. Strictly speaking, he was doing well. The problem would just be that the field was really not work-related aspects but spreading his legs in bed.
Rubens interlocked fingers with his lover’s soft hands and felt the ring he’d put on the fourth finger. These were hands that grew up not knowing any hardship. Different from Bernard.
“…so…… Rubens, are you listening?”
“Of course.”
Rubens’s gaze seemed to have subtly strayed, but Elliot didn’t add unnecessary words. He also knew that he was a busy person, and also the most difficult person among those he’d met. Elliot instinctively knew that there would be no benefit from pressing him here. That was Elliot’s strength. He was sometimes told he was dull, but in truth, he knew remarkably well where to stretch his feet.
“Roman’s calls are fierce, so I should go in first.”
The kisses that landed on both cheeks tickled. A faint sense of peace spread across Elliot’s face.
“From next time, don’t wait at the door, just call me.”
“……I’ll think about it.”
Rubens’s answer flowed out a beat slow. Elliot, who didn’t particularly notice anything strange, obediently let go of his hand.
“See you.”
The man who grasped Elliot’s hand once more as if reluctant, then let it go, gestured and turned around. Watching his back moving away busily, Elliot only then realized that he hadn’t brought his car. To walk quite a far distance—did he miss him that much?
“I had something to confirm with Bernard……”
His gaze glanced toward the fence. Bernard, who had been standing for a while, was already gone and not visible. He came back suddenly with a cast, surprising people, then didn’t say anything. There was definitely something going on. However, hadn’t Elliot himself completely forgotten his younger brother while seeing Rubens? There was no one to blame. It was an unpleasant feeling somehow.
“…I should ask tomorrow.”
The Bernard he’d faced earlier clearly had a tired expression at a glance. He had a completely dead face like someone who’d been tormented for a while, and the member who had been with him bothered him. It wasn’t a very good atmosphere. However, there was no plausible speculation that came to mind either.
A subtle suspicion sprouted in Elliot’s heart. His green eyes filled with suspicion rippled mysteriously.
