310 Lonely
“So, Ariyan...”
Kairen looked at the kid who was playing on his bed like usual. They had just finished eating lunch and Kairen was coming back from the kitchen after he washed the dishes.
“Un?”
The kid looked away from his toys and tilted his head. Kairen plopped down on the bed beside Ariyan.
“I and Ron are going away to work for a few days. We won’t be coming home, so you have to stay with Mrs. Neal for a little while. Alright?”
“....”
Ariyan stared at Kairen’s face for a few seconds without saying anything, before his tiny lips started to tremble.
“You are leaving again?”
Tears welled up in his eyes and his voice trembled clearly.
.....
“Ah, Ariyan don’t-”
“But you came back a few days ago...”
Drip
Drip
Tears started to fall down to the bed’s mattress one by one.
“Ariyan listen-”
“I don’t want to.”
The kid moved towards Kairen and grabbed his shirt.
“Don’t go. Hic! Don’t go.”
“Sigh.”
Sighing, Kairen wrapped his hands around the kid’s body. He could see Aaron curiously peeking at them from outside. He must’ve heard the sound of the kid’s crying.
“After this mission, I will probably be free for a long time.”
“Hic!”
Despite still crying and sniffling, Ariyan raised his head to look at Kairen’s face.
“It might take longer than before but once I come back-”
“Noooo!”
The kid suddenly screamed and pulled Kairen’s shirt.
“Don’t go. Don’t go!”
Sniff
Hic
The kid kept on crying and pulling Kairen’s shirt without listening to anything Kairen said.
‘What’s wrong with him today?’
The helpless Kairen raised his head to look at his brother, who was still peeking at them from outside.
‘What’s wrong with him?’
‘I don’t know! What am I supposed to do now?’
Ariyan had never acted like this in the past few months. Even when both Kairen and Aaron started to go to missions regularly a few weeks ago, he had never reacted this way. He would show that he was sad and didn’t want Kairen to leave, but not cry like this.
“Um, Ariyan...”
“Hic!”
“There there!”
Kairen patted the kid’s back, not knowing what he was supposed to do. Aaron entered the room at that moment while holding a cup of water. He handed the cup to the kid, actually forced him to take the water as Ariyan was not willing to let go of Kairen’s shirt, and made him drink the whole water inside the cup.
“Sniff.”
“Stop crying, little kid.”
“I’m not. Sniff. A little kid. Sniff.”
“Yeah yeah.”
“Uncle!”
Ariyan went back to hugging Kairen.
“Don’t go.”
“...”
“Don’t go. I will feel lonely.”
“...”
Kairen stared at the back of the kid’s head. That was actually all he could see from the kid as Ariyan was sitting on his lap and burring his face on Kairen’s chest.
Even not seeing the kid’s face didn’t lower the amount of guilt Kairen was feeling.
But it must’ve been different for his brother who was kneeling down beside them. When Kairen turned his head toward Aaron to seek help from him, he was stunned by seeing the look on the man’s face.
‘What?’
Why was his face like that? It was as if he had seen a ghost.
“Uncle will get sick again...”
Ariyan kept mumbling.
“Then he won’t... play with Ariyan anymore...”
The kid rubbed his cheeks on Kairen’s chest.
“Ariyan will... feel lonely...”
“Ariyan don’t say such-”
“Kiddo!”
But Kairen couldn’t finish his words. It was because of his brother’s sudden strange action. Aaron jumped forward all of a sudden and pulled away Kairen’s arms that were wrapped around Ariyan, and grabbed the kid’s shoulders.
“Wha-”
“Hey, kid?”
Aaron gently shook the kid’s body back and fro. It was just then that Kairen realized something strange.
‘They are... glowing?’
The kids’ eyes.
They were glowing. They shone brightly in the room as if they were flashlights.
Gray flashlights.
“...Ariyan?”
Drip
Another tear slid down the kid’s cheek. Ignoring Aaron and even Kairen, the kid continued to mumble. His eyes seemed blank and his face was expressionless, but he was still crying despite that all.
“And Ariyan will be lonely.”
“Ariyan! Can you hear me?”
Aaron shook the kid’s body and shouted at him, but Ariyan didn’t seem to notice that.
“Ariyan will be lonely...”
He continuously mumbled those words under his lips. The same words, again and again, with his voice sinking lower and lower gradually.
“What the hell is this?”
Aaron asked Kairen. Kairen had been staring at the kid without saying anything.
‘It’s like that time...’
His eyes were just like how they were back when he was going on the mission to find an ancient artifact.
.....
“Ariyan will be lonely...”
“....”
Why was Kairen having such an ominous feeling? All of a sudden, a strange fear engulfed his whole body. The fear got worse the more he heard Ariyan mumble those same words.
The thread of fate
The child of fate
The protection of the child of fate
Those words were circling around in his mind.
“Ariyan will be lonely.”
Fate.
“Ariyan!”
SLAP
Kairen snapped out of his daze by a loud sound.
“....”
“Uh?”
Blink Blink Blink
Ariyan blinked his eyes and tilted his head.
The glow of his eyes was gone and his face was back to normal.
“Uh?”
He tilted his head once more, then raised his hand and touched a sore spot on his face.
His cheek was tingling. It hurt.
“Huh?”
He gasped for the third time once his eyes fell on Aaron’s hand that was in front of his face.
“Ariyan? Are you alright?”
“...”
The kid covered his cheek with his hand.
“Uncle hit me...”
He blinked his eyes again.
“N-no wait-”
Aaron hurriedly pulled his hand back.
“Uncle... hit me....”
“....”
Aaron bit his lip, moved a little bit back, and lowered his gaze.
“WAAAAAAAAAAHHH!”
The kid burst into tears with a loud scream.
“RON!”
Kairen embraced Ariyan and glared at his brother.
“What the hell did you do?”
“I... I just...”
“You slapped a kid!”
“I wanted to make him snap out of it!”
“By slapping him? A kid? A 6-year-old kid?”
“L-look. I didn’t have a choice!”
“WAAAAHHHH!”
“You!”
Kairen patted the kid’s back.
“Piece of scum!”
“No! Wait!”
“Trash! Fool! Shithead!”
“Wait, Ren! I- I didn’t do that because I-”
“Shut up, bastard!”
“Ren!”
“I’ll report you to the police!”
“Hey!”
“How dare you hit a kid!”
“Sniff. Sniffff.”
“I didn’t hit him with the intention of hitting him!”
“It hurtsss!”
“See! It hurts! Do you even know how much it hurts when you hit someone?”
“H-how would I know that?”
“Right? Bastard!”
“....”
Aaron closed his mouth and stood up, turned his back, and ran out of the room.
“Right! Run away! Scumbag!”
“It hurts, uncle!”
“Shh there there!”
Kairen patted the kid’s head more intensely as that was the only thing he could do.
“Uncle... that hurts...”
“I know I know. That bastard! How can he hit a kid?”
Pat Pat Pat
“No uncle!”
Pat Pat Pat
“Even if he didn’t mean to hurt you, that was too much! Tsk!”
Pat Pat Pat
“Uncleeeee”
Kairen stopped talking once he heard another scream from the kid.
“Don’t hit my back! That hurts!”
“....”
Kairen moved back his hand.
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Bad uncle!”
“....”
“You are not only going to work, but also hitting me.”
“...No Ariyan... look.”
“You scum!”
“....”
What?
“Bastard!”
“....”
Kairen blinked his eyes rapidly.
“Ariyan those words are not-”
“Uncle shit of piece!”
“....”
Kairen shook his head.
“That’s ‘Piece of shit’, Ariyan, not ‘Shit of piece’.”
“Oh!”
Ariyan nodded his head in understanding.
“Uncle piece of shit!”
“No, wait what?”
What did he do right now?
“Uncle scumbag!”
“....”
“You hit a kid! Bastard!”
“....”
Kairen raised the kid, put him back on the bed, and stood up.
“Ariyan, those words are not... something you should use.”
The little kid, who was clearly not happy with the fact that he was placed down from his uncle’s lap, clenched his fists and shouted with a face red from anger.
“Shut up!”
“....”
“Why is it okay for uncle but not for me!”
“It’s because you are a kid! You can’t-”
“I. Am. NOT. A. KID!”
“....”
Kairen took a step back.
“Uncle bastard!”
“....”
He took another step back.
“Um...”
And another one.
“Let’s... talk about this matter later...”
The kid looked so angry that it scared Kairen. How was he supposed to deal with an angry kid who was cursing at him? How would Kairen know? He was not a parent! !e had never read a book about raising kids, obviously because he didn’t have a kid! He didn’t even listen to those TV programs talking about solving family problems that Aaron usually liked.
‘Let’s solve it once I come back from the mission!’
He can teach the kid not to use bad words after he comes back... Or he can just hope that Mrs. Neal solves that problem until he is back.
He actually hoped for the second thing to happen. Leaving things to the hands of the experienced was what wise people do, and since Kairen was... wise?... He would leave things to the export, Mrs. Neal.
Yeah.
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