Chap Thirty-Two

“Come on Sehunnie, stop being a frowning little brat and come help me.”

“Hmph, I’ll frown as much as I like and don’t tell me what to do, you aren’t my boss.”

Sehun asserted irritably, hugging his legs closer to himself on the sofa.

“… Fine, I don’t really need your help anyway.” Kai muttered under his breath, mentally sighing at the teenage angst he had to deal with. You’re so lucky that I love you enough to do everything for you, stupid kid, you should be more grateful; it wasn’t as if you could see Luhan anymore. The twenty one year old threw one last glance at Sehun before moving towards the dining area, to put together their new self-assembly cherrywood dining table.

Currently, the pair of brothers was in their new home, a four room apartment that was located in the same building as Luhan’s. It was only a three minute travel to visit the newly born fashion designer and Sehun for a rather self-justified reason, was throwing a childish tantrum. Kai couldn’t believe how lucky he was when he found out that there was an available unit near his best friend’s residence, so without much hesitation, he had bought the place.

But it wasn’t without a good reason; it was a fresh start, a new beginning for himself and Sehun. By moving to a new environment away from the old home, Kai was hoping that Sehun would be able to eventually forget the pain and emotional stress he had gone through as he wouldn’t be reminded of what their bastard father had done.

Besides, Luhan’s apartment was near their new home, making it convenient to visit anytime and it was originally meant for housing Taeyeon and Hyeri, who were expected to return soon. Sehun couldn’t actually be found living there, right? Whereas, Kai also felt like he was imposing on Luhan by letting Sehun live under his care, it was the model’s responsibility to care of his own brother after all. Not forgetting to mention, Kai had already missed Sehun terribly despite only just a mere week of not seeing the sixteen year old sleep at night.

I suppose that I should fully explain why we had moved, Kai reasoned to himself as he looked at Sehun who was on the sofa pouting and probably still blaming the older brother for tragically tearing him away from Luhan before their dinner date. It honestly wasn’t Kai’s fault the movers had decided to deliver their furniture during the evening time and how was he supposed to know that his brother had plans, days before when he first booked the delivery day?

When Luhan heard about the news of the two brothers moving, he of course rescheduled for work instead and tasked Sehun to help Kai with the furnishing of their new home; which the boy wasn’t even helping with at the moment. Am… am I spoiling Sehunnie too much? Kai questioned himself when he heard Sehun exhale deeply at the injustice of having his dinner date with Luhan rescheduled.

“Stupid Jongin, you’re so stupid ugh.” The elder brother paused shortly when he overheard Sehun’s not exactly soft complaints being muffled into a cushion. “My date with Luhan, my date!” …Definitely spoiled, Kai concluded with a small sigh as he connected a wooden leg to the varnished dining table top. 

In retrospect, Kai didn’t expect to spoil Sehun; the boy was too cute and too lovable, the elder brother simply could not resist babying him. Perhaps it was because the time they spent separated, or the protective instinct that was inside of Kai, but whatever the reason was; the model was showering Sehun with the love that he had kept locked in him for thirteen long years. And Kai was letting his emotional floodgates open, squeezing out more than a decade’s worth of missing his younger brother into six months of babying and spoiling Sehun, which was the amount of time that had passed since they first reunited.

Luhan had known Sehun for five months while Kai had known Sehun since he was born… which was what Kai had often tried to lie about to himself. Honestly speaking, he had only truly known Sehun for three years; he had lost a huge portion of being in the boy’s life. Kai knew that it wasn’t his fault that they were separated, but he couldn’t help feeling sorry to Sehun. He had failed to keep the promise of being there for Sehun, he had failed to protect Sehun and he had failed to prevent his precious little brother from crying so many years ago.