After dinner, Kyo ran up to his room because it was too awkward being in the same room with the boy who supposed to be his cousin. He sat on the bed, trying to ease the tension in his heart.

“Why does he call me Kyo? No one ever called me that before. And we just met a few hours ago.” Kyo sighed. Having nothing to do, he was thinking to lie down on the bed when a voice whispered in his head.

“Kyo-ya. It’s not good for your body if you sleep after eating.”

He shook his head to make those thoughts go away. What was going on with him these few days, he didn’t have the slightest idea. He walked to his table and took the book he found at the hallway earlier. Thinking that reading would make him feel better, he opened the first page, only to notice his name wasn’t written there. He blinked, confused. He was sure he had written his name on every single book he owned.

Then he remembered the conversation he heard from the study room before lunch. “This isn’t my book then. I need to return this to him.” He flinched upon his own idea. Why would he want to do that? He had enough awkwardness for the day. Suddenly he felt the night breeze blown from the window. He got up to close the window, and he was surprised to see that boy sitting alone in the garden. Kyo chuckled. “He really likes being alone huh?” Then the voice whispered again.

“No one ever talk to me.”

Kyo sighed. He immediately closed the window after he made up his mind to go and talk to his cousin. When he reached the garden, he tiptoed towards the boy, hoping he would not startle him. As he got closer, he realized the boy was looking up at the sky. Kyo inhaled deeply to muster some courage to greet the new boy. “Hey.” He called. When the boy turned to him, he smiled. Being the owner of the house, he needed to be nice to his guest. That was what in Kyo’s mind at the moment. The two then started talking, and Kyo felt a warm familiar feeling rushed all over his body. He never thought that looking up at the stars could make him feel at ease.

“What happened to you?” The boy asked. “If you don’t mind telling me.” Kyo sighed. Should he tell the boy about it? Even his parents didn’t know the whole truth about what happened to him months ago. Kyo took a deep breath and eventually told the boy about his disappearance. After a while, Kyo couldn’t help but cried recalling the ordeal he had gone through resulted from his bad behavior. “Don’t cry. You’re home now, right?” Kyo cried harder.

“But I couldn’t forget those awful things he did to me…” It wasn’t that he didn’t want to forget, but he kept having nightmares because of that. Kyo was looking at the ground when the boy suddenly pulled him into a hug.

“Shhh… It’s over now. You’re safely home. He can’t do that to you anymore.” The boy was his back, and Kyo started to feel calm. “Kyo, don’t cry. I’m here now. I’ll take care of you. No one can hurt you as long as I’m here.” Feeling sad, Kyo returned the hug. He had never really cried like that even when he was with his parents.

“Thank you.” Kyo said as he pulled away from the boy, feeling so much relieved. He then realized he didn’t even know his cousin’s name. “Hey you didn’t tell me your name yet.” Kyo noticed the boy was smiling while thinking about something.

“You can call me Eric.” Kyo felt like being struck by lightning the moment he heard the name. He couldn’t move as more images were playing in his mind. He tried to focus, but they moved too fast, he didn’t even manage to blink his eyes. “Kyo?” Eric’s voice calling his name suddenly sounded familiar. When Eric pinched his cheeks, he wanted to respond, but he was still unsure about his feelings. “Kyo, are you okay?” He felt his body bumped into Eric’s and all images faded away. But one image stayed, and Kyo couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A boy was smirking evilly with a baseball bat in his hand.

“Eric…” Kyo muttered. Eric was the boy that abused him months ago? Kyo blinked his eyes a dozen times. When he realized Eric was hugging him, he pushed him away as hard as he could.

“Kyo.” Eric called, but Kyo was already running to his room. He locked the door and lied face down on his bed. Tears started streaming down his face again when he thought about what he had just discovered.

“It couldn’t be.” Kyo covered his mouth with a pillow and shouted. “What to do?? He’s here! He’s going to take me away again!!” Then he heard knocks on his door.

“Kyo, what happened? Are you okay? Let me in.” Eric called from outside. Kyo hid his whole head under the pillow. His heart was beating crazily, and shivers ran through his body. He really didn’t know what to do now other than crying his heart out. “Kyo… Open the door.” Eric whispered.

“Go away!! I don’t want to see you!” Eric was shocked to hear Kyo’s words. Minutes ago, he was happy and relieved for finally being able to get close to Kyo. But now he was afraid. He didn’t understand why Kyo was behaving like that. And to hear Kyo shouting those words to him, his heart broke again.

Eric sat in front of Kyo’s door. He knew something was wrong with Kyo, so he needed to be there in case Kyo got out of the room. After half an hour, Kyo still hadn’t come out. But Eric could hear Kyo’s sniffles, meaning he wasn’t asleep. Eric went to his room to take a few books, and chose one to read after he settled on the floor in front of Kyo’s room. He really hoped Kyo would come to his senses and eventually open the door.