Knock… knock… knock…

“Junie yah, come on out of your room and have a lunch!” exclaimed Kevin after he knocked on the door of Jun’s room. “You haven’t had lunch, have you?”

Jun did not respond. He curled himself on the bed and covered his body with the blanket as he tried to sleep. He shut his eyes closed tight.

Knock… knock… knock…

“Go out now!” Kevin exclaimed again with a higher pitch than before. “Eli would blame me if you’re getting sick.”

I wish he blames you then, Jun thought. But then his stomach ached. He grinned with pain. Yes, he had not had lunch and he only ate a bit for breakfast. But I don’t want to listen to that angry man! So, Jun tried his best to endure the pain in his stomach. Come on! Just wait until Uncle Eli’s home, he begged to his stomach to coorporate.

“Fine!” shouted Kevin as he folded his arms. His face was so red at the moment with anger. “If you want to lock yourself up in there, then you got it! Just don’t come out!” he shouted again then he went to his room and slammed the door hard which made a loud of noise.

Jun was scared, but he was upset too and he could not hold up his feeling as the tears streamed down on his cheeks. When will you pick me up, Appa? He wondered sadly. I miss you… I want to be with you… Jun kept on sobbing with his eyes closed until he fell asleep.

***

Eli was confused when he found no one in his house after he came in there. Where are the people? He wondered then he walked to his room and he found Kevin playing with his cell phone. “Hi, Kev!” he greeted the younger one as he untied his tie.

“Oh! You’re home already,” said Kevin as he took off the earphones from his ears. “How was your day?” he asked.

“It was good, just as usual,” Eli replied. “And yours?”

Kevin puffed his cheeks to hear that question. “It went pretty bad because of that little boy,” he scoffed.

Eli sighed heavily to hear the response. It seems like they haven’t got along well, he thought disappointedly. “Talking about Jun, where’s he?” he asked after changing his suits into t-shirt and loose pants.

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s still in his room,” Kevin replied. “He’s locked himself up in there since he came back from school.”

“Did you two fight?”

“Can’t you guess it right away?”

“So, you two fought,” Eli made a conclusion. He let out a heavy sigh again then he walked to Kevin and knelt down to him. “Don’t you remember what I said last night about taking care of him well?” he asked to the younger one as he played with Kevin’s fingers in his grips.

Now, Kevin sighed heavily. “I remember, but he started it all and made me angry at him,” he replied as he pouted. “I can’t stand with him, Eli yah. I just…” and Kevin started to sob. “What should I do now? I was wrong. And maybe he hates me now and I can’t make it up.”

Eli shushed Kevin and pulled him into his arms and hugged him tight. “Don’t make it rush, Kev,” he said. “You can make it up. Just try it bit by bit.” Eli caressed the back of the sobbing Kevin to comfort him. “I know you can do it. And don’t be too sensitive with his action, okay? He’s just a kid.”

“A bad one,” said Kevin between his sob.

Eli broke the hug and looked at Kevin’s eyes. “Don’t say that or your mind will keep on judging him as a bad one,” he said after giving the younger one a light flick on his forehead and caused him groaned in pain. “Jun is a good and sweet one once you know him,” Eli added before getting up from his knees. “I’ll talk to him and you can start cooking for dinner.”

Kevin nodded weakly and he looked at Eli who was walking out of their room with a heavy sigh.

***

Jun slowly opened up his eyes as he felt his body moved by someone and heard a familiar voice. “You’re home, Uncle Eli…” he said as he rubbed his eyes with his hand.

“I’m home,” said Eli as he smiled widely at Jun, but then it just lasted for a moment because his smile turned upside down when he realized the little boy’s eyes were swollen. “Did you cry?” he asked and then nodded by Jun. Eli never felt so complicated like that before. Why these two people can’t get along well easily? He wondered. “It was because of Uncle Kevin, wasn’t it?”

Jun nodded again weakly then he looked down. “I hate him,” he murmured.

Eli was so surprised to hear those words came out of Jun’s lips. Is he giving up already? But he shouldn’t! “Oh, come here, you little guy!” he said as he pulled Jun’s and put him on his lap. He ruffled the little boy’s hair lovingly with one of his hands and played with Jun’s hand with the other. “Don’t hate him. You just don’t know him well,” he said.

“But he hates me,” Jun looked at Eli with his glassy eyes which made the older one gulp nervously.

“He doesn’t hate you,” Eli said, trying to make a steady conversation with Jun. “He just doesn’t know how to treat you since he never had any experience to take care of any child before.”

But Jun was too young to try to understand what Eli talked about. All he could assume was Kevin treating him badly. And then suddenly, his stomach let out creaky sounds which made the little boy blush shyly.

Eli laughed pretty loud to hear that sounds. “I just remember that Uncle Kevin told me that you locked yourself up since you were back from school. So, it means you haven’t eaten, have you?”

Jun nodded weakly. “Can I eat something?”

“Of course you can,” said Eli. “Let’s go out and find food you can eat!” He automatically carried Jun in his arms, but then Jun let out a scream.

“Put me down, Uncle!” Jun shouted as he hid his face onto Eli’s neck. “I can walk with my feet, just put me down!!!” he started to sob.

Eli forgot about that little thing but had a big effect on Jun. “Oh! I’m so sorry, Junie yah. I forget about that thing,” he said as he put Jun down. He felt so guilty to make the little boy sob like that. “Forgive me… really, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he begged as he caressed Jun’s cheek with his hand and looked at him with a pleading look.

Jun nodded weakly as he wiped the tears with his hands. “You should treat me an ice cream if you really feel sorry, Uncle…” he squeaked in a low tone but it was still audible in Eli’s ears.

Eli chuckled then he nodded. “Deal!”

***

Kevin smirked as he looked at Jun who was carried by Eli in his arms while they were entering the dining room together. “I know you will come out eventually, little boy,” he scoffed while putting the dishes on the table.

Jun glared at Kevin angrily instead of being scared like he used to be in the past, which made the second older of the three surprise. “Who cares? You never cared about me though,” he said as he slided his body down from Eli’s.

Both of Eli and Kevin were surprised to hear Jun’s response.

“Uncle, can we eat now?” Jun suddenly asked Eli sweetly after he took a seat.

Eli nodded. “Um, sure. Let’s eat together,” he replied then he motioned Kevin to take a seat next to him. “Thanks for cooking this food, Kev,” he said to the younger one after the latter sat and then he kissed Kevin on the cheek.

Kevin chuckled. “Never mind, Eli yah,” he said. “It’s my return because you’ve let me stay in your house.”

“Naaahh… don’t think about that!” Eli said. “I do it because…”

“Uncle Eli,” Jun interrupted the adults’ conversation. “Can you give me the juice, please?”

“Sure,” Eli said then he poured the juice into Jun’s glass. “Eat a lot, okay?”

“Um!” Jun nodded as he smiled happily at Eli. The dinner soon went pretty well. The adults talked to each other, mostly about jobs that Kevin had applied to. They accidentally forgot about Jun who then was bored with the dinner. Suddenly, he got an idea to grab some attenttions from them.

PRANKKK!!!

“God! What are you doing?!” exclaimed Kevin in anger as he looked at the broken glass on the floor. The floor was getting wet because of the juice spilled out of it. “Can you just be a good one?! I know you’re useless little boy, but…”

“Just clean the floor, will you?” Eli cut Kevin’s words as he held the younger one’s hand to calm him down.

Kevin let out a sigh before he nodded and went to the kitchen to look for a mop.

“Are you alright, Junie?” Eli asked Jun who bent his face down in apology.

Jun nodded his head weakly. “I’m so sorry, Uncle…” he said with guilty, but he felt the other way inside. “I didn’t mean to cause a trouble… I-I…”

“It’s okay,” Eli said, comforting the little boy. “As long as you’re fine, it’s okay.”

“But I’m not okay,” said Kevin as he entered the room again with a mop and a bucket in his hands. “I’ll be the one who should clean up the troubles he made and I’m not okay,” he added then he started to mop the wet floor. Without his knowledge, Jun purposely blocked him away with his feet which made Kevin hard to do his job. “What are you doing, little evil?”

“Kev,” called Eli. “Don’t call him like that, okay?”

“But he’s really…” Kevin stopped as he looked at Eli’s glare then he groaned in frustration. “Fine!” he exclaimed. “I’m sorry for calling you that way, but please, let me clean the floor around you and stop moving your feet! They block me away.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Jun said, lying.

“Of course you did a thing, Mr. Lee,” Kevin said. “If you didn’t, I’d have the floor cleaned, okay?”

“But I really didn’t do anything!”

“Guys…” called Eli in frustrated tone. “Can we just have a peaceful dinner? No argument, okay?”

Jun and Kevin were silent in response. Then both of them started to do their activities again.

Eli let out a relief sigh to see their silence. When will they get along well?

***

what did I write?? T^T

thanks for rumourhasit12 for your suggestion, I'll add it again on the next chapter :))

sorry for the late update everyone keke...^^;