(BL) Mafia Love; He who falls the hardest loses-Chapter 87: Family

"I will give you time to think about it. You can call my assistant with your response when you are ready but we can’t waste too much time," Haruki told her almost too calmly as he turned back to his car.

"How could you be so heartless to family?" the woman continued to cry. "You hated them for so long. I bet you were happy you got the chance to kill them in such a way."

"I did nothing to them," Haruki reminded the woman. They didn’t die in a country where he had power. They lost their lives fleeing from him.

"You gave them up an outsider. Punish them with the family laws, they would not have died in such a disgraceful manner."

Haruki wondered if the woman knew of the laws of their family. They would be better off dead than subjected to the punishment by the family law, although it depended on their preferences.

The door of the car was opened but the woman gripped the end of Haruki’s trousers. Haruki could easily kick her hand off but he stopped and turned to her.

"Have you made up your mind?" Haruki asked calmly looking at the other woman beside the woman. Regardless of what their husbands and father did, they were still members of his family. He was the patriarch of the family meaning they were partly his responsibility so he tried to be considerate.

"Bring them home," the woman paused a few seconds and her grip on his cloth was released before she answered him weakly.

"Okay," Haruki agreed immediately after all that was what he had planned to do.

"But! . . . But please find Souta," she begged.

"I have ordered people to find him. He will be found," he assured her calmly but with the right amount of coldness to keep the boundaries intact.

The younger woman lifted her from the floor of the parking lot. Both of them looked a bit better than the older woman but it was obvious from their pale skin and swollen eyes that they had cried a lot.

Haruki finally got the chance to enter his car and leave the place, his lunch break was over after all.

***

Aki the boy who was his brother the one he loved, played with and even took care of when they were younger has become a thorn in his side.

Haruki has repeatedly mentioned Aki’s name both subconsciously and consciously. If it was just that night while Haruki was asleep, he was worried but had time to brush it off.

Haruki repeated the name to him which was like pulling him back to that night when he heard Haruki mention Aki’s name while he was asleep. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Haruki asked about Aki’s wellbeing and he felt the need to explain to satisfy the new worry he began to feel towards his younger brother as well as the guilt he felt towards being a negligent elder brother.

He called Aki as soon as he got off work after days of persuading himself that there was no big deal with talking to his brother and that he was just fulfilling his duty as Aki’s elder brother.

"Hello," he spoke as soon as the call was picked.

"Hmm . . . why the surprise?" Aki asked casually from the other end. His voice was hoarse and tired as though he had just woken up.

Hiroshi had to look at the clock on the wall of his living room again. With a quick mental calculation, he knew it was about noon time in the country where Aki lived so there was no way he had called him when he was working.

"Did you get a day off?" Hiroshi asked as he hoped it was only something good that had his brother sounding like that.

"Yeah . . . I didn’t go to work today," Aki confirmed Hiroshi’s thoughts.

"Oh . . . I hope all is well," Hiroshi asked letting worry show in the tone of his voice.

"Hmm . . . I am fine. I just woke up from a nap. There is nothing to worry about," Aki replied before coughing lightly.

"How’s your wife?" Hiroshi asked.

Aki cleared his throat and sighed slightly. He then remained silent for a few seconds before he said, "You didn’t come for the wedding here. We broke up almost as soon as we arrived."

Hiroshi astonished by the words, asked even more worried now, "How did that happen?"

"She cheated on me," Aki replied casually as though he was not hurt by the incident but Hiroshi knew well that Aki was pretending not to care.

"I am sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?"

"Don’t act like you and I are on very good terms," Aki reminded his brother without hesitation.

"I don’t think we are on bad terms. How could we? We are brothers," Hiroshi corrected Aki immediately.

"By falling in love with the same person you warned me against?" Aki scoffed. "The irony," he added sarcastically.

"I did what I knew was right at that moment," Hiroshi tried to justify the actions and words he said that time.

"I know, I would most likely have done the same thing," Aki agreed reluctantly with a sigh.

"I am sorry you had to go through all that. I am sure you didn’t tell our father or he would have told me," Hiroshi whispered rubbing his eyes lightly.

There was no way he wouldn’t feel guilty over what happened to his brother. How would such a thing happen to his brother and Aki could not tell him about it? It was his fault and he felt the need to apologize.

"I don’t need your apology, you didn’t cheat on me," Aki laughed. "I am not too affected by the incident stop making me sound pitiful."

Hiroshi almost repeated the apology but pressed his lips together instead. A silence where one didn’t want to talk and the other didn’t know what to say began between them until Aki cleared his throat.

Hiroshi finally had something to say so he asked him, "What do you intend to do now?"

"I will continue my work, I am very busy. I was simply feeling a bit under the weather that’s why I took a day off."

"What is wrong with you specifically?" Hiroshi asked seriously going into his doctor’s work mode.

"I don’t need you to try to diagnose me. If you care, you would be here by my side ensuring with visual evidence that I am okay," Aki said playfully.

Hiroshi knew he had to take the words spoken by Aki seriously so he said, "Okay. I have surgery scheduled for tomorrow but I can clear other things on my schedule in three days. I just need you to take care of yourself until then."

"Don’t take my words seriously," Aki laughed. "I can’t believe you will leave work simply because your brother had a break-up."

"What do you think about letting one of my friends check on you today?" Hiroshi asked ignoring Aki’s attempt to downplay the sincere request he made but hide behind a joke.

"Do you have any friends?" Aki asked playfully.

"Yes, I do. I have an old schoolmate who works in a nice little clinic, I just need you to agree to meet so that you can begin any necessary treatment if anything is wrong. Since I can’t come immediately."

"Stop acting like my mother," Aki still tried to downplay everything.

"I am very serious. Do you agree to meet him?"

"Fine. I will meet him since my mother wants me to."

"I will hang up and contact him. But have you eaten?"

"No, not yet. I will order pizza though."

"Don’t worry, I will order some meat and egg porridge for you," Hiroshi told him offering no room for refusal.

"Thanks then. I will be waiting for you to handle everything."

As he promised, Hiroshi searched for Asian restaurants that served healthy porridges where his brother lived and when he found the right one, he ordered a bowl for his brother and paid for it.

After ensuring his brother’s food was on the way, he contacted one of his schoolmates and informed him that he needed someone to check on his brother. The man was ready to help and assured him to check on Aki as soon as he got off work.

With everything set, he called Aki. "Have you received the porridge?"

"Yes, it just arrived. Thanks."

Hiroshi could overhear the sound of a plastic bag in the background. He sighed and said, "I have spoken to the doctor. He said he would come over after work. I gave him your address so you just need to eat and rest."

"I won’t pay you for all these," Aki said sounding like a stubborn child throwing a tantrum.

"I don’t need your money. The fact that you’re rich doesn’t mean I am poor."

"Not as rich as I am," Aki laughed but he ended up coughing a bit violently.

Hiroshi didn’t argue with the sick Aki when he was done coughing. He knew Aki made millions or maybe even more than that from the businesses he owned and his job but being richer than him? Mhhh . . . maybe not.

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