Love Alphabet : One Shot

I lowered my head even as I raised my eyes, catching his eyes for only a moment before quickly looking away. He took me in with a look that held nothing less than disgust. I said and did nothing, merely waiting for him to get over his disgust enough to drag me home.

With a quick word to the doctor he grabbed me roughly, purposely holding me by the splint on my wrist. I couldn't keep a small smile off my face as he swiftly dragged me out of the room and out of the hospital. For him to grab me and drag me along like I was a child instead of barking at me to follow him like I was a dog meant that he had been worried. Given, it didn't necessarily mean he had been worried about my health so much as the family honor, but it was worry nonetheless, and it was as close to caring as he would give me.

Only once we were in the car and he had given the driver the order to take us home did I dare speak. "The splint isn't because I broke anything. It's because the doctor was afraid that something will break if it isn't guarded well," I said softly, not looking up from my hands at him.

"And why do I care?" he asked flatly, trying to act like he hadn't been worried at all.

"....I don't know, Rong. Why do you care?" I asked, still speaking so very lowly. There was nothing for a moment, and then he lovingly backhanded me, knocking me right into the seat opposite his.

"Don't start acting smart, Yi Min," he growled.

"Can't help acting how I am," I said. He raised his hand to strike me again, and I raised my eyes to watch his when he hit me. ....Only, he didn't hit me. He hesitated when I looked up, surprise dancing across his dark eyes. After a moment of hesitation, he lowered his hand and folded it in his lap with his other hand, scowling as he turned his eyes out the window.

"Even if you have smarts to your name, you do not possess intelligence. That is the reason why you are so lowly," he stated flatly.

"Really? I thought it was because I was born an ABC between your father and my mother, soiling the Yuan name," I replied. It was my usual cool reply for whenever he insulted me and tried to put his finger on what made me such a screw up. As per his usual reaction to my usual reply, he was lightning quick to strike me, this time sending me to the floor—the same place these particular hits always put me. I suppose it was him either purposely or subconsciously trying to show me physically where my place was.

"Pardon my asking, sir, but what is an ABC?" asked the driver that was obviously new. I tossed him a glance as I pulled myself back up into a seat, frowning when I saw that he wasn't even Chinese. This was most unusual.

"An American-born Chinese. Filth much worse than mix-bloods, because they dare to think that they might actually one day be worthy of true Chinese," Rong explained, anger flashing in his eyes.

“Worthy enough for father,” I said, the smallest smirk turning up one corner of my mouth. I was back on the floor in the next instant, this time with Rong’s foot on my neck to keep me down.

“You truly are asking for it today, Yi Min. What is making you act so brazenly?  Even you usually have self-restraint to make only one or two foolish comments at a time,” he said, staring down at me with a dark curiosity.

“And there you go, caring again for no plausible reason. Shouldn’t you just hit me without care as to what lowly reason I have for bringing this punishment upon myself?” I asked. He removed his foot from my neck, quickly reaching down and grabbing me by the neck with one hand, yanking me up and forward so that I was all but kneeling on his lap.

“What is going on?” he growled, narrowing his furiously flashing eyes.

“Nothing that concerns someone of your stature,” I answered simply.

“If it involves the Yuan family name, it involves me. Now tell me what is going on,” he growled. Man, was he ever pissed. I could count on one hand the number of times he’d cared enough to demand of me what was going on.

“Nothing. It doesn’t involve the family name. It just involves me,” I said.

“You’re lying to me, Yi Min,” he sang out lowly and dangerously. The final warning. He always used that tone before he hurt somebody really badly.

“….I’ve been fighting with Jun and Jung. They’re trying to encroach upon our family’s turf. They’re acting on their own. Their own family doesn’t know anything about it. That’s why I decided not to inform father,” I said quickly.

“…You….something like that….kept it to yourself…” Rong spoke very harshly, trying hard either to comprehend what I was thinking or think of how he should kill me.

“I figured it was only….fair,” I said, the last word coming out quite weakly.

“….Fair…. You….by yourself….have been fighting those two bastards…to protect family territory… You think that they deserve for you to treat them fairly, when they are trying to cheat both their family and ours? If you think by being “fair” that you are being “honorable” then you are very wrong. Nothing they are doing is honorable, and there is nothing honorable in trying to be fair to those that disregard tradition and order. The only thing that you are being is stupid,” he stated, a growl accenting but not coating his words.

He threw me back into the seat across from him, frowning deeply as his eyes turned out the window again. “….When we get home, you will tell father everything. If you do not, I will, and that will certainly not turn out well for you or anyone else. If I tell him before you do, I will give my full recommendation to turn our feud with that family up to a full scale war,” he said, his words now flat statements of fact.

“…I will tell father. There won’t be a war. He doesn’t want one, and I won’t let you recommend one to him,” I said softly.

“Let me spell something out for you: If I truly wanted a war myself, I would not allow you nor father to stop me from making one,” he said, not even looking at me. He wasn’t going to let me think for one moment that I could stop him from doing as he wanted. He wanted to be sure that I knew the only reason I could do anything now is because he was allowing me to. He didn’t want me to believe I had any choice or power beyond what he allowed me. …And I didn’t think that. And I was sure of that. But I didn’t believe that.

I was smart, even if not intelligent. I wasn’t a fool, even if foolish. I knew I only had what I had and was only going to ever get what I was going to get because it was allowed by my family. Still, I knew that it wasn’t my brother that was the one to allow me anything. My father was the one who cared for me, not my brother. My father was the reason I was alive, not my brother. All that I had and all that I ever would have came from my father, not the uncaring bastard I shared half of my blood with, that hated me in every way from A to Z, and that sat before me now, trying to trick me into thinking that he was the master of my fate. I knew I didn’t control my own fate, but I knew that he didn’t control it, either.



“What did he say?” asked my part-time bodyguard. I say part-time because, while he was supposed to guard me fulltime, he understandably wasn’t stupid enough to try to keep up with me when I was on the loose and out of control, which usually was about half of the time.

“He’s going to call a meeting with the Suen family to talk to them about how Jun and Jung are secretly going renegade. It should all go peacefully and easily, as long as those two idiots don’t do anything even more idiotic than they already have,” I answered lightly. He pushed off the wall he’d been so casually leaning against, coming to my side quickly.

“Why is your brother still in there?” he asked, tossing a glance towards the doors that had closed behind me.

“I’m not sure. Father said he desired to talk to him alone. Do you know who hired the American that was driving the car Rong used to pick me up?” I asked.

“I believe that was actually your father. He specifically asked for a non-Chinese person to be hired as the new driver for your brother and you,” he said.

“Mahu, the only proper way to refer to Master Rong is just that: Master Rong. Even if Master Yi Min allows you slack, Master Rong does not, and he will be quite furious if he hears you or hears of you referring to him improperly,” called out Rong’s bodyguard flatly as he approached us.

“Genji!” I exclaimed, a smile coming to my face, “You weren’t with my brother when he picked me up at the hospital. Why?” Despite the smile I wore, I was, in fact, threateningly insinuating something.

“…Did Master Rong miss my presence, or did you?” Genji asked as he reached us and stood aside, waiting on my brother to come out.

“Nobody would ever miss you, Genji. I was just curious,” I said much too enthusiastically.

“…I was putting something of Master Rong’s away,” he said.

“Escorting another of his one-night-lovers home?” I asked, though I already knew that was it now. About three seconds later I was on the floor, wondering when Rong had opened the door to my father’s chambers without my noticing.

“Rong! What possessed you to make you strike your brother!?” our father shouted, going through all the effort of jumping up from his chair.

“His smartass way of referring to my love life choices is what possessed me, father,” Rong replied coolly.

“So sensitive over people you don’t ever see or sleep with more than once,” I laughed. Rong’s response to this was to kindly smash his foot down on my splinted wrist. I let out a yell of pain not when he smashed his foot down, but when he cruelly twisted it to further crush my wrist. I sent him a glare, he sent me a soft smirk, and then a smack from my father sent him reeling.

Mahu quickly pulled me to my feet only now that my father had stepped in, since it was a personal rule of mine for him to not interfere even if Rong was doing something to hurt me. “You two need to stop this. Rong, you are not to harm you brother in any way. Yi Min, you need to stop picking at your brother’s personal and private choices. You know I allow you both the privilege of having any love life that you choose,” our father growled, shooting glares at both of us.

“I’m sorry, father. I was sticking my nose where it did not belong. I’m sorry, Rong, for invading your privacy,” I said, placing my hands together and bowing my head shamefully. Of course, I didn’t mean a lick of it, but if I apologized that meant that Rong had to, and I knew he really hated having to say sorry to me.

“….I am also sorry. It was improper of me to purposely harm you, brother,” Rong said, his mouth drawn in a tight line as he placed his hands together and bowed his head.

“Very good. Now, both of you be gone. I have work to do. Rong remember what we talked about,” our father said. We said our parting words and quickly departed; and, oddly enough, my brother followed me all the way to my room.

“….Is there something I can do for you, or are you waiting for the next chance to try to break my wrist?” I asked, arching an eyebrow at him as he waited for me to open my door and enter my room.

“I have need to speak with you,” he stated simply. I turned to him now, figuring it was safer to speak in the hallway, that way I could retreat into my room if I pissed him off. Unfortunately, that’s not what he wanted. “In private,” he said, giving me a look like I was an idiot. Probably he thought of me as an idiot anyways.

“This isn’t private enough? Only Mahu and Genji are here,” I said, gesturing to our bodyguards.

“In private. As in A-L-O-N-E,” he stated flatly, now looking at me like I was a pesky little dog he wanted to punt. Again, he probably thought of me like that regularly, just he was annoyed enough to show it with his expression now.

“If you insist. You two wait out here,” I said as I turned back around and opened my door.

“You two may leave,” Rong said, tired of waiting on me to get his meaning.

“Why?” I asked quickly, voicing the question I knew they were both wondering but dared not ask. I threw a nervous glance at Mahu, catching sight of a similar look on his face. He didn’t hate my brother per se, but he did hate being told to stay aside or go away whenever Rong felt like teaching me a thing or two physically. If I hadn’t specifically told him I never wanted him standing by my side against my brother, he definitely would protect me. He still made attempts to, sometimes.

“Because I said so. I will explain to you when we are alone, and perhaps to them later,” Rong said, sounding as agitated as he looked now.

“….Alright. I’ll call you or come find you if I feel like doing anything later, Mahu. I was planning on just staying in my room for now anyways, so there would be no need for you to stay anyhow,” I said. Of course, normally just staying in our rooms wouldn’t be reason enough for either my bodyguard or my brother’s bodyguard to leave. But this wasn’t normally, seeing as it was nowhere near normal for Rong to want to enter my room or speak to me, period.

“Yes, Master Yi Min. I will be ready and waiting for you,” Mahu said, offering up a smile as he slightly bowed.

“I, too, shall be waiting on you if you have need for me, Master Rong,” Genji said, not smiling as he bowed much more fully than Mahu. They both turned and left then. Though they didn’t seem to be making conversation as they went, I was pretty sure they’d be making bets on my likelihood of coming out of the room alive as soon as they were beyond sight. Well, Genji might, if only to annoy Mahu.

“So, what is so highly important that still involves so lowly a person as me?” I asked, sounding uncaring despite how curious I actually was. Rong didn’t answer right away, instead walking into my room past me and beginning to look around as I closed the door. We spent about five minutes in silence then as he investigated my room and I observed him. “….If it’s not a necessary thing to share at this moment, would you mind keeping it to yourself until later? I’m rather tired,” I said boredly.

He turned to me now, frowning slightly. “Do you believe I would enter your room if it wasn’t necessary at this exact time to tell you what I must?” he asked.

“No,” I replied.

“….Well, you’re wrong. …I come in here nightly, always when you are asleep, always after Mahu has retired to his own room, and always after father checks on you,” he stated simply. I stared at him. Just stared. Half wondering what the Hell would make him tell me this and half wondering if he wasn’t just pulling my leg.

“….And….why, exactly….do you do that? So you can stand by my bed and imagine killing me in my sleep?” I asked.

“To check on you. To lay with you awhile, sometimes,” he said simply.

“….What did father do to you? Did he drug you? Did he hit you too hard on the head? Are you alright? Do you need a doctor? Do you need a psychiatrist?” I asked, concern and confusion working onto my face.

“He didn’t do anything to me, my dear idiotic brother. He asked of me, however, to start taking you under my wing and stop trying to push you from the nest. He already knew I’ve secretly been keeping an eye on you, but he desires for me to make myself more open to you. He’s afraid that the real reason you did not come to anyone about the problem with Jun and Jung is that you thought I would turn on you and feed you to those mangy dogs,” he explained flatly.

“….Wait….I’m confused…so he honestly didn’t smack you around or drug you up or bribe you to make you say this?” I asked. Disbelief, of course, was deeply painted in my voice and on my face. Something here was definitely wrong. There was no way this was real—or, at least, no way it was true.

“…Yi Min, don’t you think it is odd that father never talks to you about the wounds you always receive?” he asked.

“….Uh…..no,” I said.

“….He doesn’t talk to you about them or ask about them because he rarely knows of them. If he did know about them, he would come to the hospital every time you are hurt, rather than just occasionally,” he said.

“….So…all those times you’ve come to fetch me saying father made you…” I said slowly.

“He was unaware and I came of my own free will,” he finished the thought for me. I put my hand to my chin, thoughtfully watching my brother. He didn’t seem to be lying. Really, there was no reason for him to lie. I had never been worth lies to him. He never bothered trying to hide things from me. I knew that from how often he and his one-night-lovers did their thing right in the open. He wasn’t secretive about anything.

Then again, if this was all true, then it meant that I had been worth the lie of hiding how he cared about me. But why, then? I didn’t understand this at all. I don’t know what would possibly cause him to care at me at all. And if he had been hiding his feelings all this time, why would a simple request from father make him come out in the open with it? He respected and honored our father as was proper, yes, but this was….far beyond that. He wouldn’t be doing this if he didn’t want to.

“…You….I don’t understand. This is, how to say it…” I mused.

“A great surprise,” he offered, trying to fill in the blank. Unfortunately, that’s not the phrase I was looking for.

“Fucking insane. This is fucking insane. You’re fucking insane. I can’t even begin to comprehend why you would care for me in the first place, let alone why you would hide it, and never mind admitting it out of nowhere after you went through so much trouble to hide it,” I said, throwing my hands up as a sign that I wanted nothing to do with this insanity.

“….You don’t understand, Yi Min,” he stated softly.

“I know. I just said that. I don’t and can’t understand. I can’t understand illogical things, and this is certainly not logical. Even if father didn’t drug you or anything, you definitely still need a psychiatrist. There’s no point to any of this that you’re trying to tell me,” I said, still waving off my part in this, as I did not want it.

“Let me spell it out for you,” he said, slowly moving towards me now.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I really don’t think that is necessary. Because, you see, I don’t even want to try to understand what your problem is. You’re my brother, and I respect and love you and all, but I don’t want to try to make sense of whatever mental disorder or psychological problem you have. That’s yours to keep private and to yourself, much like your love affairs, only much more discreetly,” I said.

Of course, not being intelligent enough to back up, he was upon me in mere moments, and in mere moments more he was up on me. I wasn’t feeling frightened so much as freaked, but I’m sure it was hard for him to tell the difference in expressions on my face. Personally, I couldn’t tell what kind of emotion that was in his own expression.

“You are my family, by choice or not. I cannot deny my blood relations to you. I can, however, deny you the emotions and attitudes normally reserved for family,” he stated as he stood before me. Slowly now he forced me to back up, since I wasn’t moving back on my own.

“I never argued against that. I know you have the right to treat me however you want,” I said quickly. It wasn’t a lie just to make him back up. It was fully true. I’d always understood perfectly why he hated me and treated me like trash. That’s why I found it hard to so suddenly understand that he could care for me even in the least and still have treated me like he had.

“…You’ve always recognized and respected that as well as recognized and respected me. Still, you’ve never let that or me get in your way of acting as you wish,” he said softly now.

“…Uh….yeah…?” I said uncertainly. I really wish I knew where he was going with this. I didn’t see how this was helping to explain himself.

“Have you never hidden anything, though? Have you not even once not acted as you truly wanted to, instead keeping in check out of respect, or even love, for another?” he asked.

“Well, yeah, of course. You and I both well know we tone ourselves down and hold ourselves back for father’s sake,” I said.

“Are you sure it’s only for his sake that I keep myself in check?” he asked, his eyes narrowing, though not in an unfriendly way. He was searching for something. There was something he wanted to hear from me. And though I knew what it was, I still couldn’t understand this.

“…I…I was always so positive you hated me. Or, at the very least, that you were repulsed by me,” I said weakly, my inability to take this in showing in my voice.

“I do not hate you. You rile me up, purposely being a smartass, but I do not hate you for that,” he said simply.

“….What about all the times you’ve beaten on me? What about when you tried to break my wrist just earlier?” I asked.

“Like I said, you rile me up. People annoy you, you just get back at them by saying something to hit a nerve. People annoy me, I hurt them,” he stated flatly.

“….So, even though you’re actually that much of an asshole, you don’t hate me?” I asked.

“….When I’m trying to confess to you isn’t a good time to call me an asshole,” he said, looking not-quite-upset.

“My wrist still hurts. I’m just getting you back for riling me up,” I said. He stared at me for a beat before suddenly grabbing up my splinted wrist, pressing a kiss down on the center of the splint and then working his lips up my arm until he hit bare skin. “…What….what is this…? Brotherly affection?” I asked uncertainly. He was starting to freak me out again.

“I feel nothing brotherly for you, even if I call you my brother out of formality,” he stated.

“…Okay, I’m confused again. You say you don’t hate me, but now you also say that you still don’t think of me as your brother. Explain yourself, please,” I said. He was most happy to explain, as shown by just how quickly he put his mouth on mine. Forget starting to freak out. I was freaked way fucking out now.

I tried to pull back. No effect, as he had me up against the door. I’d kind of forgotten that. I tried to push him away. Also no effect, as he was quick to pin my wrists to the wall. I couldn’t really break free too well with one hurt wrist, especially if I first had to wrestle my hands free. I tried to kiss him back. Still no—WAIT A MINUTE HERE! Why did I start kissing him back?! What purpose did that serve?!

He pressed his leg between both of mine, kindly rubbing all up on me for the sake of friction. His actions, unlike mine, had much effect. I moaned through the kiss, blood rushing both to my face and to where he was rubbing that leg of his. He released my hurt wrist, knowing it to be no good for pushing him off of me, and put his hand to the back of my neck now as he deepened the kiss and slipped his tongue into my mouth. Again his actions had great effect, this time the effect being me grabbing madly at him with my now freed hand and happily returning the tongue he was offering up.

Before my brother could do anything else to affect me, the door we were leaning on was thrown open, obviously resulting in us being knocked forward onto the floor. Before I even understood what had just happen—whether it be the making out or the being intruded upon—Rong was already losing his temper on the intruders…and without even standing up first!

“What the Hell do you want?” he hissed furiously, glaring death at whoever was at the door. I turned just enough to look in the direction of the door, frowning at the presence of not just our bodyguards, but several of the house guards and grounds guards.

“We came to check in on you, Master Rong, Master Yi Min. I found it quite unusual that you both dismiss your bodyguards at the same exact time, and they could offer no explanation to me. I was worried for your safety,” said the head guard.

“Could have knocked, couldn’t you?” I asked flatly as I pushed up from the floor. I thoughtlessly offered my brother a hand up and he just as thoughtlessly accepted the help up. As these actions were thoughtless, that meant neither of us gave them a thought until we saw the stunned looks on the faces of the intruding guards.

I looked at Rong, a confused frown on my face. Looking then down at our hands—he had yet to release mine after I’d pulled him to his feet—I realized the problem. I’d just offered to help him up. And he hadn’t rejected that offer. That was not normal behavior for either of us. Not that we’d been acting normal since he’d first decided to come clean. Still, this was public abnormality now that others were present to witness this anomaly.

“….Might you release my hand?” I asked, suddenly remembering I was supposed to feel freaked out.

“No,” he replied shortly. I looked at the intruding guards for help, but none of them were moving. Hell, none of them even seemed to be breathing.

“….Might you release my hand if I stand beside you instead of separate from you?” I guessed more than anything else.

“…I might,” he answered after a moment of thoughtful hesitation. I too hesitated a moment to think, ultimately deciding to move over to him. Unfortunately, while he did release my hand, he was very quick to slip his arm around my waist now. The guards started breathing again—choking and gasping for air, really—at this.

“….Might you release my waist?” I asked weakly.

“No,” he said flatly.

“Just no?” I asked, still weakly.

“Just no,” he confirmed with a curt nod of the head. Great. How was I supposed to be properly freaked out when I couldn’t get him to stop touching me? Properly freaking out required running away from the person and diving over and behind furniture to keep them away.

“….Anyways, you can see we’re good and well, so you can leave now,” I said to the guards, giving a weak wave of dismissal. At the very least, even if I couldn’t get away from him, I could tolerate his nearness in private. Having an audience staring with wide eyes and dropped jaws didn’t really make me feel any better about the situation.

“….You…don’t need…anything…at all?” Mahu asked very slowly and uncertainly. There was now something akin to horror in all of their eyes. They were worried that the reason we were acting so strange was because we were hiding the fact that we’d just been in a life-and-death struggle.

“Nothing at all. Now go away and leave us alone. If anything or anyone is needed, we will call for someone,” Rong said flatly. He really wanted them to go just like me. Unlike me, though, his reason was probably because he wanted to go back to molesting me. Oh, wait, shit. Maybe I didn’t want these guys to leave after all.

“Actually, I feel a bit famished! I think it’s about di—” I started to declare, but I paused as Rong leaned over to whisper into my ear.

“Leaving this room won’t save you. I fuck total strangers in the middle of the living room with any number of people coming through and with Genji standing to the side and watching the entire time. Do you think an audience will keep me from having my way with you? I already told you I would not allow father nor you stop me from having war if I wanted it. Do you think that doesn’t apply to anything and everything else I want, including you yourself?” he whispered.

This was distinctly like back in the car. He was giving me fair warning of what he would do one way or another, but he wasn’t giving me very good options to choose from. Before it had been the choice between admitting my foolishness myself or having him tell my foolishness for me. This was about the same. I could choose to privately and neatly handle this, or I could choose for him to show everyone what a mess he could make of me.

Noticing my hesitation now, Mahu tried to offer his help to me a second time. “You say you’re feeling famished, Master Yi Min?” he asked, trying to get me to finish what I‘d been saying.

“Ah…A-Actually…I…I said I feel…damaged. Yes, damaged. After going to the hospital and all, that is expected. I think I should lie down for awhile. Alone,” I said very lowly and weakly.

“With me,” Rong stated.

“Alone with him,” I corrected myself quickly. The guards just continued to stare, now fully convinced that Rong was attempting to kill me.

“…As you wish, Master Yi Min, Master Rong,” Mahu said. The others echoed his words half-heartedly as they all gave pathetic attempts at bows. They seemed quite suddenly morbidly depressed. They honestly believed that this was the last time they were going to see me alive. Slowly they shuffled out of the room, tossing saddened glances over their shoulder at me. Finally, just as they closed the door behind themselves, their depressing actions got to me.

“Did you see that?! You’d think I was already six feet under! They’re probably going to start burial preparations right now! Do they really think I’m weak enough to willingly give in and let you kill me?! Do I look that weak to you?! Right this moment, I mean, do I look weak enough to just roll over and die?!” I exclaimed, turning to my brother.

He just looked at me. A lesser amount of annoyance was present on his features than on mine, but there still was annoyance there. Probably he didn’t like being thought of as a murderer anymore than I liked being thought of as a victim. “….You look strong enough to me,” he said simply after a few moments.

“Damn right I’m strong enough! I’m strong enough to hold my own against Jun and Jung and all of the little henchmen they bring along to make our two on one battles even more unfair! I’m strong enough to make it through fight after fight without anyone ever realizing how bad the situation is! I’m strong enough to go over half my day without my bodyguard only because my own bodyguard isn’t good enough to keep up with me!” I shouted.

“….You didn’t mention that Jun and Jung brought helpers along with them….” Rong said. I froze, realizing I shouldn’t have blurted that part out.

“Um….uh….did I just say that? Well, I mean, they do, but not all the time. Just sometimes. Rarely. Sometimes rarely occasionally. But not often,” I said, cringing as I looked away. Crap. I was busted.

“If they were not only double-teaming you together, but bringing along extra hands for added unfairness, that means your reason for not telling father and I was not simply to be fair to them. What is your real reason for having hidden the turf dispute for so long?” he stated and then demanded flatly. As he spoke he pushed me up against the door again, forcing me to look into his dark eyes as they flashed with anger. Ooooh maaaan….this was bad.

“….I don’t suppose you’ll be calm if I tell you father guessed correctly in thinking that the reason I hid that was because I was afraid you’d turn on me and hand me over to them on a silver platter?” I asked weakly.

“…You really think that badly of me….” he stated more than asked.

“No! I don’t think badly of you at all! I just believe that you are the kind of person to remove annoyances if you get the chance, no matter how close to home they might be,” I said.

“…I’m going to make it so that even if you believe that, you will also know that I would never hand you over to anyone else,” he said, sounding very determined even if not enthusiastic.

“…That…that kind of…sounds like a threat,” I said weakly.

“Which part?” he asked.

“Only about….all of it,” I said.

“I’m telling you I’m going to keep you as mine always. How does that sound threatening?” he asked.

“Well, the way you say it, it could mean anything. For all I know you could be saying you’ll never leave me in peace because you don’t want to allow me to have happiness,” I said.

“…I shall say it in a much more simple, forward, and easy to understand way, then,” he stated flatly.

“In actual words or just with your mouth in general?” I asked, unable to help being a smartass.

“….Both. First, I kiss you, and then I say….” he said, leaning in for a kiss slowly as he spoke and pausing when his lips first met mine, “….I love you.”

“Love? As in L-O-V-E? Not, say, hate? As in H-A-T-E?” I asked, ruining the kiss and the moment effectively.

“I already told you, I don’t hate you. You just piss me off sometimes. As in right now,” he said, scowling softly.

“Sorry. I was just trying to make sure that was all clear and well understood,” I said, giving off a smile that was more of a cringe.

“Allow me to make sure that everything is all clear and well understood. I love you. As in L-O-V-E. You are as of right now my lover. As in L-O-V-E-R. I am kissing you now. As is K-I-S-S-I-N-G. You will stop being a smartass or I will take you by force. As in A-S-S-R-A-P-E,” he stated flatly, “Am I being clear enough?”

“Crystal clear. Clearer than clear. Windex clear,” I said quickly. He smirked a little before leaning in for another kiss. However, just before our lips touched, I spoke up again. “Rong?” I asked. He hesitated, his smirked twitching down into a frown, and pulled back.

“Yes, Yi Min?” he asked.

“I didn’t get a chance to make myself clear. I love you too. As in more than you know,” I said softly, the faintest blush coming to my face. The surprise on his face was much more evident than the embarrassment on mine. After a moment, I went on ahead and leaned into him for the kiss, since he was too stunned to start it up. After it did get started, though, he responded quickly. Though he’d already spelled it out clearly for me, his lips reaffirmed the no longer hidden fact that he loved me in every way from A to Z and back again.