“Hey! I missed you!!” Bryce grabbed Kirin’s hand and pulled him into a bear hug.  

It was the weekend so Bryce insisted on inviting Kirin to have a sleep over and stay the weekend. Kincade was somehow invited over as well.  

Bryce and Christopher had already finished moving in their belongings into the villa so there were still some unpacked boxes. As Kirin and Bryce were in the kitchen cooking up dinner, Kincade was helping Christopher organize some of their items in the living to make room for them to watch TV after dinner.  

“So, I see that you and Liam have gotten quite close since the last time I saw you guys,” said Christopher. 

“What are you talking about?” 

Christopher gave Kincade a coy smile. “You’re interested in him, aren’t you?” 

“It’s nothing like that. He is currently working as an employee under my company,” said Kincade. 

“Don’t try and lie to me. We’ve known each other for years. I have never seen you have such close relationships with any of your employees. You’re always so strict about there being a fine line between your work and personal life,” Christopher said nonchalantly. 

“Can you mind your own business?” 

“Not unless it something that is pestering you. Do you truly like the boy?” 

Kincade’s movements came to a stop and his eyes dimmed, falling into contemplation. “I’m not quite sure yet... And even if I do end up liking him, I am not worthy of being by his side...” 

Christopher said nothing as he tried to decipher the hidden meaning behind those words, but he couldn’t think of anything. Was he always this hard on himself?  

=== 

When dinner was set, the four of them gathered at the table to eat. The dining table was large enough to fit at least 10 people though. Kirin and Bryce sat on one side while Kincade and Christopher sat on the other.  

As they ate, Kirin and Bryce were busy trying to catch up with one another while the other two ate in silence.  

“Oh, that’s right! Tomorrow, Christopher is taking me to play paintball at this exclusive club. Wanna join?” Bryce asked. 

Kirin glanced over to Christopher before smiling, “I’d love to join. How much is it to get in?” 

“Don’t worry about it. Since Bryce has invited you, of course you are free to join,” said Christopher. He then looked over to Kincade. “You’re invited too.” 

“I played paintball laser tag in K country and I had so much fun …" Bryce continued blabbering on to Kincade as the night went on. 

=== 

After dinner and cleaning, the four of them sat in the living room, surrounding a pile of Jenga that was stacked in the center. And this was not your typical Jenga, it was a Truth or Dare Jenga edition. 

Just as the four were about to get comfortable, there was a knock on the front entrance door. Kincade looked to Christopher, “were you expecting someone?” 

Christopher furrowed his brows as he got up to answer the door. 

Off in the distance, as soon as the doors open, Kirin heard a high-pitched voice echoing through the still spacious villa. “CHRIS~!” 

The voluptuous woman leapt into his arms, catching him off guard.  

“Kristine? What are you doing here? And how did you find my address?” Christopher asked with a slightly irritated tone; it was only Kristine who did not perceive it as irritation. 

“I asked your secretary. And don’t sweat the small details. I’m just here to hang out and have fun, not as an employee, but as a friend,” she smiled enthusiastically, welcoming herself into the villa.  

“Oh my~! Kincade is here! Oh!” she then glanced over to the stunning handsome man beside Bryce who had soft, platinum, wavy hair. “You must be Liam Queens. Bryce has told me so much about you!” she rushed over, bent over and gave him a hug. 

Kirin slightly stiffened. He didn’t expect Kristine to have such an outgoing personality with just about anyone. But it was probably because of this personality that caused the OG Liam to mistake friendliness for affection. 

“Nice to meet you to,” Kirin smiled kindly as he gently pushed her off him.  

“Kristine Swells,” the woman smiled seductively, however, that was useless against Kirin. 

“Oh, you guys are playing Jenga! I want in!” 

And just like that, an unexpected storm flew into the villa. Kristine had been pestering Christopher for a long time, so he had purposively kept it from her that he had moved to J country. He’d never expect his secretary to spill. But then again, Kristine must have swept the man off his feet with her seductive skills.  

=== 

As the game went on, Kirin was always lucky enough to grab the pieces that had TRUTH written on them with questions. Although he made it seem like luck, in reality it wasn’t. Although it was believed that the pieces were placed randomly, Kirin never believed that it was random, rather, there was some sort of systematic placement to them. 

From the first draw, he assessed the number of pieces and the placement of the first draw and racked up his brain on where the next piece would be.  

While Kirin avoided getting any dares, he had fun watching the other four do ridiculous dares. 

“Urgh! These dares suck ass!” Kristine complained as she tipped the distorted shape of a Jenga tower. “Let’s play a different game! Let’s play the King’s Game!”  

She grabbed five of the Jenga pieces, wrote numbers 1-5 on the bottom and shuffled them around. 

“The person who dares number one is the King and gets to command the other numbers to do whatever they please. The other numbers will not announce their numbers until the King has issued a command,” Kristine smiled brightly. 

When each person drew their piece and looked at their number, Kristine asked, “Who is the King?” 

“I am,” said Kincade. 

“Okay. Now you may have any of the other numbers do whatever it is you request for this one round, since we have a small group.” 

“Hmm, number 5, grab me a cup of water,” Kincade smiled. 

They looked amongst themselves. Christopher stood up with a slight scowl on his face. Kincade smiled devilishly while Kirin snuck glances at him. This exact behavior was in unison with Jin’s devious behavior. 

As the next rounds went on, every time Kristine was King, she’d make the most shameless requests. “Number 2 – princess carry number 5; Number 3 massage my shoulders and Number 4 massage my legs – each for 3 minutes.”  

In this round, Christopher was number 2, Kirin – 5, Kincade – 3, and Bryce – 4.  

But before Christopher and Kirin moved toward one another, Kincade chucked his piece to Christopher. “I’m sure she would prefer your hands over mine.” 

Though it was just a simple statement, it was quite ambiguous, making Bryce blush like crazy as he made his way over. Kirin could care less about their sexual life. He only wanted to see if Kincade was the one he was looking for. 

“Is that permitted?” Christopher asked. 

“During this round, yes,” Kristine smiled happily like a spoiled child who had just received the greatest gift. 

Ever since the reunion of Christopher and Bryce, Christopher hasn’t been in contact with Kristine, making her somewhat sad and lonely. Now that she’s getting his attention again, she was delighted. 

With that trio left on their own, it was as if Kincade and Kirin entered into their own world. They were quite comfortable with each other now, freely addressing each other by their first names. 

Kirin crossed his arms and titled up his head slightly, “I don’t think you can carry me for that long.” 

“Oh really? I’m quite confident in myself that I can,” Kincade smiled. 

“Three minutes is a long time.” 

“I can handle it.” 

“Really?” 

“Mhn. If I don’t last, I’ll add a bonus to your paycheck when you get your first offer. But if I do last...” 

“Then what?” 

Kincade just gave Kirin a mysterious smile and said, “I’ll tell you after I’ve won.” 

He was picking a fight, Kirin smirked as Kincade walked over and swept Kirin off his feet. Circling his arms around Kincade’s neck, they both locked eyes. Once again, the second Kirin’s skin came into contact with Kincade’s, there was a slight electrifying, numbing sensation where their skin touched. Though the reaction wasn’t as strong as when they first touched, the sensation was still there. The touch was hot yet cool – in other words, it felt very good. 

For others it may have been difficult to keep eye contact at such a distance, but for Kirin, it felt like quite nice – as if he was the only person Kincade sees, and Kincade was the only person he sees. 

“T-three minutes is up,” Kristine muttered, fearing that she was disrupting whatever the two had going on. 

Eh? Three minutes is already up? Kirin thought. Shit! He won.  

When Kincade carefully placed Kirin back on the ground, Kincade gave Kirin a cute smile. Kirin really had the urge to punch that perfect face; he was clearly rubbing it in. 

Because the brother duo decided to get a villa, they had three other guest rooms available, one for each of the other two guests and the uninvited one. 

Knock, knock, knock. Opening the door to his designated guest room, Kirin was greeted with Kincade, who had just gotten out of the shower with his wet hair covering his forehead and his towel hanging around his neck.

"You'll get a cold if you don't dry your hair properly," Kirin crossed his arms.

"I've never once gotten a cold from something like this," Kincade replied.

"What are you doing here so late at night?" Kirin asked, though in his heart he already knew the reason why.

"You have to hold your end of the deal, remember?"

"What? Did I agree to such a thing?" Kirin smiled, pretending to have forgotten the deal.

"Heh, well, in that case, you're lucky tonight. I don't have any favors to ask from you at this moment. But when the time comes, I'll let you know," Kincade smiled.

"Hm, goodnight," Kirin fingers waved flirtatiously. 

Kincade's smile deepened, making his dimples appear even deeper than they already were, "goodnight."

=== 

The following day, of course, Kristine ended up tagging along to the paintball center as well. The paintball center that Christopher took them to was one Kincade was familiar with. He was already a member there, but he rarely went on his own if Christopher wasn’t there to drag him along when visiting. It was an exclusive club that only VIP members could enter. Many of these VIP members were movie stars, famous singers, models, big business owners, etc.  

When Christopher and Kincade appeared, they were immediately greeted by a swarm of people. Kristine also caught quite a lot of attention with her slim-fitted dress. Not only that, but she was a big celebrity from K country. From the start, her intention was to catch the attention of others and link that attention to spreading the idea that she and Christopher were an item.

From the corner of Kirin’s eyes, he caught the face of a familiar person. He narrowed his gaze, Mitchell and his friends. Turns out, they were affiliated with someone here. Bryce was shocked and subtly shifted behind Kirin. 

Mitchell and his friends glanced over to them a few times and whispered amongst themselves. Looks like Kirin’s threat did quite the damage to them, causing them to keep their mouths closed, considering they never stirred up trouble after that event. But even if they did, Kirin had ways of handling them.  

Christopher and Kincade made their way over to where Mitchell and co were, but they weren’t alone. There were a few middle-aged men with them. Business entrepreneurs. As they exchanged formalities, Kirin read their lips as they spoke.  

He then felt a tug on his shirt. It was Bryce. Kirin gave Bryce a gentle yet firm pat on the back, assuring him that he no longer needed to be afraid. No words were exchanged yet the message was clear. 

When Kirin turned back, he saw Mitchell conversing with Christopher as they kept glancing over to him. But Kirin did not feel afraid at all. He was planning on telling Christopher in the first place.  

After they were done having their conversation, Christopher approached Kirin with a complicated expression. 

“If you wanna talk, let’s go somewhere else,” Kirin was the first to speak. He then turned over to Bryce and said, “wait here. We’ll be right back.” 

They made their way to a hallway that had an exit sign located at the end of the hall. 

“So, what did they say?” Kirin languidly crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned up against the wall, although he already knew what they were talking, he could only pretend that he didn’t. 

“They told me about Bryce. That... that you used to bully him. Is that true?” Christopher asked with a perplexed expression. It was quite hard for him to accept what he had just heard after all that he has done for his younger brother. This was also the person his best friend happened to like. 

“Yeah. I did,” Kirin confessed nonchalantly. “During this past spring semester. And since you have already heard this much, you might as well come out. I don’t mind letting you know as well,” Kirin directed that to the person who was hiding around the corner. 

When the tall man appeared from around the corner, he had on a poker face, one that did not reveal too much on his face, however, there were many emotions swirling within his silver-cerulean eyes - shock, curiosity and a hint of disappointment.