The shock and stupor that Aiden experienced hardly lasted long enough. Aiden couldn’t focus for long due to his continued pain.
Aiden could probably grasp something from such a vision. But such a thought never crossed his mind. The only thing that he wanted was the pain to shimmer away.

"Why is it not ending yet?”

From his past experiences, it didn’t last this long. And it wasn’t this painful either. Perhaps the day's weariness was causing him to be delusional.

The pain seemed to be shimmering gradually, but that was more of a result of his consciousness drifting apart as he became numb to the pain. Slowly but surely, before he knew it, he fell unconscious.

Aiden had no idea when he had passed out, but he woke up sweaty on his bed. The whole night seemed to have passed in a mere moment, and he seemed to have something akin to a hangover but milder in comparison.

‘Ugh,’ his painful groans were heard by none as he prepared himself for another long day hoping that none of that pain returns anytime soon. For good or bad, he had already forgotten about the abhorrent vision that he saw in his dream. It was as if he went through all of that pain but all for naught. The headache that he retained was not superficial, nothing too unbearable so he decided that he would not skip work.

But sometimes it did sting a little. Even when he was cooking he had to press onto his forehead from time to time, to ease the headache.

While pressing his forehead he had mixed up soya sauce with tomato ketchup, but no one would know about his mistakes.

Starting the day with a peck on each other's cheeks, he said his goodbyes as he went out to work. Alas, he was so caught up in his headache that he failed to notice... the piercing gaze of his sister that was burning behind his back.

***

[Yuna POV]

Ni-san was acting weird this morning. And I had no idea why.

He had his characteristic piercing gaze but today due to the eye bag under his eyes it seemed to be even scarier than usual.

Did he not get enough sleep? But why? Ni-san usually sleeps like a log after he comes back from his hard day of work.

There is nothing that could wake him up. Once I had even called my friends for a sleepover. We had a lot of fun and naturally made a lot of noise, but there was no response from my brother.

Did the incident regarding Sara trouble him so much? I had no idea, it would be such a big deal …

I should talk it out with Sara not to trouble Ni-san again.

Ni-san was also clutching onto his forehead from time to time as if he was having some headache. Sometimes I find him staggering when he is handling the utensils in the kitchen. Perhaps he is too sleepy for this?

When I asked him what was troubling him, he only smiled at me with a warm gaze.

“It’s nothing serious,” that’s what he said.

Is he serious? Does he take me for a fool? He is treating me like a child again, all right! I am not a child anymore, okay?

Muu, he is hiding something. I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all! Why does he need to hide anything from me?
Stupid brother, getting me all worried. I can’t even go to college or work knowing that, he is in trouble.

That’s it! I am giving Sara a good scolding! Just you wait.

Sara is a bit short sighted. But Knowing Sara, no matter whatever antics she pulls off, I hardly find myself getting angry at her. She is a really lovely friend.

But Aiden is my last line, alright? She had to be punished even if a little bit.

I was thinking of how I would pay her back. But I don’t know what she did. Ni-san won’t even tell me everything! That is why I was thinking extra hard about what to do.

Perhaps because I was so lost in my thoughts, I was unable to figure out what was coming. But it was indeed an embarrassing memory I would never forget. I was mostly going through my morning routine out of instinct and muscle memory as I was deeply lost in my thought. Nothing extraordinary or out of place that should have alarmed me of what was coming.

As usual, I went after Ni san to wish him goodbye like every day as he left for his work. I could notice that Ni-san was a bit tipsy on his foot which made me even angrier and further clouded my mind.

"Goodbye, Ni-san..." As I leaned forward for a goodbye kiss, for some odd reason, Ni-san also leaned forward without any prior notice.

I panicked at the unusualness of the event as I noticed the change. It was as if my brain had stopped functioning. Alas, before I could do something or figure out what was happening it was too late.

He softly held onto my head with one hand as he stole my lips.

'What!'

I felt as if a shock went through my lips to the rest of my body. I completely froze in my moment of stupor.

It probably didn’t even last longer than a peck but it felt damn long to me, so much so that I felt my knees would give out at the sheer absurdness of the situation.

Our lips parted and he flashed a flirty smile, completely feigning ignorance of what happened.

'This can't be...'

He looked like Ni-san, he even smelled like him. But he can never be the Ni-san that I know of. Aiden would never flash such a seductive smile. My Ni-san was much more down to earth.

Whenever my Ni-san always had that warm gaze that would calm my heart knowing that he was always by my side. But this! This was the opposite! My heart was beating so fast, that it felt like I was on a roller coaster of emotions.

I simply couldn't believe that this was Aiden! And I have no idea what to say.

I just stared at him in a daze as he turned around, not minding my shocked stupor.

There were so many things that I could have said. I wanted to shout. I wanted to do something, but all I could do was just stare at his back as he left me alone in our apartment.

*BANG*

Only the sound of the door closing woke me up from my stupor.

I held onto my cheeks which were burning for known reasons. As if that was not enough, I slapped both of them in an attempt to wake myself up from this dream. All of this sounded more like my wildest fantasies if anything else.

But, I didn’t seem to be waking up anytime soon.

Little by little my fingers crept up to my lips, and I touched them gently. I found them to be moister than usual. It was just a peck but even so, reality dawned over me.

“OH MY GOD!” I screamed.

“OH MY FUCKING GOD!” This time I almost tore my lungs out with that.

I hid my face with my hands. I was embarrassed as hell.

I knew that there was something wrong with my brother this morn. But this? Never would I have thought that my wildest imagination would come true.

I ran to my room still hiding my face with my hands like a silly girl cutting myself off from the world. I was too embarrassed to face anyone like this.