Chapter 21

His name was Shizu. An alpha, born in a wealthy family; prestigious, tremendously influenced, and powerful family. He was the youngest son of two, while his elder brother worked as a businessman. His brother clearly followed their parents since he would most likely be the heir of their richness.

How about Shizu? He disliked the idea. Or obviously enough, he hated the idea. Compared to his elder brother, he preferred moving around based on his interest. He wanted to have friends among his classmates. He wanted to play at arcade games. He wanted to stroll around in malls, parks, or mere pedestrian lanes.

Those simple stuffs were totally hindered by his family. His elder brother didn't defy them, made them applying the same concept on him. Yet he, a boy with moderate liking, hated it. There were times that he objected this and that, and despite their parents sent guards to patrol him, he would find ways to play truant. He would skip schools, bring his few friends to eat at fast food restaurants, find ways to skip piano lessons and go to cram school instead because it had his friends there, run away from family's official events, and many more.

Indeed, he was naughty. But he wasn't a bad person.

His elder brother knew him too much. The elder brother knew the little brother wouldn't betray their family, hence he would always defend Shizu. When they were young, Shizu got beat up and locked up quite frequent. As a protective elder brother, he would bring Shizu out when he got the opportunity. He disliked seeing bruises on Shizu' small body, so he would be the one applying medication on him. However, he still couldn't defy their parents, so he couldn't stop them from laying their hands on Shizu.

"I don't really need your help though," was a line Shizu always spoke out. He loved his elder brother so much. He didn't want his brother to be as tarnishing as him, as how their parents called him. The elder brother was utterly considerate that he never talked about his success at school or in family to Shizu. He preferred talking about an anime he watched or the toys he played together with Shizu rather than persuading the little brother to just obey their parents.

He would never do that.

The elder brother's concern was, somehow, yearned by Shizu. The older they grew up, the stronger Shizu's yearning towards his elder brother's affection. Though he acted all mighty and untouchable, he would unknowingly look for his brother whenever he felt dejected. He believed only his brother understood him really well. He didn't really need other people's attention but his brother.

Nevertheless, his brother eventually put gap between them.

Probably because of age factor, his elder brother began to talk less to him. As if they were having silent treatment, the brother would just glance, hummed, or nod and/or shake his head as a reaction to any of Shizu's queries. At first Shizu just took it as his brother getting busier with college life, assignment and exams.

The opinion drastically changed when Shizu found out that his elder brother complotted with their parents to move him to other place. The simplest but most ridiculous reason given to him was that they wanted Shizu to learn to live all by himself. It wasn't that Shizu incapable to do it; it was just that his heart and hope had just scattered that nothing else but devastation overwhelmed him at the moment.

They have rented a small apartment in the middle of town, trapped in business of the city, including the echoes of trains, crowd, and other vaguely distingished sounds. Shizu would be living there, far from their home. Shizu hoped his elder brother would suddenly take back the decision, unfortunately he didn't. He didn't even make an effort to explain carefully why he agreed to their parents this time.

While his days were full of hatred and devastation towards his family, he lived his remaining high school months there. His family did supply him monthly expense, but he used it only to pay rent. He manageably spend his basic needs with his own savings, which drove him to cut down most of his wishlist. He literally lived to live.

Hence, he decided to do part time job.

Walking through the crowd in the city, Shizu entered shops, restaurants, and even public services to get a part time job, yet none of them was interested in him; a teenage Alpha living alone with tight expense. Even girls at bars wouldn't approach him due to his strictness. His saving decreased significantly, and he became more impatient as none of the employer offered him a job.

Feeling hopeless, after one whole day of walking around, he stopped at a bench to rest. He bought a can of energy drink before returning back home, but he couldn't drink it because a random boy knocked it down, spilling its content till bottom up. Not only he was exhausted from depleted energy and disappointment, his tire almost turned to madness as the boy just ran away without apologising.

"Hey, little kid. You owe that brother something."

Out of nowhere, a boy, or a young man, as he couldn't distinguish if he was elder or younger than the stranger, interrupted the scene and stopped the boy from getting further. He had smaller body stature than him, plus his face was pretty for a man. Unknowingly, the anger Shizu almost lashed out faded as their eyes met. The stranger curved a smile, a sweet but not seducing smile, which made Shizu's heart skipped a beat.

"His drink. Please apologise," the stranger, who Shizu just noticed wearing the same school uniform as him, said. "I saw you ran into him, but you didn't care for his being. Didn't you see his drink spilt on the road?"

The boy immediately bowed at Shizu and apologised for the unexpected incident. After he ran away, the stranger turned back to the dumbfounded Shizu. "Are you okay? You look so worn out."

And that remarked their first encounter before the stranger left him alone, leaving a tinge of fondness towards someone he didn't even know the name.