Sweet Admiration (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 40

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"I'm home."

After work, Mew had dragged his tired body to his parents house, which he hadn't visited for quite some time.

Art greeted him, looking surprised. "Mew?"

"Where's Mom and Dad?"

"Watching TV in the living room. Why are you...?"

"I have to talk to you. Come to my room."

Art looked like he had no idea what Mew was about to say. He bit his lip and stared at Mew.

Ignoring him, Mew climbed up the stairs. Mew had left home when he was a senior in college, so his old room had only a bed and a dresser in it. There were no chairs, so he sat on the end of the bed and waited.

Art came in soon after. Closing the door behind him, he said coldly. "What do you want? You never come home anymore, so it must be something important."

"What did you do to Gulf?" Mew asked as calmly as he could.

"You came all the way here to ask me that? Why didn't you ask him?"

"He won't tell me."

"Then I didn't say anything. Don't worry about it."

"I don't think so. You hurt someone who is very important to me. Of course I'm going to worry about him."

Art froze at the words 'very important to me.' He stared at Mew in disbelief and then let out a strange laugh. "Mew, don't tell me you're acting this desperate for that guy?"

"I am."

"That's not like you. What's wrong with you? You never get this desperate about someone. It makes you look like a fool."

"When someone is important to me, I get desperate for them. Like when you were in the hospital and had to have all those surgeries. And when Bright got hurt riding his motorcyle. When someone is important to me, I'll get desperate for them."

"Why were you so desperate for me?" Art asked, his voice trembling. He was already thinking of a comeback when Mew said something he never expected.

"You had aurgery and we didn't know whether you would live or die. I prayed desperately for you to survive. Your small body had to withstand so many surgeries. Everytime I saw you holding back tears when they stuck you with needles and tubes, I wished that I could change places with you." Mew said shakily.

His little brother had battled illness for so long, and Mew loved him with all his heart. Because he loved him so much, he had turned a blind eye to Art's selfish behavior and forgiven him for his mistakes.

However...

"Art, you remember Akiko, right?" As Mew said her name, Art's face froze with fear. In the back of his mind, Mew enjoyed his reactions, and continued, "I know all about it. What you did to her, what you said to her. I've known all along."

"You're...lying," Art said, his voice shaking. He looked down at his feet.

Mew stared at him. "No, I'm not. I just never told you. I pretended not to know anything. Even when she left me, I knew everything and I still let her go."

"But...why?"

"It wasn't just about you. Things weren't going well between us. I just brought up marriage to try to make things work again. Even if you hadn't done what you did, we would have broken up eventually."

"Well then, why? If you knew what I did, why didn't you say anything?" Art kneeled at Mew's feet and looked up at him searchingly.

At that desperate look, Mew smiled kindly and said, "Because I forgave you, Art. Because you're important to me. So I said nothing, and forgave you."

Art continued to just look at him.

"I truly believed that you'd never do something so stupid again, so I forgave you."

"Mew..."

Mew just realized that he had been wrong. By not making Art own up to his mistakes, he had made the same mistake twice. It was partly Mew's fault, too.

Tears poured from Art's eyes. At that moment, he finally realized that he had betrayed his beloved brother's trust. But he still cling to one last hope.

"B-But! I love you! I've always loved only you!"

"I've told you how I feel, too, and I thought you understood."

"I do! But ever since you let him live with you, you've loved him more than me! You told me you could never love another man, and that you only loved me as a brother. That's why I tried to give up on you! But now you're giving him special treatment!" Art clung to Mew and dug his nails into his shoulder. Tears spilled down his cheeks and dotted Mew's shirt. He cried bitterly, pressing his whole body against him.

Mew gently touched his shoulder and whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Art's scream made Mew's heart hurt.

"I'm sorry. I love Gulf." He should have admitted it earlier. He had been hesitant and confused about his feelings, and had ended up hurting both Art and Gulf.

Seeing the determined look on Mew's face, Art screwed up his face and began sobbing like a child. Mew tightly embraced him just as a mother would, cradling him.

TBC