Half Brothers

37- Pure friendship

Closing the door of his room, Nihal stood at the corridor, contemplating where they should go. It was a huge problem, seeing that they never left their room all these days.

"Nihal," Vivaan called out hesitantly.

Coming out of his thoughts, Nihal raised an eyebrow at Vivaan, waiting for him to speak up.

"Listen, I know you are a human and mates are a foreign concept to you but please please consider giving this a chance. You have already seen Yara's condition and it is going to worsen from now on. I..I am ready to earn the title of illegitimate child, even in my world. You can be the legal one and I will become the bastard child. Just accept her." Vivaan pleaded, keeping aside his self-respect.

"Do you realize what you have spoken? This won't just be insulting to you but it would crush your mother's respect too," Hritika said, staring down at the 18 year old.

Many times, it was easy to forget that he was just a teenager, given his attitude and sense of responsibility. Just because it was easy to forget, it didn't mean that it would change the reality. The kid had grown up so much from the small time span of their first meet till now.

"Mom would gladly accept the disrespect if she comes to know that Yara's life is at stake. This is nothing, she can willingly die or kill for protecting our pack members. After all, she is the mother of this pack," Vivaan replied, though his strong words didn't match his broken voice.

"Please accept Yara as your mate." Vivaan requested again.

"Mate?" A voice came from behind.

Vivaan and Hritika simultaneously groaned upon seeing Rahul standing there while Nihal shook his head at his annoying presence.

"Tsk tsk." Rahul stepped forward, faking pity. "I seriously pity you Vivaan. First your Alpha position and now Yara, your half-brother is stealing everything right under your nose."

"Actually, I feel bad for you too, Nihal. Your father cheated on your mom and now your mate will cheat on you with your half-brother." Rahul added making Vivaan growl loudly.

"STOP YOUR NONSENSE." Vivaan roared.

Rahul backed down a bit in fear but didn't stop his nonsense.

"Oh! Come on. Everyone knows your closeness with Yara. And weren't you the one who told Hritika that you and Yara were in a relationship." Rahul tutted.

Instead of responding to Rahul, Vivaan turned towars Nihal in urgency, looking scared.

"Listen Nihal, please don't listen to him. Yara and I are not...," his pleading got cut off as Rahul continued to spit venom.

"Vivaan, don't even try. Just admit it that you are just like your father. After all, his blood is running in your veins. I seriously pity you, Nihal."

This time it wasn't Vivaan who got angry. Nihal stamped towards Rahul and clutched his collar.

"I think you are forgetting that Vivaan and I share the same father. Before spluttering out nonsense, do remember that we share the same blood." Nihal seethed through his gritted teeth, causing Rahul to gulp in fear.

"Leave," Vivaan commanded Rahul, before he could make matters worse.

"Nihal, I swear that nothing is going on between us. I understand that our closeness may give you doubts but I swear that what we have is purely platonic. Yara and I have been together since we were infants. I promise we will try to limit our interaction but please give us time to do so. It's difficult as we have been friends even before we learned to speak." Vivaan completely broke down, crying profusely.

"Whoa! Whoa! Stop crying. Listen, listen Vivaan, you don't have to break your friendship. Sssh, relax relax." Nihal tried his best to calm him down but then looked at Hritika when he failed to do so.

Vivaan turned his face away, trying to hide his embarrassed state.

Hritika blinked at Nihal, letting him know that she would take over. She patted Vivaan's back and whispered comforting words.

"It's okay, cry it out. You have been gone through so much today. It's totally fine to let it out," Hritika muttered softly.

Vivaan's sobs turned into hiccups after a while and then he finally managed to calm down. He turned back to his original position but didn't lift his face.

"One thing Rahul said was right; that you are your father's son " Nihal said, making Vivaan look up at him in alarm.

"We both have faced the consequences of our father's deeds so being his sons, I guess it would be obvious that loyalty would be our first priority," Nihal continued, earning a small, relieved smile from Vivaan.

Vivaan nodded gratefully.

"As much as loyalty is important. No relation works without trust. You don't have to break your friendship, heck I don't even have a right to give you any permission. It is purely your and Yara's decision. Your friendship is beautiful, don't spoil it just because people are making assumptions. I am just going to trust Yara to not cheat on me," Nihal declared.

"So, you are accepting her as your mate?" Vivaan asked hopefully.

Nihal gave a small nod with a tight lipped smile.

"Looks like an idiot's stupid assumptions were enough for you to make a decision," Hritika remarked, earning an eye roll from her Nihal. He then moved to knock on his room's door, before entering inside to inform Yara about his decision.