My Best Friends' Younger Brother

| 34 | 𝙼𝚒𝚖𝚒 + 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬

"You know w-what I learned here...b-being away from you?" I ask Travis softly as he sat before me on the sand.

He shook his head a bit, and I grin at him.

I was happy that he agreed to go on a walk with me. Was able to take him to one of the few beaches in Beijing.

He's probably seen a beach before, but I feel like this one is a little different. Behind all you see is the city. Forward there are mountains and other distant buildings. In California there would've just been straight ocean!

I think this is kind of more scenic. Makes you feel like you aren't staring out at some lonely abyss. Makes me feel less alone.

"I learned that I am m-much more stronger than I thought." I state, causing him to raise his eyebrow.

"How so?"

"B-Because before I...got here, I c-cried in the plane ride. I cried in the a-apartment, I cried for weeks. All I wanted...w-was you, and I was taken away f-from you unfairly. That's where my f-friends come in. If I d-didn't make friends I'd b-be like...you." I state awkwardly, causing him to snort. "S-Sorry."

"It's fine. I chose to be this way. It helps with the pain, so that I don't get heartbroken like that again." He tells me casually.

I scoot closer towards him, looking more closely at him. I grab his hand and pull it to my chest.

"You know it w-wasn't my choice to leave, r-right?"

"Yeah, I know now." He nods in understanding.

"Then...why are y-you holding s-such resentment towards m-me it seems?" I ask him honestly, and he just looks at me. That's when I see him sigh a bit and grab my arm.

He nods for me to get on his lap and I feel my face warm up. We were in public, but there weren't too many people around. I get on his lap as I look into his eyes. I feel him wrap his arm around my waist, soon laying his head against my chest.

I was taken aback by that because he never did that before. I didn't know if he wanted me to say something because I couldn't. My hand rested on his head, just trying to make him feel better. Only for him to soon inhale deeply and his arms wrap around me even more tighter than before.

"I don't...hold resentment towards you. I am just afraid." He admits, and I frown.

"Why a-are you afraid?" I ask him softly, moving to caress his back.

"I'm afraid because what if I love you like how I once did? I am back to before and loving freely, trusting again, being vulnerable... Then what? I will have to leave Mimi, I can't stay here. I'm not a foreign exchange student and I never...ever realized how dependent I was on you too." He confesses and I look down at him gently. "I am being hostile towards you, not resenting. I get your parents are bitches - sorry."

"I-It's fine." I chuckle, and he looks up at me. "You're m-my first ever relationship...b-but my parents, for almost t-the entirety of their relationship, were never really t-together-."

"No offense, but your parents aren't normal." He interrupts, chuckling against my chest and I smile awkwardly.

"Yes...t-true..." I smile at down at him and he just grins up at me. "I mean, th-this whole time we were apart, we a-always considered ourselves to be i-in a relationship...right?"

I look at him and see him nod. That's when I grin, wrapping my arms around his neck, practically hugging his head.

"I think...f-for a day you should l-let go. Act as if w-we were never separated. Let that h-hostility go...just love m-me, wǒ de bǎobèi." ( my baby. ) I rub cheeks with him, sighing happily. "Just for today, t-today is a fun d-day! Today we m-must see! If it's t-too hard...you can go back t-to being this way. If it isn't h-hard at all, you must stay th-that way and love me for billions of years until we die and are r-reincarnated and then we find one another again in our new l-lives."