𝐇 𝐈 𝐑 𝐀 𝐄 𝐓 𝐇

t w e n t y- t h r e e

Ryan gave Maxwell a single glance and spoke in a bored tone "Alisia of course. Why will I call Lilah pretty? I mean she is pretty but she's yours yeah, so you should call her pretty." 

Maxwell looked at Ryan bewildered by his words, shock consuming all over his face. "W-what? She is mine?" he questioned so quietly, Ryan could barely hear him.

Ryan cast a weird look on his brother, his little brain not understanding the true meaning of the words he said. 

"She is your wife so, of course, she is yours?" Ryan said, looking at his older brother's flushed face.

"That's not how it works, you idiot," Maxwell seethed at his younger brother, his words so harsh he wished he could just zip up his mouth and never speak again.

Ryan's lips parted in disbelief, this being the first his older brother had said something rude to him. He forced shut his mouth and looked down, nervously playing with his fingers as he murmured "I'm sorry" again and again under his breath. His eyes turned glossy as he twisted and turned the friendship bracelet on his wrist that was given by Alisia, which was somewhat calming him. 

Maxwell turned shocked as soon as he realized what he had just said. He looked over at Ryan to see him looking down with tears, which he was trying to wipe harshly. His heart shattered at that sight and guilt rose up to his throat. 

He quickly picked up Ryan in his arms and made him sit on his thigh, hugging him tightly to his chest murmuring sorry over and over again, and kissing his hair softly with each murmur. He felt like punching himself in the face when he saw the tear-stained face of his younger brother. 

He brushed away Ryan's bang out of his face and kissed his head, his arms tightening protectively around his brother as he remembered the day when Ryan was born. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbow, rather it was one of the worst days he has experienced in his life. 

His mother had found out that his father- or Richard, as he calls him, cheated on her yet again, but that particular day- his mother decided that it was enough and she decided to divorce him. He remembers how Richard kept a gun to his mother's forehead, telling her that the only way she could ever get rid of him was her death.

That was the first time Maxwell felt the need to kill, to torture his father so much that he wouldn't be able to breathe, that he would be begging at his feet for mercy, for him to spare his life. 

That's when he felt the most confident, more than anytime in his life as he took a gun and shot Richard right in the thigh, rushing his mother to the hospital as she was in labor pain.

He has raised Ryan more like a son than a younger brother, ensuring that he receives all of the fatherly affection that Maxwell missed.

"I'm sorry," a small voice broke him out of his thoughts, as he looked at Ryan who murmured those words, hugging his older brother tighter. 

"Why are you sorry?" Maxwell frowned, questioning his brother. There was nothing that he said which required an apology.

"I am sorry for saying those words to you about Lilah. They made you sad right? That's why you got angry. Sorry, brother, I didn't mean to make you sad. Please don't be sad." Ryan spoke, his voice sad and regretful.

Maxwell chuckled softly at his brother's innocence, his heart, warming at his younger brother's action. He was just six years old yet so thoughtful of everyone around him. 

"No sweetheart, it's nothing like that. You were right, I married Delilah so she is mine. You know sometimes we adults go crazy and then blurt out hurtful things to people they love. I am so sorry okay? And no, I am not sad at all, you didn't make me sad." Maxwell spoke softly, his hands caressing Ryan's hair gently.