Haru's Love (Steamy BL Harem)

Book 1: Haru to Aiden - Chapter 1

Haru

The first time I met Aiden Davis was when I was eight years old, when Mom, my older half-brother Reo, and I had just arrived in New York and landed at the airport. It was during winter, and I had a terrible cold during the entire flight.

Aiden, who was sixteen years old at the time, walked up to me, took my small cold hands into his large warm ones, and said, "Hello, Haru. My name is Aiden. I've heard so much about you from Dad, and I'm glad to finally meet you. We're going to be brothers soon. Isn't that great? I'm going to take good care of you."

All I could do was stare at his refreshing smile, mesmerized. For an eight-year-old half-Japanese boy who had lived in a small town all his life where there were hardly any Westerners around, I found the sight of Aiden fascinating. I thought his blond hair and hazel-green eyes beautiful.

I felt drawn to him.

Brothers? We were going to be brothers, he said, and it made my heart swell with joy that we were going to be one big happy family: Mom; my new dad, Michael Davis; new brothers, Aiden, Noah, Mason, and Isaac; and Reo and me.

That joy, however, only lasted five years, because just after their fifth wedding anniversary, Mom and Stepdad passed away in a motor vehicle accident. That joy had swiftly and unapologetically turned to sorrow. Slowly and surely though, that sorrow turned to determination, hard work, and eventually joy again, because us six brothers had stuck together through thick and thin. For me personally, that joy started turning to agony three years ago, all for a different reason, and the handsome face that had used to mesmerize me now pissed me off.

"Haru? Wake up! It's already half past seven." Aiden's deep-timbred voice insistently nagged at me.

I flashed my eyes open and stared at the face that never failed to please a woman, the face that made my heart ache.

My heart skipped, which only managed to annoy me even more at such an early hour of the morning.

I groaned in protest and rolled over, giving my back to him. Damn, but I didn't want to see him so cheerful, grinning at me with that ridiculous smile of his. It affected me in a bad way.

I muttered, "Didn't I tell you not to come into my room? Privacy, Aiden, privacy."

Aiden laughed wholeheartedly. "Sorry, but I can't help myself. Old habits die hard since I'm always the one to wake you up. You always sleep so deeply, which is adorable." He chuckled, as if he found that amusing.

Who found an eighteen-year-old sleeping adorable, anyway?

"You'd better get up; otherwise, you're going to be late for your part-time job," he said as a reminder.

I said, "I'll get up once you've made yourself scarce."

I knew I sounded snarky, but I couldn't help myself. Seeing him first thing in the morning was the best and worst thing to me. Damn, but my heart still hadn't stopped racing since he'd appeared.

Aiden chuckled merrily. He was always like that with his easygoing attitude, taking everything I said as a joke and lightly brushing it aside.

He said, "You know, you used to like my face, a lot. You used to always stare at my face and comment on how much you liked it."

I felt him sitting on the side of my bed and then leaning on the lumpy cocoon of my body.

He continued, as if perplexed, "What happened?"

What happened? Really? What the hell happened?

I wanted to yell at him, "You happened!"