HIDDEN DISGUISES (l. donghyuck) ✓

EIGHT

If Haechan didn't know that Kisaki was a girl, he would've mistaken her older brother Kaito as her twin. Don't tell me that Kaito might be the cosplayer Yuri that he's been obsessed with...

"Anyways, enough about that. Whilst mom and dad are preparing dinner, how about we watch an episode of sailor moon. How does that sound Emi-chan?" Kisaki asks the little girl. Trying to change her previous mood so she wouldn't ruin the atmosphere. Emi shakes her head as she hums a no.
"I don't want to watch sailor moon today. I wanna watch crayon Shinchan." She states as the look of dread was quickly displayed on her aunt's face.

"She's been watching crayon shinchan since Monday. I don't know what's gotten into her but I guess she grew tired of watching sailor moon all the time." Kaito says as he let's out a soft chuckle before sitting down in the singular couch besides Haechan.
"I told you that Shinchan was good!" Haechan exclaims as he looks down at the little girl with a full on smile on his face.
Emi hums in reply as she nods enthusiastically, only causing Kisaki to gasp ever so dramatically.

"What have you done to my child?! You brainwashed Emi into liking stuff that you like." She cries whilst hugging her niece tightly.
Haechan could just shrug as he grins mischievously.
"What can I say. Its the fullsun influence. Nobody could resist me." His statement making her scoff as she rolls her eyes.
As the two of them bickered over Emi and how they both corrupted her, with Emi being sat in between them as She tries to stop their argument and separate them, Kaito just sat there as he watches the scene uphold in front of him with a soft smile on his face.

He might have not been a present brother in Kisaki's life, and has always felt so bad for being a burden towards her for making her take care of Emi whenever he was busy (though she was the one who insisted that she'd take care of Emi herself). But seeing her with someone who could fill in that role for her; make her feel like she matters, someone who she could talk to freely, bicker, and laugh with. Though he hasn't known Haechan for that long (for even an hour), but through the way that Emi talks about him and interacts with Haechan, and the way that Kisaki reacts when she's around him. Laid back, not tense to the point that you could see that she isn't nervous when she's around him compared to when she's around other guys. Kaito almost felt thankful to Haechan for being there for his sister.

--- ☪︎⋆ ˚✩ ⋆｡˚

"Do you want one?"
Hearing a voice behind him, Haechan looks behind to see Kaito walking over to him as he held two cans of beer in his hands.
"Thanks." Haechan happily taking the canned beer before Kaito sat down besides him. The two male sitting in the patio as they stared at the backyard, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.

"Where's Emi and Kisaki?" He asks when he realises that he wasn't able to hear the sound of the TV anymore, nor of the two girls playing around in the living room.
"They're in Kisaki's room. She's putting Emi to sleep." Kaito answers as he cracks open the lid to the canned beer before taking a generous sip of it.

"ありがとう (arigato)." He spoke as it quickly made Haechan snap his head towards Kaito's direction. He wasn't fluent in Japanese, but he knew and understood a little bit of it from Shotaro. (The only thing he learnt from Shotaro were cursed words. He asked Shotaro to teach him some curse words in his language so he could use them on Kisaki back when they'd just started college because he found Kisaki so annoying. Up until today, he hasn't used his knowledge of these curse words at her because he didn't have a purpose to do so anymore).

"What are you thanking me for?" Haechan asks as he let out a strange laugh before opening up the canned beer.
*click. Before he too as well took a sip of it.
"For being there for my little sister. You make her feel less lonely."
The tanned skin boy smiles at him before shaking his head.
"No, I think you got it all wrong. Kisaki has her friends, they make her feel less lonely. I'm just a classmate of hers who's forced to bond with her. There really isn't a reason why you should thank me." He answers.
"You make her feel comfortable. Ever since her last relationship... she stopped being so open. She's been scared of trying to get close with any guys, uncomfortable to be in their presence so she changed her appearance so she'd look like one of them in hopes that they won't approach her and think that she's one of us." Her brother explained.

"Ah no wonder why. When we first started college, I was wondering why none of the guys batted an eye on her when we were all introducing ourselves. They all just thought that she was some guy with a really soft voice." Haechan stated. Everything made sense now.
This causes curiosity to arise from the male that sat besides him. He raises a brow at him before asking, "How were you able to recognise that she was a girl then?"
"I don't know. I just... knew? I mean, she isn't fooling anyone, more specifically, me that she's a guy. I could tell by her facial structure. Plus she didn't have an Adams apple, so I knew that she wasn't just some guy with a really soft voice." He explains his reasonings. A laugh erupted from Kaito's mouth. The older male had to cover his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Haechan being able to see just how the older lads eyes creased as he laughed. Resembling so much of Kisaki. He as well had that cat like smile just like hers where the dimples on their cheeks resembles a cat whisker.

"So what you're telling me is that, you checked her out on your first day, inspected her and immediately knew that she was a girl?" Kaito spoke through his horrible attempt at trying to muffle a laugh.
His face immediately started burning. Flaming red at Kaito's accusations.
"I wasn't checking her out!! I just knew OK!!" He justified himself as Kaito only shook his head in disbelief.
"That's pretty impressive of you Haechan. Even i wasn't able to identify her when she changed how she looked. I thought I was just staring at a reflection of myself when she cut her hair short and started dressing in baggy and oversized clothes." Kaito confesses as this time Haechan was the one who laughed.

Maybe the beer was getting to them because they couldn't stop laughing like mad hyenas.

"Can I ask something?.." Haechan asks as Kaito finally manages to stop laughing. Putting his full attention to him as he nods his head. 'Go ahead.'

"How was Kisaki when she was in a relationship with her ex... I just learnt today that she used to have a boyfriend. You know cause like all this time I thought she was gay and was into women.." Haechan tries to be cautious with what he was saying, not knowing whether he was going to say something offensive in this tipsy state of his.
A sad smile was plastered on Kaito's face.
"Let's just say that she was trying to be someone that she wasn't when she had to deal with him. Through their relationship, I could see that he was slowly wrecking her and she was almost loosing herself. I never liked him to begin with but I never said anything to her, I was afraid that I was going to offend her and ruin her only chance at being happy. Looking back at it, I should've mustered up the courage and told her that he was a bad guy and that I didn't think that he was a good influence for her. I should've done what an actual big brother would do before it was too late, and i had to watch her get heartbroken and traumatised." Kaito sighs as he spoke about his sister.

"She ever tell you about how toxic their relationship was?" Haechan asks. His voice barely a whisper.
Kaito could just shake his head a no.
"She told me everything about it after she broke up with him and when our mother died. I guess the pressure had gotten to her and she was far too overwhelmed that everything came spilling down like a bomb that was set to explode at that time... hearing about what that bastard did to her throughout their relationship is just so... fucking disgusting. Just thinking about it right now aggravates me. I can understand now why Saki prefers to dress more like a guy. She has every rights too after what that monster made her go through." He says through gritted teeths before running an hand through his dark black hair in frustration.
"If you ever need me to send that guy a punch when you think about him, then you could give me a call." Haechan suggested as he manages to make a small grin appear on Kaito's face.
"Don't worry dude, you best believe that I went over to his place after watching my sister break down and thought him a lesson. Might have broken his nose and knocked out two of his front teeths, but hey he's still happily living right now." Shrugging as a light laugh left Haechan's lips.
"That's how you do it." Haechan bringing his fist out as Kaito returns him the fist bump.

"I like you a lot Haechan. Thanks for being there for my sister and bringing her old self back." He leans back on his arms as he stares out into the sky.
Haechan staring at Kaito's face before looking forward.
"No worries. I'm sure she'd do the same for me when I'm going through a hard time. We may not be the... closest of friends but our dynamic somehow manages to perfectly work together."