Bounded To You (To Love)

CHAPTER 2 - TO BELONG

CHAPTER 2: To Belong

Rob parked at the door, both of them leaving the car when turned off, heading inside directly. They made their way upstairs to where Tobias’s and Edmur’s room was. Benjie knocked, walking in without waiting for an invite, going to where Tobias was seated on a chair so close to Edmur, who lay motionless on his bed. Benjie sat close on the bed, between the two before wrapping his arms around Tobias’s back.

“Benjie…” Tobias said, letting go of Edmur’s hand for a moment as he hugged Benjie.

“Is Liam close?”

“Their plane is landing soon.” Tobias said, turning to look at Edmur, whose eyes were wide, bright blue as he seemed to be stuck in a vision.

“It’s creepy.” Benjie muttered.

“Benjie.” Rob scolded, which had Benjie glance back, as well as Tobias.

“Rob. You didn’t have to come.” Tobias said with a frown.

“Nonsense.” Rob waved him off, “How is he?”

“The same as he was two days ago. This is the longest he’s been stuck in a vision. Ever.”

“He’ll be okay.” Benjie said, “He’s always okay, alright. Stop worrying.” Benjie grabbed Tobias’s shoulder, looking him in the eyes as he spoke.

“Yeah.” Tobias nodded, gulping thickly.

Benjie sat and talked with Tobias for a while, glancing to the door where Rob was, having disappeared. “I’ll be back. Will you be okay?” Benjie asked.

“Yeah.” Tobias muttered.

Benjie went downstairs, not finding Rob in the living room, he went to the library, stopping the moment his eyes glanced out back. He walked up to the porch doors, sliding them open, going to the yard. He missed the view of the lake. Surrounded by the skyscrapers in the city was amazing at first, but nothing beat the nature surrounding the manor. He walked down towards where flowers were blooming. He picked a few, making his way to the graves, marked by large trees. He stopped at Lazarus’s, placing a flower there, another at the grave beside him, his brother’s, then another under the tree marking his sister’s, also close by. He then walked to where Lucius’s latest family was, near them, Aria’s grave. He put the rest of the flowers there, standing before it for the longest time.

He missed her. He didn’t talk about it anymore, because it meant he wasn’t over her. And he wasn’t, but everyone didn’t need to know it, at least that’s what he thought. They worried about him, about his mentality, and he never wanted to add to it. He never got over it. He didn’t know if he could. They said after a while it wouldn’t hurt so much, but his brother’s death, his sister, and Lazarus all still ache like hell. But more than those, Aria’s death. It burned a hole in his chest.

He felt his eyes tear up at the memory of her. Even the car in the parking lot. The one he was working on with her sitting nearby, chatting away. It made him ache to look at it. He couldn’t even go to his bedroom where they spent a lot of nights chatting away.

He didn’t know that love could hurt so much. He heard it before, from Lucius, from almost everyone in the manor that was in love. From Lazarus himself. But to have gone through it, to have known it and lost it, it ached fiercely. He always wondered how Rob was able to move on. To move past Noah. The man he loved, loving another. Being with another. The man he loved, still alive out in the world while he was stuck alone, because he didn’t love him back as much as Rob did.

He took in a deep breath that ached going into his lungs. He hadn’t been back since Lazarus was buried almost a year before. He knew that Noah had moved out, that Cylus was also traveling. He wasn’t sure he was mad at them anymore. If something happened, he knew he’d come running. They were his brothers, no matter how much hate he had in his heart for the horrible, awful thing they had done to the only person he’d ever loved in his hundred years of life, even though both of them knew the ache of losing their other half.