ADMIRE ME |Brothers Conflict

21

I gave him a deadpan stare before returning my attention to the instructions.

"I shouldn't have put it so blandly," Fuuto conceded, which was the opposite of an apology. With a shrug, I tried to throw the sheet on the floor again, but it glided through the air, settling on the blankets only a little distance away.

Fuuto picked the sheet up again. "Let's do this," he suggested, but it sounded more like an order.

"Don't want to," I grumbled, but I took the elastic band from my nightstand anyway.

The purpose of the exercise was to build up the muscles in my calve again and strengthen my ankle. Ignoring the pain, I put my foot on the band, gripping both ends tightly. Then I exerted force on the elastic.

"Well done," Fuuto praised me with a pat on my head.

"Sometimes I have the feeling that you treat me like a dog," I remarked drily, which was the wrong thing to say.

"Then this dog should obey its master," he taunted me.

With a squeal, I fell backwards, but Fuuto managed to grab my upper arm before I crashed into the wall against which my bed stood.

"What the hell, Fuuto?" I complained loudly. "What kind of short-circuit caused that?"

"Stop barking, dog," he ordered.

"Not funny," I fumed, hitting him with the elastic band. Giving Fuuto a funny reaction worked as an incentive.

"Paw," he said, lifting his hand in front of me.

I high-fived him, honouring his request, but slowly dying on the inside.

"That's better," he hummed contently.

"How?" I groused under my breath.

"You're no longer brooding over stupid stuff," Fuuto clarified.

Surprised, I discovered that he was right. Snorting, I placed my foot in the elastic band again. Meanwhile, Fuuto went on a scavenger hunt, upending more sheets with exercises which he sorted using a mysterious system.

Pretty sure that I didn't want to know the semantics used to select which ones he passed on to me, I did all the exercises.

"This's enough," I said eventually, refusing the next bundle Fuuto tried to push into my hands.

A contemplating expression appeared on Fuuto's face, but then he shrugged, placing the stack of sheets next to two other piles.

"May I know what's wrong with those workouts?" I asked against better judgement. I pointed at the sheets which had ended up on my desk rather than my nightstand.

Fuuto turned his gaze to the papers.

"Wrong?" he echoed in confusion, playing dumb.

"Never mind," I sighed, giving up getting an answer out of him. I had already learnt that Fuuto had a talent for keeping secrets.

"Anyway, I'm going to try standing," I announced as I scooted to the edge of my bed carefully. Immediately, Fuuto rushed to my side, eyeballing me.

"If I'm a dog, then you're a mother hen," I protested, but I didn't mean my words.

"I thought we had already established that I'm the master," Fuuto objected.

Using the mattress as leverage, I lifted to my feet, placing all weight on my right foot. Carefully, I increased the pressure on my left foot until I gave a resemblance of standing.

Fussing silently, Fuuto stood by my side, his hands hovering over my stomach and back.

"I'm fine," I promised as I twisted my head to look at him. Dividing my focus between balancing and Fuuto was a bad idea since I lost my balance.