Broken Bond: Between Vices and Virtues (BL)
Chapter 130: Knoa’s first scuffle [2]

Chapter 130: Knoa’s first scuffle [2]

Knoa was flabbergasted. He was so shocked that he couldn’t react quickly when the older kid turned away after shouting ’thank you’ to him.

Thankfully, before the older kid could go away with the white stuffed toy in his arms, someone blocked his path and snatched the object away from him, doing it so aggressively that the older kid was pushed back a little.

Aresh glared at him, "Why are you stealing his toy, Pol? Did you hear him say yes? He didn’t!"

The kid named Pol stepped forward and grabbed the leg of the stuffed toy, "What do you know?! You aren’t here! He didn’t say he won’t give it to me too!"

"Are you deaf? He said this toy was given to him by his grandfather! It holds value more than just a simple toy!" Aresh shouted back. He tried to pull the toy but realized it might rip if he pulled it forcefully again. So, instead of pulling, what he grabbed was Pol’s wrist.

Pol demanded angrily, "He gave it to me!" then, he turned to Knoa and asked, "It’s mine now, right, Knoa? We’re friends that’s why you gave it to me, right?"

Knoa fiddled with his hands. Everyone was looking at him, waiting for the answer. He gave Aresh a conflicted look, and soon shook his head slightly as he muttered, "Grampa gave it...grampa will be sad if I gave it away..."

Knoa bowed his head. He lied. He didn’t know if his grandfather would be sad, but even with that uncertainty, he still didn’t feel like giving the toy away. It was his favorite as well. He likes it as well. These thoughts run in his little head. He was so occupied with his worries that he didn’t notice Pol’s expression change.

Pol was the oldest in that group; when his mood changed, it incited the other kids to glance at Knoa with hostility. Their faces said, ’He doesn’t treat us like a friend. He couldn’t even give a toy to us. He’s so selfish.’

They started to distance themselves from Knoa silently.

"Heard that?" Aresh caught Pol’s attention. He tightened his grip on the kid who was a year older than him and expected him to let go of the white dog. However, instead of letting go, Pol grasped the leg tightly the stuffing almost burst out the skin. Seeing this, Aresh’s eyes widened and shouted, "What are you doing?!"

"Let go of me!" Pol shook Aresh’s hand. The latter finally took possession of the stuffed toy and let go, however, because Pol was pulling himself away from Aresh, the sudden release made him lose balance and he fell on the ground butt first.

"Pol!" The kids shouted, and one even hurried to the side of the fallen kid.

Pol bit his lower lip angrily, he sprung up and shoved Aresh back. The latter fell and before he could stand up, Pol already lunged at him and threw a punch. The kids screamed, gathering the attention of the adults nearby.

After seeing the scene, Azrael and Ragel disappeared on the concrete bench in an instant. The orphanage’s staff sighed in relief that someone came immediately to break the fight, but they were dumbfounded when the priority of the two people was only the smallest kid in the middle of the scuffle.

Azrael slipped his hands on Knoa’s underarms from the back, ready to lift him up, but then he noticed the man seated next to him before grabbing Knoa’s waist from the front. Azrael glared down at the crouched guy.

Their eyes met, both suspicious and deathly. They shouted at the same time.

Azrael, "What the f*ck are you doing?!"

Ragel, "Who the hell are you?!"

While the two kids were engaged in a fight, and the adults hurrying over to tear them apart, Azrael and Ragel were locked in a battle of deathly glares and flaring nostrils.

That staring battle was only broken when a small and shaky voice bellowed, "No! Mini Loki!!!"

A staff saw the trampled stuffed toy, its clean, white color was dirtied, and on its one leg, dangled some of the stuffing. He quickly picked it up and held it to Knoa, but then froze after two pairs of darkened eyes glared at his outstretched hand. He gulped and his arm trembled. He knew Ragel, so he wasn’t that affected by him, but the man standing behind the kid looked like a devil in the staff’s eyes.

What was worse was, that after Knoa took the dirtied and crushed Mini Loki, after a few seconds of staring at the poor toy, tears ran down his cheeks and his cry echoed in the place. He brought his toy on his face, unbothered by the dirt and some grass on it, and pressed it on his cheek.

"Hey, let go! I’m—

Ragel’s voice stopped after looking up. He felt a formidable aura surrounding them. The man’s face was completely dark, and two grey circles that seemed to shoot laser beams made the kids and even the staff stand frozen.

A petrifying amount of intense pheromones, emitted from an enraged dominant alpha made everyone pause and shudder.

Ragel’s grasp unconsciously loosened. Azrael lifted Knoa who didn’t even flinch, seemingly aware of his father’s presence behind him already, and just continued crying loudly. Large beads of tears were dropping from both his eyes, and anyone who saw him would feel an ounce of guilt and panic.

As he spoke, deadly fumes emerged in his mouth, "Who the f*ck made my son cry?"

Azrael’s voice was slow and deep, but it sounded like a blade cutting through them. He stepped forward, but as he came closer to the kids who ran away when the brawl started, the kids began to cry one by one as well.

Azrael wouldn’t have stopped if only an arm didn’t appear and blocked his path. Then, a gentle yet stern voice resonated, "Calm down. They might be just kids but they still can sense the heavy pheromones from you. Calm down, and don’t cuss."

The last words were said with strict eyes and a reprimanding voice. Knox took Knoa into his arms and rubbed the kid’s back. The crying somehow subsided after he hushed him softly.

He glanced at the director, and gave him a meaningful look, before walking away and leaving that chaotic crowd.

The director nervously gulped and stated, "How did this happen? What happened? Explain this to us, and stop crying!"

The kids all flinched, but it wasn’t because of the director’s yelling who looked guilty thinking it was, but because of Azrael walking to the kid who he saw last holding the toy before the fight began.

Aresh, who hugged his bruised arm from rolling on the ground, flinched when two pairs of shoes stopped before his sight. His head was lowered, but he was afraid to lift his head because the man looked really scary. Among the bunch of kids present, he was the only one who wasn’t crying, though his eyes were reddened from holding his tears back.

"Is it you?" Azrael spat dangerously.

Aresh clenched his arm and shook his head rapidly. The director cleared his throat and tried to talk to Azrael, "M-Mr. Del Valle, he’s just a kid...let’s settle this between—

A small and stammering voice came from the boy, "I...ngh...I...d-didn’t d...d-do...it..." Aresh couldn’t hold back and his voice broke. He wiped his eyes with his arm without lifting his head. His muddled voice sounded hurt and accusing. Why did the director sound like he thought it was his doing? Aresh cried from thinking that way.

He was aggrieved. Why was it always him who got blamed when something bad happened? Aresh was prepared to be blamed by the man since he thought that no one would believe him.

But then, Azrael asked again, surprising the kid, "Then, what happened? Why are you fighting? Who did it?"

All the kids turned their heads to Pol. The latter flinched and sobbed. Aresh, with a trembling voice, explained what happened. All the adults, even Knox who was in the distance listening to them, displayed a disappointed look on their faces.