Broken Bond: Between Vices and Virtues (BL)
Chapter 131: Aresh’s intention

Chapter 131: Aresh’s intention

"Is that true?!" the director’s voice bellowed, his eyes glancing over the kids whose backs are hunched and avoiding eye contact.

One wiped his face and bravely answered, "I-It’s because A-Aresh pushed Pol, director! Pol wouldn’t jump him if he hadn’t pushed him..."

Pol nodded repeatedly, looking at the director pitifully, "I’m going to give back the toy to Knoa anyway, but he still pushed me! He also kept picking a fight with me since yesterday! He was harassing Knoa—

Aresh cut him off, defending himself and clearing the misunderstanding. "I’m not harassing him! I’m just asking him about his father!"

Somehow, his eagerness to explain himself shot up after knowing that one person in that crowd won’t just blindly believe anything said by the others. Maybe because the man didn’t know Aresh, so, it was easier for him to believe the kid, but that simple gesture greatly impacted Aresh. For once, he was heard.

He furtively glanced up at the scary-looking man whose nostrils were still fuming with irritation and impatience.

Pol refused to back down and retorted, "And why are you asking about him? I knew it! You wanted to appeal to his father to adopt you right?! That’s why you’re acting kind and meek now!"

"That’s not it!" Aresh balled his hands into fists. Pol’s punchable face was very inviting, but he didn’t want to ruin the scary guy’s impression of him, so he held himself back from accepting that invite.

Aresh needed to explain, he stated inwardly. However, he felt embarrassed saying the truth, so he ended up stealing a glance in the direction of Knoa and his father. He then noticed everyone was waiting for his explanation, so, with his ears slowly turning red and his cheeks flushed, Aresh admitted his intention for asking Knoa, "I was...was just confirming if he had a son already...that’s all."

"He? Sir Knox?" the director’s face clouded with confusion. "Why are confirming that?"

Aresh bit his lower lip and bobbed his head even lower. Then, he answered vaguely and unrelatedly, but because of his actions and his face as red as a ripened tomato, everyone understood the gist of it. "He’s...pretty..."

Silence reigned the whole area. A few moments later, it was broken with the sound of knuckles cracking followed by a gruff and slow voice, "He’s what?"

Everyone turned to Azrael whose face looked as sour as vinegar. They all wondered why, but Aresh who thought found a comrade in him was astonished. Why was the man looking at him like he was a pest? He pondered; feeling a bit hurt from the quick change.

Aresh gulped. He unconsciously stepped back, and unwilling as he was, he hid at the back of the director.

"You scared him," a voice came behind Azrael. Before he could turn to look at it, his head was slapped at the back. "And that’s a kid."

Azrael growled, glaring dangerously at Rian who suddenly appeared.

"Mr. Lee!" the director quickly approached Rian and bowed politely, asking hurriedly, "What brought you here so suddenly? Why didn’t you inform us beforehand so we could have prepared a more pleasant welcome!"

"It’s alright, director. I came here to introduce my dear friend who decided to walk the path of philanthropy and received enlightenment to share his blessings with the world," Rian dramatically reasoned. "Though I didn’t expect to see the kids fighting."

"Oh, no, no, Mr. Lee! They were just playing, and just had a little misunderstanding! I’m sure you know that here in the orphanage, we teach the kids good conduct and manners. They were good now," the director, who was clearly anxious about being seen as someone irresponsible, explained hurriedly. He glanced back at Pol and Aresh with warning eyes and spoke, "Now go and hug each other, and say sorry."

Pol and Aresh glared at each other sharply. The director clicked his tongue and widened his eyes at them, forcing the kids to hug each other awkwardly as they mumbled faint and insincere apologies.

The director then clapped his hands and ordered the staff to take the kids away. He turned to Rian and spoke amicably, "Don’t worry, Mr. Lee, I will make sure to discipline them so these things won’t happen again."

"It’s normal for children to fight, director. It’s part of growing up, so don’t think too much about it," Rian answered, flashing his business smile. His hand snatched the back collar of the man sneaking away and pulled him back. "This is the friend I’m talking about, director."

"Oh, Mr. Del Valle! Does that mean that he will also sponsor the orphanage now, Mr. Lee?" the old man’s face beamed, seemingly unaware of the recent dispute between the two chairmen.

Rian replied, "No. He will soon be a part of the SmilEarth family, so expect to see him whenever we do an outreach program."

Rian conversed with the director about other things but Azrael showed no interest, seeing that, the director was disheartened, and soon excused himself. He walked with a dejected look, regretting that he couldn’t make a lasting impression on the infamous business magnate.

Azrael swatted Rian’s hand away and headed to Knox and Knoa. He frowned after seeing the same man who grabbed Knoa talking with his boyfriend. His steps hastened, leaving Rian on his own. The latter just sighed and shook his head, he could already see Azrael’s nose fuming with smoke again.

"I’m sorry that this happened. After you told me to look out for him..." Ragel said with an apologetic face and looked crestfallen.

Knox quickly shook his head and patted the guy’s shoulder, "No, it’s okay. I should be the one watching him instead, but I just couldn’t decline the director and ended up burdening you. You’re already doing us a favor by accompanying us here. I’m sure you have your own things to do, so I should be the one apologizing."

Ragel felt relieved. He held Knoa’s hands who was just silently sitting on his father’s lap, and shook it lightly as if he was making a little handshake. He spoke as gently as he could, "I’m sorry, Knoa."

Knoa looked up and, like his father, patted his hand lightly and shook it back, silently consoling him. A warm smile tugged on his lips. He lifted his other hand and attempted to rub the kid’s head, but it got caught by a rough and large hand instead.

Ragel was startled. He looked up and saw those deathly gray eyes staring at him dangerously. Suddenly, he remembered the man’s angry words after Knoa cried. The word ’son’ rang in his head, and slowly, he looked down at Knoa, then glanced up at the man again. Only then did he notice the similarities in their features, and only the color of their eyes wasn’t aligned.

Still, he hoped his notion was wrong. Unexplainably, he found himself hoping that it was wrong. He turned to Knox and asked cautiously, "Is he..." His question wasn’t yet complete when he saw Knox’s expression change. The omega was alarmed.

Azrael pouted, thinking, ’Why doesn’t he tell him I am?’. He threw the hand away and rubbed his hand on his pants before taking Knoa from Knox. As he did so, he gave Ragel a warning look and even showed off when Knoa’s face brightened a bit, and called him ’Daddy’. He proudly huffed and turned away.

Ragel felt annoyed. He drilled sharp gazes at Azrael’s back but was interrupted when Knox spoke, stealing his attention again.

Knox displayed anxiety, "Ragel, this, uhm...can you not tell your grandmother about this? I know I’m asking too much, telling you to lie, but...you see, I can tell your grandmother’s loyal to Althea, but if my family found out about this...I don’t know what to do anymore. Ah...uhm," Knox hesitated. Does he need to tell Ragel of his situation? Won’t that be sharing too much information with someone he barely even knew? But what if he failed to make him understand or convince him and he tattled about it?

’Our little vacation might cut short...’ Knox thought inside.

His conflicted face made Ragel a bit uncomfortable. He waved his hands to catch Knox’s wandering mind, then he said politely, "You don’t have to tell me, Sir Knox. I think I know what you’re trying to say already. I also know about what happened to you, so it’s quite astonishing to see that person’s son here, and even more when he claimed he’s...ah...Knoa’s father. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I’ll keep it to myself. I won’t tell grandma."

Relief washed over Knox. He beamed and gave Ragel a grateful smile, which made the latter blush. Ragel quickly looked away, however, he couldn’t escape the sinister glare of Knoa’s father which promised him a hellish future if he won’t scram as soon as possible.

Ragel just looked away but remained on Knox’s side. Somehow, he had this urge to annoy the man, as he could already see that he won’t be able to act harshly in front of his son and Knox, so Ragel’s confidence increased.

Rian came. He heard Knox’s and Ragel’s conversation so he turned to the former and asked, "If it’s a secret then you have a bigger problem." Knox furrowed his brows and Rian pointed at Azrael to answer his confusion, "That dickhead just blurted out the kid was his son in front of the director, didn’t he?"

Knox set his priority first, "Watch your tongue in front of the kid."

Thankfully, Azrael was quick to cover his son’s ears and pulled him to his chest. He then glared at Rian, "You heard that? So, you’ve been watching from the beginning?"

Ragel chipped in, "I don’t think that’s the problem right now. As we speak, what if the director is calling Ma’am Althea now?"

The three of them looked back at Ragel, dread showed all over their face.