Laird’s POV


    I didn’t expect to hear all of that. It’s not like I wanted to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t resist listening to their entire conversation. I hid behind the thick foliage on my neighbor’s house fence.


    “What was that all about?” I asked, frowning.


    Fene didn’t answer and instead ran into her own house. I hurriedly walked to her front door and saw Fene mming it shut with a loud thud. Funny.


    I went inside my house and knocked on Lloyd’s bedroom door. His room was right in front of mine, and I knew he was already inside.N?velDrama.Org (C) content.


    “Come in,” Lloyd said from inside the room.


    I opened the door as Lloyd was putting on a gray t-shirt and cargo shorts.


    “Did you ask Fene out on a date?” I asked cautiously.


    “What? I didn’t know you were into eavesdropping,” Lloyd said casually, grabbing his newly bought game console.


    “Cut the crap,” I retorted.


    Lloyd’s seemingly indifferent expression made me realize that he may have known about my presence from the beginning. He knew I had overheard their conversation. Yet Lloyd still expressed all his feelings to Fene, a sign that he didn’t care about mine.


    I cursed my ability to read someone’s mind through their facial expressions. Especially those close to me. I just realized he was challenging me.


    “Change your clothes first. Come y with me.” Lloyd handed me a game controller.


    ***


    I don’t know how many rounds we yed. All I knew was that when I lost, I asked for a rematch. Then, when Lloyd lost, he also asked for a rematch. We kept ying until the evening. After our spirits started to wane and we began to feel tired, I finally brought up Fene again.


    “So, where are you guys going tomorrow?”


    I asked while my hands were still busy controlling the controller and my eyes were still focused on the fast-reacting basketball game. Lloyd didn’t answer immediately. I thought he wouldn’t tell me anything, and he did.


    “Curious? Come along if you want to know,” Lloyd said.


    I snorted and smiled crookedly. I didn’t realize it, but it seemed Lloyd learned from me how to be an annoying guy.


    “No, I have a weekly match tomorrow.”


    Maybe I was so dedicated to baseball that I forgot what it was like to hang out with friends on Saturdays. Before I got into baseball, I used to go with Fene and other friends to the ice cream shop.


    Now I mostly yed matches on Saturday mornings, then slept from noon to afternoon out of exhaustion. Then, on Saturday night, I had dinner with my family.


    I always thought Lloyd would spend Saturdays in his room reading fantasy and horror novels. I never expected the day woulde for Lloyd to go on a date with a girl. Especially with Fene Baxter.


    Why Fene? I didn’t care about their age difference. If it weren’t for Fene, I wouldn’t care.


    “Fine. Don’t tail me,” Lloyd said.


    “Do you really like her?” I swallowed my spit after asking.


    The referee in the game blew the whistle loudly, and our match paused for a moment. A scene in the game highlighted the yers in slow-motion. The Miami Heat yer I controlled seemed to bump into Lloyd’s SA Spurs yer.


    “That’s a foul,” Lloydmented on the game.


    But somehow, I could understand that thement was directed at an answer to my question.


    “What about you? Do you still like Fene?” Lloyd’s question made meugh uncontrobly. It was spontaneous, but I didn’t expect tough.


    “Still like Fene? Since when did I like her?” I asked, slowly stopping myughter.


    “Are you still denying it?” Lloyd narrowed his eyes at me.


    I snorted and pretended to focus back on the game. Until it turned out, our initial round of the match was over. The cutscene in between rounds yed, and I saw cheerleaders dancing on the sidelines.


    “She joined the cheerleading club and dances like those girls.” Lloyd nodded towards the TV.


    “You didn’t know that, did you? She’s been trying hard, and now she can do that split move,” Lloyd said as one of the girls in the game spread her legs wide on the floor.


    “I appreciate your taste in girls. But does it have to be Fene?” I tried to remain indifferent.


    “Well, to me, she looks the prettiest and coolest. She always manages to boost our school’s sports team’s morale when the game seems impossible to win. She always cheers me up when I feel messed up.”


    I clenched my jaw tightly. I knew Lloyd was deliberately provoking my emotions. I knew my heartbeat was getting faster, and my ears felt hot. This time, Lloyd seemed to have sessfully read my attitude.


    I hated hearing about Fene, whom I didn’t know. I didn’t like hearing her name being praised. The fact that she had now ignored me and was no longer my cheering squad; instead, she unted herself for someone else.


    “I especially like it when she wears those short cheerleading skirts. All the guys at school praise her slender and smooth thighs.”


    Unconsciously, I let go of the game controller I was holding. My hands clenched, and I pulled Lloyd’s shirt. My breath quickened, and I stared fiercely into his eyes.


    “I didn’t know you hit puberty, Lloyd. It seems like I’ve missed a lot all this time,” I whispered angrily, trying to hold back my rage between my words.


    “Why do you care? Didn’t you say you don’t like her?” Lloyd smiled crookedly.


    It was only now that I really looked at Lloyd. His green eyes resembled mine. His facial lines and forehead were simr to mine. His hair is the same color as mine. I didn’t expect his way of looking at Fene to be simr.


    “Maybe you see her as a new toy for you, but not for me. She’s an important friend to me. If you mess with her-” I tried to threaten, but Lloyd once again defeated my words.


    “If I did mess with her, would you tell her your feelings?”


    Lloyd’s smaller hand gripped my wrist. Slowly, I began to realize again that Lloyd was my own brother. I began to realize that my body was still taller than his, and my hands were stronger than his. His t-shirt has be wrinkled and stretched in the chest area.


    “Enough. It’s up to you guys. I won’t interfere.” I released my grip on Lloyd’s t-shirt and headed out of the room.


    “I won this time, Laird,” Lloyd eximed as I opened the door, but I still mmed his bedroom door.