Saving the Villain

[ Short Flashback ]

"Keep your hands off of my friends. This is my last warning."

Luke looked at Asher coldly as he warned him about meddling in his life. However, Asher simply snorted and shrugged.

"You always make me sound like the villain," said Asher, waving as he resumed his steps. "I wonder why I even come looking for you to console you, knowing you\'ll simply push all the blame on me."

Asher stopped by the door and looked back. "Right… because you\'re my little brother. Therefore, I need to care. Don\'t worry. I don\'t plan on involving myself with your friends and that, Miss Blac? Did you ask me if I like her? Do I need to like her if being with her is beneficial to our Quinn family?"

"You…!"

"Luke." Asher\'s eyes sharpened as his tone dropped. "You can live freely and luxuriously without any pressure from the elders because I carry all that pressure as the eldest son. I need to be perfect — faultless at every angle, so my little brother doesn\'t have to conform to everything they say."

He paused, shoving his hands inside his pockets. "If you think I am too much, I\'d say you are. You blame me for everything when all I did was to protect you. Now, if you can\'t even get Miss Blac on your side, I have no option but to pursue her myself or prove that I don\'t need the Blacs to secure the company."

"I didn\'t want to rub this on your face — I never did until now. However, it\'s unfair when you think so badly of me when all I did was for your sake," Asher continued, letting out a scoff. "What about these friends you keep protecting? What have they done, or what did they sacrifice for you to talk to me like this?"

Luke balled his hands into a fist, looking straight at Asher\'s eyes. However, he couldn\'t answer.

"There is a reason family exists, Luke. I hope you wake up and realize who matters." With that being said, Asher reached for the doorknob and left his little brother alone. Asher had always kept his sentiments in, knowing it was his responsibility as a big brother to protect his little brother.

However, tonight, he was triggered.

Asher never asked anything Luke in return. Yet, his brother wasn\'t even angry at Cosette when she sold him out to their father. Instead, Luke was angry at Asher. It was unfair when Asher\'s intention from the beginning was pure, but his brother only thought of him as a heartless villain.

It would be better if Asher was just as heartless as Luke deemed him. After all, Asher could be very cruel, but he had to because if he showed the slightest weakness, their greedy relatives would use it to gain authority over the clan and the company.

Meanwhile, Luke stayed standing in his spot as he stared at the shut door that Asher slammed. His fist trembled until he loosened it, throwing himself back on the couch.

"Arghh…!!!" he ground his teeth, grunting in anger. Luke covered his eyes with his arm, trying to calm himself down instead of breaking everything in sight.

Arguments weren\'t new between the Quinn brothers. After all, Luke had always picked on his big brother. However, this was the first time Asher retaliated.

Silence descended into the room as Luke reclined on the couch with his arm over his eyes. He didn\'t move for minutes, inhaling and exhaling deeply until his breathing calmed down. Peeling his arm away from his eyes, his eyes fastened with bitterness.

"Who told you…" he muttered through his gritted teeth. "... to do anything for me?"

Of course, Luke wasn\'t that clueless Asher was doing everything just so Luke wouldn\'t be implicated in the company affairs. Since when they were children, while Luke was playing, Asher had to attend classes. He could still remember the time Asher was scolded because he chose to play once instead of doing his homework.

After that incident, Luke didn\'t have the chance to play with his big brother. It continued until they were growing up. Asher was forced to mature at an early age, becoming the family\'s pride and honor.

Initially, Luke thought Asher had grown to love it and became a workaholic because his brother would rather read books and documents. Only when they entered high school did Luke learn that even though Asher had now the freedom to relax, he couldn\'t.

The elders would use Luke\'s name to get on Asher\'s nerves as if they had Luke as a hostage. Therefore, Luke had grown more rebellious but still aimed for better grades. It wasn\'t just for Maynard, unlike what people assumed.

Luke\'s main reason for having a better grade was so that his big brother had ammo if someone tried to use him again. But he still acted dumb and rebellious, so people wouldn\'t even think Luke could be used to threaten Asher\'s title.

Despite all of Luke\'s efforts, Asher\'s situation was still the same. Or maybe Asher just had grown used to this life that he would meddle with Luke\'s affair since their father was way more relaxed about it. Whatever it was, it turned Luke\'s stomach.

"I can\'t breathe," he muttered, balling his hands once more while staring at the ceiling. "I feel sick…"

His jaw tightened, thinking about how this life had always been. He liked his big brother a lot, and even if he always argue with him, Luke never hated Asher. However, if this continued… if Luke stayed in the same house as Asher and would always be protected by his big brother, Luke would definitely grow to hate him.

Or rather… Asher might turn out a real villain while protecting his little brother, and Luke would eventually hate himself if that happened. Hence, he had to prevent that.

"I\'m not a child anymore." His eyes sharpened, determined to put a stop to this madness once and for all.

That night, Luke didn\'t hesitate to take out a small suitcase and only brought all the things he needed. He left most of the things that were called luxury, bringing just a small amount of cash, and drove off to a hotel. The next morning, he left the car in the hotel, searched for a small apartment he could afford if he worked hard for it, and coincidentally met the bad students Cosette and Maxen.