AidenUncle Jin said, “Back in the Heian era, our ancestors supposedly formed a contract with the four guardians.”Aiden said, “The dragon, fox, snake, and cat.”He nodded. “In exchange, we must offer them one of our children. She must be beautiful, and beauty in the Heian era is nothing other than silky black hair, alabaster skin, and an exquisite face that has the power to bring men to their knees. They gave the girl the title of Shrine Maiden. Under the contract, the Shrine Maiden is trapped to live with them for all eternity, or so the legend goes.”Though the tale seemed far-fetched, Aiden was intrigued.Uncle Jin continued. “When the Shrine Maiden died, for she is human, after all, another would be born to replace her. Her soul and her power continue in another child’s body. It’s called reincarnation, Aiden-san.”Aiden said, “Are you implying that Haru is really a Shrine Maiden of your family?”Uncle Jin nodded. “A Shrine Maiden in our family brings wealth and prosperity. Do you
HaruWhen I opened my eyes, I saw Noah’s face close to mine and his gaze on me. Heat rushed to my cheeks as I realized I had fallen asleep in his arms and that we were still in the living room.I hastily moved away and out of his arms. I scratched my head as I said, chuckling in embarrassment, “Sorry. I fell asleep.”Noah said, “Why did you apologize?”“Because…” I thought for a bit. Why did I need to apologize to Noah?“Haru? Haru?” Isaac’s voice came from the hallway.I said, “I’m in here.”The door slid open, and Isaac came rushing in. “Jesus, man, don’t just disappear like that.” He caught my wrist and pulled me up. “Come on, let’s soak in the hot spring before breakfast.”I stumbled along behind him, leaving Noah alone in the living room. My mind was still on him when I was in the hot spring pool ten minutes later.Why did I end up sleeping in Noah’s arms last night? I sighed and rested my head on the side of the pool.“Haru? What’s wrong?” Isaac asked, looking at me, his face al
HaruUncle Jin took me into a room that I assumed was his office. It was a neat place, with a study desk and chair on one side and a sitting area on the other. There were even murals on the walls, too. One of them caught my eye—it was of a beautiful girl in layers of colorful kimonos and surrounding her were mystical creatures: a dragon, a fox, a snake, and a cat.“That’s beautiful, Uncle,” I said, nodding toward the mural. “It looks like it’s in the Heian era, the setting.”I noticed Uncle Jin smiling. “It is beautiful, isn’t it?”I sat down and then said, “What did you want to talk to me about?”Uncle Jin leaned back against the seat and said, “I assume you know by now that Reo will be moving back here to Japan?”I nodded. “After he graduates from the university.”There were a few knocks at the door, which were followed by Higa-san’s voice saying, “I’ve brought them, sir.”“Good,” Uncle Jin said.The door opened, and I saw Aiden, Noah, Mason, Isaac, Reo, and even Connor entering the
AidenAiden relaxed as he inhaled the cool, fresh air into his lungs. It had been intense back there in the office, but of course, he was glad he had followed his gut instinct where Haru was concerned. It had been the right move, in his opinion, that he didn’t tell Haru of his job offer beforehand. In the end, everything had worked out fine. Of course, he still couldn’t believe that Haru had managed to pull that off. Damn, he was proud of the boy.“So?” Patricia’s voice came his way. “What did you want to talk to me about?”They were outside in the penthouse private garden, and as Patricia said, he had requested a meeting with her.Aiden asked, “What did you feel when we met again a few days ago?”Patricia chuckled. “Why do you ask me that? It’s obvious, isn’t it? I was surprised at first and then felt over the moon to be seeing you again.”“You’ve been flirting with me.” Aiden could be very blunt when his mind was made up and he knew what he wanted.Patricia chuckled again, uncomfort
HaruNew YorkIt had been a couple of weeks since we returned from out trip, and life went back to normal. The good news was that I had passed all my exams, thank God, and now I’d have to work even harder on my studies because I didn’t want to disappoint Uncle Jin.Today was a Saturday, and Isaac’s friends as well as Jess were here, but not to have their yaoi conference. Today was apparently special. Why? Because Jess had said so. She and Isaac had spent countless hours preparing a presentation. The topic? Our trip to Japan and South Korea.The doorbell rang, and I said, “I’ll get it,” since everyone was busy, with Aiden, Noah, Reo, Mason, and Connor preparing the food while Jess and Isaac were preparing the PowerPoint, and Matt, Ryan, and Jason playing online games.I rushed over to the door and opened it to see Carter and Lucas.“Hello, Haru,” Carter said.“Sorry we’re late,” Lucas said.“No worries,” I said. “You’re right on time. Come in.”The two did and headed straight into the
It has been three months since Haru and the brothers returned from their winter vacation in Japan, and Haru’s relationship with Aiden is blossoming beautifully. Icing on the cake, they’re moving into a new, luxurious apartment, and Haru is more content and happy than ever. Well, except for one thing—his second stepbrother Noah. Noah’s hot and cold attitude toward Haru is beginning to annoy Haru. One minute the brother is nice and caring, and the next, he turns into a prick and picks on Haru, even demanding a kiss daily. When a handsome new face comes into Haru’s life, which the brothers don’t like, Noah erupts into a possessive demon and turns Haru’s world upside down. Haru That’s the last of it, I thought as I taped up the box containing my textbooks and then wrote my name on the side to indicate it belonged to me. Done, I sighed in satisfaction. Finally, after ten and a half years of liv
NoahNoah knew he was fucking screwed, and it was Aiden’s fault. If the brother hadn’t teasingly said, “How will Haru clean himself if he doesn’t have body wash?” then Noah wouldn’t have stupidly rushed away in search of the damn body wash, as well as shampoo, and barged upstairs right into the bathroom to witness a scene he wished he hadn’t seen.Yes, it was Aiden’s fault. The brother knew how much the mere presence of Haru affected Noah. Not to mention that sweet, intoxicating smell Haru exuded that seemed to grow stronger every day. Yet Aiden continued to tease him, flaunting how fucking desirable Haru was.“Fuck!” he said under his breath as he pulled his shirt off over his head. Throwing the thing to the floor, he inhaled a deep breath and raked his fingers through his hair.He closed his eyes, and the instant he did, images of Haru came to his mind.Wet dark hair clinging onto a gorgeous f
NoahNoah saw the innocent face turn red as those dark eyes widened in realization. In a flash, Haru moved away and out of his embrace, leaving Noah feeling cold and empty despite his callous behavior.“Sorry,” Haru said, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. He searched around the place, looking quite lost and confused.Noah admitted the boy was adorable when he looked bewildered at his surroundings.He said, to remind the boy, “We’re in our new apartment, airhead.”“Oh,” Haru said. “Yeah. Right. Where’s Aiden?”So, the first person that always came to his mind was Aiden? Fucking typical.“No clue,” Noah said, picking up his smartphone again. “Probably at the gym on the thirtieth floor. He did say he was excited about having a gym in the apartment building.”“Yeah,” the boy said. “He did.” Then without another word, he got up and left the room.
MasonMason felt his stomach churning sickly when he received the text message from Haru. It said: Mason, just want to let you know I’m on St. Joseph Island with Noah. Please don’t worry about me. I’m fine.He could only stare at the message. Just how the hell did Haru end up on St. Joseph Island with Noah?He texted back, demanding answers. Haru promptly replied with: Something happened and Noah brought me here with him. Everything is fine. Please don’t worry about me.Just how was everything fine when he was on St. Joseph Island with Noah alone? Mason wondered. That bastard second brother of theirs was undoubtedly going to confess to Haru and then fuck the hell out of the boy; he knew it.Fuck! He clicked on Haru’s name and pushed on the call button, but it went unanswered. Haru was probably busy talking to Aiden.Mason raked his fingers
HaruNoah was such a good kisser, and despite my experience learned from Aiden, I still found it hard to keep up with him. He was vigorous and intense; every tongue stroke, caress, and lick was exquisite, sending ripples of pleasure surging through me and driving me mindless.I shuddered, a flourish swirl of bliss dancing inside me as he stroked his tongue around mine in one full motion, feeling all of me, and then sucking at me. Meanwhile, his hand hotly trailed down my body to my already hard cock, and he groped it in his palm.“Ngh...” I groaned out softly, loving the way he was caressing me down there.When he finally released my mouth, allowing me to breathe properly, he turned his attention to my neck where he then kissed, sucked, and licked my skin.I wrapped my arms around him, just feeling his body against me, loving the heat exuding from him and the hardness of his form. He felt stern
NoahIn the en suite, Noah made quick work of showering and cleaning himself up, making sure his body was properly washed off. He was pedantic about smelling nice and fresh, too. When he was done fifteen minutes later, he wiped himself dry with a fluffy white towel and then headed out the door, stark naked.He was grinning from ear to ear when he was back in the bedroom, and his smile became even wider when he saw Haru did a double take at him.“What... What the heck...” Haru uttered, his eyes large and his face flushing hot.Stroking his wet, dark hair back with his fingers, Noah eyed the boy and noted that Haru wasn’t wearing what he had offered him earlier. The boy had donned one of Noah’s navy with white striped work shirts he usually wore under his suit jacket.Fuck! Just holy fuck, but Haru was so cute wearing his shirt that was way too big for him. It looked like the boy was
NoahNoah was grinning widely like a Cheshire cat when he walked out of the elevator, his hand clasping firmly over Haru’s who was beside him.“I heard they have nice food here,” he said as they headed toward the entrance of the restaurant located on the fifth floor of The Princeton Hotel and Resort. “You’ll like it.”“Ugh! I’m so hungry, I can eat anything,” Haru said.A maître d' took them to a table that had a great view of the ocean to the left and the small, picturesque town of South Hampton to the right. As Haru made himself comfortable and scanned over the menu, Noah shifted his gaze across the restaurant, not because he was interested in how luxurious the place was, but because he wanted to ensure none of his colleagues were dining here. He didn’t want to bump into any of them, after all, especially now that he had Haru with him. He wanted to h
HaruI saw the pain expressing in his eyes and his face darkened. He said, his voice cold, “If you don’t want to have anything to do with me, then I’ll leave the apartment. I won’t be a part of the family anymore.”I felt sick to my stomach at hearing this. That meant he already had a backup plan. Typical of Noah.“What about your job with Uncle Jin?” I asked. “Are you going to break your promise to him just like that?”“I don’t usually break my promises, Haru, but in this case, I will have to make an exception. I’ll call Uncle Jin and explain everything to him.”“You’re an idiot,” I said. “Just because of me, you’d throw away your future to help run a big company that makes millions?”He chuckled. “Yeah. When it comes to you, I’d throw everything away, even my life. I&rs
HaruI had no idea how I got here and how the fuck it happened, but here I was, standing in the foyer of The Princeton Hotel on St. Joseph Island, looking around the elegant place like a lost little lamb. Meanwhile, Noah was checking in at the reception.Fuck! Just what the fuck?I took in a deep breath for a moment, working on collecting myself.It had only been four hours ago when Noah just suddenly turned up at The BlueSky where Sean and I were having lunch. I must admit it had been great, with us chatting about Aki and Sean’s puppies and kittens, but then it all turned to custard when Noah appeared as if out of thin air.It had all been a whirlwind when Noah dragged me out of the restaurant and then into his car, and then we were on the ferry—where I had ranted about how stupid Noah was and he about how stupid I was and us arguing over each other during the whole journey. And now h
Noah“I can’t believe you’re going to St. Joseph Island,” Isaac said, grinning. “If it’s nice there, maybe we all could go there some weekend, you know, for breaks and have some fun?”Noah snorted. He reached out and ruffled Isaac’s bed hair. The boy had just gotten up, having spent the night sleeping there on the sofa.“You’re always looking for fun, aren’t you, Isaac?” Connor asked from the across the room. The man was busy cooking breakfast: French toast with bacon.“Well, fun is fun, isn’t it?” Isaac said, his eyes glued to the French toast Connor was transferring from the hot pan onto the plate.“Then I’ll be tagging along,” Connor said. “Tell me when you guys are going there. St. Joseph Island is beautiful, especially in spring.”“Really?” Isaac asked as he go
HaruAfter Aiden left the room, I turned on my side and resumed my sleep. I was dead tired, after all, and was damn glad I didn’t have any classes today. I just knew I wouldn’t be able to make it, that was for sure. Aiden had been a demon last night. I couldn’t believe he had gone all out and fucked me so many times.I found myself smiling, though, when I thought about him and how much he wanted and loved me.I sighed deeply in that content way and then shut my eyes, and soon, I fell asleep again. When I next woke up, it was to feel a pair of lips on mine and a hot tongue sneaking its way into my mouth. I fluttered my eyes open, wondering if Aiden had returned.My gaze came to rest on a gorgeous face with a pair of gold-brown eyes, and I felt a gentle hand cupping the side of my face. Mason?I gasped and was about to utter his name out loud when his tongue invaded my mouth and be
Aiden“Where are you taking me?” Haru asked.Aiden gave the boy a smile. “Let’s continue this on the bed. Doing it in the bathtub is a bit difficult.”“Oh,” Haru expressed. “But we’re wet.”Aiden, his eyes dark, gazed at Haru, taking in the sight of the boy wet from head to toe, his milky skin smooth with droplets of water beading on him. He must admit the boy was exquisitely beautiful, and the sight turned him on even more. Now he understood the charm of seeing one’s partner naked and soaking wet. It was fucking sexy. He wondered, too, if Haru found him hot like this. Naked, muscles taut with sexual tension, and his skin beading with water droplets.He got his answer when he put the boy on the bed and saw Haru slowly, as if taking his time, drifting his gaze from his face to his cock, which had already sprung back to life.&ldquo