I Am Tired Of Being A Hero

Chapter 320: Extra 4: Asher’s Genetic Project

The door on the other side opened.

The man who walked in was shorter than Asher expected. In his memory, that man had been huge and tall. Like a mountain that he could never shake.

He was much thinner as well with the same dark brown hair and his blue eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Asher.

"Which one are you?"

Which one are you?

Asher registered his words and repeated them to himself. He was not ignorant, his father was a prolific womanizer, the amount of children he had could possibly line up from this visiting room to the gate

But among all those children, there was only one that had been raised by this man.

Two years, he had lived by his side before he had sold him to the Infernal Covenant and now he didn’t recognize him anymore.

He closed his eyes and thought about the prank that Sage was planning. Did he really think he would be able to hide from Malik who had no concept of privacy and enjoyed reading people’s minds for fun?

"Asher," he said. His voice came out even. He was a little surprised by that. "You might not know that you called me ’Hey’ for two years."

The moment the recognition flashed in the man’s eyes, Asher caught it. He also caught the way the man analyzed everything about him.

"You remember." Asher had planned a lot of things to say but they got stuck in his throat.

He wanted to tell him that when he had sold him, he and other children were put in a crate.

It was so cold and so dark. The darkness was like a mass of unscented cotton that was stuffed into his eyes, nose, ears, and throat, not letting go of any crevice it could enter. In this moment of extreme fear, contrary to what one might expect, his vocal cords were not able to produce a single sound, let alone shout a single word.

Perhaps he knew at such a young age that there was nobody who would save him, who would come for him.

"Asher, right." The man put on a sycophantly sweet smile.His gaze felt like a cold, icy prickling sensation as it scanned over every feature and curve of Asher’s face.

"You look so much like me when I was young." The greed in his eyes was unmistakeable, "Those years, Dad was foolish and drunk." He bent down and let out a sob. He sobbed loudly and even pitifully, playing out a scene before Asher.

"Forgive me. Dad doesn’t want anything. If you can come and see me more often.." His eyes roamed over Asher’s luxury clothes once more.

A powerful tremble surged from his heart, as if an electric current was coursing through every inch of his skin and bones. It was an emotion so overwhelming that it swept everything away.

Asher felt incredulous. What on earth was he doing here? A genetic project? He was going to collect this man’s blood and test it against his. To prove what exactly...

Seeing the sorry excuse of a human being trying to manipulate and still suck him dry, Asher felt very wronged.

Rather than take his DNA, Asher wanted to bleed himself dry, squeeze out every drip of blood that belonged to this person and leave it in this wretched prison.

He wanted to talk to Ravi.

Asher stood up, pushed the chair and looked deeply at the person behind the divider, "Goodbye!"

He knew he would never meet this person again.

He put his hands in his pockets, and turned to walk outside.

"Wait...wait!"

The handcuffs and shackles rattled at the same time. The man struggled with all his might, almost standing up from the iron chair, "F*ck! You little piece of sh*t! Did you come here to mock me? You..." There was a choking behind him like someone was gurgling on his own blood but Asher did not look back.

He walked to the door and closed the door behind him.

He expected to see Sage but someone else stood before him.

The person stood in the corridor, his figure enveloped in a layer of light and his outline washed out by the faint white colour. He looked like an illusion, like a shadow puppet cut-out hiding behind a screen. Perhaps, he might collapse with just one touch.

Asher rushed to hug him, "Ravi."

Ravi wrapped the younger male in his arm, using his free hand to stroke his head, "Mmh! I am here."

"Sorry, I missed school." He repeated those words once more, but the trembling of his shoulders grew stronger. He choked back in tears, still trying his very best to hold back.

He didn’t want to make Ravi worry. And in that instant, his emotions just overflowed, flowing out of his eyes.

The sound of him choking back his sobs was becoming increasingly clearer and could be heard again and again in the silence of the hallway.

Ravi continued to rub his back quietly.

"I should hate him but I don’t. I just hate that he is my fa... why is it him? Why can’t it be you?" Asher looked up to Ravi, his eyes were red from crying. He and Ravi had an agreement that they would be each other’s family but it was not enough for Asher anymore.

"Why can’t it be you?" Asher repeated, his arms around Ravi gripping tighter.

Memories were around Asher like fragmented mirror shards. It had taken every courage he had for him to leap towards Ravi. Then he was just too afraid of the Infernal Covenant that he would have clung to anyone.

He would never forget the words that Ravi had told him when they had met.

If you want to come with me, touch the left one. I am not a particularly warm person. I would not cuddle you or be gentle but I would feed you and whenever you choose to leave, I would not mind. I would not send out a search party for you. I have a few rules. If you make a mess, clean it yourself. If you need anything, try and communicate with me what you need. Don’t make so much noise at night, I like to sleep early."

Asher had never heard of such rules that were so easy to obey.

In the end, there was only one rule from Ravi, "Just grow up well."

Asher did not know how long he hugged Ravi but when he came to, he became very aware that it was in mid afternoon and he had just cried in the middle of the hallway.

The tips of his eyes flushed with embarrassment and he moved his head slightly, relaxing when he did not see Sage around.

"I sent Sage home. Feeling better?" Ravi asked as he patted his head.

"You can’t tell anyone that you know..."

Seeing the small smile on Ravi’s eyes, Ash coughed, "You can’t let Uncle Malik read it in your mind either."

"Cause you are a man and men don’t cry?" Ravi nodded to a guard who opened the door for the two of them.

Asher, unaware of the heavy bribes that had been used to facilitate this visit nodded and then shook his head.

"I know men can cry. It is just..." He knew men can cry and tears weren’t a sign of weakness.

It was just embarrassing to cry like a child.

He felt Ravi’s hand on his shoulder. He looked at him. Those eyes were a lot lighter than they had been when they had first met.

Ravi was happy.

"We have not yet talked about you missing school yet. You are not allowed in your orchard for three days." Ravi said seriously as he opened the car for Asher to get into.

Asher froze. Then he laughed loudly for the first time in days, "Ravvvii!" Asher whined, "I missed school. Booked a flight and ran from home. I lied to you and hid something like this from you. That is not an appropriate punishment."

Ravi nodded, "True! How about lines?""

"Lines..."

Focused on the appropriate punishment, Asher did not note as they drove away from the prison.

***

"If you ask me, you should ask him to turn into a cute puppy for a week." Sage said eagerly as he reached out for another peppered chicken wing.

"Not a bad idea. Love, what do you think? We would give the puppy to Elena Crane for one week." Arlen laughed, peeling the shrimp and placing it on top of Ravi’s bowl of egg fried rice.

Asher’s eyes widened at Arlen’s words causing the entire table to burst out laughing before the conversation shifted to the criminal that the Davenport Police were after.

After dinner, Sage and Asher would take over washing the plates and after his homework, they would play games but this time, Sage left early and it was just Ravi and Asher in the kitchen.

"Where did Sage run off to? Sage! Sage!" Asher called out.

Ravi smiled, "I asked him to get something for me. Ash, come and sit."

Asher sat down and put it on the most obedient expression he could muster. He had learnt it from Sage.

Ravi placed a glass vial of blood on the table.

Asher looked at it curiously. "What is this?"

"I heard you are doing a project on Genes. This is my blood." Ravi picked up a kitchen cloth. "It would do for your project if you want it."

The two of them sat awkwardly for a second and then Arlen entered the room, "Heavens, Love!" He looked exasperatedly at his lover and then at Asher, "Ash, Ravi rearranged the atoms in his blood. Any lab will read it as a biological match. Father and son. 99.99%."

Asher felt the areas just beneath his eyes heat up and he immediately reached for the bottle.

He fought the tears and looked up to Ravi with a smile.

"Does this mean that I can legally sue you if you don’t give me dinner?"

He held the glass vial tighter as Ravi pulled him into a hug, "En."

Arlen leaned over, sliding his fingers under Ravi’s chin to lift it up. Their eyes met in a smile and Arlen pressed his lips to Ravi’s, kissing him softly, gently, unhurriedly.