"What kind of meeting did you have with James?" Ezra grabbed Leon's shoulders and questioned him with a manic look in his eyes.
Leon swatted away Ezra's hands and casually said, "He wanted me to teach him how to play the piano."
"How? Where'd he hear you playing from? How does he know you? Does he know we're related? Did he talk about me?" Ezra questioned endlessly.
"You sound so obsessed. Relax…" Leon flicked Ezra's forehead and stood up from the bed. Ezra frowned and placed his palm on his forehead.
"You don't get it. James is an existence the world can do without." Ezra said through gritted teeth.
Leon felt like Ezra's words were unnecessary. James wasn't that bad. In fact, James wasn't bad at all. He and Ezra were the bad ones.
"I had a recital and he was in attendance," Leon decided to give Ezra an explanation as he walked towards the bathroom, taking off his clothes as he spoke.
"He said he wants to learn how to play piano for a new role he just nailed. Something about it being different from the usual drama he stars in. Oops. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that."
He covered his mouth with his hand after letting that information slip. Ezra's eyes turned red, and he seemed to grab the sheets underneath him tightly.
"That fucking lunatic…" Ezra cussed lowly, his expression twisting with intense emotions.
Leon couldn't help but roll his eyes at Ezra's reaction. You'd think James had done something incredibly terrible to him in the past that caused him to despise hearing just his name.
But that was not the case at all.
"It's fine. I'm also gonna get a role that's fresh and different from the norm," Ezra released the sheets and said with a casual tone after a few seconds.
His entire countenance changed into one of ease as he smiled carefreely. He behaved like he hadn't gone through the motions just moments ago.
"Look at you. Always mimicking James. You should be ashamed of yourself. Tsk tsk." Leon shook his head in disappointment at Ezra before walking into the bathroom naked to shower.
"Shut up! I'm not mimicking him!" Ezra yelled after Leon.
The latter shut the bathroom door without responding. Leon pushed away Ezra's abnormal behavior to the back of his head. Ezra's obsession with James ran deeper than his mind could even comprehend.
It was better not to get tangled up in his brother's grudge when he had a cross of his own to carry with James.
Leon went under the shower in the bathroom to wash away all the dirt he accumulated during the day.
He was the kind of person who liked to overthink. No, rather, he was the kind of person who couldn't help but overthink. No matter what he did, good or bad, he believed there was always a better approach to things.
Like today when talking to James. Should he have been more assertive? Or should he have behaved in a colder manner to have James picture him as unapproachable?
The least thing Leon wanted was to see James' face again and to have him beg.
He wasn't like Ezra who wasn't afraid to speak his true mind to James and blacken him without consequence. Ezra hated James.
As for Leon, he feared James.
Leon spent a while in the bathroom, doing more thinking than washing. When he came out, Ezra was no longer in the room. However, he could still hear Ezra's voice at a distance.
Coupled with the sounds of laughter from Max and Hendrix. It seemed like the three of them were having fun in the other room.
Leon wanted to join in, but he knew they'd stop having fun the moment he walked into the room. He was the literal definition of party pooper—according to Hendrix.
He secretly envied how everyone else was easily able to let loose and have fun. He doubted he'd ever get the privilege to enjoy living.
He could only sigh and get himself to sleep. He, of all people, knew best to stay away from the places he wasn't welcome.
That night, Leon had a dream. A nightmare in better terms. James had strangled him in the nightmare, cutting off his ability to breathe. And he'd repeatedly said the words into his face, 'You disgust me.'
Leon woke up with a headache the next day, sweating all over. Ezra was lying next to him, seeming to have silently slipped back to the room while he was asleep.
Leon didn't want to wake Ezra up, so he quietly stood up from the bed and went into the bathroom. His entire body hurt as he moved.
In the dream, after getting strangled by James, James seemed to have hired a group of people to beat him up. Leon had been pummeled to within an inch of his life by the group of people in the dream. Maybe that was why his body was hurting him now.
Inside the bathroom, Leon stood in front of the sink, grabbing the sides. A mirror hung above it. Leon stared at his reflection.
His eyes were bloodshot. And his brown hair stuck to his forehead. His lips were chapped and dry. He looked like someone who had been chased to death. He felt like someone had chased him to his death.
"It's okay. You're fine," Leon reassured himself with a small voice.
"You didn't do anything wrong. You're innocent," he choked out, his grip on the sink tightening. "You're innocent." He repeated to himself again.
Then he cast his gaze away from the sink. Leon tried not to think of the past, but with James' sudden appearance in his life, the past was all he could think about. And it was slowly killing him.
Leon had an impeccable memory; a gift and a curse. If only he could forget the details, forget everything about the past, he'd be able to live without fear and guilt. But he couldn't.
So he had to force himself to live with his decisions.
"It's not your fault," he looked at his reflection in the mirror for the last time and said, "I'm innocent."