《Keeping The Balance》Chapter Thirteen - The CEO Reborn Step Brother - Task World One (13)
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Hol was in a dark space, floating around. He couldn’t feel anything and he didn’t know if that was good or not. He felt like something bad was happening but he just felt so tired…
“Host…” In this dark space, Hol could hear a familiar voice calling out to him. He tried to open his eyes but it was so hard. Everything is too hard right now and he just wanted to sleep.
“Host, open your eyes!” Hol eyes opened quickly and in front of him was a frowning Starie. Around their eyes look puffy, like they've been crying. This is strange because he assumed that since Starie wasn’t human they couldn’t cry.
“Host you are such a dumbass! Why did you do that! Idiot! Dummy!” Hol held up his hands to cover his head when Starie started to hit him on the head. He was still confused about what was happening and where he was.
Actually, what was Hol doing before he was sent here? Hol tried to remember the last thing that happened to him before he ended up in this dark space. He was thinking hard for a while because his eyes widened in shock.
“Terrance! Where Terrance?! Is he okay?! Why am I here?! I need to see Terrance and make sure he is okay!” Hol was looking around frantically for Terrance, feeling worried that something was happening to him at the moment. He couldn’t understand why he wasn’t with Terrance.
“Host, you completed the mission but the body you were in got injured badly by the stab wound you took. I took out your soul from the body and took us to a space that can view what is happening in the world.” Hol looked down under him and realized that he could see inside of a hospital room. He dropped to his knees as he tried to get a better look at the hospital room.
He could see the body of Karson that was just laying in the bed. There were things connected to him. His heartbeat was going at a steady pace on the heart monitor and his body was being given oxygen through his nose.
Karson wasn’t alone in the room, sleeping in a chair was Terrance whose face looked like it had been crying for a while. Hol tried to get closer to Terrance but the place he was in wouldn’t allow him to.
“Can… Can I not go back there? I don’t want to leave Terrance… I finally found someone to love and I don’t want to lose them so quickly.” Hol was looking at Starie with desperate eyes. He never wanted something so bad in his whole life. He didn’t want to leave with such a bad event left in Terrance's mind. He wanted to be with him for a bit longer…
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“Host can go back… But the Host won’t live to old age. That body technically should be dead since it was killed by Caleb before. Host, you will live until that body turns 60. That is still a rather long time but can you go back knowing that you will leave him behind first?” Starie didn’t have their usually cheerful look on their face. They were looking at Hol with serious eyes that made them seem like they were older than they appeared.
“That's fine with me… I would rather leave him behind first anyway. I don’t think I could deal with him leaving me behind first anyway. Even if our time together won’t be long I will be happy just being there with him.” Hol looked back down at Terrance with a soft look in his eyes. Starie let out a quiet sigh before getting into a more childish attitude.
“If that's what Host wants! You should be glad that you have such an honest System as your partner or I would have sent you back without telling you this fact! Be grateful to me!” Starie's expression turned smug as they looked down at Hol who was still on his knees. Hol just smiled at them with a gentle look in his eyes.
“Yeah… I have such a great System…” Hol raised a hand to Starie cheek and gave it a soft pinch before letting go and looking back down at Terrance. Hol closed his eyes and his body started to glow bright before it disappeared.
Starie was left alone in this space as they looked down at the room below them. Their expression grew blank as they rub at their cheek with a faraway look in his eyes. “This System is a liar... There are so many things I am hiding from you... I’m sorry for being a bad System…”
Starie also disappeared from the dark space and went into the hospital room where both Hol and Terrance were currently in.
Hol could feel himself waking up again but his body felt super heavy and in so much pain. With a groan Hol sat up in the bed he was resting it. He looked around with his blurry eyes to the room he was in.
He wasn’t paying attention to the room itself, too focused on Terrance to care about anything else. The room was filled with flowers and many bags that he assumed must be gifts or something like that.
As he was looking around he saw that Terrance was beginning to move in the chair he was resting in. Hol went to call out to him but was stopped when he started to cough harshly. His throat felt so dry, when was the last time he drank something.
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As he was coughing he felt someone rubbing their hand on his back and giving him a cup of water that he quickly drank. When he did that the dryness in his throat disappeared right away. Hol blinks away the tears that appear in his eyes from the harsh coughing.
Standing in front of him with red eyes was Terrance. Before Hol could say anything to him, Terrance quickly grabbed him in a hug. Hol flinched in pain from how tight the hug was but relaxed into it when Terrance made the hug more gentle.
“Why did you do that…? You are such an idiot getting in the way of that! What if you died and I was left here by myself?!” Terrance's voice was shaky as he continued to hold onto Hol, not wanting to let go for a second.
“I’m sorry… I hope you can forgive me for being such an idiot.” Hol rubbed his face into Terrance's neck, ignoring how his shoulder was getting wet. He was too happy to be able to hold Terrance again. He really did love him.
As they were hugging each other, Hol heard the door to his room open and something dropped to the floor right away. Pulling away from Terrance he saw his parents standing in the doorway with red eyes.
Terrance slowly let go of Hol and got out of the way for Hol's parents. They quickly got to either side of Hol and hugged him tightly. There was a mixture of scolding and sodding and kisses. Hol was having a hard time hugging both of them back at the same time but he couldn’t stop the smile on his face.
After a few days in the hospital, getting checked by doctors, and being visited by friends, Hol was finally able to go back home. He, unfortunately, couldn’t go back to work for a month, meaning that Carol was subbing in as the boss of the flower shop for a while.
Also, Hol wasn’t having a good time at home with Terrance watching over him like a hawk. He couldn't even go to the bathroom by himself without Terrance following him and waiting outside for him to be done.
He understood it was due to his concern for him but there needs to be a limit to being concerned. But Hol had to admit it was nice being cared for and not doing a lot of stuff but doesn’t mean he wants this to last forever.
One day while they were relaxing in bed together, Hol realized that he didn’t hear any news about Caleb at all. Starie didn’t say anything about his situation either before Hol was sent back.
“Hey… I never got to ask you this but what happened to Caleb?” Terrance never really said anything about him during their time together and Hol was a bit worried that he was still out there and planning to hurt Terrance again.
“Oh, don’t worry. He won’t be causing any more trouble. Now, how about I get you super relax…” Hol felt his eyebrow raised in confusion before his face grew hot when Terrance went down his body.
“W-Wait! Wh-What are you d-doing?!” Hol tried to stop Terrance but quickly stopped when he was grabbed lightly in his half hardened area. Hol felt himself getting lost in his arousal as Terrance pulls down his pants and boxers at the same time.
Hol immediately forgot about Caleb as Terrance helped him relax. Who is Caleb? He doesn’t know and he doesn’t care. All he wants to do is focus on the warmth surrounding him currently.
And try not to reopen his stitches because he doesn’t want to explain what caused it to open in the first place.
As Terrance was helping Hol “relax” somewhere else in a dark and empty warehouse was an expressionless Caleb who was laying on a dirty bed. His body was covered in bruises and he looked like he hadn't showered in days.
The room Caleb was in suddenly had a small light appeared in it, only for it to disappear after the food was dropped inside of the room he was in. Caleb quickly crawled over to the food and started to eat it with his hands.
After Caleb was done eating he just sat in front of the door, waiting for anything to happen. Finally not able to stand being in the darkroom anymore Caleb started to bam his hands against the door.
“Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. LET. ME. OUT.” Caleb's hands started to bleed as he continued to hit his fists against the door. Caleb was no longer speaking clearly as he started to sob.
Sobbing could be heard throughout the empty warehouse but no one bothered to do anything to stop the sobbing. The sobbing turned into screaming before it finally got quiet again in the warehouse.
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