Ye Chu huffed. "I'm older than you, anyway."
Pei Yanchuan huffed too.
After he finished eating, Ye Chu applied medicine to his wounds again. "Where are your parents? Will they come get you?"
Pei Yanchuan fell silent for a few seconds. "No."
Ye Chu felt as though he had asked something he shouldn't have and pressed his lips together. The boy in front of him looked barely ten. How had he gotten hurt so badly?
Could his parents be even worse than Ye Chu's own?
At that thought, a hint of pity entered Ye Chu's gaze as he looked at Pei Yanchuan.
Pei Yanchuan noticed. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I don't need your pity."
"You don't have to pretend to be so strong," Ye Chu said. He always seemed headstrong to other people too, but he showed his true self to his older brother. He would complain in frustration that he hadn't done well on an exam, or cry and say his wounds hurt. Negative emotions needed an outlet, not to be swallowed down alone.
Pei Yanchuan froze for a moment. A little while later, he muttered, "I'm not pretending."
Ye Chu checked the time. "I have to go. I've got school. Take care of yourself while you're here alone, okay?"
Pei Yanchuan watched Ye Chu grab his bag and run out, checking his wristwatch as he ran. He seemed to be in a real hurry.
"You're in such a rush, but you still came to put medicine on me..."
Pei Yanchuan lay back down on the bed, grimacing at the pain from the wounds on his back. He didn't know what to do-return to the Pei Family, or spend his days hiding from place to place.
The Pei Family wouldn't let him go. He knew too