Salvatore laughs at Rami's face directly.
Not giving the other face.
"Okay fine. I'll stop." Salvatore forcefully stops when he sees that Rami is about to punch him.
"Hmmp!! You always bully me." Rami complains. After that, he puts a grape wine in the wine glass that he finally picked up.
He sat right beside Salvatore.
Salvatore just chuckled amusely, "So, how are you? It's been a long while until you came back here. I thought you already forgot about me."
"As if I'll forget you. I just got very busy." Rami immediately refuted.
"I'll really punch you if you do that for no reason." Salvatore.
Rami rolled his eyes at his friend's harsh voice, "I really got busy. I promise."
"I believe you for now. So, how's your Elder Brothers?" Salvatore concluded and then asked.
Rami sips on the wine glass while staring at the garden, "As usual, they're still the same. Nothing new. I can still feel that they can't seem to treat me as someone close to them. I can still feel the distance in the way they treat me."
"Why do you still want to stay in that place anyway? I've been offering you for a long time to just stay here with me and Elder Brother. We very much welcome you here." Salvatore asked Rami curiously.
He knew Rami's pain while still staying there.
"Salvy, you know me. I want to be with them. Even if that's how they treat me. I still love them. And another thing, aside from treating me coldly, I'm not being mistreated there either. So I'm still fine I guess." Rami persuades Salvatore.
"Even so. They're still hurting you." Salvatore insisted.
Rami signed and reassured Salvatore, "I'm okay, I promise."
Salvatore looked at Rami intently. Seeing that Rami couldn't meet his gaze, he didn't argue and simply said, "Okay, fine. Just remember, I'll always be here for you."
"I know. I'm so glad you're here with me Salvy." Rami smiled. "Anyway, I believe that the way they treated me, they don't mean it. I know they have a reason. I'll just wait for them to say it to me."
"Until when? Until they realized that they had already hurt you badly? You're human too. You're not an immortal. You feel pain. You have a bottom line. Will you always tolerate them?" Salvatore said aggressively when he heard what Rami said.
He even put down the wine on the table and stood there facing Rami while his hands were holding the both sides of his waist.
"Salvy, please calm down. I know what I am doing. My tolerance for them is immeasurable. Even you and your family, especially your brother. I love them okay. Also, as I said a while ago, they didn't maltreat me there, they just treated me coldly. I can manage that. At least as their step brother, they treated me good enough. I can't ask for more."
"But-----"
"They're also the only family I have left. At least with them, I have a family I can truly consider my own, a place where I belong. Even if I'm not really close to them." Rami interrupted Salvatore.
"Okay. I've lost. No matter what I say, you won't listen anyway." Salvatore said in defeat then he turned to pick his wine glass again and drank in it.
Rami ushers for Salvatore to sit again which Salvatore complies.
"Hahaha. You know me!!" Rami said triumphally.
After sitting, Salvatore leaned on the side of the sofa while he stared at Rami.
"I learned that you got hurt." Salvatore asks.
Rami looks at Salvatore, uncertainty in his eyes. Really deciding if he would tell the truth to him or not.
"What? You can't say it?" Salvatore raised a brow when he saw that Rami is still deciding if he will talk or not.
Rami noticed Salvatore raising an eyebrow, silently questioning him. The quiet threat in his eyes was unmistakable. Still unsure whether to confess, Rami looked away and took a slow sip of his wine.
"Haven't decided how to confess yet?" Salvatore asked, growing impatient. This time, his threat was open, and Rami flinched at the intensity in his gaze.
Rami knew that if he told Salvatore about his injury, he'd have no choice but to reveal everything else too—which would inevitably lead to… that.
He knew Salvatore well. No one could fool him.
Steeling his mind, Rami finally resolved to confess. Even if he revealed everything, he trusted that Salvatore would understand.
"Okay, fine. But promise me—no matter what I say, you'll stay calm. You can't get angry, and you can't interrupt." Rami said softly, his voice tinged with defeat.
As protective as he was, Rami knew Salvatore would lash out if he knew everything. Especially how he's hurting now— mentally. As for the pain Rami felt from his family's treatment, Salvatore could only bear with it because he was constantly reassured by him that he would be okay.
"Do confess now." Salvatore nodded.
Agreeing with what Rami told.
'We'll see who has the guts to do so!!!' Salvatore thinks otherwise.