No One Will Ever Hurt You Again I Promise-Chapter 58: That Same Sentence

El did what Howie asked him to do without being asked twice. He was not angry with them, but he did not like that they took him for someone easy to deal with. He wanted him to learn it once and for all in the future, so there would be no further misunderstandings. He is not an easy target.

However, if there is a next time, they will know that they better watch out before doing anything funny.

El went to stand next to H, his arms crossed on his bouncy pecs. He observed the strange couple formed by the newcomers. Oliver glared at him and rushed towards his brother, who still hadn’t recovered from the blow he had taken.

Oliver keeps throwing murderous looks at him and Perth, who is trying to escape the dazed state the slap put him in, if we can call it a slap.

"Are you going to stop provoking him by looking at him like this?" Howie asks him. "It’s annoying, you know. If I were them, I would like to give you a few blows that will make you regret your pretentiousness too."

"These little shits insulted me, and they took me for someone easy to defeat. Did you believe that? " El grinned, ignoring Howie’s statement.

"Maybe it’s the effect of the moon. He’s not in his normal state," Howie tells him calmly.

"Yeah, maybe, but they’ll learn not to piss me off next time."

"I think they understood it, and you didn’t need to wallop the poor guy so hard either. You saw him; he still hasn’t come to his senses. What a poor darling!" Howie commented, half serious, half amused by Perth’s state.

"Well, he just had to not attack me in the back in the first place." It’s not worthy of a real fighter. He has to learn that he should face his opponent before he lands a blow. I think I just taught him that." uttered the latter in a smug tone and smirk.

"Gosh, you’re the one who wants to teach others now. It’s unbelievable." Howie exclaims, turning his attention to the other two.

Then something caught Howie’s attention in Oliver’s behavior; it seemed familiar. He wonders where he could have met him when suddenly he remembers the evening at Morgenstern’s. "Yes, that’s right," he said aloud.

His sudden burst drew the gaze of others, without exception, to him.

"Ah," he said awkwardly, "I think I know where I met you. You seemed a little familiar to me, but at first, I didn’t think I had ever met you in my life. But it came back to me," Howie said, raising his voice a little so all three could hear him easily. And his well-controlled voice and tone started speaking to Oliver too.

He looks at him for a while, then a smile forms on his lips and his eyes change expression immediately.

"Taycan boy, this one says with a hint of excitement." A little embarrassed smile emerges on Howie’s lips upon hearing what Oliver calls him.

"Now I’m starting to regret not giving you my name that night," he said to Oliver, who smiled brightly and blushed slightly, forgetting his anger for a moment.

"Do you know these freaks?" snarled his brother in a displeased and aggressive tone.

"Not really, but I have already met one of them," Oliver uttered, pointing to Howie. "It was at Morgenstern’s party, let’s say their son."

"What, since when did you go to parties without telling me?" Perth almost yelled at him in disbelief, still as unhappy as before.

"I was not there for fun. I was working. I had to accompany Ed. It was my day off at the hotel, and he needed a companion to keep the bar, and it was an unexpected request. The person who usually takes care of the bar with him was not available, I helped out, and it paid off well."

"Hmmm," growls Perth, increasingly uncomfortably. He studies the two people in front of him. They have everything it takes to seduce someone without opening their mouths, and knowing that his brother has met the taller one makes him uncomfortable.

It emerges from the boy, a powerful and intimidating aura, and he does not like it.

He straightened his back and discreetly applied himself to give a little charm to his hunched and grumpy posture. Which does not escape El, who has been watching him since Howie and his brother started their little conversation. A malicious smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"I almost didn’t recognize you with the beanie, but you are still so sumptuous and captivating," Oliver said shyly to Howie, which earned him a questioning look from his brother, who nudged him in the arm.

"Did the beanie change me that much?" Howie asks him in a honeyed tone.

"Uh, no, no," Oliver hastened to say, still reddening but more complex this time. "I wasn’t paying too much attention to you since your friend didn’t give me time."

"Hey, are you going to stop your little game?" asks Perth, who finds that this conversation has lasted long enough. And the turn she’s taking doesn’t suit him at all; he doesn’t want to hear his brother chat up this crazy and shameless charming stranger who is openly flirting with him, and his brother is entirely on his spell. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"If you don’t mind, my brother and I would like to leave you." Continue this one in an arrogant and contemptuous tone.

He can’t stand these two boys who look like some fairy creatures that have been brought to life on the pencil of a very talented artist in an unreal world of anime as if they came from a fantasy world.

He knows what he is talking about since he is a skillful cartoonist and he has a great passion for drawing manga and practicing sand art by using salt, and even sometimes with the earth.

Regardless of the difficulties that each of these elements represented for his creativity, he still gave himself the obligation to perfect them and make them usable.

"By the way, my name is Oliver, and he is my little brother Perth."

"You could just say your brother," Perth growled before dragging his brother by the arm without giving the others time to introduce themselves.

"Hey, wait," Howie added hastily. "Did you live in the area? It’s the first time I’ve seen you, and I often run around. "

"No, not really, we’re just...."

"Don’t tell them anything," Perth snapped. You don’t know them. Why do you want to tell them what you came here to do or not?"

Before Oliver could finish his sentence, his brother stopped him from saying too much. They are strangers; he doesn’t know why his brother is so reliable in talking to this boy.

"Why do you hold him so tight?" El intervenes with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Don’t you think you’re too much for a little brother? The adults are talking to each other, so you should stay quiet and listen. You don’t intervene until you’ve been given permission. Did you understand correctly?"

As El progresses in his little speech of belittlement, that’s as much as Perth’s blood starts to boil in his veins. He thinks of a thousand ways to make El swallow his arrogance and confidence to dare to mock him and treat him like a child.

When he can’t take it anymore, he lets his anger burst, trying hard not to throw a tantrum and worsen his case.

"Fuck it! But who do you think you are?" Perth snapped at El, who amused himself by pissing him off by provoking him. Oliver grabbed his wrist to keep him from rushing headlong at El when he saw the tremor in his arms. He looked at him and calmed down.

"Stop provoking him," says H to El, who is having fun messing Perth up.

"Ah, it’s no fun if I can’t tease him." The latter replied, smirking and looking straight at Perth’s enraged glare.

"Can I invite you to have breakfast with me? My name is Howie, and that jerk is my friend, some kind of cousin, and his name is Bravael, but you could call him El once you get to know him better. There is a place not too far from here where we could talk peacefully and get to know each other better. "

"Okay, but thank you, we have a lot to do. We don’t have time for small talk," replies Perth harshly.

"Hey," his brother said, "stop acting so brashly. It’s not..."

Perth didn’t even let him finish his sentence when he grabbed his arm and dragged him away from El and Howie. "Ah, that little brat," El whispered, clenching his teeth. He ran a hand over his face with a sigh of annoyance.

"Oliver, I know what you are," he said softly, raising his voice and watching them walk away.

As Perth and Oliver abruptly stop, Howie asks El, "What possessed you to tell them such a thing without accommodation?"

"What other choice did we have?" El asked with a hint of annoyance.

"It would help if you learned to cultivate a little patience and tolerance towards those you don’t know, at least. He doesn’t know who he is. Can’t you see how scared he is? So, what will you tell him to explain what you said? " Howie asks him.

Howie knows what it’s like to be scared of the eventual truth, and he can see that Oliver is scared of something. It’s been expected since he got this feeling; it’s his first time, his first moon effect, to be more precise.

"The truth to begin with, and it will be better that way. They are hiding something, and we should know what makes them tense and nervous and what also frightens them. " El replied calmly, this time without an inch of mischief. He is serious now.

"So, you think rushing them will fix things? We could have stalked them until tonight to see how they’d do instead of saying things like that. "

"You know what, my Howie, strike the iron when it’s hot. They are there. And didn’t you tell me to lay low for tonight, hm? Why do you want me to risk putting myself in danger because of this asshole? We might as well end this story right here and right now. "

Howie snapped sarcastically, "And me, who thought I was asocial, but it seems I have it all wrong. More proof that my shrink saw only wind regarding my behavior."

" Of course, you’re a social case, Howie. I bet they were right about everything, even though I don’t know what they told you. It’s like, I tell you, we might as well get it over with now, okay? "

"You worry way too much about protecting people from themselves. Whether they discover the truth or learn it a little later, it is the same in a much more brutal way. "

"Yeah, that’s not wrong, and he might kill his brother in the process. The first transformations are painful, and none of them know what awaits them."

"What did you say?" A voice full of restrained frustration shouted at them. They turned to face them, Perth watching them warily and defensively, ready to land his first blow if he didn’t like what they had to say, and Oliver, hiding behind him, slightly shaking like a soaked mouse.

"So, should we have this breakfast together, or should we continue to howl at each other on the road like mad dogs?"

"You heard me, right? I know what your brother is. And I don’t think this is the best place to talk about it. Let’s have this lunch, as Howie mentioned. And we’ll tell you everything we know and why I said I know who you are, Oliver. And you have to reason with your little brother and follow us. "

"Believe me; you had better find common ground since it is for your sake." El ends his monologue in a tone that leaves no room for discussion.

"You can always refuse," Howie interrupts and takes a few steps in their direction. But if you choose this option, you risk hurting yourself or, rather, you risk hurting your brother. "

"And I think we’d better go home instead," El told them, his rising voice. He hadn’t moved from where Howie had left him. "We will have too much to say to each other. A public place risks harming us if we do not know who can hear us. "

"Yeah, that’s a good point," Howie replies, equally calm.

"But why should we trust you? We don’t even know who you are," Perth asked in an almost melancholy and tired tone. Something tells him to give them some credit for his sake and his brother’s, but this same damn voice tells him to do the same with his mother, whom he didn’t manage to save. Should he follow it?

"Follow your instincts," Howie told him, looking him straight in the eye. Trust what your heart tells you. Why do you calm down when I approach you? Ask yourself why your heart is not beating so fast anymore. Is this a sign he is trying to send you? Follow your instincts and listen to what your gut is telling you. "

Perth looked down at his chest. He hadn’t even realized that he wasn’t panicking anymore, that his heart had taken on its normal rhythm, that he no longer wanted to push his way through it to come out of his ribcage like a frenzied devil.

"So, what do you say?" Howie asks him while watching him stare down at his chest, gently bringing his hand to the location of his heart. "Follow your instincts." That word keeps ringing in his head.

He looked up at Howie, who was watching him and stammered the same sentence, staring into space with his mind elsewhere.

"Follow your instincts; you are the key..."