Bet my love on you

04

After the carnival, Bright never asked Win anything more even though Win's last words kept repeating in his head leaving Bright distraught and unconfused all the time. He knew better though than to ask Win for he was sure that the latter wouldn't say anything and honestly, it was none of his business anyways and so despite the heavy feeling in his heart, Bright didn't prod Win further.

"Ya!" Man patted Bright on his back upon seeing the said man daze off into space for the third time today. "Geez, what has gotten into you? You've been so out-of-it since this morning."

To which, Bright simply shook his head and responded with a "Just tired" that left Man unconvinced. He knew his best friend was distracted, but he didn't know what or rather, by who. But he was going to find out either way.

Days passed, and the petite boy was not seen around campus much to Bright's dismay. In fact, Bright hadn't caught sight of him since the carnival and that made Bright a teeny bit worried - though he convinced himself that he was worried not because Win was absent, but because he had a bet to complete.

Once marketing class ended that day, Mr Earth gestured for Bright to come over to his desk which Bright obliged. The latter saw what seemed like worksheets sprawled on Mr Earth's wooden desk - Bright recognised them as they were the worksheets they had done during class this week which Win was absent for.

"I'll need you to pass these to Win." Mr Earth handed the worksheets to Bright decisively leaving the latter no choice but to receive them, "He has caught a pretty bad flu and wouldn't be in till next week. I'll send you his address."

Upon seeing the why-me look on Bright's face, Mr Earth continued, "You were his partner. So I thought it'd be better if you had gone instead."

And so after school ended, Bright, with his hands occupied with a stack of worksheets, headed to Win's apartment according to the address given by Mr Earth. It took Bright's chauffeur a good 15 minutes of searching as Win's apartment was pretty far from town before they had arrived at a simple farmhouse. The farmhouse looked neat - its exterior was painted white, with those classic arched windows that had floral patterned curtains hung on them and it's roof laid with grey tiles. There were also small steps that led to the front door and a front yard that scarcely had any flowers except for a few tiny ones sprouting here and there. Overall, it gave a rather homely feel despite its simple architecture.

Bright approached the front steps hesitantly and after much deliberation did he finally have the courage to ring the doorbell. Whilst he waited for someone to get the door, he found himself unconsciously growing nervous by the minute as he felt his palms getting sweaty and his heart thumping erratically.

Just then, the door swung open and Bright was greeted by a man who looked a couple of years older than him. He was slightly taller than Bright and had jet black hair, flowy fringe with short sides that complimented his facial features which Bright noticed looked similar to Win's.

"Can I help you?" The man asked, as he held the door. Bright could feel the older man's eyes scanning him from head to toe as if he was assessing him, and that made Bright tense up even more.

Bright gulped nervously, while trying his best to avert the man's piercing gaze. "Oh..uh..I am actually here to give Win his worksheets from school."

The man froze momentarily (which got Bright anxious) before opening the door, as he gestured for Bright to come in.

The interior of the house was nothing too fanciful either much like the exterior - it was basic and had all the essentials a house might need, nothing more nothing less. The living room looked decent but was fairly tiny, to put it into measurement, it would be slightly less than a quarter of Bright's. There was also a coffee table on which stood a half drunk cup of tea and a plate of untouched chocolate chip cookies.

"Want some?" The stranger's intrusion caused Bright's eyes to halt their exploration and instead, directed their attention to the man who now held out a cup of black tea in his hands like the one Bright had seen earlier on the coffee table to which Bright accepted gratefully.

The man gestured for Bright to take a seat on the couch as he took his place which was diagonal to where Bright was. The man must have remembered he hadn't introduced himself because Bright was staring at him, clearly waiting for him to speak.

"Sorry. I'm Type - Win's brother."

No wonder they looked similar, Bright thought to himself, and likewise he introduced himself after. Bright placed the stack of worksheets on the coffee table having remembered what he was here for. He intended to leave after he had passed the worksheets to Type but Type had already said he was going to wake Win in 5, and insisted that Bright stayed over for dinner.

And so, Bright could only nod in appreciation since he felt bad for rejecting Type's offer.

"How did you two meet by the way?" Type cleared his throat, then took a sip of his tea.

"Oh, we were project partners." Bright responded.

To which Type simply nodded and gave a small smile that mirrored Win's. "You know, I am glad that at the very least he has got a friend he can count on in school." Type said melancholy. "You are the first anyways."

Bright stared at Type, slightly baffled - Did Type say he was Bright's first and only friend? Type seemed to have noticed Bright's puzzled look so he added on with a long bitter sigh, "Win has always been rather quiet, socially awkward if you may say. He doesn't open up to others readily and so people found it hard to get close to him." Type paused, then continued with evident sadness in his eyes, "And I guess it's because of this, people eventually stopped trying and instead, they started to view him as a 'freak'."

Bright didn't know what had gotten into him, but at the thought of Win being excluded and called a 'freak' made him feel a whirl of emotions that he couldn't quite put a finger to - it was a mixture of pity and anger altogether.

Type took a long drawn breath, in an attempt to repress his emotions - it seemed to Bright that a lot must have happened to the two brothers so much so that it was making it difficult for Type to continue without pausing in between.

"The reason why Win is so closed off..it's mainly because of our parents. They divorced when Win was 7 after months and months of constant fighting that usually involved plates getting smashed and doors being slammed, all of which left him distraught because in his eyes' our parents were always so loving. After the split, to make matters worse, neither of them wanted to take custody of us..." Type chuckled bitterly with a trace of contempt. "That made Win completely devastated. And it has always just been the two of us since."

Bright didn't know that by this point, he had his fist curled up into a ball and was trembling with rage. His eyes were getting watery, and it felt like his heart had broken into two at the thought of a young helpless boy crying in the corner as he watched his parents argue yet powerless to do anything.

Type gave Bright a reassuring smile while struggling to contain his emotions, "Well on the bright side, he has you now right?" Type sniffled, shooting Bright another smile, but this time it was a smile of gratitude. "I am genuinely happy that he was fortunate enough to meet such a nice person."

Bright wasn't sure if Type's statement made him feel any better or if it only made him feel worse. He, a nice person? Far from it. Bright chided himself. In fact, he was a total jerk - he had used Win to achieve his stupid bet. Bright shook his head despondently, he did not deserve to be Win's friend because Win was too good for him, too good for anyone. 

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a/n: sorry there isn't much brightwin moments in this chapter! 🙈 but i really wanted some character development for Win cause i feel like we haven't heard much of his backstory yet~