Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I’d bullied Julian Bennett for as long as I could remember.
Then a Pana Tarot Reader told me that if I wanted to find true love, I had to start treating the people around me better.
So I stopped picking on Julian.
Instead of being relieved, he became even more brooding and withdrawn.
Later, he cornered me in my bedroom and nearly kissed my lips raw.
Furious at having lost my first kiss, I cursed him out.
For the first time, Julian dropped his meek, submissive facade. His expression turned fierce as he snarled, “Your first kiss? You lost that when you were nineteen.”
It all started at a party, when one of my friends brought along a Pana Tarot Reader.
Everyone gathered around and took turns having their cards read. When it was my turn, I asked when I would finally find true love.
The Pana Tarot Reader studied the three cards I’d drawn.
At last, he told me I needed to treat the people around me with kindness. Once I genuinely changed, the first person I kissed would be my true love.
I laughed dismissively.
“What exactly do you mean by treating people with kindness? Am I really that awful?”
Everyone fell silent.
After the party, Marcus Hayes approached me with a half-teasing smile.
“You’re perfectly nice to everyone else. It’s just the way you treat Julian…”
He paused, then shook his head. “That’s harder to defend.”
I shot him a vicious glare, though guilt stirred uneasily in my chest.
Julian was my stepmother’s son. He’d joined the family when our parents married.
I’d always been a sucker for a beautiful face. My stepmother was elegant and striking, and Julian had naturally inherited her looks.
But I still couldn’t stand him.
When I returned to the Bennett Estate, Julian was watching television in the living room.
The moment he saw me, he stood and prepared to retreat upstairs.
That was one of my rules.
I didn’t want him in the same room as me, whether we were watching television or sitting down for a meal.
At first, Dad had scolded me for it. But after that incident, neither he nor my stepmother argued anymore. They simply gave in and let me have my way.
I glanced at whatever was playing on the television and suddenly remembered the Pana Tarot Reader’s words.
There was no harm in trying, was there?
“Are you done watching?” I called after Julian.
He turned and stared at me, visibly startled. He didn’t say anything.
“You can stay and watch with me for a while.”
His astonishment deepened.
“Is that… okay?” he asked cautiously.
“If you don’t want to, forget it.”
The moment he heard that, Julian obediently sat back down.
He chose the spot farthest away from me on the sofa.
Chapter 2
I raised an eyebrow. It took me several seconds to remember that keeping his distance was another one of my rules.
I’d probably had too much to drink. Before long, my eyelids grew heavy, and I drifted off on the sofa.
Somewhere between sleep and waking, I felt something cool brush against my lips.
My eyes slowly fluttered open.
Julian was still sitting in his place, his attention fixed intently on the television.
“I’m going to bed.”
I pulled the blanket off myself and started to stand.
Julian looked flustered. When he glanced at me, his eyes were filled with confusion.
Then again, I almost never spoke to him unless I had to. It made sense that the smallest change in my behavior would put him on edge.
I got up and headed for the stairs.
Out of the corner of my eye, however, I noticed that Julian’s ears had turned an unusually deep shade of red.
The next morning, I woke with a pounding headache courtesy of the hangover.
I was just about to head downstairs when I saw Julian leading a man toward the staircase.
The stranger looked vaguely familiar.
After a moment, I recognized him as Julian’s high school classmate, Adrian Cole.
He had been Julian’s friend and used to come over to our house all the time. Back then, he was especially fond of following me around, calling me “Big Brother” at every opportunity.
Just to spite Julian, I had practically treated Adrian like my own little brother.
Whenever that happened, Julian would put on a wounded expression.
Later, Adrian immigrated overseas with his family, and we gradually lost touch.
I was so lost in thought that I missed a step.
My foot slipped, and I went rolling straight down the stairs.
It happened so suddenly that by the time Adrian and I were both sprawled on the first-floor floor, I still hadn’t processed what had happened.
“Ethan, are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
As I spoke, I pushed myself upright.
I came within an inch of kissing Adrian.
The Pana Tarot Reader’s words flashed through my mind, and I froze.
Then I felt it: a dark, clinging stare burning into my back.
I got to my feet and turned around, only to see Julian hurrying toward us with panic written across his face.
“Did you hurt yourself?”
I ignored Julian’s question and focused on Adrian instead.
“How did you suddenly end up back here?”
Adrian flashed me his usual easygoing smile. “I came back to visit my family. And I figured I’d stop by to see River and Big Brother Ethan.”
Only then did I realize how much taller Adrian had become since I’d last seen him.
My gaze drifted, almost against my will, to his chest. His broad muscles showed clearly beneath a perfectly tailored shirt.
I was still staring when Julian stepped in front of me, blocking my view.
“Weren’t we supposed to look through the high school yearbook?” Julian asked, his expression unreadable.
Chapter 3
“Oh, right. Right.” Adrian grinned at me. “Big Brother Ethan, we’ll head back to the room first.”
I remembered how close we had come to kissing.
My heart gave a sudden, violent jolt.
Could it be?
Had my true love finally appeared?
To test the Pana Tarot Reader’s prediction.
I took the tea from the Housekeeper. It was meant for Julian’s room.
The Housekeeper could barely conceal her shock when she heard I was taking tea to Julian and his guest.
When I arrived, I opened the door without knocking, out of habit.
Julian and Theo happened to be playing darts inside.
The moment I stepped in, a dart flew toward me. I dropped into a crouch to avoid it, and every cup on the tray went crashing to the floor.
As I was getting back up, Theo came over to help me. We nearly kissed.
That made me believe the Pana Tarot Reader’s words even more.
My face went instantly scarlet.
When I stood, my eyes collided unexpectedly with Julian’s.
His gaze was dark, and there was no readable emotion on his face.
That evening, Julian was just about to take his dinner back to his bedroom when I called after him.
“From now on, eat with us.”
Julian’s eyes widened slightly. He stood frozen in place, looking as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.
In the past, I had never allowed Julian to appear at the dining table with me.
If I was there, he wasn’t. If he was there, I wasn’t.
So from the time we were children, Julian had always eaten his dinner alone in his room.
Now he sat down at the table, visibly overwhelmed by the unexpected invitation.
“My birthday’s in a couple of days. Invite Theo too.”
Julian’s body tensed. He looked awkward and uncertain, but beneath it all was a joy he could barely contain.
“I can come too?”
Usually, I would have driven Julian out of the house on my birthday and refused to let him celebrate with us.
“Of course. The more people, the livelier.”
I paused, then asked, “By the way, does Theo have a girlfriend?”
Julian’s head snapped up. Something flashed through his eyes, but I couldn’t make sense of it.
“Why are you asking?”
My cheeks suddenly felt hot. When I answered, my tone came out sharper than I intended.
“What? Can’t I ask?”
“Theo… I don’t know.”
Julian lowered his eyes. His voice was soft and timid, with a faint chill hidden beneath it.
After a brief silence, he finally asked, “What’s wrong with you lately? Did something happen?”
“You don’t need to worry about it…”
I stopped halfway through the sentence, remembering the Pana Tarot Reader’s warning.
I had to be kind to the people around me.
My voice softened at once, and I changed the subject.