Chapter 122 - Bratty Kids

Yuan took his punishment seriously and did not try to sneak into his room to sleep. Though he changed his clothes before coming back to the couch. He went inside only when Zeng woke him up in the morning.

"Why are you walking like that?" The older Xiao asked as the younger Xiao trotted to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Like what? You are just seeing things," Yuan dismissed as he straightened his clothes and posture. Zeng opened his mouth but Yuan cut him off. "I am hungry, ge." He whined. Whatever it was, Zeng let it slide and served him breakfast.

"You are not going anywhere tonight," he said instead, "You are having dinner with us. No party or pubs tonight."

"Okay," Yuan drawled, rolling his eyes.

Zeng hit his shoulder, "Don't act as if I am forcing you."

Yuan raised an eyebrow, "You aren't?"

Zeng pinched his ear for that.

"Ahh, sorry, sorry sorry." Apologizes scattered at the violence on a sensitive ear.

"That's better." Zeng ruffled his hair and left soon after for his job. Yuan and Yul silently had their breakfast together.

"So," Yul began towards the end of the breakfast, "Where were you last night?"

"That's none of your business." Yuan did not hide his displeasure. Why was this man prying into his personal life?

Yul leaned back on the chair, a smug look on his face. Alright, time to show this kid some police work. He began. "You came home at 2:30 am while the pubs in that area you went for your company dinner close maximum at 1 because of noise control protocols. You had already washed your laundry this morning. When you came for breakfast, you were limping, tugging your clothes and-" he leaned ahead, eyes fleeting to the younger man's neck, "Now that I look closely, there's a hickey on your neck."

Yuan subconsciously moved his hand to cover his neck, eyes berserk. His mouth opened and closed, unable to form coherent words.

"It's still none of your business," he settled on saying.

Yul shrugged, "It's just that Zeng ge won't be too happy to know that you have hooked up with a stranger."

Yuan's jaw locked. Oh, now he was being blackmailed. "That conversation is entirely between me and my brother. You don't need to meddle." He slammed his fork on the table.

"Look, I don't mean any harm, Yuan. We just want you to be safe." Yul explained but was cut off as Yuan stopped him.

"I don't need your concern. You better save it for something else."

Before Yul could stop him the younger man was already storming off. Yul shook his head, getting up from his seat. He picked up Yuan's place, cleaned the spilled food and took it to the sink.

"Bratty kid," he mumbled under his breath.

Yul could not tell why Yuan was so hostile towards him. He gave it a thought as he washed both their plates but no answer could be found. It was not mere jealousy that his brother was now somebody else's. There was another reason and Yul had decided to find it out before Yuan left.

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In the anti-narcotics bureau, two hours after the office time in the morning, a head popped through the entrance and tried to sneak in as if nobody would notice him.

He just had to take a few more steps and then he would be on the safe side of the IT department. To his misfortune, a roaring lion was on its way from the IT department and had already spotted the boy.

Chief Wang Yul fixed JJ with a glare. JJ put his back to the wall, head hung low. As the senior officer passed him, he slammed the case file on JJ's head. The boy didn't even mutter a word of grimace but his fellow juniors winced.

When the storm had walked off, JJ looked up, glancing at the direction he had gone. It didn't hurt, the file was plastic and he had a thick skull.

"Boss is mad, isn't he?" He asked his colleagues who had rushed to check if he was alright.

"Dude, he slammed a file on your head," Officer Tong stated the obvious, "Of course, he's mad."

"Is he mad because of me?" JJ asked again, worried that he had fucked up.

Tong nodded, "Probably. You have been causing a lot of headache, buddy. We had to take help from the other IT team. It doesn't look good for our Unit, you know."

Ah, that must be it.

"JJ," officer Chen called, "Chief asked for you."

Oh no, he was going to get an earful. He went to the chief's cabin and as usual, peeked his head in.

"May I come in, Boss?"

Yul looked up from his file. "Come in."

JJ slid inside. "You called for me." He said absentmindedly.

"You are late," Yul told him, "Again."

JJ smiled, hoping that would be enough to let him slide. But apparently, it wasn't because the senior glared at him and his smile dropped.

"Sorry," he mumbled, looking at the floor.

Yul shook his head, "You know, I had to go to another unit to ask for urgent help about the task. Their captain lectured me on how my team is incapable and I had to listen to him because we were the ones that needed help."

JJ could hear the rage in his boss's voice. But seriously how dare that mean captain say anything about his team! Didn't he look at the charts of solved cases? JJ shared that anger but it was mostly his fault that it had come to it.

"I had to listen to someone badmouth my entire team because of one unpunctual bastard."

JJ grimaced at the words directed towards him but he knew he deserved it. He had been an unpunctual bastard.

"I don't need a liability in my team, JJ. If you are going to be like this, I will have to transfer you to another unit."

JJ snapped his head to look up at his senior. "No, Sir! Please don't."

He loved this team. There was no way he could let them change it.

"Then you better get your priorities straight," Yul snapped, "You can't afford to slack off, especially in your first year."

JJ nodded vigorously, "I won't let you down, boss. I promise."

Yul sighed.. "You better."