Yozak had been watching the blonde's dramatics from afar, hidden from the plain view and waiting for his chance to strike. If he hadn't known anything better, he'd have sworn that the god of fury was also an excellent actor. But alas, it seemed that his brilliant performance was also driven by his emotional toll. He sighed wistfully.
He had watched everything closely ever since Wolfram approached the duo's table, in order to synchronize his own timing.
After getting bored watching the silent treatment competition going on at the table in question, he had formed a plan and shared his brilliant ideas with Wolfram, whom had agreed easily and, if he dared to add, quite smugly to the said plan.
The plan was quite simple itself. Divide and Rule. In simpler words, separate the two woeful love-birds and manipulate their simplistic, closet-ted, norm-biased and thick sculled brains, and make them see what they must've been the first one to see and yet, somehow had managed to find a way to let everyone in the kingdom know while keeping themselves completely in the dark. Heck, even the Maoh's family on earth had a clue. Yozak knew that for the fact that he had excellent sources disguised in the form of a pair of huge round glasses and overall black appearance.
So, as it went, Wolfram was chosen to hammer Conrad's head while he himself would be the lucky one to drill the royal brains (and without mercy... After all he'd vowed to himself to bring the two idiots together before the end of the day).
Wolfram for his part, Yozak observed, was doing pretty well. Impersonating the outraged damsel in distress (which looked outrageously convincing, even if somewhat in extreme), along with a broken heart, Wolfram had managed to separate Yuri from Conrad, forcing him to leave the table and take refuge in the restroom in order to escape the blonde's wrath.
Well, it seemed that the plan was flowing smoothly...just as planned. Although, if asked for his personal opinion, Yozak would say that perhaps Wolfram went a bit too far in his role play. The absolute look of abject misery, currently pasted on both Conrad's as well as Yuri's face, was not something that Yozak either appreciated or wished.
The hurt look of epic proportions occupying Yuri's face, as he darted to his temporary refuge, broke Yozak's heart but taking his cue and steadying himself for his upcoming part, he left his hiding place discreetly so as to evade anyone's notice and followed Yuri. He had a mission to accomplish.
x-x-x-x-x
Conrad watched Yuri retreating with a pang of sorrow in his heart. He had, yet again, failed to protect him. He couldn't say or do anything to ease his beloved's pain. In the face of his brother's loss and that loss' cause, he'd become weak in his resolve once again and failed the most important person in his life. He sighed sorrowfully as his mind screamed, 'not again!' He felt utterly worthless and undeserving of Yuri's attention, while his conscience screamed out it's frustration and pointed out his uselessness and cowardliness to him mercilessly. He felt like crying.
x-x-x-x-x
Wolfram felt sorry for his ex-fiancé. Although he'd thoroughly enjoyed making both of their lives miserable (if only for a short while), he couldn't help but feel very bad for crossing his boundaries too far this time and hurting Yuri as well as Conrad so much in the process.
Lashing out at them was, actually, his idea to start his little talk. And he'd liked to see that they both at least felt bad for what they'd done to him, but such raw aggression was not in his original plan. He didn't know how but somehow during his silent interaction, and maybe due to Yuri's actions, some of his well thought out and practiced mask had broken and his bottled emotions set loose, causing much more damage than he'd initially planned. He felt utterly jealous.
Yuri had fought very strongly till the end for Conrad. Wolfram had lived many years so close to the young Maoh that he knew exactly how difficult it was for him to say or do something that hurt others in any manner, let alone someone he considered his family. And watching him standing up for his older brother against him so intensely, even after knowing how much it was hurting Wolfram to see him do that, made him want to praise his king and fall for him all over again and with double the previous vigor. How he'd wanted for Yuri to do the same for him...to feel the same for him but he never had. He achieved nothing but disappointment. Now watching the depth of their feelings for each other, Wolfram wondered if, maybe, this actually was the right way for things to be between them?
This was going to be difficult to resolve later. Oh, how he cursed his hot temper at the moment and his helplessness. Sigh. But it couldn't be helped now. Better he return back to his intended job and get it over with as quickly as possible. He absolutely didn't like the idea of getting to be the evil guy in this love story.
Re bracing his already frazzled nerves and toughing up his resolve to play the evil loathed villain once again, he turned back to his older brother, planning his further strategy in the mean time.
Conrad was looking towards the direction of the restroom almost unblinkingly. Wolfram took a moment to observe him before clearing his throat to gain his attention. For a moment, Wolfram felt as if Conrad was blaming himself entirely for everything, perhaps, even somehow trying to channel Yuri's, and maybe Wolfram's own, pain into himself. Trust his stupid half-brother to try and carry everyone's burden of sorrow on his own shoulders and thus torture himself in the process. Wolfram sometimes suspected that Conrad was a masochist.
Whatever be the case, looking at his brother then made one thing absolutely clear to Wolfram that in his entire eighty years worth of life had never seen Conrad so vulnerable. Even when Julia had died, Conrad had made sure to build his defenses so strong so as to never leave himself vulnerable to anything anymore. He'd almost completely flushed any form of emotion out of his being. And even now, several years down the line today, had constantly kept hidden behind his fake smiles and pretenses. But right now, the intensity of whatever emotion rested in Conrad's eyes, was so strong that it made Wolfram feel very uncomfortable.
The clearing of a throat brought Conrad out of his musings and he turned back to look at his younger brother. His face completely devoid of any emotion and completely unreadable, as if waiting for a judgment. Wolfram braced himself. It was now or never.
Leaning forward slightly with his chin resting on the back of his hands and expression completely unreadable (a perfect model of an interrogator faking calm), Wolfram said in a very grave voice, "Why can't you understand anything?"
x-x-x-x-x
Yozak found Yuri sitting in the corner-most stall of the bathroom, silently crying his eyes out. He walked over to him but remained silent, just listening to the silent sobs of his master. Finally, releasing a heavy sigh, he said, "Need to talk, bocchan?"
"This is all your fault." Yuri attacked instantly. "Get lost. I don't wanna talk to you again."
"Eeeh? But what did I do?" Yozak defended himself. "I thought you'd love to go on a date with Taicho."
Instantly, Yuri's anger flared up. Leaving the protection of his hideout, he instantly grabbed the first thing he could lay his hands on, which happened to be a small ceramic pot, and threw it towards Yozak which hit the wall behind him and shattered to pieces. "You double crosser." he screamed.
Thanks to his years of training and swift agility, Yozak easily dodged it, staring at Yuri with a perplexed face.
"How dare you even say those words." Yuri was seething. "I thought you understood. I thought you'd help me. I thought you were my friend. But NO. Even you had to stab me from behind."
Yozak was utterly confused from Yuri's actions and got even more confused by his words. What had he done that earned him such hateful words? Trying to diffuse the situation, he said, "Whoa! Calm down, Heika." He chose formality over the informal bocchan. "I don't get you. What did I do that got you so mad at me? Please tell me. I thought I was helping you and Taicho get to-"
"Give up on the tirade already." Yuri screamed. Yozak looked around thinking what would the rest of the people think if the voices were going outside. "If you really hated me that much, why would you try to show me that you're my friend? I knew you must be a natural at pulling such tricks but I never thought that you'd do it on me." Then more to himself than Yozak, he continued in a hoarse voice, "Yeah, it's my fault. I shouldn't have trusted you so easily. Everyone tells me so – I trust everyone so easily. And now see what I get for it…betrayal, always betrayal?" He sobbed some more.
"Heika..." Yozak started cautiously.
"I should've known..." Yuri started suddenly, back to his previous furious self. "...why would YOU want to help me when you so obviously want Conrad for yourself."
'What? Now where did that came from?' Yozak felt as if head was gonna burst.
Meanwhile, Yuri had slid down to the floor, his head in both of his palms while he spoke very quietly, regretfully, "Ohhh Gawwd! I'm such an idiot. I knew it right from the start. How could I even think - "
"That's why you brought Wolfram into this didn't you." he turned his hurt, angry and accusing eyes to Yozak. "He was so angry and hurt. You must have thought that this was too good an opportunity to turn down. But lemme tell you this I'm not gonna back down so easily...you heard me!" Yuri shouted loud enough to almost gather company...almost but not quite. "I might look like an ordinary good-for-nothing kid but-" And Yuri went onto his rambling tirade.
Yozak sighed wearily, too perplexed with the unexpected turn of events. "Heika...BOCCHAN!" Yozak said forcefully to cut-off the meaningless ramblings and gain the youth's attention. "I think you should calm down a little. Listen, this isn't going to leave a good impression if people heard their king in this condition. They'll think Taicho or Lord von Bielefeld did or said something to you. Your grim expression wasn't exactly lost on everyone when you left. And besides, I am currently here alone with you and I love my adorable skin, thank you very much."
He didn't know whether it was the passage of time that vent some of his anger or the dead-on reason in Yozak's explanation but Yuri found himself calmed down to a point where he didn't screamed his every word, though his hurtful eyes were still trained onto Yozak's face.
Watching Yuri more in control of himself, Yozak went over to the door and bolted it from inside before continuing, "So, you wanna tell me what I did so wrong that you no longer trust me? And what was that all about me and Taicho?"
Yuri found himself blushing a bit when he realized what he'd spoken earlier. Not that his anger at Yozak had subsided completely, but now that his head was more in control, he saw clearly what he'd tried to imply and how much it would have hurt Yozak, even if he was not showing it outright, and found his head hung in shame over his undignified actions.
After taking a few calm breaths, Yuri muttered, avoiding Yozak's eyes, "I am sorry. Please leave me alone for a while."
Yozak merely stared at Yuri for a moment before going over to him and slowly sitting down beside him. He spoke slowly, soothingly, "Bocchan, I know something is bothering you and that something concerns me. So, please tell me so that I can clear your doubts. Please."
The sincerity in Yozak's tone rang throughout the confined enclosure making Yuri raise his head to look into the adjacent pair of royal-blue eyes.
Encouraged by Yuri's actions, Yozak prodded further. "Please Bocchan, I don't know what I did to hurt you in such a grave manner but believe me when I say that I never intended it to happen. I just wanted to help you, that's all. Trust me."
Yuri merely nodded. "Please leave me alone."
"No." Yozak replied. "Although I don't know what I did wrong, but I know for a fact that I did. And I want to make up for it. Won't you let me make it up to you? Hmm? Please tell me what ails you. I'll try my best to help in whatever way I can."
Yuri looked unsure; his anger completely out of the window now, being replaced by a chilling loneliness and guilt. After holding onto his silence for a few more minutes, he spoke, "It's not important."
"By the way you suddenly and violently acted, it sure as hell didn't look unimportant to me."
Yuri's head hung further down in shame. Yozak noticed this and immediately tried to make up.
"I didn't mean to make you feel bad, bocchan. I just want to know what you're thinking. What, in your opinion, I did wrong?"
Yuri kept quiet but Yozak knew patience was the key. He wasn't the best spy in Shin Makoku for more than a century for nothing. Finally, his patience paid off and his charge spoke up quietly, nervousness pouring out of his entire being.
"I don't know how to say it." Yuri confessed.
"You know you can be as honest with me as you can, right?" Yozak encouraged. "Trust me, even if you think that there's something that might hurt me, please speak up. I promise I won't feel bad."
"It's not about that you'll try to not let it hurt you but more about that it'll hurt you." Yuri said indignantly.
"Bocchan, Bocchan...look at me." Reluctantly, Yuri complied.
"We're friends right? You accept it, right?" Yuri nodded.
"Then, don't you think that the first base of any kind of friendship should be honesty. Tell me, don't you think that friends should always share their problems in times of trouble and also show their friends the right path if they happen to be deviating. Don't you think that friends should tell each other of their weakness and bad-habits in order to make them a better person, even if your observation might hurt them? I say so because that's the definition of friendship for me, tell me is it not true for you?"
Yuri was stunned but recovered quickly and nodded slowly, affirming his belief in the above facts.
"Then tell me, what's the problem? And don't be lenient about it at all." Yozak seemed impatient and worried.
Slowly taking a deep breath, Yuri gathered his courage and turned to him with determined eyes. Yozak mentally grinned. That trick always worked. First hurdle defeated. Looks like his luck was going to turn for better. He wondered is Wolfram was having any luck with his job at all.
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A/N from is_sm:
Hi guys! Nice to see you once again. And we're back with the next chapter. Well, I know that it was a bit boring but it got out of my hands (Once Again) and evolved as such a big monster. I had actually wanted to add more interesting conversation and get it over with Conrad and Yuri getting together in this chapter but...sigh...looks like my body wasn't contented and disobeyed my mind's orders and continued jotting down every minor thing until it was absolutely satisfied. -_- Sigh, I don't know what the problem with me...I guess I too ramble like Yuri...just a bit more logically...I hope. ;} So, I had to keep most of the things for future post as this chapter already got a bit too big. Plz bear with me. Rest assured, this is going to be a marvelous novel length fic. I promise. See you all soon.
Ah! And yes, since I'm having my university exams now which will continue for the whole month of December, plz don't expect any updates soon...yeah, like that's something new. I haven't been exactly consistent with my updates have I?...sigh...but still...T_T
I hope you understand and a big thanks for all of your support till now.
Plz fuel these starved college students to help entertain you. You know what I'm trying to say right...wink wink!