Later that night, Ollie let out a loud exhale the moment he stepped foot inside his London home. To his surprise, silence welcomed him instead of the noise he was expecting to hear upon arriving. Three creases formed on his forehead as he questioned himself, "Weren't there six a.d.u.l.ts and two children staying in this house?"

Seeing the grand room was deserted, he loosened up his tie and glanced up at the second floor. "Sweetie! I'm hooome!" he called out and craned his neck to scan the place. 

Then he checked his watch and frowned. It was almost ten in the evening. His wife, Ava, should be home by now after spending the entire afternoon shopping with Olivia and Emily. 

"Sweetie, we're heeeere in the bar." He heard Wyatt call out to him in an annoyingly sweet tone that mocked Ollie to no end. 

A scowl painted Ollie's face in an instant. Dragging his aching feet after the day-long conference, Ollie found his two brothers. No, just one brother. He only had one brother now. How could he forget cutting ties with the blue-eyed traitor he once called his brother this morning?

Along his way, he had to skip and hop, dodging the sea of shopping bags on the floor. It was a pleasant distraction for him to quell his anger.

"Oleeeeeh!" Maxen called out, cupping the corner of his mouth with his hand. His shoulders shook upon seeing Ollie flip him a bird. He thought it must be in the Lin genetics to flip birds on the Suis or maybe… he really deserved such a compliment.

"We can put up our own mall in this house. Did they buy the entire mall?" Ollie asked. He extended a hand on Wyatt and the two exchanged their signature handshakes.

"They splurged on Aerith. Now that you mentioned it, I think they didn't buy anything for themselves. All the bags the mall sent were for Aerith." Wyatt flashed his cheeky grin. His heart warmed at the welcoming arms of the people around him for his daughter. 

Patting Ollie's back, Wyatt jutted his chin towards Maxen's direction, telling the former to kiss and make-up with their brother.

"Heeeeey, don't forget about me," Maxen barked at Ollie when the latter skipped him and went behind the bar to pour himself a drink.

"No handshakes for traitors," Ollie deadpanned.

"Says the one who hid his sister from his best friends," Maxen bit back.

"I wasn't informed that we are going on a trip down memory lane tonight," Ollie said in snide derision before pressing the glass on his lips, taking a sip of his bourbon.

"Maxen," Wyatt stole Maxen's attention just as the latter was to open his mouth. Wyatt then shook his head as if telling Maxen not to provoke the beast. This was Maxen's chance to patch things up with Ollie.

"I don't even know why he attacked me this morning," Maxen said, and the hint of accusation didn't go unnoticed by Wyatt and Ollie. He wiggled his eyebrows at Ollie's direction, demanding an explanation from the other through his nuance.

"Okay. Okay. I'm guilty as charged with keeping my sister's existence. But you, Maxen? The least you could do is tell the world how much Livi meant to you."

"First of all, don't dump the weight of your guilty conscience on me, Ollie." Maxen poured himself another shot. He eyed Ollie who was pursing his lips, silenced by Maxen's words. "Me hiding my marriage to Olivia is not a rite of passage for you to treat me as the recipient of all your anger issues."

"Max…don't… just don't you dare go that route," Ollie warned, and Maxen matched his scathing glare. Subconsciously, Ollie's hand tightened around the whiskey glass. He didn't like people close to him bringing up his dark past.

In front of Ollie, across the bar counter, Wyatt bit a strip of julienned carrot, munching on it as his eyes darted between his two friends. He'll just stay in his seat and let the two grown-up men have a grown-up conversation. And if in case a brawl starts, which never happened until Maxen takes the first swing, then he would put on his good old referee shoes to break the two apart. 

"I am not," Maxen finally spoke. He placed his glass on the countertop and rolled his teeth over his tongue. "I am not sorry if I brought that up, but it was exactly what I felt when you attacked me. What am I? Your punching bag? I thought you sorted your shit out already. It's been years since I last saw that insidious side of you."

Oliver hurled one cube of ice after another towards Maxen's way and the latter just slapped it with a hand, dodging Ollie's assault. "And I will attack you as many times as I want until I receive an engagement invitation in the mail from The Highlands."

"You will get one after this trip, asshole," Maxen cursed. He grabbed a handful of carrots in his hands and retaliated like a grown man, throwing the carrots right on Ollie's face.

"F.u.c.k! I'm telling Livi how you disrespected me."

"Oh, you poor little rich boy," Maxen taunted. It was when Maxen and Ollie got slapped with a slice of cheese on their cheeks that their pissing game came to a pause.

In unison, they shifted their heads and growled at Wyatt. "Okay. Before things will get out of hand, as the arbitrator of tonight's session, why don't you explain your side to Maxen, Ollie? The one you ranted on me this morning." 

Wyatt thought he didn't need to remind Ollie, but his brothers' conversation was going on in circles and it's getting late into the night. He glanced at his watch, then his gaze darted up on the second floor. He needed to put his daughter to bed.

Thankful that Wyatt reminded him of his small speech, Ollie paused, finding the best way to verbalize his emotions. "See it through my eyes, Maxen. You never had a known relationship. Not one. And all those people saw were photos of you with your flings painting the town red. To me… you are treating my sister the same way you treated those ladies by keeping her identity in the dark." 

One. Two. Wyatt and Ollie stopped counting the seconds that passed. Maxen glued his gaze on the melting ice cube on the countertop. Somehow, Ollie made sense. Fl.i.c.k.i.n.g the small chunk of ice, Maxen lifted his gaze to meet Ollie's. 

"What are you expecting from me, Ollie? I am obsessed with your sister and I'm dying everyday that we can't be seen together. Do you know how I have been asking for her hand in marriage and she won't even bat an eyelid? And when she proposed we get married, of course, I didn't let my chance slip. Then one thing happened after another. Next thing I knew, it's been months since we exchanged our vows," Maxen explained.

A corner of his lips quivered. He wanted to say more like how Ollie didn't say anything about Olivia's forced engagement but knew the guy had no say whenever Henry Lin had given his edict. 

Suddenly, there was an itch in his ears. Scratching it, he glanced at Wyatt who was also tugging his ears.

"The heck was that?" Wyatt asked.

"I don't know, you tell me," Maxen said.

It was when they realized they heard something for the first time. Wyatt and Maxen gasped in unison, covering their agape mouths.

Seething, Ollie repeated his words, "I said, I'm f.u.c.k.i.n.g sorry for hitting your f.u.c.k.i.n.g face, Brother."