Chapter 266: His Treasure

"I see…" I muttered as my mood immediately darkened.

It wasn’t like I was overwhelmingly disappointed or anything like that. In the back of my mind, I did consider that Harvey wouldn’t tell me. If I wanted to know then…

"You have to ask Hayden yourself," Harvey said as if completing my thought for me.

"I figured…" I said before letting out a long sigh.

If only it was an easy task to extract information from Hayden, then I wouldn’t find myself in this kind of situation so often. I didn’t exactly draw a good hand in this round because Hayden wouldn’t even show his face to me anymore. Even if I wanted to ask him, I couldn’t because he wasn’t here for me to ask.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Don’t look so depressed, Malissa. This room…I know it might be a little twisted and creepy for you but you’re probably the little treasure that Hayden wants to keep safe right now," Harvey said warmly.

Me? His treasure?

Honestly, I’ve never thought of it that way.

"Are you trying to comfort me?" I asked with a mix of curiosity and suspicion.

Harvey laughed a little to himself at my words before he smiled sweetly at me. I had to say that he had a very charming smile. Without a doubt he must be very popular with the girls.

"Maybe. You see, my little brother gave me an annoying lecture and because of that I felt slightly bad for what I’ve done," Harvey admitted with an over-the-top depressing sigh.

"Really?" I asked, trying not to sound sarcastic.

"Well, it’s lonely living alone in the world of the dead, you know. Now, I’m less lonely because I have you with me on this side," Harvey said a little excitedly.

"What do you mean…exactly?" I asked as I stared hard at him.

"We can’t meet or talk to anyone. We can’t go out. It’s like we don’t exist in the real world anymore. You and me, we’re in a very similar situation now," Harvey explained quite happily.

I guess he was happy that now he had a ’friend’ who shared his circumstances. However, I couldn’t say that I shared any of his joy.

"Aha…" I mumbled.

"I’ll visit you again so that you won’t get lonely so let’s be friends, ok?" Harvey suggested with a bright smile.

For a moment, he looked like a teenager, and I was stunned at the sudden transformation.

"I don’t want to be your friend…" I stated bluntly.

"I can understand where you’re coming from. What about this? If you agree to be my friend, I’ll bring an album of Hayden childhood photos. What do you say?" Harvey readily offered a trade.

I had to say that what he was offering was extremely tempting. After getting a glimpse of how cute and pretty Hayden was when he was a boy from that one photo that I saw in his living room, I wanted to see more photos of him when he was younger. Harvey smirked at me, and I knew that he could read what I was thinking again.

Do my thoughts truly show on my face just like that?

"I guess we already have a deal," Harvey said with utmost satisfaction.

"You’ll bring them, really?" I asked to make sure that he would keep his word.

"Of course, I will. It will make Hayden very embarrassed, and nothing makes me happier than seeing my little brother bothered and embarrassed," Harvey said followed by a laugh.

Perhaps he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. That or perhaps, I was easy to bribe…

Harvey took his leave and I watched silently as he walked away until the door of my room completely closed, and I couldn’t see him anymore.

…

"Having her locked up down there isn’t so bad. I get to have dinner with you," Harvey said with a satisfied smile before shoving some food into his mouth with a fork.

Hayden didn’t seem to share Harvey’s appetite as he sat there passively at the dining table opposite his elder brother. Seeing that his brother didn’t seem engaged in the conversation, Harvey decided to go on.

"I was quite sad when we had to cancel our dinners since she turned up. You always have dinner with her, and I have to eat all alone…" Harvey said in an overly sad tone.

"Why did you go see her? What useless things did you tell her?" Hayden asked coldly, ignoring his brother’s earlier words.

"I didn’t tell her anything important. Well, maybe I made her a little more curious…about what is going on and why we’re doing this," Harvey said followed by a small chuckle.

"I would highly appreciate it if you refrained from visiting her again," Hayden said as his eyes narrowed dangerously at his brother.

"This is my house too, you know. I can go wherever I want. You put her in there so you should already know the three people who can pay her a visit," Harvey said with alight annoyance in his voice.

Hayden knew. The underground and that room were off limits to everyone except for his father, Harvey and himself. Only these three people had the ability to pass through all security measures leading to that room.

"You just love messing with other people’s mind, don’t you?" Hayden asked rhetorically.

"A bad habit that I inherited from my cute brother. I have to go see her again regardless of what you say," Harvey stated resolutely.

"Why?" Hayden asked immediately.

"I promised to show her something," Harvey replied with an innocent smile.

"What?" Hayden demanded to know.

"If you really want to find out, then you should come along too," Harvey said invitingly.

"No, thanks," Hayden rejected the invitation immediately.

"Are you sure? How long are you going to avoid seeing her?" Harvey asked with a grin.

"I don’t know," Hayden replied honestly.

"You should go see her soon. It gets lonely when you’re on the other side," Harvey advised as he spoke from his own experience.

Hayden made a thoughtful face but didn’t reply to his brother. Harvey just smiled and nodded before dropping the subject entirely.

--To be continued...