Husband With Benefits

Lucien Frost stood in front of Erasmi’s room, wondering if he was doing the right thing or not. He wanted to see and talk to Erasmi but did not know if Demetri would have an objection to it. After all, he had kept Erasmi hidden from them for all this while... But when he had mentioned wanting to meet Erasmi just now, the nurse had simply led him here. Didn’t it mean that he wasn’t at least forbidden from coming here? Of course, he knew that his brother might not even recognize him but he re did want to talk to him. With a perfunctory knock, he entered the room stared at the frail man in front of him and sat on the chair gingerly,"Uhh.. Hi, Erasmi."

Of course, he paused and then cursed himself for pausing. It wasn’t as if the man could reply.

With a deep breath, he continued again," I am Lucien.. I mean Lucy. I just thought I’d come back and re-introduce myself to you. I... uh... I want to tell you that I am really happy to see you like this..."

"I mean... I don’t mean like this in this state! I meant to see you alive..." He quickly corrected himself embarrassedly.

"Is it okay, if I hold your hand? Gabe said that you are able to clench your fingers and give reactions..."

Slowly and carefully, Lucien took the man’s cold and bony hand in his and continued," I hope you won’t mind if I come here regularly. I mean I know that Demon used to come here every week, but I doubt he would have said much about himself."

Lucien paused in wonder as he felt the hand in his palm flinch and he looked up in wonder. Erasmi still had his eyes closed but maybe he could hear what he was telling him..." Do you want to listen to Demon? You must be wondering why he is called Demon now...It’s been so long since we have been calling him that, it even feels off to call him Demetri..."

"Ho got the name after you were in the accident... I think he felt really alone when you ended up like this. There was a lot of pressure on him and the company... there were too many things happening that Grandfather was unable to take care of. Anyway, he was akin to a Demon at the time as he almost slashed everything that stood in his way. Do you know, recently we had been discussing how he had changed after he lost you. Demetri has married Nora, you know. She is a bit like you, I think. I think she shares the same ironic sense of humor that you and Demon do..."

Whenever the man paused, he would feel Erasmi’s fingers flinch so he talked about everything that happened over the years. Everything that Demetri had done to everything he knew about Nora.

Lucien, who had gone to see his brother in the morning, left the room after a few hours after promising to visit him again. However, as the door closed behind him, he failed to notice that Erasmi’s eyes had already opened and were now staring at the ceiling coldly.