Chapter 163: Are you two fighting or being friends?
John stopped a few steps away, expression calm and completely unfazed. He glanced down at the simple-looking fishing pole in his hand, then back up at Damon, who was now wheezing with laughter and wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.
"I’m serious!" Damon gasped between chuckles. "She walked into the witch hall like a damn archvillain and you... you... walked out with a fishing rod?"
Lola was giggling too, though she clearly didn’t know why. "Are we going fishing now? Are we going to catch some special fishies?" she asked eagerly, eyeing the pole with interest.
John only gave a small smile to the two of them. Damon did not know why, but suddenly his brother looked very tired and sad.
It was a shock because all his life, he had only seen a different side of his brother, the perfect son, the top student, the ambitious young man, the best husband, the definition of success. However, now, he looked like a shell of his old self. Barely saying anything, barely smiling.
His eyes weren’t sharp and focused like they used to be. They looked distant, shadowed, like someone who had walked a long road and forgotten what the destination even was.
"...Hey," Damon said softly, voice dropping. "You okay?"
John didn’t answer right away. He just looked up at the twilight sky, then down at Lola, who was still bouncing around. "I wanted something quiet," he said finally. "Something that didn’t require me to lead... or win... or prove anything."
Damon nodded slowly. He got it now. All those years of expectations, of always being the one who had to have it together, they’d chipped away at John in ways no one had noticed.