anwhile, in the hospital...
"Your wound is going to open..."
"It’s too early for you to get discharged..."
"Even if you go out, you won’t be able to do anything. If anything, it will only slow down your recovery."
Mint shook her head, her eyes on Atlas in the corner, focused on his tablet and making little effort to stop Hugo. Atlas wasn’t even trying, as if he were saying everything just for the sake of it.
As for Hugo, everything his elder brother told him went in one ear and out the other. He continued to pack so of his things in a bag, standing by the side of his bed.
"I know it’s not going to change anything, but I think he’s right, though," Mint remarked to Hugo, who turned to look at her.
"I know," said Hugo, while Atlas indifferently added, "I’m always right."
Hugo grinned and nodded towards his brother. "Like he said. He’s always right."
"..." Mint opened her mouth, then decided to let it be.
Finally, Atlas stopped with his lazy comnts about his brother’s umpteenth mistake for his entire existence.
"So, you’re going to be back in action?" she comnted, just to keep the conversation going now that Atlas had shut up.
"Yep." Hugo zipped up his bag and turned his eyes towards her. "You’re going to be fine, right?"
"Of course." Mint nodded. "Don’t worry about those two. I’ve already inford my people about them, so they’ll be fine."
"Nice!"
At the sa ti, Atlas pushed himself up and glanced at them. "Ready?"
"Yep!" Hugo quickly picked up his bag and tossed it over his shoulder. "Let’s go."
"No." Atlas shook his head, blinking lazily. "I haven’t finished your discharge paperwork. Wait here."
With that, Atlas walked away, leaving Mint, Hugo, and even the coma patient’s guardian looking at him in disbelief. Atlas had been there for minutes, muttering weakly about changing Hugo’s decision.
Yet, Atlas hadn’t done the paperwork?
"Wow..." Mint was in awe, shifting her eyes to Hugo. "Your First Brother is really sothing, isn’t he?"
"Tell about it." Hugo flopped back onto the bed. "Well, he’s just like that. But trust , don’t offend him. He holds grudges."
Mint raised her eyebrows. "I heard."
"Then if you already know that, whatever you want to say, keep it to yourself."
"Just how vengeful is he, really?"
Hugo humd, resting his palms on either side of him as he leaned back. "There was this one ti when we were kids. My brother likes to study, so I bothered him to play basketball with . When he refused, the next day, I hid all his study materials."
"To cut the story short, when he found out it was , thanks to Slater’s big mouth, not only was I punished by doing my own laundry for a week, but he also burned all my clothes. My desserts were dipped in salt, but worst of all, he cut open my training dummy right in front of , saying it was a piece of paper!"
Hugo sighed at the mory. "He made my life a living hell for an entire month. Though I’m glad he let have one pair of underwear to wash and wear for the entire month, because he kept cutting them. That ti, I learned not to ss with him."
Mint’s face twitched, listening to all this. It sounded childish and not too traumatic. Little did she know, Hugo’s summary made it sound that way, but in reality, back then, Hugo had to constantly watch his back for what Atlas had in store for him.
It was as though Atlas shifted all his attention from his studies to making Hugo’s life a living hell.
"There were also tis he punished Slater for accidentally spilling juice on his notes," Hugo added matter-of-factly. "And Penny. Penny and Slater just never learn."
This ti, Mint was intrigued. "What did Penny do?"
"She gave him an impossible equation to solve and laughed at him when he got it wrong," he mused. "He ended up pestering her to the point of studying in her bedroom. Penny would wake up with our First Brother already studying beside her bed, and until she fell asleep. There were even tis when First Brother was in her cabinet, giving poor little Penny a heart attack."
Hugo sighed, shaking his head at the horrifying mory from the past.
"So, if I were you, watch your tongue," he warned, snapping his eyes at her. "Thing is, my First Brother won’t say he’s offended, but you’ll know he is. When he gives you that stare that says ’I will rember this,’ he will rember it. And he’s quite sensitive. Assistant Allen will vouch for that."
"Well, thanks for that—I guess?" Mint shrugged, thinking she wouldn’t spend that much ti with Atlas to offend him.
anwhile, the other person in the room, who was always treated as if he were air by the two, listened to this exchange. He couldn’t help but glance at the door, wondering just what else Atlas had done to traumatize Hugo like that.
It couldn’t be just because he burned a few clothes or sabotaged a dessert, right?
Hugo didn’t seem like the type of person who would get PTSD from a real-life battlefield, but over those childish things?
If only they knew what Atlas was capable of.
As a brief silence fell in the ward, they sohow ended up waiting for Atlas to return. Hugo smacked his lips.
"By the way, Mint," Hugo turned to Mint. "I know we’ve already talked about this, but are you sure you didn’t get any useful details from your investigation?"
Mint shook her head. "I told you, nope."
"Are you sure?"
"Do you think I have any reason to hold back information?"
"I know, but I’ve been thinking why the attacks on you have beco more frequent, if not," Hugo shrugged, then nodded towards the coma patient. "Did I ntion that guy is also investigating the sa thing?"
"Huh?"
"He’s onto the sa babyswap thing," he said. "And since he got into it, things have gotten a lot more complicated for him. And now, here he is, his life barely hanging by a thread."
Hugo raised his eyebrows as he caught Atlas’ return, jumped to his feet, and turned to face Mint. "Maybe I’m wrong, or maybe I’m not. But if it’s not close, then you’ve probably uncovered it. You just didn’t notice. Anyway, I’m going to look into it, anyway. I just hope a fresh set of eyes will help."
With that, Hugo trudged towards the entrance where Atlas was waiting for him.
"See you when you get out of here," Hugo waved without looking back.
Mint, on the other hand, kept her eyes on Hugo’s back until the Bennet Brothers disappeared from sight. Slowly, deep lines appeared between her brows, and she shifted her attention to the coma patient.
After a second, she reached under the bed for her phone and made a call.
"Co by here and bring so of the files I left in the office."
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