Loner Rehabilitation Program

Prologue

“Adrian! It’s time to wake up!”



Seeing her son still sleeping peacefully, Mrs. Walker looked around the room and carefully grabbed something from the dirty pile of clothes. With a smiling face, she threw the stinky sock as she would throw a football straight to her son’s face.



Adrian who was having a nice dream suddenly awoke to the slap of a pungent smell. “PFFT- EW! WHAT THE?!”



“It’s time to get up and have some breakfa-”



She could not finish talking as her face was slapped with the very same sock she had thrown.



After hitting a bullseye with his masterful sock throwing skills, Adrian wiped his hands onto his dirty shirt and sprinted past the wronged mother.



Mrs. Walker felt very wronged indeed. She just wanted to wake up her son. “ADRIAN! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!”



…



Sitting down at the dining table, Adrian’s father held his cup with a picture of their family printed onto it, and took a sip of coffee. Hearing the commotion upstairs, he continued to sip, unfazed at this regular daily occurrence of screaming and shouting.



“Honey, I think Adrian should get some more discipline, don’t you think?”



Watching his wife drag their son across the floor like some unwanted baggage, he nodded his head and went back to his daily act of coffee sipping.



“...”



After accomplishing her task, Mrs. Walker just simply let the ‘baggage’ drop down to the floor, and sat down at the dining table next to her husband.



“Come on Adrian, stop laying down on the floor and get some breakfast!”



Utterly defeated, Adrian slowly stood up and walked to his seat, rubbing his sore and tired body.



During breakfast, his mom and dad continued to chatter normally, talking about stuff old people would usually talk about.



However, Adrian realized that a certain someone was missing.



“Where’s Lawrence?”



“Ah, your brother left home early a while ago. He said he had something to get before school started. Seriously, why couldn’t you be more like your brother and wake yourself up?”



Tuning out his mother’s rant about his poor morning behaviors, Adrian pondered what his big brother was doing so early in the morning.



However, looking at the time, his inner school nerd wanted to quickly finish eating and prepare for school earlier than he usually did.



His mother always woke him up at around 6:30 AM, leaving him with more than enough time to get ready for school. This made him grumble a lot, but as his parents were strict on keeping him and his older brother’s bedtime at around 10 PM, he eventually got used to it and didn’t complain anymore.



Of course, it was mostly thanks to his mother strictly peeking at them every once in a while that helped strengthen the bedtime rule, as he and his brother were often caught awake past bedtime and got punished.



When he and his brother entered high school, his mother thankfully stopped this habit after being told by her husband that they could take care of themselves, and decided to become a night-shift doctor instead of working during the day.



Still, he and Lawrence were so used to getting caught, that they just couldn’t stop panicking when it was past their bedtime, and went to bed right away. Just imagining the times they were punished for not sleeping gave them nightmares.



Thus, life for the Walker household was very peaceful and silent after 10 PM. Although, the culprit behind this was working, so the situation seemed a bit silly.



Watching her son leave after finishing breakfast, she stopped ranting and looked back to her husband, who was always quietly sipping on his cup of coffee every morning. Seeing the picture once more, she sighed.



“Why is our family not photogenic? No matter how many retakes we had, our pictures keep looking like a family that’s always constipated…”



Hearing this comment, he momentarily choked on some coffee. However, he could not hold in his laughter.



“Pfft, HAHA! That’s what makes our family unique from others.”



“...Is that the reason you look so proud every time you drink from that mug? I don’t even know why you spent so much money to get that picture printed on there. It was pretty much one of our most terrible family pictures.”



“Uh, from your words looking at all of our family photos, I quote, ‘All of these pictures look DAMN terrible! Just looking at it makes me want to throw it into a fire!’”



Seeing his goofy grin, Mrs. Walker smiled and also attacked. “Back at that time, I remember you passing out directly from witnessing our glorious family pictures, further proving how nicer I was with my comment.”



“...Hey, we promised never to speak of that ever again.”



“Pfft, you broke many more promises than I ever have in our entire marriage. I’m just giving you the same treatment.”



“...”



As they talked and reminisced about the time when they were sorting through the photos, the atmosphere between the two became joyful and full of laughter. However, as if remembering something, Mrs. Walker changed the topic, asking in a whisper.



“By the way… is everything ready for tomorrow?”



Mr. Walker pondered for a bit, whispering back after confirming his memory. “Hmm… I think we’ve got everything, but setting up without him noticing will be quite hard. After all, it is his birthday.”



Remembering the past, Mrs. Walker couldn’t help but cover her face with her hands. “...Why is Adrian such a good little detective? He figured out our birthday plans for like the 3rd time last year....”



“Don’t worry, we’ve been planning this for a long time now. Plus, even our whole family is helping out this year!”



“I guess you’re right. With so much support from them, we will truly make this 18th birthday of his a big one!”



Imagining their son’s surprised face, they smiled and laughed once more.



However, they did not know that Adrian heard everything they’ve just said.



After eating, Adrian left to go and prepare for school. However, he had forgotten to fill up his water bottle, and was about to go back and refill it from the kitchen sink.



As he walked back, he heard his parents whispering, making him curious. He sneakily hid behind the wall, and listened to his parents spilling his birthday surprise.



Unlike the years before, Adrian understood this time that he really should just fake being surprised. Ruining their efforts just seemed mean, and the amusement of surprising them instead faded over the years. Thus, he had to make sure to forget whatever he heard just now, and instead drive his attention to other matters.



‘My family and relatives have always been my entire world. I just love them so much. This is the least I could do.’



Smiling, Adrian thought, he will try to wake up by himself in the morning, and do his absolute best every day to make his family proud.



‘After all, what more could I ask for?’



--- 20 minutes later ---



After Adrian was done getting ready, he went to the kitchen and was ready to say his goodbyes..



However, seeing his son all dressed up, his father immediately told him, “Oh by the way, your brother just sent me a text that he’s got a surprise for you. He said that he’s just outside the door.”



Confused, Adrian opened the door and looked out to see his brother with a two-seater bicycle next to him.



“What! Did you buy this?!”



Looking at his younger brother with sparkling eyes, Lawrence smiled and said yes.



“Woah! With this, we won’t have to walk to school anymore!”



“Haha, yep! I’ve been saving some cash from my part-time job and finally had enough to pay for this. I bought it yesterday actually, but I wanted to surprise you before school started.”



Looking at their sons smiling and laughing, Mr. and Mrs. Walker gave each other a secret high-five.



They truly felt that sneaking in money into their son’s savings was worth it. Lawrence may not be as happy if he were to find out this fact though, since he wants independence and earn his own money. However, as the parents knew of his plan to buy that bicycle, they really just wanted them to have it sooner.



Of course, they could have given them a ride in their car, but after thinking about it, they realized that making them walk for about 10 minutes to get to school will get them in more ‘physical’ shape. So the two sons ended up enduring the long and treacherous walk--or so they say--and finally got a bicycle that would both give them a ride to school, and still work out at the same time. After all, when walking to school and back for so many days and months, their stamina and productivity increased from the exercise. This made them very happy and more willing to continue this routine.



“Alright boys, have fun at school! It was raining quite a lot yesterday, so make sure to watch out for the puddles. And, don’t forget we always love you!”



“Mooom. You don’t need to remind us ‘every’ single time.”



“Haha, we love you too!”



Looking at his older brother who can take this cheesy remark with ease, Adrian truly felt that he should stop getting embarrassed over these things.



After saying their goodbyes, he and his brother seated themselves on the bicycle with him at the back, and Lawrence at the front. Together, they pedaled their new bike all the way to school, using their experiences from riding their now old and broken bicycles to the test.



It really was unfortunate their bikes broke when they were young.



Adrian thought, ‘After so many years, will we really be okay riding this?!’



Thankfully, there were only a few mistakes they made on the road, before they finally got the hang of it. Of course, these mistakes were not small, but no one needs to find out they almost crashed into a mailbox. Only the picture of a blurry runaway bike could be seen after all.



--- 10 minutes later ---



After arriving at school, and confirming their skills as a bike rider, Adrian and his brother parked the bicycle and locked it with a chain attaching from the bike to the pole. It was one of the privileges of the school to have a parking lot for bikes. There was even a security camera that constantly watched for any signs of anybody stealing someone else's bike.



At least, they hope that’s what it’s for.



“...Uhm, I think we got to school just a littttle bit early.”



Looking at the school clock that says 7:30 AM, Adrian highly doubted that they arrived only a little bit early.



“...”



“...”



Feeling hopeless, the two brothers had no idea what to do to pass the time.



“...Do you wanna just explore the school for a bit?”



“Uh… sure.”



Walking and looking around, they wandered around the school campus. They saw only a few students and teachers here and there, seemingly enjoying the free period of peace and tranquility.



Seriously, even the girl who looked like she wanted to stab everyone she met looked like a behemoth-turned-nice. Seeing her wave at them with a happy expression, the brothers waved back, holding their breath in a state of shock. Seemingly perplexed at this unknown human being, the two boys continued to gape. However, the girl didn’t seem to mind, as she walked away with a cheery expression.



After they finally registered what just happened, they snapped out of their daze and resumed their normal breathing. Looking at each other in the eye, both were relieved nothing bad happened.



As the girl was the same year as Lawrence, he had to deal with her monstrous aura a year before Adrian did. “...I liked her evil glares better. Seeing her smile just gives me a more creepy feeling than what I’m used to everyday from her.”



“...Facts.”



Still, it took only a while for Adrian to feel the exact same way his older brother felt after being given an evil death glare when he happened to meet the girl.



Unable to deal with more uncomfortable situations in this surreal grace period, both brothers unanimously agreed to just go to their secret spot and avoid further interactions with other human beings.



Now, their so-called ‘secret spot’ could be more appropriately described as ‘the’ most suffocating math class ever, as even the teacher had to be forced by the school to get in there and teach the students. Even so, by the time the bell rings, the teacher sprints out of the classroom way before the students even realized class ended.



Seriously, what kind of abnormal and dysfunctional human being would actually stay in such a suffocating place voluntarily?



Why, the Walker brothers obviously.



As the only vacant classroom at school with absolutely no disturbance,  it made the perfect hiding spot for the two boys. Plus, they just couldn’t find another spot. But no one needs to know that.



After finding the empty classroom, the brothers went inside and took their usual seats at the back.



“I just wanted to ask, do you know why she became like that? You know, that girl we just saw. Laura, was it?”



“Yeah, and Laura Diffendal is her full name. It’s been quite a few years, so I can only remember that it was her friends that did something bad to her. I don’t know the full story since I had this condition called ‘none of my business’ at the time, so you might have to ask someone more close to her if you want to find out.”



“And risk getting actually stabbed? Hell no.”



Laughing, the two brothers continued to chatter the time away as the school clock finally neared 8 AM.



“Welp, it’s time to go. Good luck with your junior classes.”



“Good luck with your senior ones. I’ll see you during lunch?”



While saying this, they fist bumped.



“Yep, hopefully another food fight will take place, so we can have a normal reason to leave the cafeteria.”



“True that.”



Both brothers parted ways, going to their lockers to grab their backpacks and materials for class.



--- After class ---



Hearing the call of the saint that signified the end of class (bell), Adrian put his stuff back into his bag, and walked his way to the cafeteria. Hearing his stomach growl, he hurried to go eat, walking faster to not let others hear his constantly growling stomach.



Seeing the social butterflies up ahead however led him to take many detours. On this journey of avoidance, he looked back to memories of the past.



As he and his brother were pretty much a little bit above average in terms of…well everything, from looks to grades, they were pretty much hard to notice, so this precaution thing was really unnecessary.



Still, this did not stop them from getting caught up with other people’s relationships. After all, the only person they truly needed in this school was each other.



Although Adrian is pretty worried about next year, since his brother is graduating, he believes it will still be fine since he is used to being a loner with his brother, and can take care of himself while at school.



It was just that... Adrian knew that he would miss his brother, even with preparations of being independent, as he cried before in the years of elementary and middle school. After hearing his brother tell him that they probably won’t go to the same college, he cried even more, really wanting to spend every precious moment together.



Brothers can be best friends, but they don’t have to share the same dreams and goals in order to stay connected with each other. This is what Adrian was told when Lawrence explained to him about going to different colleges.



His older brother said he was gonna go to a college that had more opportunities for computer science, so he couldn’t really join just any college.



Thus, Lawrence told him to go to a college that focuses more on majoring music instead, since he knew Adrian had more talent in this field than any other. Of course, it took a lot of crying for him to finally calm down when he heard this, but nobody needs to know that.



Finally reaching the cafeteria after the hazardous route that he just somehow created, Adrian tried looking around for his brother. After a few seconds, he saw Lawrence walking towards the bathroom. As he might be busy doing his... business in there, Adrian decided to grab his lunch first.



Meanwhile, Lawrence was feeling constipated inside the bathroom stall. He hoped God would have mercy on him and not make too much of a noise. After all, students are constantly coming in and out during this lunch period.



Using his experience from the many occurrences of this tragic situation, he sneakily made sure no one would know it was him, by leaving his bag and stuff at the spot Adrian and him were at usually, and using some toilet paper from the still full roll to cover his shoes.



As the bathroom stalls can let people see your shoes and bottom legs without looking too much, Lawrence felt very exposed to the outside world.



Luckily, most everybody wore jeans, so he was certain that as long as he covered his shoes, no one would notice it was him. Of course, seeing a suspiciously rolled up shoe of toilet paper would make people curious, but as he had done this countless times, Lawrence felt very confident no one would peek on someone with a ‘serious’ case of the number two.



Thankfully, with his hard to notice ability, and his sneaky assassin skills, nobody cared enough to check, or even stay in the bathroom filled with the cries of the suffering toilet.



--- 15 minutes later ---



Watching his older brother finally coming towards their spot behind the stairwell near the cafeteria, Adrian munched on his lunch and waited patiently.



“...What took you so long? It’s already halfway through our lunch period.”



“Ugh… don’t make me remember the experience all over again. Plus, I’ve already lost my appetite, so I’m just gonna skip lunch and eat at home.”



Looking at his tired and defeated brother, Adrian thought that his situation inside the bathroom must’ve been serious, and stopped questioning further.



“Well, it doesn’t matter. The food here is not that appetizing to be honest, so I totally understand wanting to eat at home.”



Seemingly recalling a memory, Adrian felt a sudden urge to ask his brother about something.



“Oh yeah, have you seen the new student?”



“Hmm... which one?”



“Uh... the girl with brown hair, you know, the one wearing glasses smart people usually wear?”

“...Wearing glasses just means your eyes are bad. Being smart doesn’t have anything to do with it. Anyways, why are you curious about her?”



“Well, it's just… she just recently transferred here from a faraway place, and… maybe we could help her by showing her around?”



“No way… dude, are you interested in her?”



“WhAt! Nooooo….”



Looking at his smug brother, Adrian felt defeated.



“Fine, yes.”



“Ooh man, I should tell our parents that my little brother finally has a crush!”



“WHAT?! NO!”



After Adrian accidentally raised his voice too much, people from afar started turning their heads in curiosity. Seeing that they stopped talking, the group of people left.



When the coast was clear, Lawrence removed the hand covering his brother’s mouth and whispered to him quietly.



“Relax, I was just joking. Don’t raise your voice. We’re still at school you know.”



“...Sorry, I overreacted.”



Witnessing the imaginary droopy ears of a dog on his little brother’s head, Lawrence chuckled and comforted him.



“It’s fine. Still though, I can’t believe it took you this long to start liking somebody. I honestly thought you had no interest in having a romantic relationship.”



“...That’s not it. I just didn’t like anybody until now. It’s completely normal.”



As Lawrence had been continually crushing on new girls every trimester, he really could not feel the same way as his brother.



“I guess it’s just normal for some people. At least you won’t get your heart crushed many times if it’s this hard for you to start liking somebody.”



“...But, I don’t even know her name yet. It’s just that when I saw her for the first time while I was on my way to my locker, I started getting nervous and my heart started beating rapidly.”



“Hmm... I guess you really do have a crush on her. I would say your basing off looks too much, but seeing as how you're immune to the other school beauties, I don’t think that’s the case….”



Pondering on how this new girl could have shaken his little brother’s heart, Lawrence felt as if he really doesn’t know his brother all too well.



“I’m not immune. It’s just that those attractive people really aren’t my type.”



All of a sudden, Lawrence’s inner smart guy suddenly picked up on something.



“Wait, question, when you said ‘attractive people,’ are you referring to both girls AND boys?”



“Huh? I… don’t know what you mean.”



Seeing his brother shaking and looking nervous, Lawrence felt that he really was onto something. Feeling as if this topic would be too sensitive for a public chat, he grabbed their stuff, threw Adrian’s lunch away, and pulled him back to their secret spot.



“What? Hey, my food! Ow. Where are you taking me?”



“To our secret spot of course.”



“But lunchtime is close to being over! We only have a few minutes left. Why are we going there now?”



While complaining, Adrian felt defeated by his brother’s strength and could only follow him to their spot.



Once they reached the empty classroom, the brothers entered and closed the door, walking back to their usual seats.



After being seated, Lawrence looked at his brother with a serious face.



“Adrian, I want to ask you a question, but you have to be honest. Do you like girls… or boys?”



“Huh?! What… kind of question is that.”



“Adrian, I need you to answer me truthfully.”



“I… umm… *sigh* I like both.”



Pulling out the answer he was looking for, Lawrence felt defeated.



“So… you’re bisexual?”



“Yeah… but I’m more attracted to girls than boys!”



“That’s not the point. Do you know what would happen if our parents find out?”



Faced with the question that he knew would not have a very good answer, Adrian regretted ever becoming attracted to other boys.



“I know… It’s just, I couldn’t help myself. Some part of me felt attracted to both girls and boys, and I couldn’t stop it….”



Feeling that his little brother’s mood must be unstable right now, Lawrence sighed and hugged him in comfort.



“Look. I don’t really mind who you like. I was just really paranoid on what trouble you may get yourself into if you were to ever start liking guys.”



“Yeah, I know. That’s why... I’ve been trying to keep it a secret ever since I found out.”



Seeing that Adrian was about to cry, Lawrence really wanted to comfort him.



“Look. Tomorrow, you’ll be 18 years old. You’re gonna become an adult, so our parents can’t stop you from making your own choices anymore. If you want to come out to them, I’ve got your back. I know someone who wouldn’t mind helping us out. But if you still want to keep it a secret for longer… I’ll make sure they don’t find out until you’re ready, ok?”



“...Thank you, brother. Thank you so much for understanding….”



Feeling as if he has the best brother ever, Adrian hugged Lawrence and cried a little bit. However, this sweet moment did not last long, as the bell signifying the end of lunch period was ringing loudly across the school. Feeling spooked by this loud sound, both brothers freaked out and started quickly packing up their stuff to get to their class on time.



“I’ve got your back, remember that!”



Lawrence could not hear Adrian’s reply, as his class was much further from their spot and thus he had to sprint quickly in order to get there on time.



Whilst also rushing to his class, Adrian tried to stabilize his emotions.



Hearing his brother, he thought, ‘Of course I’ll remember. You are the best brother in the whole wide world after all.’



--- End of School Day ---



After school, both brothers packed up their stuff and headed back to their two-seater bike in different directions, as they were leaving their last class of the day. While walking, the two boys seemed to be in a complicated mood.



Even with his brother’s comfort, Adrian still kept regretting ever letting him find out. After all, his older brother will be put in an even tighter spot if he doesn’t confess tomorrow.



But even if he does, there’s no telling what would happen.



On the other hand, if he keeps it a secret, Lawrence will have to hold a big secret from their family, which will also make him feel guilty.



Meanwhile, Lawrence was still debating over what to do after finding out his little brother’s secret. He is not personally bothered by it, as he quite open-minded, but his family might not really accept the fact that Adrian’s bisexual. He could either persuade him to confess, keep it a secret, or just let his own brother figure it out.



However, if Adrian decides to confess tomorrow, it would be impossible to know what would happen next, and the happy mood everyone worked hard for might just turn ugly. Still though, his secret would be out, and he won’t have to live his life hiding another part of him.



On the other hand however, if Adrian chooses to keep it a secret, nobody but the two of them will know, and life can just go on.



However, both of them will have to work hard to not let their parents figure it out, because if he himself can figure it out, their more intelligent family would most likely find out as well.



It would be better to tell them himself rather than them finding out about it, but as Adrian said, he is more attracted to girls than boys, meaning if he could get a girlfriend, this whole situation would be much easier to solve.



Upon meeting up at the parking lot for bikes, both brothers seemed to be still stuck in a dilemma, unable to make a choice, as they did not notice other people getting their bikes and leaving. Eventually, they snapped out of their daze, looked at each other in the eye, and prepared to set off from school.



Further discussion can take place at home after all.



--- 5 minutes later ---



In the middle of their pedaling back home, Adrian had the most sudden overwhelming urge to use the bathroom.



“Ugh… is there a bathroom I can go to like, RIGHT now? Omg, I might not be able to hold it all the way back home…”



“Uhh… well, we just passed by a gas station, so you can probably use their restroom.”



Seeing his little brother agreeing, Lawrence turned around the direction their bike was going, and stopped near the gas station.



“Ok, take your time, I’ll just be waiting over here.”



Before he himself could even get off the bike, Adrian jumped off and ran to the station.



“Don’t worry, I’ll try to be quick! Be right back!”



Looking at the amazing trail of dust his brother just left behind while running, Lawrence thought that Adrian should sign up for the track team.



After entering the store, Adrian quickly asked a staff member to use their bathroom, to which she said yes and pointed to where it was. Thanking her, he sprinted to the men’s bathroom, closing the door quickly before settling down to do his important business.



Seeing him run though, shocked the lady.



*Chuckle* ‘That kid sure runs faster than my boyfriend during a race. Hmm… I should test his bathroom running skills the next time I see him. Who knows, he might actually be a disappointment for an athlete when compared to that kid.’



--- 15 minutes later ---



After finishing his business, Adrian thanked the staff lady again, and left the gas station in order to walk to where his brother was at.



Having waited for some time, Lawrence almost dozed off sitting down while leaning against the bike on the wall. Finally seeing his brother coming towards him, he slapped himself to wake up.



After trying to stand up, he realized just how sore his body was for waiting quite a while.



“I know I said to take your time, but that… was a really long time you know. Still, leaning against this bike probably made the waiting worse.”



Looking at his poor and aching brother, Adrian felt guilty at having taken so long. He couldn’t help it though, since some stuff just had to come out and it took a while.



“Sorry… I’ll use the bathroom at school when we leave next time, so I promise this won’t happen again.”



“Yeah yeah, but you should know you're just as terrible at keeping promises as our dad.”



“...”



“Well anyways, let's go home. It’s getting a bit late, and you know how worried our parents can get.”



As they were already halfway home, it did not take them long to pull up to their driveway.



Seeing his two sons finally coming back home from the kitchen window, Mr. Walker got up from his seat and opened the door for them.



“We’re home!”



“Welcome back! Your mother’s cooking up dinner, so make sure to clean yourselves up before you eat.”



Seeing their father greeting them instead of their mother, the brothers truly were perplexed.



“Dad?! Didn’t you have to go to work?”



“Ah, it’s my day off today. Your mother doesn’t have one though, so better say goodbye to her after dinner.”



“Oh, okay!”



Both brothers seemed excited that their dad is staying home.



Usually, working as a veterinarian made him stay at work till it was their bedtime, so his sons only got to see him in the morning. However, now that it’s his day off, the two boys seemed to be planning the best way to spend some time together.



Unfortunately, their mother was a doctor, so she could not get a day off and had to constantly leave work after making and eating dinner. She gets home at around 6 AM, but as exhausted as she was, she still made breakfast and woke up Adrian. She goes to sleep as soon as they leave for school, collapsing on the bed like a mother who just recently gave birth to a child.



Of course, as she had not told them this fact yet, the two boys thought that their mother got home early enough to sleep for a few hours, before finally waking up to make breakfast. Their dad however, knew the truth and thus tried persuading her to sleep as soon as she got home, and that he would be the one to make breakfast and wake up Adrian. This discussion almost failed, but Mrs. Walker finally agreed to sleep as soon as he learned how to cook food properly.



In other news, she would be his teacher, and punishments for each failure will be carried out according to how much food he wasted. Mr. Walker internally felt his soul shaking, as he was not that good of a cook, but he could only hold in this thought and work hard to help his wife get some sleep.



After putting their school stuff away, they went to get themselves cleaned up for dinner.



Remembering the incident at school, they decided to discuss it further tomorrow, and spend all of their time with their father for today. Of course, they haven't told their parents yet that they had homework, but the brothers made a pact to keep this secret between them.



Otherwise, who knows what would happen if their parents ever find out.



“Oh hey Adrian, I forgot to put the bike away. Can you please put it in the garage? I really have to use the bathroom right now.”



Remembering the bathroom incident on their way home, Adrian did not complain and went off to put away the bicycle.



Seeing the looming clouds overhead, he tried to be quick and used all his strength to push the bike towards the garage.



However, as there was such a huge rainstorm yesterday, the ground was still wet and muddy. Thus, he accidentally tripped while pushing and fell into the small pond of rainwater.



“WOA-”



It was just that, he didn’t land on the ground beneath the pond, but instead continued to fall deeper and deeper into it.



--- To be Continued ---



Author’s Notes :



Hey! So this prologue took a VERY long time to make, since it basically has way more words than my usual chapters, but I wanted to make sure I could introduce his family and flesh them out. I basically am changing up a lot of things, since I actually have a… well I still don’t have a full plan on how this story is gonna go, but I’m trying my best to figure it out TuT.



Ok so back to introductions.



Hi, I am a new writer who is making his very first novel, so please forgive me if there are any errors in the way I write. I am currently still in school, so I can’t exactly give a good schedule for how I’m gonna update this novel. My goal for now however, is to remake the chapters I published before, which new readers like you won’t see, and make it so that it flows better. I also got confused with my own story, so I wanted to make a prologue and decide how I should fit Adrian’s personality with his reaction to the new world he’s been summoned to, as well as his future companion (don’t tell me you haven’t read the summary). I don’t wanna spoil things planned (not planned) for the next chapters, so I will just move on.



I will state this very clearly so I will not get further questions or comments about it :



The next chapters will not be THIS long, maybe like less than 2 thousand words, so still long, but y'know, not 4.5k words long.



I made this prologue in order to give people an idea of how he lived before he was summoned, so like maybe you can sympathize with him about being thrown away from his loved ones. Well, his secret did bring in some trouble, but with time, scars can heal, although nothing even happened yet.



I am trying to make this story not very cliche, but it’s still inevitable to use some cliches in order to progress the story.



This is a slow-burn story, so don’t expect shallow or quick romances, along with other stuff that usually just pops out of nowhere without any explanation. I’ll also try to be realistic...ish.



Yes, seeing the harem tag on other stories kinda makes me want to avoid it, but as I’m trying not to be cliche, I will make it so that there will be real progression, as well as introduce LGBTQ+ elements in order to make the story more unique.



I am just plain terrible at describing designs, facial features, clothes, among other stuff, so please just use your imagination. I wanna write this story for fun, not for more work in my life pwp. Still, I will try to improve my writing if it’s achievable.



Oh and btw, when I say LGBTQ+, I mean I’m actually introducing other genders, sexualities, and other stuff. Sometimes when I read lgbtq+ novels (I’m probably not searching too much), it’s either about being gay or lesbian, or something else, but not inclusive to the other kinds out there. I’m not positive I can write about all of them, but I will try my best.



Look, I’m not making smut scenes any time in the future, so don’t expect me to even try and create one. I’ll probably include some uhh… ‘romancing’ scenes like kissing and etc., but not ones that are… y’know.



If there are actually some old readers that were willing to re-read this novel again from the few chapters I released before, I’m gonna say it right now, DON’T SPOIL! I may be recreating the chapters, but it will be quite similar, so I’m not gonna tolerate any spoiling of any kind. Oh and thank you for giving me another chance.



Also just wanted to repeat this information, but as you may have heard, this is my very FIRST novel, so don’t get your hopes high on how the story progresses.



I will make a character profile thingy when Ash gets introduced, but I’m warning you that it’s gonna be vague and probably won’t let you imagine them that much. I’m just really bad at this part orz.



Adrian and Lawrence are still in high school because they were held back for some reason I never created (although it’s still pretty common for their ages to be in high school).



Repeating what I said earlier, I made this novel for fun, not as a serious hobby or anything, so if life throws me into chaos or something, don’t expect me to write the new chapters until my life is stable again. I am a human, just in case you didn’t know, so I can be sensitive to certain comments.



I am looking for constructive criticism, so feel free to point out mistakes or plot holes I’ve made. Seriously though, don’t be mean about it. If I feel that my mistake can be fixed, I will re-update the chapter, whether it's mistakes I’ve found re-reading it, or from other people who told me.



Also, I may not get to some tags, so if i really can’t bring it out, I’m sorry and I will most likely have to remove it. I’m just experimenting with what I can do.



Edit : I’ve been getting some questions on the reason behind Adrian’s age and other stuff, but just know I will be explaining this in the later chapters. Or maybe I won’t. I mean, that’s what all the mystery tag is about y’know?