"Yum... Now that is some serious man-candy right there..."

"Huh, what?"

That seemed to have come out of nowhere.

It wasn't until Fenrir glanced towards the couch that he understood where, exactly.

"Whoa! No, no no. You'll stay away from him."

"Excuse me?"

He was trying to keep his voice under control, as he didn't want Null to hear what he was saying;
"I said that I want you to have nothing to do with that man."

"I can't believe this!"
" Shh!"
"I thought that maybe, maybe you could've changed, but no! "

"Still thinking that you can just decide who I'm interested in and who to go out with. As if it wasn't enough the first time you did it."

And she hadn't even done anything but admired how the guy looked... yet.

"Hati..."

She slashed out his hand.
"Don't--- Don't touch me."

"Listen up now, mister. I am not letting you do this to me again!"
"Hati."
"You may have done it once, but you will not, do you hear me, you will not do it again."

"This has nothing to do with the last time. This is something completely different and you absolutely can not be involved with that man in any way. He's dangerous and he is taken. Don't even speak to him. Ever."

Fenrir wasn't taking the risk of something happening to his sister. Null might not hurt Sebille, but who was to say he wouldn't hurt others. Hati would hate Fenrir for doing this until she understood why, but he'd take her anger as long as nothing happened to her.

"I don't have to listen to this."

Fenrir grabbed her wrist.
"Don't go there."

"I will go where I want to go."

Fenrir stepped in front of her and pulled her close.

"I love you. And I don't want you to be hurt. So, please... please don't."

Hurt? Wasn't that overreacting a little?

"I've always been looking out for you and I'll keep doing that, whether you like it or not."

Hati wasn't really listening to her brother right anymore, though. The man that had been sitting on the couch a moment ago was leaving and she noticed his eyes. They were cold... and so empty they gave her chills.
 

Taken? That man?

"You can let go now, Fenris."

He let go of her slowly and somehow really carefully.

"You should just mind your own business."
Her original protest had escaped her mind; it had been so long since the last time she'd been so close to her oldest brother.

Hati continued her way to the, now empty, couch.

"What do you mean dangerous? What's a man like that doing here?" Her voice was bitter and she was trying not to love Fenrir, but it was hard keeping up with the hate now that she actually saw him in person.

"He has something here, so he isn't leaving."
"Something?"
"Sebille..."

Fenrir said their mutual friend's name very carefully, as if it was a trigger for a bomb. A bomb that would've gone off if Hati hadn't lost most of her resolve with that hug a moment ago.

"Sebille?"

Hati couldn't believe it. She wasn't allowed to even talk to the guy and Fenrir let Sebille 'date' him!? Oh this was so ridiculous. But Hati was too tired to even get mad anymore.

"Sit down" she sighed.

"I haven't thought about why you did it."
She was referring to what happened three years ago.

"Yes, I was young and probably stupid... but I loved him and we could've been something."

"No, Hati... He was using you. He was my age, a jobless good-for-nothing and you were just nineteen. There's just one thing a guy that age would want with someone as young as you."

Okay, he was being a little too harsh... but Fenrir had driven him away for a reason.

"You don't know that! He loved me just as I loved him, and okay, a marriage at that age is kind of rushing things but we wanted everyone to see what we felt."

"Hati... you may have been in love, but he most certainly wasn't. I've seen guys with eyes like that before and know what they want with naive young girls: sex. Nothing else."

Now that Hati thought back at it, Fenrir was probably right, but she was too proud to ever admit it. She needed to win every argument, she needed to have the last word.

"It was just you who thought that! Even Skoll never said anything, and he always has opinions about things he doesn't like. He was happy for us."

"Well, Skoll is an idiot."

Hati hit him but couldn't hold back her smile; The old goons had bickered for as long as she could remember.
"Ouch!"

The smile faded off her face.
" ..."
" ...?"

Why hadn't she thought about this properly before?

He really might've done what was best for her... Her brother had caused her tremendous amounts of heartache but... so would've her fiance if Fenrir had let them get married... probably.

She sobbed quietly.

If Hati hadn't been so stuck up and held a grudge against Fenrir all these years, she might've realized what he did sooner.

She loved him... and still looked up to him.

But she wasn't ready to admit it.