Wrong Key, Right Kiss Chapter 2

I’ve been obsessing over my brother for a long time.

The root of this goes back to when I was five.

I still remember the scene. The elegant Aunt Holly holding Hayes’s hand. That poker face of his breaking into a brilliant smile when he saw me.

Hayes inherited all of Aunt Holly’s best genes. At eight years old, he looked like a runway child model.

The neighbor’s daughter teased me back then: "Winnie, your dad bought you a live-in boyfriend."

I dumbly asked, "What's a live-in boyfriend?"

"It means he belongs to you."

From that day on, I treated Hayes like my personal property. Unlike other girls who liked Barbies, I was only interested in dressing up Hayes.

Dad bought Aunt Holly jewelry and clothes. Naturally, I used my allowance to buy Hayes trinkets. They weren't expensive, but I hand-picked every single one.

Later, I understood what the neighbor actually meant, but the possessiveness and habit were already ingrained in my DNA.

When I got older, I realized I was actually in love with him.

One wrong step, and the whole path went crooked.

He found out when he graduated high school. Dad sent him to London to support his artistic dreams.

That was when I realized I had severe separation anxiety.

I wanted to FaceTime him 24/7. I was a ball of anxiety every single day. Dad thought I was just adjusting to high school, so he let me take a month off.

Every night, I slept in Hayes’s bedroom. Hugging his duvet. Smelling his scent. Thinking of him until I passed out.

Extreme longing drives people crazy.

At 16, fueled by god-knows-what courage, I got on a plane to London alone.

Being unreachable for over ten hours sent the whole family into a panic.

When I landed, I called Hayes, sobbing. "Hayes, please don't throw me away..."

That was the first time Hayes skipped class—just to find me in a foreign country.

That night, he patted my back to lull me to sleep, just like when we were kids.

I gripped his collar, tears soaking the fabric, and whispered the question that had been eating me alive.

"Hayes, can you please love me?"

Hayes’s expression froze for a split second.

But he quickly smiled. "I'm your brother. Of course I love you most."