"You can kill or intimidate me, but I will not stop telling you to leave. I can't give up." It had been two days since Kiran became part of their family, but Alex had not given up on annoying and chasing him away.
The words came out clipped, defensive, like he'd rehearsed them in the mirror and decided volume would make them true. He stood in the middle of the living room with his arms crossed, chin tilted up, trying to look like someone who wasn't running on two hours of sleep and pure spite.
He made a fuss, but every time he got hit, but he never learned a lesson.
Kiran didn't even hit hard. He didn't need to. A flick to the forehead, a shove to the shoulder, a look that made Alex's own arguments sound stupid in his head. It was enough. Alex would stagger back, rub the spot, glare, and come back five minutes later with the same line.
