Deflower Me If You Can Chapter 2

“Where? Where?”

“What? What’s up with Bliss’s eye?”

“Whoa, Bliss’s eye has gone bright red! Look at that, isn’t it red? It’s a strawberry, a strawberry!”

“Did a bug sting him?”

“Dummy, he must’ve gotten hit by someone. Bliss is stupid, you know.”

“What? Bliss, who hit you? Who was it? Tell us quick!”

From behind the clamoring younger siblings, the eldest, who had been silently staring at the youngest, spoke.

“If he actually got hit, that’s a serious problem. Because someone hit a Miller.”

At those words, the mood suddenly turned icy. Normally, he would never get involved in such childish nonsense. In fact, he was past the age for it, but it was also because of his cynical personality. Attending this party was practically nothing more than a duty as a member of the Miller family. It had been almost a given that he would ignore and brush aside any trivial troubles that occurred there.

But if someone had attacked a ‘Miller,’ that was a completely different story. Because it meant there was no fear of the name ‘Miller.’ Nathaniel, who frowned as if displeased, and all the remaining children, their faces hardened coldly, looked up at Bliss cradled in Papa’s arms. In the quiet silence, Papa, Ashley Miller, who had said nothing until then, finally spoke.

“Nathaniel is right. Bliss, who would dare do this to you?”

The precious Miller had to take responsibility for the bruise on the youngest’s eye. As everyone watched with faces full of fury, Bliss, who had been bewilderedly observing the reactions around him until then, hesitated and then opened his mouth.

“I, I did it.”

For a very brief moment, an awkward silence passed. After a stillness that seemed as if everyone was mulling over what they had just heard, suddenly, as if released from a spell all at once, everyone started talking over one another.

“What? Bliss, you hit yourself? Why?”

“Why on earth would you do that? Is it not that your head is bad but that you had no brain at all?”

“Bliss, don’t tell me you wanted to test how hard your head is?”

“Idiot, then you should’ve hit your head, why hit your eye? Oh, don’t tell me, Bliss, you can’t tell your eyes and head apart?”

“For Bliss, that’s entirely plausible. He is stupid, after all.”

“No, Grayson, Stacey! You morons! That’s not it!”

The more he listened, the more these guys… Unable to hold back his anger, Bliss stomped his feet inside Papa’s arms. Immediately, everyone fell silent and stared at him. As if asking what on earth had happened then. Huff, after letting out a big breath, Bliss finally spoke.

“Earlier, a bunch of boys I don’t know swarmed over and…”

“Swarmed over and?”

“Swarmed over?”

“Grayson, Stacey.”

At the two who couldn’t hold back and jumped in hastily, Ashley Miller gave a stern warning.

“I told you not to interrupt when someone else is speaking, didn’t I? Everyone be quiet. Until Bliss finishes talking, no one open your mouth.”

At the coldly falling voice, the children tensed up and shut their mouths. After casting a glance over his children, who had gone silent in an instant, Ashley finally turned his gaze to Bliss.

“So what happened? Continue, Bliss.”

At the quiet voice directed at him, Bliss fiddled with both hands and dropped his gaze.

“Well, it’s, I mean, those bastards…”

“Bliss, you should say kids, not bastards.”

“Koi.”

This time, Papa smiled at Daddy, who had interjected to point out their son’s word choice.

“Let’s let Bliss speak however he wants for now, okay?”

It was a completely different voice from the one he had used to warn the children. At the gentle admonishment given with a tender smiling face, Koi blushed and said “okay,” then shut his mouth. Only after the surroundings had finally become completely quiet did Ashley nod to Bliss again. As if to say, go on. Taking a deep breath, Bliss finally spilled out the words he had kept in his heart.

“Those bastards—kids, they told me I’m not a Miller!”

In an instant, the surroundings went quiet. The silence this time was different from before. Nathaniel raised an eyebrow, the rest of the children looked at each other, and Daddy and Papa stared at Bliss with furrowed faces. After countless question marks seemed to flash through their minds, one person finally opened his mouth.

“What do you mean Bliss is not a Miller?”

When the fifth, Larien, asked first, the fourth, Chase, retorted right after.

“Bullshit, that’s what. Some stupid little shits must’ve spouted stupid nonsense.”

“Chase, you shouldn’t use bad words.”

Koi scolded the child, but paying no attention to that, the twins, the third and second, clamored over each other.

“It’s bullshit, but the fact that they spouted it is the problem.”

“Right, how messed up are their heads to dare say something like that out loud? Their manners need fixing. What method would be good?”

“Kids…”

Just as Koi, at a loss as to how to smooth over the children’s rough language, was about to speak again, the eldest suddenly raised a question.

“But what does that have to do with your eye turning purple?”

When Nathaniel pointed it out with a frown, the rest of the children stared at Bliss as if they had only just realized it. Papa, who had glanced at his eldest son, also asked, as if suspicious.

“I was just curious about that too. What happened to that eye?”

At the quiet voice, everyone stared only at Bliss’s mouth. Fidgeting under the unexpected attention, he took a deep breath and finally revealed the truth of the incident.

“Those bastards—kids, said my eyes aren’t purple, so I’m not a Miller.”

“So?”

Recalling it again made his fury surge. Seeing the youngest son breathing roughly, the Papa who asked the next question was met with Bliss proudly puffing out his chest and shouting.

“I hit my own eye and made it purple!”

Following that, a collective sigh of “Ah” burst out all at once. While the watching children, and even Papa and Daddy, all looked at Bliss speechlessly, Bliss alone lifted his head triumphantly.

“If I’m not a Miller because I don’t have purple eyes, then all I have to do is make them purple! So I kept hitting my eye and those guys ran away. Cowards, stupid idiots! Serves them right! I should’ve taught them more of a lesson. I was chasing after those bastards when someone blocked my path. If I’d just caught them, I’d have gone like this, like this.”

Everyone simply watched without a word as Bliss, completely worked up, punched at the air shouting “Take that, take that!” Completely at a loss as to what to say first, Koi was feeling bleak, and the children had shut their mouths with similar thoughts. Amid them, Ashley spoke up.

“Fighting with pride about the fact that you are a Miller was a very good thing to do.”

He first praised the child, who was bursting with energy, and then calmly continued.

“But self-harm is not a good method in that process. In a situation like that…”

“What’s self-harm?”

When Bliss tilted his head and asked, Papa suddenly closed his eyes. Papa stayed like that for two or three seconds as if thinking something over, then opened his eyes again and began in the same composed voice as before.

“It means hurting yourself. You must never hurt yourself in any situation, understood?”

“Uh-huh…”

Somehow feeling as if he had done something wrong, the corners of Bliss’s mouth turned down. Seeing that, Papa immediately added.

“Next time, if something like that happens, find Papa or Daddy right away. We’ll take care of it for you.”

At the gently soothing words, Bliss immediately jutted out his lip and grumbled.

“I couldn’t see you.”

“That’s because Bliss is tiny like a booger.”

Toward Larien, the fifth, who had seized the chance to butt in, Ashley directed a cool, wordless stare. After confirming his daughter had instantly shut her mouth, Papa turned his words back to Bliss.

“In a case like that, find your other siblings or tell any adult nearby. You are Bliss ‘Miller,’ yet some brats who don’t know their place are bothering you.”

Having explained calmly, he twisted one corner of his mouth into a smile.

“Then anyone will help you and bring you to us.”

Koi, who had been listening up to that point, gently reached out and stroked the youngest’s head. As if to say he could rest easy now, Bliss’s cheeks relaxed under the warm touch and a blush crept up on him. Not missing that opening, Koi swiftly asked the child.

“Bliss, want some ice cream?”

“Strawberry.”