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“Did I ever even matter to you?” Kalim asked.
Jamil paused, hands frozen in place as he looked at Kalim in his vanity mirror. Kalim was leaning against the doorway, looking at the floor. Jamil sighed deeply and dropped his hands to his lap.
“You did once. A long, long time ago.” Jamil replied coldly.
“But was it me you cared about? Or who I was?” Kalim asked.
Jamil was a bit startled by the question.
“What?” Jamil turned in his seat.
Kalim seemed nervous, but also seemed like he was going to continue with this line of questioning, even if it made them both uncomfortable.
“I mean! Did you care about Kalim ? Or did you care about Kalim Al Asim , heir to the Al Asim family?” Kalim demanded.
Jamil opened his mouth to reply, but Kalim cut in.
“No. I want you to think about it. I want you to really think about it, Jamil.” Kalim demanded, holding up his hand.
Jamil had to wonder where Kalim suddenly got a backbone. He had never asked like this before. Closing his mouth, he thought about it. He remembered the years of being by Kalim’s side. Watching over him, keeping him safe, playing with him, anything and everything to keep the young heir safe and happy.
Jamil’s heart stopped. Wait, young heir? Oh. Jamil swallowed. Oh fuck.
“Jamil. Please. Just answer me. Did you care about Kalim the person… or Kalim the heir?” Kalim whispered.
Jamil glanced at him and then let out a slow breath.
“The heir.” Jamil stated.
The silence was deafening. Jamil watched the emotions pass over Kalim’s face. Shock, anger, sorrow and then finally, acceptance. Kalim nodded his head and wrapped his arms around himself.
“I see… So you really were just like everyone else.” Kalim replied.
Jamil jerked back in shock, staring at him before he shot to his feet.
“Excuse me!” Jamil demanded.
“So you only cared about me because of my family! Tell me, if I had died, would you have even cared? Even cried?” Kalim snapped back.
“Of course I would have cared! You dying would have been bad for me and my family!” Jamil snapped back.
Kalim’s eyes stared into his own eyes before Kalim looked away.
“Right.” Kalim muttered.
Feeling a bit like Kalim wasn’t seeing the full picture, Jamil knew he had to set the record straight.
“Kalim. I’m sorry, but without your family, you would be nothing.” Jamil said coldly, arms crossed.
Kalim shivered.
“No one would care about you if you didn’t have the name and the wealth. No one at this school would look twice at you! Hell! You won’t have even made it into this school! Your father bought your way into this school because you didn’t have the magic to get in.” Jamil sneered.
Kalim curled into himself.
“You don’t have the magic, the brains or literally anything else that would help you stand out. You are just a rich boy whose father will do anything to make you happy. So really, you can’t blame us for the silver spoon in your mouth.” Jamil finished.
Kalim was just standing there. Jamil wasn’t even sure why he had unloaded like he had. Hadn’t his overblot already said all of this? Something dripped onto the floor and at first Jamil thought it was tears and mentally sighed.
“Kalim.” Jamil stated.
Only the tears seemed a little dark if Jamil looked at them. Very dark. Almost black…
Kalim lifted his head and black tears were rolling down his face. Jamil’s heart stopped.
“If that’s all anyone cares about, then fine. If they don’t want Kalim the person, then there’s no point in being a person.” Kalim hissed as the ink started to spread across his skin.
“KALIM!” Jamil screamed as he overblotted.