A tense party

Arlen entered the grand hall with his boyfriend, Justin, both neatly and sharply dressed. He wasn't a fan of these kinds of parties; he didn't like being around so many people. Arlen would much rather be at home thinking of new recipes for his café.

However, as the mayor's third son, he knew that was unlikely. He sometimes, like now, got invited to events he didn't care about. Other times, details about his private life ended up in the news. He had a kind of unwanted fame that he wished he could escape.

At 5'7", Arlen was the shortest in his family, and his height had earned him the unwanted title of "baby" despite being twenty-six. His black hair brushed his ears, framing light blue eyes and fair skin that often made people call him pretty.

"Look who finally showed up," Nick said as they approached. "It's typical of Justin to be late, but I didn’t expect that from you, bro. Don’t tell me Justin’s influence is getting to you?" he teased them.

"Not really; we got stuck in traffic coming from his place," Arlen replied softly.

"Yeah, he crashed at my house," Justin added, giving a quick glance at Cade before turning to smile at Arlen, his boyfriend.

Justin is the son of the owner of the university they all attended. Justin is known for always getting what he wants, no matter the method, which has made his siblings have a strong dislike for him. Growing up, he had rarely been told no, and the few times he had been, he simply found another way around it.

He first met Cade, Brennon, and Nick at a party some time ago, but they only became close friends after seeing each other frequently at the university.

"Showing off your relationship, huh?" Nick teased again, with a smirk.

"Of course we're not," Justin replied playfully before focusing completely on Cade, giving him a soft look.

Justin has had a crush on Cade since their first meeting but wasn't sure how to express his feelings. Cade is incredibly attractive, and Justin often finds himself lost in thought while looking at him, making him feel shy in his presence.

However, he was uncertain about Cade feeling the same way. Most of the time, Cade wears a neutral expression and speaks very little. Though there are occasional smiles directed at him from Cade, Justin still feels hesitant about confessing his feelings. He just wanted to be certain first.

"Did you just get here?" Justin asked Cade, his expression and voice soft. No one seemed to notice, not even his boyfriend Arlen, who held onto him lightly.

"No, I arrived about thirty minutes ago," Cade responded while gazing into Justin's eyes. He appreciated the softness he saw there. Part of the reason why his plans of forgetting about Justin weren't working.

"You’re always on time for everything," Justin remarked, giving Cade a small, genuine smile that he reserved just for the man he really had feelings for.

Cade nodded and glanced at the linked arms of Justin and Arlen, feeling a frown come on.

"We left my house late; that's why we couldn't avoid the traffic," Justin continued, keeping his gaze fixed on Cade. He was well aware of where Cade’s attention lay and was determined to do whatever it took to make Cade lose interest in Arlen.

"Got it," Cade replied with a stiff tone as he sipped his drink and looked away. He hated how Arlen was constantly at Justin's place. It bothered him that they never seemed to shut up about it.

Justin turned his attention to Arlen and flashed a practiced smile he had perfected for him. Justin had met Arlen months ago, and they quickly became friends. However, that friendship soon turned into a one sided crush and a problem for Justin. He could tell Arlen was starting to have feelings for him, it was obvious. So he introduced Arlen to their group in hopes that being around more people would help him forget about Justin. To his surprise, he discovered that Arlen was Nick's younger brother. Since then, the five of them had been hanging out together.

Justin was okay with everything until he realized, in his opinion, that Cade had begun to like Arlen. He caught Cade giving Arlen subtle glances and was convinced he wasn’t imagining it. Nick sometimes joked about how Cade would ask goofy questions about Arlen. This made Justin extremely jealous since he had a big crush on Cade ever since they met, only for Arlen to come along and try to take him away.

Justin enjoyed being friends with Arlen and held no ill will towards him, as long as he didn’t cross any boundaries with Cade. Cade was his and his alone; he had no intention of sharing.

So, Justin made a plan to confess a fake feeling to Arlen. He knew that Arlen would agree since it was clear that Arlen liked him. Justin hoped that by starting a relationship with Arlen, Cade would lose interest. Then, he could later break up with Arlen and pursue Cade.

That was his strategy.

Justin gently tucked Arlen's hair behind his ear and flashed a smile at him. When Arlen smiled back, Justin leaned in and kissed his cheek, causing Arlen to blush. “Did you all know that Arlen blushes easily?” Justin asked the others, glancing over at Cade, who pretended to be distracted by the crowd of people mingling around them.

Nick and Brennon exchanged a quick glance at each other before taking a sip of their drinks. Nick felt completely thrown off by the question about his brother, while Brennon was left wondering how he was supposed to know that kind of information.

"Cade?" Justin inquired, curious if Cade had anything to say about Arlen's blush. He silently wished for a "no" as the answer.

Cade shifted his gaze from the crowd and focused on Arlen, who avoided eye contact. Then he glanced back at Justin before returning his attention to the sea of people. "That's nothing new."

"Oh, really?" Justin replied, surprised yet pleased with the response.

Meanwhile, Arlen couldn't bring himself to look away from the table. Justin's question had embarrassed him, but Cade's reply had made it worse. Nothing new? Why did Cade always sound like he disliked him? He racked his memory for something he might have done wrong, but found nothing.

The atmosphere grew tense. Nick cleared his throat awkwardly while Brennon became absorbed in his drink; he desperately wanted to smoke his cigar.

Arlen threw a quick glance at Cade, locking eyes with the intimidating man who stared back blankly before frowning slightly and looking away. Arlen felt a strong desire to leave with Justin; he no longer wanted to be near Cade who disliked him for no reason.

Justin observed this brief exchange between Cade and Arlen and frowned. Why couldn’t Cade focus on him instead of Arlen? He decided he would make more effort to keep them apart.

“We’ll be back,” Justin said to the three men who seemed eager to escape the tense atmosphere. “I’ll show him around.” With that, he took Arlen’s hand and walked away.

“It gets so uncomfortable when the tension rises like that,” Brennon remarked once they were out of earshot.

“Arlen looked really freaked out just now. Since when does Cade scare him?” Nick asked Cade, his tone protective.

Cade gulped down the last of his wine. “I didn’t notice, and I don’t care,” he replied before heading off. He needed some fresh air.