Chapter 11

—SATURDAY—

It was evening, and Ethan was at home. He was bored, tired of watching movies; his stomach ached from too much ice cream and junks, and he didn’t even feel like going out, so he lay on his bed scrolling through the internet on his phone. Then he saw a post Lucien made two minutes ago, a picture of him holding someone’s hand, captioned “Beautiful evening with someone special.”

Ethan scrolled like he did every other post; he didn’t even feel a thing or dwell on it. Then he remembered something: he paints. He quickly got up from bed; that’s a perfect way to kill boredom. He started searching for his paints, brushes and other things he needed to paint, but couldn’t find any. He turned his room upside down but found nothing; he even went as far as checking the closet. Then it clicked: Lucien had once told him it was a waste of time that no one looks at paintings anymore and that he hated the smell of paint, and like a lapdog, he had thrown everything in the basement.

He rushed down to the basement; it was so dusty he could hardly breathe. He covered his nose with his left arm and started searching, and he found them at the bottom of a dusty box. Everything was covered in cobwebs and dust. His eyes teared up as he took everything out of the basement. How much of him had he given away?

He got back into his room and cleaned up everything, then he assembled them, connected his phone to his headphones, put it on and started playing songs, and like that, he started painting, with nothing specific in mind to paint. He kept smiling as he started having that feeling he usually had whenever he draws, he felt alive, he felt peace in his soul as he kept smiling, and by the time he was done, he ended up painting a sunflower, he never knew why he drew that, maybe because it was nature, or maybe it was something random, he shrugged it off, snapped it on his phone.

He cleaned up everything and placed them in his room, no more basements. He was already covered in paint, so he moved into the bathroom to freshen up.

—RESTAURANT—

Lucien and Aiden sat across each other at a table, looking like the perfect couple. Lucien held Aiden’s hands, rubbing them gently, while Aiden smiled; their eyes locked. Lucien dipped his hand in his pocket and brought out a box. “You know I promised to make it up to you, right?”

“Yeah?” Aiden raised his brow; Lucien pushed the box on the table and mugged at Aiden to open it. Aiden grabbed the box and opened it,

“Wait, this is the newest limited edition.” He said.

Lucien just shrugged, “You like it?”

Aiden smiled flatly, putting on the watch immediately. Yeah, thanks.”

A waitress walked up to their table to take their orders. Her eyes widened when she saw the watch on Aiden’s wrist. She gasped, “That…that would cost three years of my salary to buy.” She quickly composed herself when she realized she was staring too much, cause Aiden was glaring at her secretly. She took their orders and left.

“Need to use the restroom, I’ll be back before you know it,” Lucien said. He stood up and pecked Aiden, who smiled in return before walking off. In thirty seconds, the waitress arrived with their orders. She started placing them on the table, but Aiden's face was getting angry; He sprang up and slapped her across the face. “Are you dense? I said grilled chicken, not fried chicken. Don’t you know the difference?”

“I..I am sorry, sir. I’ll get you the grilled chicken.” The waitress apologized; Aiden’s full fingerprint was on her face, bold enough for everyone to see.

“Sorry for your wretched self you….” Aiden’s eyes caught Lucien walking over, and he quickly changed his voice, “It’s okay, dear; people make mistakes. It’s just chicken, you know what? Leave the fried chicken,n m; I don’t want you stressing about it.” He said, his voice loud enough for Lucien to hear.

Everyone who witnessed everything, including the waitress, stared at Aiden in shock, trying to make sense of everything. Cause a minute ago he slapped her and yelled, and all of a sudden he’s being sweet. Everyone understood everything the moment Lucien got to them; he wrapped his arms around Aiden,

“That’s so sweet of you.” He smiled, rubbing Aiden’s nose. Aiden smiled back, and they both settled down to eat, Lucien not noticing the fingerprint on the waitress’s face. Mid-meal, Aiden suddenly paused, “How is Ethan doin? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him.”

Lucien paused, “Well, he’s been acting strange, but I guess he’s just mad at something.”

“Ohh, that’s bad. Have you tried talking to him?” Aiden asked.

“He’s been childish whenever I try to.” Lucien shrugged.

“Maybe you are just spoiling him too much and achy why he’s being that way; some people take kindness for granted.” Aiden smiled. Lucien seemed to think for a while, then finally answered,

“Maybe.”

Aiden smiled, “Just don’t let anything bother you, okay. If you feel stressed, just know I’m always here for you, okay.” He said, rubbing Lucien’s hands on the table. Lucien smiled proudly,

“You are the best.”

“Enough about himYouu haven’t told me about your presentation that’s coming up; you told me you had one coming up,” Aiden said. Lucien’s smile widened,

“You remember?”

“Of course I do. Am I supposed to forget? It’s a big thing for you; I can’t forget that.” He smiled. Lucien was overjoyed at this point; isn’t he just perfect?

“I’m preparing well, thanks.” He said, planting a kiss at the back of Aiden’s hand. While Aiden smiled more.

They were done with their meal and headed outside. When they got to Lucien’s car, he hurriedly pulled open the door to the passenger’s seat for Aiden. Aiden smiled and noticed people watching, and he quickly grabbed Lucien and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. Then he covered his face and hurried into the car. Lucien smiled and also turned to the driver’s seat. He got in and drove off. In the backseat, Aiden let out a knowing smile.