"Can't you speak?" Eden asked the man in front of him who merely rolled his eyes at him without so much as saying a word.
"Perhaps I can't." The automated voice from the phone said in an almost teasing way. "But what does that have to do with you?"
"You sure are pleasant to have conversations with," Eden complained as the man got to his feet, the cloth around his lower half dropping to the ground. Eden quickly threw his hands in front of his eyes, blocking them. "And do you have no sense of decency?"
"What's the matter?" He asked with the help of the phone. "Can't bear seeing another naked man?"
"No, in fact, I love seeing them," Eden said defensively. "But I have the common human courtesy to not look unless the person in front of me exclusively strips for me."
"A gentleman, I see. How applaudable." The voice mocked as the man began to get dressed again, picking up the shirt and pants on the ground. "Would you like a medal for that?"
"Why are you so mean?" Eden asked, walking to the man as he buckled his pants, stopping right in front of him. "Or is it that you are shy. I can understand your sentiments. To be in my presence is something many cannot seem to comprehend."
"I didn't realise there were this many people that don't like you for them to feel as incomprehensible as I do." He typed into his phone, still not a speck of emotion on his face.
"You're a smart mouth aren't you? Doesn't matter how pretty you are, you are just annoying." Eden gritted his teeth at the other man. "Well, whatever. What are you doing here anyway? This is the VIP lounge, specifically reserved for people from my organization."
Could he be from my organization? Eden thought, racking his brain for answers. There have been too many people that I can hardly keep track of. Maybe he is someone from my organization. But then again, I brought only twenty people with me today and besides …
He turned to the man, cigarette from earlier still hanging from his lips while he fastened the buckles on a pair of black cargo pants. The raven black hair falling over his face as he bent down, revealing his slender neck.
I definitely, definitely, for sure would have noticed someone like that in my organization. Without a doubt.
"The person over there told me he would show me a good time and then passed out after five minutes." The voice on the phone said as the man pointed to the bed.
It was only then that Eden noticed the other man lying on the bed, sound asleep and it took only a closer look to recognise the man.
"Bruce?!?" He asked out loud by mistake, looking at the man with jealousy while commending him on his taste internally.
"So you know him?" The computer-generated voice asked, making Eden look at him, annoyance written all over his face.
"Yeah. He is under me." He said bitterly. How did Bruce get someone like him to sleep with him??
"Good. Then I demand compensation."
"Huh?! Compensation for what?" Eden paused when the man held up a torn piece of fabric and pointed to a pile of clothes at the corner of the bed.
"My shirt, and he threw up all over my clothes, I am currently wearing his pants. I don't know where his shirt is." The man typed out, raising an eyebrow at him. "What did you feed that man?"
"Look, I don't know either," Eden said defensively. "But why do I have to compensate? I was not the one that tore your shirt or puke all over your clothes."
"Right, but you are his boss." He typed out, pointing to the man on the bed before putting his smoke out on the ashtray on the table in the middle of the room. "And he is too knocked out to get me a new shirt or clothes for that matter. You can just get the money from him later, right?
"Besides the clothes, it is his fault I missed the last bus to my house, I am in a bit of a hurry you know. Forget the shirt, do you want me to walk home, shirtless and in the dark?"
"Man you sure type fast," Eden complained before sighing in defeat. "And, fine. I will take you home but are you going to be able to walk out of the room shirtless?"
"No. Don't you have anything on you- never mind." He walked to the door, typing all the while. "I suppose I will have to walk out like this."
Walking to the man, Eden stared at his blue eyes darting away from him before asking, "Are you sure? You look slightly uncomfortable."
He had to wait in silence for the man to finish typing on his phone before the conversation could continue.
Impatient, he asked, "Is it that you can't speak or you don't want to?"
The man looked at him, annoyed before going back to his phone. "I am not comfortable walking around like this but I don't have a choice, do I? And that is none of your business."
"Alright. Alright." Eden said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I will step back. Come on."
The two walked out of the room in silence towards the direction of the booming sound, Eden casting quick glances at the man beside him.
There was this hint of nervousness in his face but he is still attempting to put on a brave face and Eden couldn't help applaud his stubbornness, amusement dancing all over his face.
Should I show him some mercy? He thought, looking at his uneasy expression as his eyes trailed down his collarbone to-. No! He didn't give you his consent to look at him! But he does look uncomfortable. I am just too nice for my own good.
Reaching for his phone, Eden made a call, "Hey. Yeah. Where are you? The bar? Ok. I am coming to you. I need your help with something. A shirt. No, it's not for me-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Eden felt a hand on his shirt and turned to see the man holding onto his sleeve while looking at the ground, his bangs falling over his eyes in a pathetic attempt to hide.
The voice on the other line said something but Eden couldn't hear them anymore, as he stared at the cocky man from earlier having this expression like he wanted to disappear completely.
"Yeah ok," Eden said carelessly into the phone, keeping the call as he pulled the man past all the people into a storage room.
Once he closes the door behind him, all he could hear was the heavy breathing of the man as he tried to calm down while sitting on top of a pile of boxes, hand on his chest.
The storage room was quite small with several cleaning supplies scattered all around the room and the heavy smell of medicine mixed with liquor and smoke filled the room.
"Are you ok?" Eden asked but the man wasn't even looking at him as he continued to breathe in and out.
Can't he hear me or something?
"Hey." Eden bent down in front of the man and looked up at him, brushing his hair to the side, hand on his cheek. "Are you ok?"
Eden gulped staring at his icy blue eyes as they turned soft, his eyes falling on the mole just beside his lips while he licked his own ones, suddenly feeling very thirsty, for some reason.
Shaking his head, Eden turned from him as quickly as possible and asked, "A-are you ok? We can stay here for a while, until you feel a little better."
Hands came in front of Eden's face, slender fingers decorated with silver rings of all sizes, there was even a chain hanging from one of them, as the fingers rested on his chin, turning him to face the man in front of him.
The two stared at each other intently, music disappearing as the smoke-filled air surrounded the two, their lips finally touching as Eden could have sworn he tasted blueberries and heard fireworks in that moment, the world fading away completely.
Eden and the man walked out of the storage room, holding hands. The man had asked him if he could hold his hand back in the storage room and Eden was too dazed out to say no. Not that he minded walking like that, except for the single worry he had that the man would be able to hear his heartbeat drumming against his chest while he tried to process what was happening. Why would he ask to walk holding hands all of a sudden? Does he not like crowds? Well, I can't blame him for that. I know many people like that, hopefully, it isn't too bad. Eden would check back on the man every now and then, making sure he is not having some kind of panic attack as they walked. Though he seems to be doing so much better now as compared to before, making Eden sigh with relief. "Hey, we are going-" Eden tried to get the man's attention but he did not look like he could hear him, no matter how loud Eden shouted above the music. Sighing, he lightly scratche
"This is your car?" Noel's phone asked, staring at the sleek black Pininfarina Battista as Eden pulled out the car keys, a proud smile on his face. "Yes. One of my few cars." He said, shrugging. "Get in. We need to get you home, right?" "Sure." Noel typed before getting into the car cautiously and carefully so that he would not scratch it anywhere by mistake or anything like that. "Don't worry about anything." Eden laughed, folding the sleeves of his shirt up, hands on the wheel, revealing some tattoos all over his left arm. "Just enter in." "I feel like you are going to charge me if I do anything to your 'precious car'." Noel typed out, sitting on the chair, almost sinking into it. "Oh." "Nice right?" He asked, winking at him. "I like driving in comfort so the seats are … modified. Doesn't it feel like the seat is sucking you in?" "Is that suppos
Ring! Ring!Relentless poking on his side woke Eden up immediately as he stared at the white ceiling, confused.Huh? Where am I? He thought, staring at the ceiling blankly. White? My roof isn't white.The ringing around him continued, startling the man out of his confused stupor as he shot up, about to start looking for his phone when he heard a groaning come from beside him.As the lump of ash grey blanket beside him began to move, memories of what happened that night flooded Eden's mind.Wait. Wait. Wait. He thought, trying to make sense of what was happening at the moment. No way.A grumpy sigh came from the lump as the covers were pulled away, revealing the black-haired man with even messier hair, if what was even possible, as he looked around the bed and threw the phone at Eden before going back to bed.Subconsciously, Eden picked up the call, looking at the man sleeping beside him in wonder.
Buzz. Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! What the hell? Noel shot up from under his pillow, black hair falling all over his face as he clumsily looked around for his phone under all the messy sheets until he finally brushed his fingers on it. Yawning, the man looked opened the lock screen, seeing a number of notifications instantly. All of the notifications coming from the same person. Annoying. He thought, clearing the notifications to reveal a picture of something white and dressed in bright yellow, instantly putting a smile on his face. Speaking of which, I miss Nana. Throwing the phone down, Noel laid back on the bed, sighing as he remembered the night before. Strange man. Well, he must have gone home already by now. He dismissed that thought and tried to sleep again but the buzzing coming from his phone would not
Luckily, Noel had several sausages in the refrigerator, along with eggs, bacon, tomatoes and salami. But he did not have any beans or mushrooms. Can this be considered a classic English breakfast if there are no beans, mushrooms or blood sausages? Well, I can’t fault him, making the English breakfast was my idea so let’s just work with what we have. Eden had a merry time, frying everything together in the pan while humming to himself. I wonder when he is going to wake up. He blushed with just a compliment, I wonder how he will react like when he sees the breakfast. Hopefully, he’ll like i- Eden froze when he felt a hand wrapped around his waist from behind just as he was plating the items. A head rested on his back, hairs tickling his exposed skin and sending a shiver up his spine. “Good morning.” He managed to croak out, clearing his throat.
“What was that about?” Eden asked, watching Noel look through his small closet for something to wear. When the man didn’t answer him, Eden resorted to tapping him on the shoulders to get his attention.He still wore his clothes from the night before, though they were old, by a day, they still looked fine. Fine enough for him to go home in and change into something more presentable.Turning to Eden, Noel tilted his head to the side questioningly.“Those hand things,” Eden said, mimicking what Noel just did. “What was that about? What does it mean?”Noel looked at the man blankly for a second before his expression broke into a smiled and Eden could have sworn he saw flowers all around him.Ba bump.“Do you really want to know?” The man typed out, looking at him with a smug smile.
“You’re a gem, Celt,” Eden said into the phone. “Yeah. How is the patrol going?”“Just some cops here and there not doing their job, what else is new?” Celt laughed over the phone. “Oh, what’s this?”“What is it? Some hot chick?”“Na, boss.” Celt scoffed. “I wish it was but at this time of the day, there are either too many people or too little, to find a pretty woman is hard.”“Pretty, as in, they are not your tastes, right?” Eden asked, holding his shirt to his nose as the faint smell of vanilla filled his nose. His scent is still there!“Yeah. Why are there so many beautiful women out there, boss?” Celt complained, groaning. “I don’t think I ever will be able to settle down at this rate.”“Aren’t you annoying
Walking into the luxurious room, Noel took the time to admire the dark blue interior, the chandeliers all along the walls, the gold pillars and the paintings all along the walls.This was above the café? Noel thought, impressed. I wondered why those specifically wearing name brands would climb up the café when they could have just gone to a five-star restaurant. Guess I know now.And Eden owns this? Impressive.Pulling his hood over his head, Noel took a seat behind the seat he was supposed to meet Eden and whoever is with him in, taking out his computer, he placed it on the table and began ordering some drinks and snacks.But not before staring with disbelief at the price of this upper café’s menu.Four hundred for coffee? Is it made of gold or something? He thought, sighing. Well, whatever. I have spent more for