“I have phonophobia,” Tristan said quietly. Oliver looked at him in confusion - he clearly was not familiar with the term. “Fear of loud noises,” Tristan explained, “When I was a child, there was a bad storm in Ireland one night, and a tree fell over on the attic of our house.” He paused for a while, checking for Oliver’s expression, which had changed from confusion to sympathy. After a while, Tristan added, “My room was in the attic. Since then, I have been afraid of loud noises.”Oliver looked down at their hands, then interlocked his fingers with Tristan’s, and said softly, “I am sorry, Tristan.” Tristan shook his head, “You didn’t know and had no way of knowing.” Both of them sat in silence for a while, holding each other, when suddenly Tristan realized something. He raised his head from Oliver’s shoulder where it had been residing, “What was the party popper for though? Is tonight something special?”Oliver looked at Tristan’s face for a while, then his face broke into a sol
Tristan walked out of the bedroom, dressed in baggy pants and a sweater vest on top of a button down shirt. To complete the outfit he had put on a cross body bag on himself too. Everything about him screamed an art fanatic. Taking a look at him, Oliver did not even have to check the list to see where they were headed, it had to be some sort of art museum. “Aren’t you dressed yet for the Met?” Tristan gasped as he looked at Oliver, who was dressed in a plain-white T-shirt and blue jeans. Oliver chuckled, “I would have preferred if you wanted me undressed.”Tristan smiled teasingly, walking up to Oliver, “All in good time, baby, all in good time.”Oliver groaned, “Do we have to go to the Met? You must have gone there a million times!”“Yes, but never with you!” Tristan’s voice was firm enough to make it clear to Oliver that he was not changing his mind. “Can’t I just stay here and appreciate the art in front of me?” Oliver grabbed Tristan and pulled him towards himself, as color ros
That and the fact that he was alone now. Eleanor or no one could replace Tistan, but earlier at least there had been Eleanor. This was the first time in his life that he was utterly alone, and he did not like that idea. But he disapproved of the idea of being with someone more, so he would have to pick off the lesser evils. The desktop beeped again, and this time when Roth glanced at it, he didn’t have to be disappointed. A satisfied smile spread on his face and he pushed the intercom button to order his manager to get his car ready as well as the chauffeur. That notification was the single ray of hope in Roth Dimitri’s life at that point. x - x - xOliver was five months into his new project. The workers had started working on the actual building after establishing the basic framework. Oliver now had to go only twice a week to check on the progress, and he was satisfied with his routine. Tristan, on the other hand, was far from satisfied with Oliver’s routine. Oliver being at ho
Usually he would not even bother passing on the message to Roth, but something about the way this man cared for his boyfriend spoke to him. “What is it?” Roth’s brittle voice hit his ears, making him regret calling Roth. “Sir, are you familiar with our architect, Oliver Bardott?” “Get to the point.” The manager stifled another sigh. “Sir, he wants you to meet his boyfriend who is just starting his new business and could help with more partners,” Even before uttering the sentence, the manager could tell how absurd it sounded, as he internally condemned himself for calling Roth for something so lame. “And what are you for?” “Huh, I am sorry, sir?”“I hired you to tackle this stuff yourself and not let it get to me, but instead you are the one conveying these messages to me. If you can’t do your job properly, tell me and we have no shortage of candidates who would give anything to replace you,” The manager was especially unlucky to have caught Roth on a bad day. After another fiv
At that point, Roth did not know what to think. Thankfully, he was saved from the trouble as his phone rang in his hand, the caller ID of Pvt. Investigator Brown taking over the instagram profile of Oliver Bardot. “I have good news for you, Mr. Dimitri,” Mr. Brown excitedly announced as soon as the line connected, “Looks like you have won the bet!” “What bet,” Roth was confused - until he remembered, “Oh, yeah…”Mr. Brown was too much in his own element of excitement to register Roth’s response, “We have found Mr. Faughn’s boyfriend’s details! Guess who it is?” “Oliver Bardot …” Roth spoke in a voice that was barely audible. Mr. Brown seemed disappointed, “Of course I knew you knew that, but you should have let me have my moment. You had been playing along for months and now when my big moment arrives, you didn’t let me …”Roth smiled dryly. He hung up after apologizing to the man, thanking him for his help in ‘winning the bet’, and finally telling him to discontinue his investiga
“Already taken care of, sir. Can I ask you a question though?” He could not take it anymore. “Go ahead,” Now Roth sounded busy. The company manager had learnt to distinguish Roth’s genuine voice from his business voice. “You never agree to meet any CEO’s - even the influential companies, the meetings are handled by your secretary, then why are you so intent on meeting this new business owner?” There was silence on the other end of the line, which made the manager regret having voiced his thoughts. Then Roth said, his tone dry, “You know the traits necessary for the job of a company manager directly beneath the CEO?” The manager’s heart sank and even though he knew it was a rhetorical question and however he responded it would not matter, he knew he had to say something, “Sorry, sir.”“That’s not the answer to my question.”“Yes, sir. I am not supposed to ask you questions - you will be asking me questions,” His voice was low and flushed. “Good, I should not have to remind you aga
Even though Tristan had moved on with Oliver, he still couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous of the people in Roth’s life - Eleanor or maybe some other girl now. He couldn’t help but feel bad for himself - Tristan really thought that him and Roth had something special, but as it turned out - they didn’t. Roth had easily replaced Tristan without missing a beat - in his life, in the company, … on the show. That last one hit really close home and Tristan felt a pang in his chest. He could move on from Roth, but he could never move on from the hurt. Tristan knew that it was no coincidence that Oliver had received the call from his company a day after their anniversary. A day after he had posted Oliver on his instagram … Roth had seen that post - and that was the only post on Tristan’s feed that did not have a like or comment from Roth. Some part of Tristan was waiting for a sign of acknowledgement from Roth that he had seen it, because a major part of Tristan wanted Roth to. He want
He pondered whether that was a good thing or not that Oliver was no longer going to be there. How was Tristan supposed to show that he was happy and had moved on without Oliver by his side? But Oliver being there would be risky - a lot of people from the company knew him and if they happened to say something before Oliver, he would know that Tristan was a co-owner of that company earlier, and whilst that knowledge itself was not a threat, the fact that Tristan kept it from Oliver fo so long could become one. x - x - xTwo hours before the dinner was about to commence, Roth was pacing around his bedroom anxiously thinking whether or not Tristan would attend the dinner. He picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts’ list to land on Tristan’s name. He loudly exhaled. If only it was more like the simpler times when he could just call Tristan and ask him if he would be attending dinner or not. The times when he and Tristan texted every detail of their lives back and forth al