He zoomed in on the background of the picture, trying to find out if the picture was taken at Berry's house or some other place. He had no idea why he was doing it but the result left him satisfied in a way.
He noticed that it wasn't Berry's house, though he had only been there once and had spent less than an hour inspecting it, he knew it wasn't Berry's house. This is because Berry's house had bright walls that were welcoming while the wall in the photo was a deep shade of red. He does not know much about Berry but Berry didn't seem like one who would paint his house red.
He was dissatisfied because he couldn't digest the knowledge that Berry was shirtless in someone else's home. To Stuart, that was extremely upsetting.
He scrolled past that picture and saw another picture of Berry, this time with some people whom Stuart knew nor cared about. Since nothing was interesting in that photo, Stuart quickly scrolled to the next one; a picture of Berry standing in the snow, covered in warm clothes from head to toe. Only his eyes were visible since half of his face was covered by the scarf around his neck but Stuart could immediately figure out that it was Berry. The mischief in those eyes was more than familiar.
Staring at the photo made start realize that Berry was abroad. It made sense because it had not snowed in his home country for more than five years now and the picture looked like it was taken recently, a month ago, as dated under the photo.
There were more pictures of Berry which made Stuart's jaw tighten and the sound of him gritting his teeth could be heard. Whoever this person was, he or she wasn't just a close friend. The photos carried some sort of intimacy that made it seem like they were in a relationship or something of that sort. It didn't help that Berry looked so calm and completely relaxed in those photos. Most of them were personal photos that could only be taken by someone who was more than a close friend to Berry.
Stuart subconsciously raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, an involuntary action that he does when he is in deep thought.
"So you are going to fix it?" Marie asked, sounding a bit excited. That action of Stuart made her think that he had come up with some sort of solution.
Stuart was dragged out of his thoughts when he heard her question. He only realised now that he was gripping his phone so hard that the screen now had a thin line running in the middle which shocked him.
"Huh?" He sounded confused, knowing that he must have missed out on something they said, hopefully, it wasn't important.
When Marie saw his confusion, she was livid. She wanted to raise her hand and hit some sense into her brother but aside from the fact that he was taller than she was, she just couldn't do it, knowing that his confusion was understandable.
She slapped her forehead instead in resignation but that didn't stop her from lashing out at him, "Has two months in seclusion turned you into a complete fool?" She was exasperated.
Stuart swallowed, knowing that he deserved that but he didn't feel bad. Only Marie could say something like that
"I said; go to Berry Yates and apologize for whatever it is you did that made him cancel our deal." She explained with a wave of her hand.
Normally, he would not have agreed to this but he didn't promise to bring the best, number one chef for his sister. Aside from that, there was also this inexplicable urge to see Berry after going through those pictures.
So he agreed, went around his desk, picked up his suit jacket and left immediately.
Marie was surprised. Usually, they would banter for a long time before coming to an agreement but Stuart seemed a bit out of it today. She didn't think much about it since her brother was unpredictable and totally confusing.
She spun around to face Lucas who was still scowling, "What's with that look?" She asked with a sneer that made Lucas sigh, "call Mr Yates and inform him about the meeting. Give him the address to Stuart's bar."
Lucas nodded and left to do as he was told.
"We are here, sir". The driver announced, bringing Stuart back to earth. He had been so engrossed in his phone that he didn't realise that they were now in front of his bar. He nodded to the driver before stepping out of the car.
His heartbeat was a mess of loud and unrhythmic noise that even he could not bear. While in the car, he had searched more about Berry, so much more that he could not believe it. If anyone asked him anything about Berry right now, he would answer every single question confidently and he was sure that his answers would be right.
And how is that possible?
He watched many videos of Berry, short videos, lengthy videos, and interviews, and had also seen many pictures. This was the most time he had spent on his phone aside from when he was still a curious and unworried teen.
The sight of his bar made a soft sigh escape his lips. He owned many bars around the city but out of all of them, Marie chose this one. He had no problem with this bar until recently, when he was drunk and had kissed a stranger. Ever since then, he wanted to avoid this bar as much as he could.
The urge to turn around and go back to the office, or better, back home, was so strong that Stuart actually turned around and was already walking since his driver had driven away. He didn't want to see Berry right now but at the same time, he wanted to see him. There were bells ringing in his head, telling him to just keep going and not go in to see Berry but the bells were silenced by the loud ringing of his phone which made him jolt because he was shocked.
He looked at the name on the screen of his phone and saw that Marie was requesting a video call. Of course, he knew what she wanted to talk about but he didn't take the call. Instead, he rejected it before turning around to enter the bar.
He could already picture the look on Marie's face if he didn't fix this in time and save her upcoming gathering. Whatever that was for.