A/N: The weekend is over and we are back to one chapter a day. Thank you.
Berry practically skipped his way to the door and opened it only to be met with Stuart's crestfallen face. His smile instantly disappeared, regretting that he had wasted so much time talking to his sister when he could have continued watching Stuart through the camera. Lost in his wild thoughts, he was too late to react when Stuart dragged them both to the chair behind Berry's desk and pulled Berry down to straddle him. This left Berry surprised and confused, even more when Stuart hugged him and placed a kiss on his neck which made him tense up for reasons even he did not know.
"Did something happen?" He asked, his voice low and unsure like he was treading carefully. Stuart only let out a low hum, his hands gently patting Berry's back in a calming gesture.
"I only have fifteen minutes to spare before leaving," he said, sounding almost distressed with his face buried in the curve of Berry's neck. Berry couldn't prevent the smile that made its way to his lips. He thought something was wrong, but Stuart was only reluctant to leave him. It made countless butterflies dance around in his stomach, leaving his face red and hot.
"So… did I get it right? Your favorite food?" He asked tentatively, effectively shifting his mind to something else because he felt dizzy from all the sweetness radiating from Stuart. But now that he had asked, he felt unusually tense once more. Stuart might have been smiling while he ate, but that was not a guarantee that the food was his favorite, especially since Stuart was willing to eat anything as long as it looked good and smelled nice.
Berry has always been confident in whatever he does, but as he waited for Stuart's answer, he began to doubt himself. If Stuart said no, he was going to close down his restaurants all over the world.
As if reading his crazy thoughts, Stuart's laughter reverberated in the room. He pulled Berry slightly away from him, his eyes fixed on Berry's face with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. With a sincere and genuine voice, he spoke, "I never had a favorite food until today, thank you for helping me choose."
Berry was left gaping with his eyes wide. He had spent all afternoon in the kitchen with his heart in his mouth thinking about what Stuart loved to eat the most, only for this man to say this? Was this even acceptable? Now that he thought of it, Stuart's taste buds had been dead for a long time. It made sense that he had no favorite food because everything tasted similar to him, but still, he did Berry wrong!
"Stuart Garnett, do you even hear yourself? I was tense all through the afternoon, because I couldn't guess what your favorite food was. I threw away eleven dishes! I even fired one of my chefs because he couldn't bring any useful suggestions, and I even considered closing my restaurant if you showed the slightest hint of disappointment, and now you tell me that you never had a favorite food and just wanted to make a choice?!"
Stuart never thought that his silly request would cause so much trouble. He especially felt bad for that chef that was fired and the food that was wasted. He could sense that Berry was livid, but apart from staring pitifully, silently begging for forgiveness, he couldn't do anything.
Berry scoffed when he saw those eyes that were begging for pardon. Anyone else he would have ignored, but not Stuart. He was ready to pardon him, but not just yet, as Stuart needed to learn the consequences of his actions. With a huff, he tried to free himself from Stuart and began to shift around, but Stuart held him tightly and pulled him down again. "I admit that I was wrong, but please don't get angry and leave. I'm sorry, okay?!" Desperately, Stuart begged, his hold on Berry tightening every second. Berry's heart had long melted into a puddle, but he chose to remain angry on the outside and kept on struggling to come down, but he froze immediately when he felt something.
With a yelp, he tried to jump, but Stuart was prepared and held him down with all the strength he had, saying, "you might want to stop moving around." Berry froze again, his face red hot. He couldn't believe that Stuart was shameless enough to have an erection when they were in the middle of a fight. He stayed still, not even daring to breathe because he wasn't sure what would trigger Stuart. He had hopelessly fallen for Stuart, but he wasn't prepared to go that far. At least not now, when their relationship was still so early and needed nurturing.
"Seven minutes more. I wish I could skip work and stay here instead." He said. He made a promise to himself to retire early so that he would have quality time with Berry and do whatever he wanted. When he realized how far ahead he was thinking, he was surprised even at himself because the thought came abruptly. Luckily, he didn't voice that thought; otherwise, Berry might think him crazy.
"I want to visit the hospital after work, will you come with me?" Berry froze at the mention of the hospital, which only reminded him of that ill boy, Seth. He didn't want to go to the hospital at all for whatever reason.
With a scoff and a scornful voice, he asked, "why do you need to go there? I'm not coming with if you want to see Seth," his eyes filled with resolution that made it seem like he couldn't be persuaded.
Stuart pulled him back again to look at his angry face and smiled, "my boyfriend was disrespected today. I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't get you an apology from Seth." He could hear how upset Berry was when he spoke to him through the phone, and he knew Berry was going to sleep with Seth at the back of his mind, not to mention Aspen's 'betrayal'.
Berry scoffed again, his lips twitching at the corner, "I don't need an apology from Seth. In fact, I never want to set my eyes on him again."
"I know that, but I can't let you go to bed like this. And what about Aspen? He is still your friend, and you will have to talk to him sooner or later."
Berry sneered when the traitor's name was mentioned. He knew Aspen like the back of his hand, and he knew that the day would not end with Aspen not trying to seek forgiveness from him. He had received many calls from Aspen, but he rejected them all and couldn't wait to see the traitor's face when he came to beg for forgiveness.
"You are right. I will have to talk to him soon. Let's go there after work, hmm?" Stuart didn't understand the evil grin on Berry's face, but he was happy that Berry was listening to him.
He happened to glance at his wristwatch and sighed when he saw that it was only two minutes remaining. It seems people were right when they said, 'time moves faster when you are having a good time' because he felt like he had only been in Berry's office for three minutes. "I will be leaving in two minutes."
Berry, who was plotting evil against his enemies, snapped out of his thoughts, and his evil smile fell when he heard Stuart. He leaned down to plant a kiss on Stuart's cheek, but Stuart managed to seal his lips with a kiss.