"Wait…wait up…!" Adrian said, chasing after Charles to the elevator.
Callisto stuttered, surprised he would really come out. "Why are you…?"
"I just came to walk you to the car. Is there a problem?"
"Nah, nothing."
The two stared at the elevator, which was making its way up to the floor, in silence. Charles, particularly, was drilling a hole at the elevator press since he had no idea how to pass the awkwardness.
As the ding sound signaled the cue to the elevator's arrival, Charles quickly got in at the voice of his savior. After Adrian walked inside, with the cramped space inside the air-conditioned elevator, the silence was too much for him to bear.
He broke the ice. "You didn't have to specifically come down to walk me."
"Of course, I had to. You are my friend."
Friend, huh… He didn't think they could go back to that point where they were rookies and always happy after the mistake he had caused.
Uh? He clenched his shirt. He thought he'd already moved on from that incident, but it seemed some feelings still lingered. Hearing their relationship had never changed sprang a relief from within him, at the same time, the words he spoke stabbed his heart like thorns. "I see."
As the elevator doors opened to the car park, Adrian grabbed him by the wrist and cornered him against the wall. Trapping Charles in between his arms, he asked. "Why are you avoiding me?"
"I am not." Charles looked straight into his eyes. "Can you move? You are blocking my way." He pushed Adrian aside, trying to get to his car. Adrian embraced Charles from behind.
"Me being hurt wasn't your fault." Adrian sighed, whispering into his ears. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"
Charles turned to Adrian, wrapping his arms around his waist. "I know. The one who hurt you was my mother, but I was the one who caused her to be that agitated. That day…, I regret a lot of things. As I could only watch you get hurt among those hypocrites, I didn't have the courage to go against my mother. Even father didn't bother to stop her."
Charles shuddered at the thought of his mother's ecstatic expression as she rampaged. "I am sorry….sorry….." Tears trickled in a stream down his cheeks. "I should…..hic…have stopped them….but…..I could….only…." As he was reminded of Adrian's suffering, feelings of frustration and fear rushed to him, as tears spilled out uncontrollably. "I….hic…..was the one…"
Adrian frowned, seeing Charles this vulnerable. Hesitantly, he extended a hand and wiped away Charles' tears gently. "No one else stopped her, but in the end, you saved me."
"Yeah. Because if I didn't, you would have certainly died on the spot." Charles stuttered. "I am so sorry. Sorry....She wouldn't have targeted you if not for me. Last time, I thought surely the public opinion would stop her from getting violent but she really didn't hold her punch." Charles wiped his tears away
Caressing his cheeks, he lifted his chin up. "Listen, you don't need to say sorry. For me, it's all in the past." He reassured Charles, patting his head. "Can't we be friends like before?"
"...." Charles had to consider this matter cautiously. If his mother - although she was officially no longer his mother - caught wind of this, she might use this chance to really end him since she liked Adrian quite a bit.
"I will immediately notify you if I see her around. I won't hide it from you like last time. Please?" Adrian asked. "I won't hurt your mother if she attacks me.."
"This time if she makes a move on you, destroy her completely. I don't care about the consequences any longer." Charles cupped Adrian's face. "I don't want to see you involved in a near death experience a second time." Charles lowered his head. "And…, I am sorry for avoiding you."
Adrian raised an eyebrow. "So you do admit that you were avoiding me." He said in a teasing tone, observing Charles' reaction. "Then, don't you deserve a punishment?"
"A punishment?" Adrian was amused by Charles's reaction to the word 'punishment'. Jittering nervously, all Adrian could see in front of him was a trembling rabbit. "What kind?"
"You have to stay by my side and obey my orders 24/7 until I grow tired of it."
"Ok." Charles was expecting a harsher one but this…he could pull it off quite easily. Adrian was surprised that Charles accepted his offer quite quickly. If Charles had refused after seeing through his tricks, he had another plan but Charles remained unexpectedly innocent, despite all the battles he'd been through.
"Then, we have a deal."
Charles had no idea what to expect when Adrian gave him an amused grin, which was a usual habit he had before stirring some things up.
"Remember this goes on until I get bored." Adrian repeated.
Charles had no idea for what reason Adrian had to repeat this phrase 'until I get bored', but he had a bad feeling, a very ominous one that he fell into a trap. "Okay." Whatever it was, it was too late to take back his promise.
"Good. Now that we made up, let's go drinking in your house!" Adrian walked to his car, gesturing at Charles to open it.
Charles asked as he got into the passenger's seat. "Wait, why mine?" Charles remembered the last time they drank, he made quite a fool of himself.
Adrian started driving. "I am treating you to beer and fried chicken. You have to be the host in exchange for me buying all the food."
Beer and fried chicken was the ultimate combination. His offer was indeed very tempting. "Let's split the bill in half."
"No, I can afford it." Adrian retorted. "Well, will you host our drinking party or not?"
"Can't we just….?"
"No. My parents are visiting my house tomorrow. I don't want to clean as soon as I wake up."
"Okay. My house then." Charles knew how much Adrian hated to show the sloppy side of him to them, not because they were strict with him. Although they were an easygoing bunch, most of the members, especially his two elder sisters, liked to tease him a lot. Charles even came to think perhaps his elder sisters were the cause of him avoiding interaction with other girls.
"Then, it's settled." Adrian smirked.
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After checking on the kids, Val snuck into Callisto's room, where Callisto was leaning against the black leather chair on his desk. He closed his eyes for a second, tired from his work. Callisto, despite noticing his presence, didn't budge from his resting position.
"Do you need some help?" Val offered a hand.
"Yeah…," Callisto readjusted his reading glasses, and adjusted the brightness of the lamp on the right of his desk. "Do you have any experience handling finance and budgeting?"
"I do."
"You don't need to help. I will ask Alfonso."
"I came to ask you about something else. This matter is important and must be done while you are sober." Val scooched over beside Callisto's side and took the amount of work he could finish. Covering his eyes, Val said. "Take a nap, Lis. I will wake you up when I am done."
"Please….do…." As if a gentle spell was cast over him, he closed his eyes, relaxing amidst Val's soft voice and gradually dozing off.
Val chuckled. "He must have been tired."
Covering him with a blanket, Val dimmed the lights around the room and switched on the air conditioner. It was more refreshing than when he first entered the room.
Val's occasional sighs resounded through the room as he read the documents. After scrutinizing the financial reports, it was clear someone from the duke's castle was embezzling. He needed to take a look at the ledger to match some details before making sure it really was embezzlement. Checking it over one last time, he took some photos of evidence in the papers.
At least only the household finances were affected, the other budgets remain untouched. Was it carried out by a servant or a higher ranking person?
Taking out Callisto's phone, he unlocked it quite easily as the password on it remained the same. Walking away from Callisto silently, he called Alfonso.
"May I do something for you, master?" Alfonso answered promptly.
"I am not your master."
His subservient tone remained unchanged. "I see. Val, what would you like me to do?"
"You are managing the ledger there, right?"
"....Yes." Alfonso replied after a long pause.
"I suspect someone in your castle is embezzling household funds. I will send you some photos so take a look at them. Tell me your opinion on whether my suspicions are true or not."
Alfonso realized it was a serious matter. "Okay."
"Also, don't tell your master about it for the time being." Val said, worried that he might feel guilty about not noticing it earlier.
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good. Text back to me." Before Alfonso could reply, Val hung up. Turning back to look at Callisto, he sighed, slumping onto his chair.
"What a loud sigh."
Val took a moment to recompose himself before responding to Callisto, who was stretching his arms and yawning on the chair. The fact that Callisto woke up and managed to get close to him without a sound shook his soul for a moment. He wasn't a fan of surprises, ever since he was young.
"Yeah, I finished your work."
"Oh, I wasn't expecting you to finish it in…." Callisto looked at the clock. His nap lasted for an hour and a half. "....wow...I napped for a long time."
"You did. I came to ask about this." Val hurled the packet of drugs they received from Eden at him. "What should we do about this?"
"What do you mean what?"
"Should we hand it over to a trustworthy lab to analyze it?"
"How do we know they are trustworthy?"
"We can watch their process of investigating the substances of the drug?" Val said unsurely.
Callisto smirked, putting forward a suggestion Val never expected. "Then, we can test it out."
"What do you mean?" Val frowned.
"Don't play the fool." Callisto said as he reached out and caressed Val's face. He smiled as he wrapped his arm around Val's waist and pulled him closer. "You know exactly what I mean."
Looking into his eyes, Callisto came closer, inches away from his face. From the way Val was slightly blushing, Val was hesitant on deciding whether he should accept it or push him away. It seemed that a little assertiveness was needed.
"If you hate this, you can hit me." Callisto said, as he kissed Val.
Val's lips were soft and warm, filling him with some warmth. Val let out a soft moan as Callisto nibbled at his upper lips.
To hear his voice of pleasure, Callisto was excited. Reaching for the back of his head, he kissed more passionately and aggressively. After a few seconds of smothering each other gently, Val made an attempt to stop him since he was out of breath. Staring at him with the eyes of a predator, Callisto tugged at Val's extending hand, and kissed the back of his hand softly.
Leaning towards him, Callisto whispered, his voice seductively deep. "Do you like it?"