Chapter 23
THEIR TRIP to the mall ended up being quite interesting—for Angelo—but annoying—for the three of them.
It began with Narae meeting a guy she couldn't remember but claims to have a steamy night with her. She was fine with it when the man introduced himself, which quickly turned to a question, “Would you wanna be at my place tonight?”
Narae refuses since she sticks to the “One night stand remains a one-time” policy, but then got easily pissed when the man gave her a business card and told her to call him if she wanna do ‘it’ again.
“Can’t they understand the term one-night stand? It means it cannot be repeated! Never!” Narae furiously pointed out when the guy finally left them.
Charles actually got shocked when Narae got super irritated with that. I mean Narae is a happy person, even when talking about these, it's normal for her to laugh at men like that, or she would just shrug it off. Then why the hell is she making this a big deal?!
Charles was so confused but he remained silent and pretended that he’s not focusing his attention on the guy beside Narae. Since when did he become more handsome?!
And why wasn’t I able to notice that last night?!
Charles could no longer handle his thoughts and decided to have even a stupid chat with Anurak, who's been beside him ever since they got inside the mall. Unfortunately, his friend was still lost in his own world and still smiling like an id*ot.
Fortunately—for Charles—a beautiful lady walked towards Anurak with a big smile and greeted him. “Anurak! Wow! I never knew I'd see you here. How are you?”
The fortunate part about that was Anurak's smile completely turned into a frown. “I was feeling amazingly wonderful before you ruined it.”
The lady was taken aback by his friend's words but she managed to put a seductive smile on her face. “Oops! My bad. But anyway, would you want to—” She reached for Anurak's arm and was about to caress it,—at least that's what Charles thought—when Anurak took a step back.
“I’m sorry but I’m busy with my friends, so if you don't—or do mind, we'll take our leave. Goodbye.” Anurak grabbed Charles’ arm and basically dragged him towards Narae and Angelo.
When he got away, Charles asked, “You're busy with your friends? Which friend? Your mind? Coz I know for sure that you were busy daydreaming. ”
Anurak laughed softly. “Shut it. I'm with y'all here today to have some fun after all.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fun, my ass—”
“Dominique?”
Charles automatically furrowed his head when he heard some called his name. He turned around to see who dared summoned—kidding, just who they hell called him out when he saw a gorgeous man standing behind him.
“As in Dominique in LUST DAWN?” The man repeated.
Charles raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? If you're one of the people, I fvcked, then don't waste your time trying to talk me into doing a second. I’m sticking with the one time.”
The man actually chuckled and looked at him amusingly. “No. No. Unfortunately, I haven't had the privilege to be that steamy with you.”
Then Charles flatly looked at him. “Then?”
The man laughed softly again. Do I look like a clown? Charles thought to himself.
The guy stopped chuckling but still smiled when he saw Charles’ aura getting darker. He opened his mouth to explain. “Then I'm just here to—”
“Hey, Anurak, Dom! We found a restaurant,” Angelo shouted, making other people look at him and Narae.
“That’s awesome! I’m hungry!” Anurak, the id*ot, shouted back.
Charles couldn't help but face-palm. Why do they have to shout? That's just embarrassing.
The man who approached Charles noticed his action, which automatically chuckled. “Anyways, I'll see you next time and I'll explain fast then.”
Charles couldn't deny it, though. He looked puzzled, but he didn't bother asking.
The man reached for his pocket and took out his wallet. A second later, he was handing Charles a card. “This is a business card of mine. It’s not like you’ll need me for anything but you looked curious about me.” The man smiled.
Charles actually felt bad since it looked like he was wrong with his first response to the man, so he took the business card resulting in the man’s smile widening even more.
Tobias Keller
Real Estate Agent
The card also presents a number—maybe his number—and what seems to be the company name, Home Light.
“Thanks,” Charles simply said.
“No worries. I'm hoping to see you at LD.” The man called Tobias waved his hand before he turned his back on them and went somewhere.
He stared again at the business card he was holding and then put it in his pants pocket. He turned his head to someone who's been watching him converse with a stranger and spoke, “I thought you're hungry, then why didn't you leave me. I'm sure I'll catch up with you guys.”
Anurak shrugged and put his arms around Charles’ shoulder. “Nah, we entered by two, then we'll go anywhere by two.” Charles felt genuine happiness. “Unless of course, we're going inside a comfort room. What are we? High school students?”
Charles softly laughed. “Come on. They must've reserved a table by now.”
"For sure Narae has already ordered and they're complaining that we move so slow," Anurak said while laughing.
They entered the restaurant together and immediately saw Narae already sitting down. Like what Anurak predicted, Narae was already done ordering food for them and kept asking who the guy Charles was talking to.
And when the three of them thought that they'll be able to shop quietly, their ONS just kept on popping out of nowhere. So in the end, they're all in a sour mood as they went home.
Angelo was the only one who found that mall experience amusing. He never thought he'll watch a friend—more like friends—get pissed off due to being too flirty in their past.
Charles couldn't help but be annoyed. Then he just remembered that the man can't even remember him, it was impossible for him to be jealous like before.
At the end of the day, they only bought some party stuff for Wynter’s birthday. They will just deliver groceries so that Anurak can cook for his birthday celebration.
The three of them also decided that similar to what happened last Christmas, they would just celebrate in Lair to be with Angelo.
For Charles, the whole gala earlier was irritating. He wasn’t fully attentive to Angelo because of those people—ex-ONS—popping out of nowhere and non-stop. But every single time he looks at the man, he catches him happily talking to Narae and Anurak, which for him is really exasperating. He’s not used to not having the young man’s attention on him, but hell, that’s the price he had to pay for making sure he’s safe.
Though contrary to what Charles was thinking, Angelo kept on glancing and sometimes, staring at him. It felt like he knew him very well. Plus the fact that Charles was actually a friend of his sister, Narae, and Anurak, then he didn’t know it existed? It’s really puzzling. Also, there’s something inside him that longs for that man, so he’s even more confused by what’s happening. I hope I’ll figure it out soon. Angelo was determined to answer his questions as soon as possible, and surely he’ll have his answers.
