Chap. 74

219 10 3
                                    

Naib woke up, wincing at the bright light in the room. His eyes felt puffy and dry as he blinked, pulling the sheets higher up. Despite having slept for so long, he couldn't find the energy to get up. He barely even heard the sound of his apartment door opening and closing.

"Is he up yet?"

"Dunno..."

Jack peeked into the room before opening the door fully. Naib glanced over, but didn't say anything as Norton followed in, sitting at the end of his bed. Jack reached over and drew the curtains shut, blocking out the piercing sunlight. Eventually Naib got up, wordlessly heading to the bathroom and shutting the door. The other two males simply sat in his bedroom, patiently waiting for him to come back and perhaps having some staring contests.

Norton won.

The moment Naib stepped out of the bathroom they ushered him outside, discarding his towel and shoving his phone into his hands. The shorter of the three was clad in a simple sweater and jeans, not even bothered to fix his hair, even so, he still hadn't spoken a single word, yet they didn't seem to mind.

They stopped in front of a fancy café, Naib recognizing it as the first café they'd taken him to for breakfast after a night shift. They ordered the same way they'd done for him that day and slid into the booth. Naib stared up at them and finally opened his mouth.

"I hope you two aren't doing this just to make me feel better."

"Oh no we just wanted to bring you somewhere nice and actually discuss about the situation."

Naib sighed as he felt a heavy weight sink in his chest. It was almost as if he was prepared for bad news. Norton seemed to notice that and smiled a little.

"So you really do think what we said was just out of being drunk-stupid."

Naib didn't say anything. Their coffees arrived, but neither of them touched the cups. Naib refused to meet their gaze as he stared down at his shoes.

"You don't have to force yourselves to say this just because you feel guilty y'know."

Jack stared at him incredulously while Norton shook his head.

"How are we ever going to prove it to you hm? Okay wait let me-"

He snatched Jack's phone, much to the male's protests. Flicking through his photo album, he showed Naib all the sneaky photos that had been taken of him, some of them at work, while they were hanging out, some where he was smiling. Yet he knew nothing of them. Jack seemed mildly embarrassed of having them revealed as he looked away.

"In my defense Norton talks about you all day in the office."

He muttered, jabbing Norton in the waist. The male jerked away, a smile tugging at his lips as he noticed a blush creep into Naib's cheeks. As he evaded Jack still trying to jab him, he spoke to Naib, who was still staring at the phone.

"As you can see-. We've both. Been obsessing, perhaps- Ow Jack that was fucking painful! Over you."

Naib slid the phone across the table and took a sip out of his coffee. He was slightly confused, relieved and surprised at the same time. He could feel his eyes prickling again as the other two fell silent. Even so, he felt a small smile lift the corner of his lips. He kicked them under the table.

"Creepy little fucks..."

"Does this mean you finally believe us now?"

Naib paused for a moment. He was still confused as to how he should feel. But it seems proven enough that they have definitely been obsessing over him for a while now, right? He didn't say anything more, but definitely seemed happier. When they got in the car, Norton slipped into the backseat with Naib, attacking him with kisses as Jack grimaced in the driver's seat.

"And you said you'd share him, yet look at you over there!"

"You didn't fight for him, so I'll just snatch him from you."

"I'm hurt!"

Jack exclaimed dramatically as Naib huffed, pulling Norton closer to him.

---------------------------------------------

Eli thanked Andrej and Rosa one last time before getting in the cab with Aesop. Thankfully they hadn't brought up about the sounds they had heard the night before, but Andrej was most certainly unable to sleep that night. Rosa had giggled about it but was able to sleep quite soundly. Just before they left Aesop stayed to speak with his father for a moment. Rosa was pestering Eli to bring some food home to eat and shoving bags into his hands. Aesop re-emerged from the house, Rosa also shoving bags into his hands, which he took.

"Have a safe trip dears!"

He waved her goodbye before the car moved down the road and out of sight. Rosa glanced at Andrej.

"So what did he ask you about?"

"He wanted to move into a new estate and get married."

"Hm... Okay... Married?"

"Yea, to Eli Clark. He intends to make it a beach wedding because Eli likes beaches apparently."

Andrej was already looking through new estates on his phone. Rosa had the stupidest grin on her face as she imagined her son getting married, already planning the whole wedding out. In the car, Aesop was holding onto Eli's hand as the shorter male stared out the window. He was planning on buying an estate that was away from the city bustle but wasn't too far from the office building. Or maybe buy one they could stay in over the weekends...

That would be overly excessive...

He sank deep in thought, not noticing Eli was drifting asleep until his hand grew slack and fell onto the seat.

------------------------------------------

Naib sat between Jack and Norton back at his apartment, a film playing on the TV. It was one Naib had watched so many times, but never got bored of. Norton seemed very absorbed in the movie while Jack was more interested in running his fingers through Naib's hair, which the mercenary didn't seem to mind. He was just glad that Naib had now gotten that unknown weight off his shoulders.

The Last Time Where stories live. Discover now