Composure

Chapter 3: Bond

Alright; a few notes.

Do not live in London but I Googled how many cinemas there are in that beautiful city, and it said 10. That might be wrong but hey as I said, I am taking liberties since I do not live there because I am Dutch (cries in despair but see also a reference to something 'Dutch' in the story later.).

I have no idea if you guys in Britain have intermissions during films but I went with it; since again, taking creative liberties is my middle name.

The lunchroom/restaurant mentioned though is a REAL one; I searched for the best places to eat in the afternoon and its name popped up. Londoners: let me know if it is indeed good so when I'll visit next time, hopefully in the near future.

And lastly, Edwina mentions connecting with someone from Japan on her LinkedIn. I personally connected with someone from there recently and his name is.. Hidehiko (did not chat with him though like Edwina did).

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"Why are we here?" he asked.

"To have lunch"; his tablemate responded.

"Rigggght..." said Colin with a suspicious look on his face...

"What, can't I have lunch with my little brother?" Anthony indignantly exclaimed.

"Of course, you can" retorted Colin but his tone of voice showed that he didn't believe it because Anthony never went out for lunch.

They had come to a restaurant where Anthony got his sandwiches as it was close to his work; Balls Brothers Austin Friars and Anthony didn't mind eating more slowly this time instead of eating his sandwich in a minute. Anthony's stomach rattled; in the morning he had had coffee and toast but now he felt that it had not been nourishing at all. He had also woken up irritated: something had been bothering him for days, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Hey lads" said Benedict as he hurriedly walked up to them to which Colin shot Anthony an "I knew it" look. Benedict had been given an important commission as a painter; an extensive piece for one of the members of the Dutch royal family; and it was far from finished; Colin knew.

"Hi Ben... How are you?" asked Colin.

"Good, good. And you? Have you ordered yet?" smiled Benedict broadly, whereupon Anthony shook his head, and his stomach began to protest. The three brothers picked up the menu and went through it briefly before making their decision and calling the waitress. After that, the 3 of them were alone but an uncomfortable silence took hold of them, which wasn't anything like them; and there were even more uncomfortable looks exchanged between Anthony and Benedict.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on and why I'm here?" asked Colin.

"Why should there be anything going on? Can't we just have lunch with our little bro-"

"Save it Ben" interrupted Colin to which Benedict sighed briefly; looked at Anthony and then nodded; letting him know he was going to address the issue at hand.

"Alright then.." and he sighed.

"Ehm.. we're a bit worried about you" began Benedict to which Colin frowned in confusion.

"Worried about me? Whatever for?" he asked while his gaze went from one brother to the other. It seemed as if Benedict didn't know how to proceed next because he didn't say anything after his sentence, so the oldest Bridgerton took over.

"The last few months.. Colin: I've had to pick you up from the hospital almost every other weekend. You go from one dangerous sport to another; you've barely had a job after graduation..."