Touch Of Solicitude

VEINTIOCHO

The night soon ended with me avoiding all his questions regarding Luigi and me, "Do you want to go bar hopping?" One of them suggested, "We can do have our round two in another location, follow my car if you want," They started entering their cars.

While I, on the other hand, heaved a sigh, do they have no work tomorrow, "Sunny, will you join them?" Elias questioned, "I would love to, however, I have to go to work for tomorrow," I politely refused.

I waved bye at them, leaving one by one until it was only Elias and me at the front of the hotel, "Should I call a cab for you- I mean no, I should take you home, it's already late, it won't be safe riding it alone especially at night," He explained, "Oh, I'm fine-" I could not finish my sentence when someone interrupted.

"Sunny," We both looked back and saw that it was Luigi, "It's late, I waited for you at the lobby, you must've not noticed that you walked passed by me," He explained to me and turned his attention to the man beside me.

"Mister Ferreiro," It was Elias who spoke first, "Mister Salazar," As if they were having a staring contest, both just looked at each other. I could feel the tension between them which made me feel awkward.

"What's your relationship with her?" I did not expect that Elias would ask such a question so bluntly, "I told you already earlier, he's my childhood friend," I answered on behalf of Luigi.

"Oh, the brother," His stingy attitude somehow made Luigi's forehead crease, "No wonder he's so caring about you. What are you doing here with Sunny?" He continued.

"I am here to escort her, also she's showing me around Ylury, I've been gone for too long," Elias looked confused, "I forgot to tell you, Ludwig and I lived in the same community, our Houses were in front of each other, he left twenty years ago to go to his Father,"

"He moved out and came back just recently, he escorted me here also I'm showing him around because Ylury changed drastically-" He cut me off, "And we also live together," For a second, he looked devastated but instantly composed himself.

"You're living together?" He looked at me, I slowly nodded, "Well, we somehow ended up in that situation, so yes, we're living together," I responded.

He took a deep breath, calming himself; before he could speak a word, Luigi started dragging me, "We'll take our leave," He stated and continued pulling me, "See you again, Elias,"

"I understand, I'll text and call you," I saw him waving bye, "All right,"

We continued to walk, onwards to the car, "Why are you acting like this?" I raised a question, "Let me go, I can walk on my own,"

Why are they all suddenly acting childish, most especially Elias, who kept questioning Luigi when I already answered all of his questions regarding him. He kept repeating his questions as if he was purposely doing it because of us.

We entered the car with him banging the door as he entered, "What's with you right now? Is something wrong?" I questioned; he sighed and looked directly straight into my eyes, "Nothing's wrong, I'm just jealous,"

I had a dumbfounded expression on my face, and he caught me off guard with what he said; how can he say something so straightforward? "I overheard from your former schoolmates that you were always together back then, also he liked you at some point," He stated; their appearance may have changed but that big mouth of them, "Is that so? I did not now, I can hardly remembered what happened fifteen years ago," I chuckled awkwardly.

He continued to be quiet, making me feel unpleasant, "Really, how come you remember every detail of our childhood back then? The night at the launch party you talked about some friend you knew right? That friend turned out to be me," I averted my gaze, feeling shy and embarrassed, "Do you have to mention that?"

He shook his head and drove off; after a while, we arrived at our house, but we did not head unto our separate ways; we sat down at the breakfast bar as the man pulled out some wine.

"How do you know that person?" He was the first to speak, "After you left, I transeffered into another school and started my class there. I met him there five years later, he transferred to our school," I narrated.

"Immediately he became the target of our school bullies because of the way he looked," He looked confused, "Why would he be bullied, as a man, I can tell if another one is handsome or good looking, well him- he's good looking but I'm more to that," He looked flustered.

I just laughed, "He didn't look like that before, more like, he was chubby and big, that's why the boys always teased him, he also had curly hair which covered half of his face," I explained, "He once explained to me that his metabolism was slow that's why when we talked earlier he told me that after nine in the evening he won't eat anything since he get fat easily,"

He nodded, understanding what I said, "How did you two end up being close buddies? I know that you're not that lame to hang out with someone," I scoffed, "Well, it's was just some random day, the usual routine, but that day Mother forgot to give me my pocket money that's why I was angry and irritated the whole day."

"However, seeing the group of bullies taking him on as the little boy cried, I felt pity on him, that's why I took them on telling them that the girls won't like them if they continue to bully Elias," I continued, "So it's like you were his protector?"

It sounded strange when he said protector, "I can be, but along the way, it's just because of the magazine that made us close and bond, as we grew up until graduation, Elias always looked up to me," With no one saying a word, I saw Luigi with his head buried in his arms, "I shouldn't have left you," He murmured looking at me, but as our gazes met, he soon stood up, leaving me alone.