Impress Me Not: The Architect

Chapter 51

He never cried in front of anyone before. Not like that. Actually, Valentino hadn't cried in a long time. He had been keeping everything bottled up inside for as long as he remembered. He didn't like the crying parties that came with opening up to someone. He would explain his whole life story just to have someone else say their problems, like it was some contest of who was the most fucked up in the head. It was annoying, and he never wanted any part in them.

But Casimir didn't act like that with him. Sure, there were times where he would need to talk to him about his past, like before Christmas or when Valentino bailed him out, but neither of them got into a competition. It was never who had it the worst. They just listened to each other.

As much as Valentino was close to his brother, he didn't like getting too emotional around him. When someone was depressed, all it took was one bad thing and it could bring all of the other memories back like some messed up game of dominos. Lou was someone he could talk to, but there were certain things he kept to himself. Much like a smile was contagious on a bad day, so was sadness on a good one.

He guessed him and Lou were the same in that sense. It took until Valentino was seventeen before Lou finally opened up about his depression. Lou had been too concerned with Valentino since his mom died that he hid a lot from him. They were both still there for each other no matter what. And they always had each other's back. It was just complicated.

Like every family was.

Valentino loved having Casimir back home, even though he hadn't been gone for even a whole day. But he knew it wasn't permanent. Casimir still had to go back to Minnesota to finish up some things for his clients over there. He had made another flight to get there on time to make his appointments. Valentino was a bit worried about him getting jetlag, but he told him that he had dealt with it before and been completely fine.

He hadn't had someone who was so worried about him as Casimir had been that day. Other than Lou, of course. He wasn't used to having to be at his phone when something like this happened. Lou was the only one he had for the longest time. To have someone actually worry about him enough to fly all the way back here to make sure he was alright was a completely new thing to Valentino. He had been so worried about what had happened that he hadn't realized just how much he had worried Casimir.

It was kind of cute.

There were still so many thoughts in his head to sort out, all awry with the emotions they came with. He didn't know much when it came to this stuff, but he knew that he really did love him. He didn't want to say it until he knew for sure that he did. It wasn't an emotion he threw around all over the place, and he used the word just as sparingly. But he did love him. It was a scary thing to admit. His family had gone through so much bad luck with that department. His dad, for instance, went through two wives he loved very much, who both passed away due to untimely deaths. It tore him apart, and left his kids in shatters, both times that it happened. That was why he didn't want anything to do with the emotion. It was a curse, and an addicting one at that.

"I know," he had told him. That was another thing he didn't get, as soon as he heard him say it. Those light blue eyes stuck out in the gloomy weather that was just outside the coffee shop.

"How?" he asked. He didn't know how he would without him saying it. Valentino knew that they had been together for a couple months at that point, but that didn't mean they were in love. Was it because he bailed him out?

"How did I know you loved me?" Casimir asked. This man was giving him whiplash with all the other events of the day adding to the mix.

It really was a crazy day. Lou went from depressed and seconds away from ending it to happily chatting away to a woman he met months ago from a whole other country. He really did like her too. It hurt that Valentino couldn't be that person to cheer him up like that. He was worried that a time would come where he would truly be alone as everyone, even his brother, moved on without him and got better lives. Now it helped that he had Casimir. Now, instead of worrying about the other being alone, they both had someone.