Impress Me Not: The Architect

Chapter 56

This had to be the worst trip he had ever gone on. It wasn't because of anything related to work. That was going better than he expected actually. He had been keeping himself busy so that he wasn't so lonely. He missed sharing a bed with someone at night. He never wanted to live by himself. The fact that he still technically did made him wish that he could convince Valentino to live together. There was no way he was going to ask right now, though. With what had happened at the beginning of the month, he wouldn't want Lou to live alone. And Casimir wasn't sure whether Valentino's brother would like him living in that house with him.

He had already gotten a call from the man, right when Valentino told him about that night he bailed him out. It wasn't too bad of a conversation, just an awkward one. Casimir wound up telling him what had happened that night and all the in betweens. He didn't like talking so much about it, but it felt good when Lou didn't think of him as a monster or anything. Every time he had to tell someone in Miami, they avoided him like the plague.

"Amor is a different breed of people," Lou told him. "It seems all nice and caring, but the buildings used to be all beat up, and the people that were here then had all gone through their own shit. Everyone makes mistakes, even if they're not exactly like that. As long as you don't do it again, I'm not going to have a problem with you."

"I won't," he said. "That was the whole reason why I moved in the first place."

"Not a bad idea," Lou sighed. "I just wish your ex would have just stayed in Miami."

"Me too," he sat down on his sofa. The hotel he was staying in was plush, but he still missed the lumpy one that he'd always hold Valentino in. "I didn't think she even knew about that place. And then I saw her and I..."

"You wanted to make amends," Lou said. "I understand that. Some people just don't want to accept that, you know."

"I do now," he frowned, his mind thinking back to that scene. He must have thought about it a hundred times over at this point. It just didn't make sense. She turned into a completely different person as soon as he said no to her. And now he was hoping that she would just leave the city without any issues. He hoped that she had calmed down enough to just go home and let things between them go. "How's Valentino doing?"

"Alright," Lou's voice sounded a bit off when he said that. "Just a little down in the dumps lately."

"Why?" he asked. Valentino was a cause for his worry lately. Because the past week he hadn't really been talking to him much. He didn't sound stressed anymore, just tired. And he didn't want to tell him why. That was why he was wishing and praying for this last bit of his trip would be over already. All he had to do was survive the few hours of flying that it would take to get back home. He was hoping to surprise him by coming home a couple days early. Instead of Monday, he would be back on Saturday. Then hopefully he would tell him what was bothering him so much.

"He didn't tell you yet?" Lou asked.

"No," he answered, sounding alarmed. "What happened?"

"Nothing too bad," the man tried to calm him down. "It'd probably just be better to have him explain it. I'm not entirely sure what happened myself. I think he just misses you."

That was one way to convince him to go home as soon as possible. Casimir was all to eager to pack up his things and head for that flight early. Everything with work was done, so he just had to make sure he didn't forget any of his belongings. His most important belongings were back home anyway. He never brought them with on trips, for fear of losing them. That was something he had learned early on in his career.

The most important person in his life was home right now, too. And he was dying to figure out what was going on. Because Valentino wouldn't tell him over the phone. No matter how much he pried, he just wouldn't. He sounded more than his usual grumpiness on his workdays and he would barely talk to him the last weekend. He just said that he was busy.