It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

XVI

Cutting out on sugar sucked big time, Brett thought, while he sipped on his zero-sugar bubble tea. He and Eddy were at one of those shopping malls, where you could spend a whole day in it without having to walk pass the same store twice. Eddy was trying some sweatshirts and pants on and Brett, being perfectly happy with his triple pack of red ankle socks he found and some underpants he very urgently needed, was waiting in front of the changing rooms like some bored boyfriend of a girl with a desperate need to spend money on the newest trends.

"You done, or what?", Brett yelled, mouthful of unsweetened, sad tapioca pearls. Count on heytea to get the consistency of the bubbles right, at least.
"Not yet! Do you think, this colour looks better on me or this?" Eddy opened the curtains to his cabin and revealed two light, dark grey sweatshirts, which in Brett's eyes looked exactly the same. "They look the same!", he voiced just what he thought.
"They're not at all! This one is slightly darker and the cut is different. Can't you tell?"
"Bro! I've been sitting here for half an hour! Even Ling Ling would not be able to tell!"
"Pfft, half an hour is nothing! That's how one knows you have no sisters. One time, I had to spend half a day choosing one dress with my sister for a wedding! ONE dress!"
"At least it was a special occasion. We just need stuff for every day life. Get on with it!"
"If you help me, we'll be done faster."
Brett sighed and tried to make out, which of the two shirts Eddy was holding up would fit better. For whatever reason, it didn't help his concentration one bit, that Eddy's bare torso was sometimes more or less visible behind the clothes. He slapped himself mentally.
"The right one. It's tighter. You'd look like wearing a garbage bag in the other."
"Good! Thanks!", Eddy exclaimed and vanished behind the curtains.

Brett sighed again and leaned back, taking another sip of his now slightly too warm bubble tea.
He had seen Eddy half or even naked before a hundred times. That was just a normal thing, when one was growing up with a best friend since thirteen/fourteen. So why did it catch his eye now, when not even half of that said best friend's upper body was visible? Brett shook his head and gave the meds he took for four days now the fault for his weird mind doing weird things.

After another twenty minutes, Eddy paid for an impressive pile of clothes at the cashier and they finally left the store.
"Where to now?", Brett asked, exhausted from sitting around and giving Eddy styling advice.

It was one of those stormy days in Singapore, where the flood gates of heaven were open and the weather gods were playing baseball with lightning strokes. A perfect day to spend inside a big mall, so Eddy had dragged Brett here after filming and explained, he needed new stuff to wear. "Just take the merch! You certainly have enough of that", Brett had complained, but Eddy had just tsk'd at that. "You know as well as I do, that I sometimes need to wear other things too to not get reminded of work all the time."
Brett didn't mind as much as Eddy, but he knew, what his business partner meant, so in the end, he had tagged along.

Eddy pointed at another clothes shop. "I saw some things there before, that might be good samples for Twoset Apparell. You reckon, we check them out and discuss some new design ideas?"
Brett was so not up for another clothing store, but how could he decline an offer to develop new merch? So they made their way through the throngs of people and picked out some items to take pictures from for their apparell team.

After a very productive half an hour, both were beat and slumped down on a bench in the middle of a big plaza on the second floor. There were green bushes and lots of orchids placed around them and they could even hear fake bird sounds coming from some stereos.
"I'm dead!", Brett said and closed his eyes.
"At least you'll leave a legacy in form of amaaazing apparell behind."
"Don't know, if that's worth it."
"You know it is.", Eddy winked, "Shall we get something to eat? It's 6pm soon." Brett gave Eddy a tired nod and they went looking for a decent restaurant with ok prices. In the end, they settled for a ramen place. Brett was really hungry now and grateful for the quick order and deliver system the place had.
"Best comfort food ever!", Eddy exclaimed and slurped loudly. Brett digged into his portion, too busy to reply.

By the time they finished dinner, Brett was feeling off. He might had eaten a bit too fast, because he felt his stomach churning uncomfortably. "You want anything else?", Eddy asked, looking at the dessert menu they got from the waiter. "No, not feeling any of these", Brett mumbled. Eddy chose a big bowl of matcha ice cream and while they waited for his sweet treat to appear, Brett felt his dinner making it's way back up.
"Sorry, just need to go toilet quickly...", he muttered, got up and almost ran to the restroom as fast as he could.
He barely made it in time and as soon as he burst into the stall, he was heaving heavily, waves of nausea overtaking and consuming him whole. Someone next to his stall quickly made his way out, but Brett couldn't care less, didn't even notice for that matter, because his stomach was still emptying itself at an cruel intensity.

After what felt like forever, it finally stopped. Brett had to rest his head on the toilet seat for a moment, before he flushed and wobbly tried to get himself to stand up. He rinsed his mouth at the sink and stared at himself in the mirror. A pale, tired and almost haggard face looked back at him. That image didn't look like someone, who had a nice, maybe a bit exhausting day at the mall. More like someone, who went through a three day partying marathon...

The door to the men's room was thrown open and a bewildered Eddy stormed in.
"Brett!", he shouted, as soon as he'd seen him by the sink, "You alright?"
"I will be. I'm better now." Brett's voice sounded hoarse.
"Brett, did you... Did you hurl?"
Brett didn't say anything, just washed his hands and left the restroom with Eddy on his heels. He flopped down on his seat, leaned back and breathed heavily.

"Brett, mate! Talk to me! What is it?" Eddy sat down again and eyed Brett, concerned.
"Upset stomach... S'gonna be fine."
"Do you need anything? Water? Tea? Meds?"
"Nope, just let me sit here for a bit. It's all out anyway."
Eddy furrowed his brows. "I'm gonna get you home! You need rest!", he decided and wanted to call the waiter over for their check, but Brett waved it off. "No need, just have your dessert and we can leave after. I'm ok, really."
"I can have it as take out. We leave now."
"Ice cream's gonna be molten till we're home, dumbass! Can't have that as take out. Trust me, I'm fine!"
"Can eat it on the way, can't I? And anyway, why are we talking about dessert right now? Set priorities, mate!", Eddy retorted. He got up and went to the counter to pay. Brett glanced after him and sighed, upset with himself, that he ruined their dinner.