LOVING HIM

CHAPTER 10

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Rian stood there frozen for God knows how long. His whole body trembled, his legs turning into jelly for being so freaking nervous. Almost instantly, that familiar, heart-stabbing, excruciating pain was there again. He felt it. It found its way to him again. He thought he moved on but quite the opposite, he's somehow realizing he hasn't.

The pain was still there. And it's suffocating.

That man...

That man who called him names and accused him of so many things, that was him.

Mr. Asentista...

Nathan!

The sudden thought of the man he once loved brought him back to reality. It took him moments to gather his thoughts and think rationally. He realized there were still things left to do, things he needed to do. So, without wasting any more minute, instead of waiting for the elevator to bring him down, he rushed towards the stairs to go up, hoping to catch the old man.

Rian was out of breath when he reached the fourth floor. He looked around the hallways for Mr. Asentista. He was still trembling and his eyes were already streaming silent tears. He didn't even notice he's already crying but who cares? He kept running until at last, he found him. He was walking towards the end of the left hallway and stopped at the last door.

Rian stood still and held his breath.

He was only a few meters away from the man. He felt his body trembled even more. He suddenly felt terrified, as if he's having flashbacks from his painful past. He's scared of the man and that fear never faded. He's mentally reassuring himself that he could do this, to finally talk to him, but at the back of his mind, all he wanted now was to turn around and run away as far as he can. But he knew he couldn't run away forever. He had so many questions in mind and his heart was telling him it's now or never. He needed to know about Nathan. He needed to know what happened.

Mr. Asentista fixed his tie and was about to knock on the door when Rian finally got the courage to open his mouth and call him.

"Sir..." Rian called, voice shaking in fear.

The old man turned to him. His brow furrowed at first, not able to recognize Rian right away. But when he did, his whole facial expression changed.

With small uneasy steps, Rian walked closer, aware of his own heightened heartbeats. "S-Sir..."

"Well, well. What a surprise." Mr. Asentista had a grin on his face but Rian was certain it's not because of gladness. "What do you want now?"

"S-sir..." Rian nervously choked on his own saliva but he bravely went on. "I... I just... I... Where is N-Nathan?"

Mr. Asentista smirked at his question. "Oh. You're still waiting for my nephew?"

Rian tried to keep the tears brimming in his eyes from falling again. The old man's demeanor towards him never changed. The hate in his eyes towards Rian still showed.

Mr. Asentista looked at him from head to toe with disgust. "All this time, are you telling me you're still hoping for my nephew to come running back to you? To someone like you?" he scoffed, making Rian feel ridiculously stupid and small.

"Listen you good-for-nothing homosexual. Nathan finally came back to his senses. He will never come back to you."

Rian's tears fell down instinctively. He knew the old man was lying. He knew Mr. Asentista just said that to hurt him and it certainly did. His words broke Rian's heart.

"I know that's n-not true. N-Nathan will never d-do that to m-me..." he tearfully but faintly pleaded.

"Are you saying I'm a liar?" the old man sneered angrily. "You despicable man!"