A Taste Of You

Chapter 1

"Friend of the groom?" Up asks as he walks up to the stranger who is standing right outside the event hall, halfway through a smoke.

He had first noticed the man inside, during the reception. Their tables were adjacent, and Up isn't blind. The guy is handsome, with chiseled features and big eyes framed with pretty lashes. It was easy to take note of his presence, especially since he didn't seem to have a plus one—that alone automatically put him on Up's radar.

He had asked Alex about him but his friend had only winced and shook his head, warning Up, 'No not him. He's Leo's ex and he's the worst.' He'd been pretty emphatic about it too, which, frankly, did not work as the admonition he intended it to. Alex is sunshine incarnate; he wouldn't just call anyone 'the worst' so casually and that only piqued Up's interest. In his defense, Alex, one of his closest friends, should have known better; should have known that such a comment would serve more as endorsement rather than caution to Up.

"Aren't we all friends of the groom?" the man deadpans in response as he blows smoke out of the side of his mouth. "They're both grooms."

Up laughs. That was the exact answer he would have probably given himself. "Touché." He pauses and glances sideways to study the man's profile. His nose is even more unreal up close, he realizes. The guy definitely passes his personal bar with flying colors – not that the bar is particularly high. Up had attended the wedding mostly with the purpose of getting laid and he had decided that it hardly mattered with whom as long as they weren't a fucking troglodyte. As far as he's concerned, the main thing weddings are good for is finding hook-ups. "You're here for Leo, is what I mean," he clarifies. "Leo's friend."

"Friend is probably too nice a way of putting it."

"How should I put it then?"

The man only shrugs.

Up snorts because he already knows. "You're Leo's ex," he states plainly. "The dude he dated for years before Alex rode along on his white horse and swept Leo off his feet. Kao. That's your name, right?"

Kao snorts. "Why ask if you already know?"

Up shrugs. "Was being polite."

"Politeness is overrated."

"Won't argue with you there."

Kao finally turns to look at him; his eyes are discerning as they rake across Up, head to toe as if trying to determine if he's worth his time. Up smirks, tilts his chin, and meets Kao's sharp gaze. He's confident because he knows he cleans up well, and at that moment he's dressed to the nines, in the most expensive suit he owns, with his hair slicked back in that sexy way that makes even him do a double take when he looks at the mirror. What can he say? He's a very self-aware man who knows when he looks his best.

Kao only lifts an eyebrow, perhaps amused. He throws away his near-finished cigarette on the ground where Up notices it joins a small litter of cigarette stubs. He puts it out with the toe of his shoe before fishing out a crumpled, half-empty pack from inside his jacket pocket. He pulls out another stick for himself before wordlessly offering the pack to Up.

"Don't mind if I do," he says, plucking out one for himself. Kao lights his up, and then helps Up with his; for a minute or so they're both quiet, cigarette smoke billowing around them, Up enjoying the hit of nicotine that permeates his system.

"How about you, then?" Kao finally asks. "Friend of the groom?"

Up laughs when his own words are purposefully thrown back at him. "Yeah, I roomed with Alex for two years in college."

"Nice." Kao grins cheekily. "I know what kinds of things I was up to with my college roommate. You know. A little rub and tug here and there."

Maybe if Up was a lesser man the casual sexual comment would have made him choke on smoke right then and there, but as it happens, Kao isn't too far from the truth anyway. "Isn't that what everyone does in university?"