Shutter

Chapter 16 - Bringing Up the Past

Soren leaned on his hand as he observed Mikhail eat. They were at a local Japanese restaurant and though there were a lot of customers, the restaurant was divided into two stories. Most of the customers were on the first floor of the place while some went to the second floor. Specifically, two customers were on the second floor.

The actor specifically reserved the second floor for them alone. No one else was there aside from the two men. They were sitting on the balcony of the second floor overviewing the bustling city and the streets below.

People looked like ants and cars looked like slow moving worms with the immense traffic going on.

"Are you enjoying the food?" He asked with a smile even though Mikhail was looking somewhere else as he chewed on his food. The latter still replied with a curt 'yes' though and that was enough to make Soren a little happy.

Mikhail had been quite the reserved person for a long time now. Completely unlike the first time Soren met him.

Yes, there were times Mikhail was sarcastic and condescending but he didn't always act like that. Especially now. He was just staring at the traffic lights from nearby the distant tall buildings as if those were simply the most entertaining things in here.

He did not care whether he was having lunch with the one and only American Prince, Soren Chandler. He did not care whether the man who was wanted by the majority of the population reserved an entire floor of his favorite restaurant for him alone.

Mikhail was just... silent.

Soren could have annoyed him and made talks constantly but he wasn't in the position to do that. He could threaten Mikhail to talk with him just like what he did earlier when the man wanted to grab his wallet but Soren was too impatient to do so but he knew those threats only worked when it came to certain things that Mikhail found ridiculous.

Just like this arrangement with them right now.

For Soren, it was the biggest deal of his life. The arrangement he had with Mikhail was the sole purpose he was doing all of this in the first place.

But the perspectives weren't reciprocated.

Mikhail was looking at another horizon, opposite to what Soren was seeing.

"Kael?" He called as he stared at his untouched food.

He really wasn't a fan of Japanese food but he went here because that's what Mikhail wanted.

There were a lot of things that Soren didn't like but ended up forcing himself to do so because of this man in front of him. He was just as helpless as a drowning an in the middle of the ocean.

"Yeah?" Mikhail responded as he took in another sushi from his plate using his chopsticks and dipped the fish part of the sushi before eating the entire thing whole.

"Remember when we went to middle school together?" He started and Mikhail paused his chewing for a short moment before resuming it as if nothing happened.

"What about it?" He answered after swallowing the sushi. The rich flavor of the food slightly turned bitter on his tongue after that. Regardless, he was still a little hungry.

"Well, I just remembered how everyone was so amazed by the box of sushi you brought to school for lunch," Soren spoke with a chuckle at the end of the sentence.

Certain memories flashed in his mind and seeing how Mikhail used to be back then made him smile.

"Until now, you still like them. Maybe you're secretly Japanese?" He joked but Mikhail glanced at him with his judging eyes.