It Won't Be That Bad

Ch 7

Noah stared at the moving scenery outside with a straight face, his arms folded in front of his chest with his back propped against the back of the car seat. He counted how many times he saw red cars on the road, either coming from the opposite direction or overtaking them. Then, bored of counting the red vehicles, he raised his head and stared at the roofs of the cars for a few moments. His boredom hit again, he now opened the drawer in the car dashboard to find something that could interest him. There were several blueprints lying in the drawer, he raised his eyebrows and was about to take one of the blue scrolls but another hand immediately closed the glove compartment before he could do so.

He frowned in annoyance and glanced to the side, a pair of blue eyes glanced back at him with a smile plastered on his face.

"Michael, come on."

"Count the black cars after we go through the toll road."

Noah groaned in exasperation and looked away from his husband. "No, that's boring," he objected irritably. "Besides, you don't need to take me to campus today, I only have one class."

"So? What would you do then?" Michael glared at him for a moment with one eyebrow pulled upwards. "Hm? You want to teleport for today? You use up a lot of energy doing it. Riding bus? You will be crowded with a lot of people because today is a busy day, you hate it and you will feel stressed eventually. Driving your own car? What if something happens to you because you're not focused?" Michael started nagging, Noah grumbled incoherently. Then the eldest Afton exhaled. "Enn, I don't want you to force yourself, I've said that many times and that's all I ask from you."

There was no answer from Noah, he just took a glance at Michael briefly, but you could see there was a sight of guilt in his red eyes when he glanced at him. Noah sighed, he slumped slightly in his seat, sulking like a child.

"After all, I have to go to Oxford soon, so I might as well take you to campus," Michael added his sentence casually.

"Why are you going to Oxford?"

"Checking the location of the newest restaurant," replied Michael as he stepped on the brake pedal when the traffic light turned red. He finally turned to Noah and smiled broadly, making Noah's cheeks slowly turn red before Noah looked away again. Michael chuckled, he moved his hands to cup both sides of his husband's face and kissed him. "Father asked me to come and help him tidy up some things," Michael spoke after their kiss while focusing his attention ahead.

Noah frowned. "William didn't say anything to me," he mumbled, apparently not understanding after he realized he didn't know much about the newest branch of the restaurant. "I can help."

Michael shook his head. "No." His tone was firm. "Father also didn't want you to be tired, that's why he didn't tell you anything."

"You know exactly how I feel about that!" Noah replied irritably.

His husband was one of the people who could make him shrink, Michael's gaze sharpened and his lips were straight and tight, his serious expression saying that he should remain silent and listen to what the brown-haired man had to say. Michael cannot be debated in moments like this.

He grumbled incoherently again. "Asshole."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

Michael raised his eyebrows briefly, then shrugged his shoulders and stepped on the gas pedal again as soon as the traffic light turned green. "What time do your class finish?"

"Twelve o'clock in the afternoon," Noah answered, he returned to watching the scenery outside the car.

"Then I'll pick you up around twelve in the afternoon," Michael said cheerfully as he turned the steering wheel to the right, slowly seeing the campus clearly in the distance. "We can grab lunch together and get some lattes, what do you think about that?" Michael asked, he glanced at Noah and found that Noah now seemed more relaxed than before. "You've been too busy lately, I feel lonely," he complained shortly after. "Don't you miss me like I do? We only met for breakfast and dinner from the last week."