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D O M I N I C

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D O M I N I C

Sebastian was right.

And fuck. Dominic would be lying if that thought didn't make him just a little bit annoyed.

He had apparently overestimated his own ability to treat Vivienne as a friend, and act as if they were nothing but childhood besties who used to hold each other's hand and eat ice cream together.

One thing. He had to do one thing. Simple and straightforward.

And failed within the first couple of moments they were together outside of the house.

Not to mention he now owed Sebastian fifty dollars.

Dominic didn't know what he hoped would have happened in the car. The words had come out before he could think about them.

Just the feeling of her skin underneath his fingertips had managed to waver his stonehard resolve - or what he thought had been stonehard, only to miserably make a fool of himself. He was lucky the Vivienne he knew had the patience of a saint. She hadn't stopped him, or made fun of him. Only letting him finish before apologizing gently with no more words added as if the whole situation was her fault.

He'd driven them home with guilt swirling in his gut and tense air choking them.

She was too kindhearted, he knew that. And an unconscious part of him had perhaps knowingly exploited it.

So he was currently self-wallowing in his own pity. With a glass of the strongest whisky they owned, at five in the afternoon.

The sun was still shining brightly through the floor-to-ceiling windows that surrounded the entire outer wall of their penthouse. He could catch glimpses of couples and families still strolling outside. Vivienne had retired to her room, an excuse to catch up with her parents, and he knew Damien and Finley were out on errands.

Still, before Dominic knew it, his feet had moved on their own accord. The slippers on his feet shuffled against the hardwood floor as he arrived at the open doorway and leaned against the frame, drink still held from his fingers.

Sebastian was reading. Headphones placed over his head and blinds half drawn to drown out the bright sun leaving his bedroom in a low, ambient atmosphere - completely oblivious to the outside world besides the one written in words in front of him.

His room was the same as ever, in its carefully selected forest green accent wall in the middle with beige and browns everywhere else. His ceiling spotlights were on the lowest setting, and one of his wall lamps over the bed directed towards the book. The light duvet was rumpled underneath him, pillows strewn carelessly around, but his glass wardrobe built into an entirety of a wall with two-level coat hangers was immaculate, colour coordinated to precision.

Glancing down at the potted plant close to him, Dominic noticed the earth was slightly damp, so his roommate had probably been busy watering all the real plants they owned in the apartment. An unofficial chore among the four of them living together.

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