Contracted Companionship

Chapter 7: Hopes and Wishes

Mateo stared at his monitor screen, not really reading its contents. His mind was elsewhere. He had been distracted all day, having only done about half of his workload for the day. There were many matters he needed to attend to and it was already mid-afternoon.

He pushed a button on his desk phone, Barbara coming in almost immediately after.

"Yes, Sir?" She approached his desk. He pushed a stack of papers over to her, then pressed a finger on his temple.

"See to it that these are sorted and dealt with by today" he seemed annoyed, the lady before him even too afraid to ask. She grabbed the papers and swiftly left the room.

Once again alone in his office, Mateo leaned back into his chair. He let out a groan. He couldn't focus. His mind was stuck on someone else. Someone he had spent the morning with. He wondered what Haru was doing. Perhaps he was still asleep in bed. Lorenzo still hadn't returned, after all. Or maybe he had just woken up and was now getting ready to leave. He imagined Haru taking a shower, then recalled the expression he had made earlier today. He wanted to see that face through the steam and water. The thought of it brought a smirk to his face. Realising it, he shook his head. He couldn't believe he had just thought of that. It almost sickened him. He still liked women. He prefers them, in fact. When Haru wore makeup and that beautiful black dress, he was absolutely stunning, even with his natural shoulder length black hair.

He let out a sigh of relief. That must be it. He feels attracted to Haru because his long hair made him look feminine. It tricked his mind into thinking Haru is actually a woman. After a haircut, he should look more like a man and everything would be fine. Mateo could say he still liked women if he's only attracted to Haru's female disguise. He made a mental note to take Haru to the barber while they are at the shopping district later.

Ding!

A soft ring brought his attention to his phone. It was Lorenzo.

Boss, just dropped Haruki off at his home. Heading back to the office now.

Haru was home. That's good. He checked the time. 2:32pm. Just a couple hours left before he could see him again. He started thinking of the many things they could do tonight. His mind jumped from scenario to scenario. From the couch, to the kitchen, to his pool, to his bathtub.

"Boss?" Mateo opened his eyes to find Lorenzo standing before him. "I never thought of you as a daydreamer" he saw a slight smirk on the older man's face.

"Don't overstep your boundary" Mateo leaned forward in his seat, seeing that his clock now showed 2:58pm. Time must have passed while he was deep in thought.

"Apologies, Boss" the older man bowed his head, not intending to offend him. "It is nice seeing you more relaxed, though" he lifted his head back up, straightening his tie.

"You're threading the line, Lorenzo" Mateo glared up at his trusted chauffeur. He hated getting called out like this, even if they were close enough to be considered old friends. Lorenzo knew everything about him. He had been there when he was born and even raised both him and his brother while their father busied himself with running the company.

Lorenzo put his arms up in surrender. "Understood, Boss" he said, assuring he'd drop the subject. He dropped his arms back down, his smile turning into a frown as he contemplated a question he had for Mateo. "I have one question, though" he ultimately decided to ask it.

"What is it?" Mateo spoke, without looking at the other.

"Why did you choose someone 14 years your junior? And a man at that" Mateo's eyes shot wide open, now looking up at Lorenzo again. He frowned, looking away for a moment.