Finding Love in Winter Nostalgia

Chapter Three

I spent most of my morning cleaning my kitchen and listening to music, but I've just left the penthouse to meet Kairo for lunch.

I felt horrible for walking out on him. The image of his sad face was deeply engraved in my mind to simply sleep off, so I spent the remainder of last night experimenting with different recipes to distract myself from thinking about him. I called him to apologise this morning, but he was in high spirits about this restaurant he'd like for us to try out today.

I received a call from Daniel, my eldest brother, over forty minutes ago, and he's refusing to let me leave. He's the chief executive officer of Browncom—our parents' telecommunications company. He claims he has nothing better to do today than laze around in his office. He's mostly been annoying me with inane questions about Kairo.

"Danny, I seriously have to go now. I'm almost at the restaurant," I say, my hundredth attempt to end the call.

"It still baffles me how the boy whose first car was a Lamborghini is now jumping from Uber to Uber."

"And I'd love to sit and tell you about how great these rides are, but I have to go."

"Alright. Say hi to your friend. Ask him to keep you out of trouble for me."

He's the trouble.

"Will do. I love you, Danny."

"I love you, too, baby brother."

"When you say things like that, you make it difficult for me not to make fun of the fact that you're only five years away from forty."

"Our parents should've stopped after birthing David. It's as if you inherited all the stupid that was left behind."

"The nerve of you saying that to a Harvard student."

He drops the call without another word. Knowing how much this sentence irritates my brothers, I should've said it ages ago if that was all it took to get him to hang up.

I plug in my AirPods, and relax as the driver takes me to wherever I'm meeting Kairo for lunch—somewhere deep in the city.

I ENTER THE RESTAURANT and instantly feel out of place. It's a completely different setting from last night's diner. The ambience isn't as jolly. Everyone is dressed formally, and seem to be in the middle of business meetings. It's unnerving.

I spot Kairo with his hand up a few tables away, and approach him. He's wearing a white dress shirt with the sleeves neatly folded around his forearms.

Fuck! He's a sight for sore eyes.

"Where did you sleep last night?" he asks, raising his brow as I arrive at the table and have a seat across from him.

"What do you mean? I slept at my place."

"Then why are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?

Ah, bloody hell. I knew I should've made an effort.

"Not at all. Everything I'm wearing is different from what I had on yesterday."

"What are you talking about?" He analyses me, going as far as to looking underneath the table. "I swear, this is exactly what you had on yesterday."

"I mean, this is what I wear on a daily basis. I have multiple pairs of the same items."

He leans forward, enthrallment dancing in his eyes. "No shit. How many pairs of this exact outfit do you have?"

"Except the jacket, enough for at least three months."

"Are you kidding me? Even the shoes?"

"I, somehow, doubt there's a person who owns ninety pairs of the same shoes, Kairo. I change the shoes, jackets, and sweaters all the time. The jeans and t-shirts mostly remain the same."