Sweet Admiration (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 23🌻

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After having a great dinner with his clent, he got home at around 11:00 p.m. Work had gone smoothly, and he was a little drunk, so he was in a great mood that night.

"I'm home!" It was rare for him to call out like that, so Gulf greeted him with surprise.

"Welcone home, P'Mew. You're in a good mood tonight."

"Work went well today. So, did you get my message?" Mew asked, and looked towards the dining room table. There wasn't the familiar plastic-wrapped food on tbe table, so it looked like he had.

"Yes, I got it. That was the first time you've ever left me a message that you were going to be late. I was so happy!"

"Happy?" From just one phone call? Mew thought.

Mew turned around as Gulf spoke and saw that his roommate was grinning like a child.

"Yeah, because you contacted me first!" Gulf said. "Up until now, I've always been the one to start conversation with you. But you called me! I'm so happy!"

For some reason, hearing that made Mew feel like he had been a terrible person, and it made him uneasy. "Oh, is that right?"

"Yes!" Gulf said cheerfully.

"Oh, well. You've already eaten, right? There's some whiskey on that shelf over there, will you get it? You drink, don't you?"

"Yes, but..."

"Drink with me, then."

He lined up the whiskey bottle and glasses on the living room table. Gulf got some ice from the freezer, then sat down on the sofa with a nervous look on his face. He was probably surprised at this sudden invitation. Up until now, Mew had only treated him coldly, it was understandable that Gulf would be cautious at suddenly being treated in such a friendly manner.

Mew smiled at the thought. However, the one who was the most surprised was Mew himself. As he poured the whiskey into some ice water, he wondered about his own change of heart. "Do you usually drink a lot?" he asked as he handed Gulf a glass.

"No, but I'll drink enough to keep you company."

"You work in the Sales Department, right? You'll be entertaining clients a lot soon, so you'd better get used to drinking a lot."

"Yes, P'Kao told me the same thing. I'm prepared to that." As Gulf quickly brought the glass in his mouth, the ice cubed clinked against each other.

Mew also quietly zipped his drink. The curtains were drawn back, and the night-time scenery of Tokyo stretched out seemingly forever beyond the glass.

The alcohol and silence brought a comfortable sense of relief to his tired body. He stared absentmindedly out the window at the view.

Gulf followed his gaze and said. "It was so bright outside. I wanted to open the curtains."

"Bright? But it's night time."

"It's bright to me. Where I'm from, it's always pitch black at night. I mean, you can see the stars, but they're not nearly as bright as Tokyo's neon lights."

"Well, this room is so large. If the curtains aren't open , it suddenly seems so closed in. So I just decided to keep them open. The view at night beyond the glass just sparkles and is so beautiful...it's even bright enough that I can watch TV without having to turn on any lights."

What a weirdo, Mew thought as he stole a glance at Gulf's face. He had never once thought that Tokyo looked beautiful at night. He was so used to the scenery that it just looked like a regular city landscape to him. "The night sky in the country was much more beautiful."

"Hm?"

"It was only for that one summer, but I still remmeber how the night sky looked that summer in the country."

Why? Why he was he remembering things about the country that he had never really thought about before? Maybe it was because Gulf haf been there, too, that those faint memories had begun to rise to the surface again.

"That was the first time we met..." Gulf murmured, narrowing his eyes nostalgically, as if he was remembering that time.

"It was. But we barely talked at all," Mew said as he emptied his glass.

Gulf smiled bitterly and replied. "That's true, but it made a big impression on me, Bright and I played together all day, and without fail, you'd come to get him when it got dark outside. I don't have any siblings, and my parents were always busy working, so I was so jealous of Bright that he had such a kind older brother like you."

"I think you saved me in a way, too. Bright didn't want to leave Tokyo, and he threw a huge tantrum before we went to our uncle's house. He wouldn't stop crying. But since he had made such a good friend there, he didn't put up much of a fuss after that," Mew said casually, but it was the first Gulf had ever heard of it.

His eyes widened and he looked at Mew. "Bright didn't want to leave Tokyo?"

"Yeah."

"But I thought you had come to visit your uncle for summer vacation? Or was it because of something else?" Gulf hadn't yet realized that he was about to trespass in private territory once again.

Normally, Mew would refuse to answer such a personal question, but this time, he strangely was able to answer honestly. "Well, it wasn't just going on a normal summer vacation. There was someone in our family who was really sick, and they had to have surgery. It wouldn't have been good to have a loud child around that needed constant attention, so we were sent off to the country."

"So, you had to leave your parents?"

"Yeah. And he was pretty close to them."

Mew suddenly remembered something. "Oh, that's right. Give me your cellphone number. Just in case I need to call you."

"Oh, okay." Gulf noisily ran to his room and brought back his cellphone. He showed Mew his number, and Mew entered it into his cellphone. After pressing a few buttons, Gulf's phone began to ring.

Gulf quickly answered the call. "Hello?"

"This is my number. If you ever need anything, call me." Mew said, and hung up. Putting his cellphone in his pocket, he looked at Gulf. The other man was staring back at him, his face flushed with emotions.

TBC