The Story Of Bunny And Fox

Vol 3 - Side Story 2: Manual for Ash Jones (1)

"So are you living together now?"

It is a Sunday afternoon. Karlyle is on a ranch owned by the Heywoods, on the outskirts of London.

About to get on the horse, Karlyle is silent at Aiden's sudden question. As his hands holding the reins stop, Karlyle's horse, Alexander waves his mane. Alexander looks really ready for him to climb up. Seeing him stop, it looks at him questioningly.

"Alex (the horse) has grown a lot. Have you thought about mating yet?"

After throwing random words that left other people confused, Aiden slyly walks to Karlyle's side. Alexander throws a fuss at Aiden, he seems to dislike the shortened pet name Aiden gives him.

"... I'd say no."

"It's rare to see a black fur like this among the Eclipse breed. Think about it."

Aiden is more interested in horses than Karlyle. Both of them have thoroughbred breeds, but Karlyle has always kept only one. Aiden, on the other hand, collects several. For your information, Karlyle always names his horses Alexander. The mother of his Alexander now, who turns five this year, and his ancestors, all of them are named Alexander.

Anyway, back to the point, Karlyle ponders Aiden's question in a state of some sort of guilt. Fortunately, Aiden seems to have turned his attention to Alexander and has forgotten the question.

"Okay, so are you living together or not?"

He hasn't forgotten. Karlyle turns around, rubbing the leather reins.

"I…"

Why does it matter? Karlyle patiently swallows the question. It's obvious what Aiden's reaction will be. Like an answering machine, he will definitely mention how he has helped connect Karlyle to Marquis Gordon and how much he has contributed. It's better to moderately deal with his question than hearing that kind of answer.

"As you might think, it's not like that."

"As far as I know, you seem to have been commuting to work from that house for over a month?"

Karlyle looks at Aiden with cold eyes.

"You are unnecessarily interested."

"Your first lover may be a weirdo, so as your friend, I need to pay attention."

Sounds like an excuse. Moreover, calling Ash a weirdo is an illogical assumption. Karlyle shakes his head. Then he gets on top of Alexander. Gently waving his tail, Alexander waits quietly for him to sit down.

"Things just…happen to be like that."

"Really? You two have been together that long but still haven't talked about living together?"

Aiden says that intentionally. Karlyle decides not to care, but his heart begins to waver precariously. To tell the truth, because the topic bothers him.

They are living together now, apparently. Ash's house now has Karlyle's clothes, documents and a laptop. The number of things the two of them bought together also increase.

Of course, he doesn't stay only at Ash's place everyday. Sometimes he goes to hotels for short domestic business trips, and sometimes at his family mansion. But 90% of his time is spent at Ash's house.

"...We haven't talked about it."

As this is a matter of great concern, Karlyle eventually responds to Aiden's words. Aiden smiles inside.

"Is that so?"

"...Yes."

"Then shouldn't you start looking for a house again? (if some of you don’t remember, Karlyle has sold his mansion when he broke up with Ash in vol 2, which means he doesn’t have his own house now). You two haven't talked about living together, but staying like that is a nuisance."