How Not to Fall in Love with Your Worst Enemy

Chapter 4

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Third Person POV

A few minutes after Mark sent his birthday greeting to Neo, his phone started to ring.

He could tell from the ringtone that it was Neo calling. He had assigned a special ringtone for Neo. With his heart pounding, he swiped on his phone screen.

"Hey," he heard Neo say before he could even say 'hello'. "Thanks for the birthday greeting, but how did you know that it was my birthday today?"

"News travels fast," was all Mark was willing to say.

"You sure you're not stalking me?" Neo teased.

"I'm hanging up on you now," Mark said, a tinge of irritation creeping into his voice.

"Wait, wait!" Neo exclaimed. "I was just teasing. Seriously, thank you for remembering me on my special day. Nobody else did, not even my own family."

'How about Louis', Mark wanted to ask but he held back his tongue.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Mark said instead. "So what are your plans for today?"

"I guess I'm just gonna stay home since no one seems interested in celebrating it with me," Neo sad in a sad voice.

Mark wanted so much to offer to celebrate with Neo but he knew that he had to keep his distance from Neo if he didn't want to get hurt eventually.

"I'm sorry to hear that," again that was all that Mark could say.

There was a few seconds of hesitation before Neo said, "I was hoping you'd offer to celebrate it with me."

It was Mark who hesitated this time.

Should he risk it, should he open himself to emotional damage by spending Neo's special day with him?

"I don't want to get in trouble with Louis," Mark said without thinking.

Mark gasped at himself, at what came out from his mouth. What the fuck was he thinking?!?!!!

"You won't," Neo said.

So Neo wasn't denying that he and Louis were an item. At least he was honest about that.

"Why won't I be in trouble?" Mark asked. "How can you guarantee that?"

"He's going to be away for a month, probably two," Neo explained.

"Why?" Mark needed to know more, to get more information about Louis and Neo's situation.

"He's filling in for an international pilot who's on paternity leave," said Neo.

"Oh my god, wow!" Mark exclaimed. "Congratulations!"

"To him," Neo said in a flat voice. "Not to me. In his excitement to give the news to me last night, he even forgot to greet me."

"The day isn't over," Mark said, the practicality in his nature coming out. "He might just video call you in the middle of our celebration to greet you."

"I doubt that very much," Neo said, still sounding sad.

"How about this," Mark suggested. "How about I treat you to a post birthday celebration tomorrow evening."

"That means my whole day today would be very bleak and gloomy," said Neo, his voice sounding gloomy as well.

"You don't know that," said Mark. "Like I said, he might just video call you sometime today or this evening. Give him a chance. Think positive. When you think positive, positive things happen to you."

"I really doubt that, but okay, I will give him a chance," Neo said, although not sounding optimistic at all. "But keep your promise to treat me to a post birthday dinner tomorrow evening, okay?"

"Okay," said Mark.