Arranged... With Love...

2. Couple

Cade sipped on the ginger tea as he stared at the scenery. The gentle breeze ruffled his hair as he sat in the rooftop restaurant.

It was already Thursday. With only three days to go till he got married, his in-laws asked him to try on the wedding suit for finalisation.

He didn't trust his own fashion sense at all. So, he turned to the experts for opinions. He asked his besties to help him select the suit he would be wearing on the wedding day.

They had decided to take a half day off after lunch but Nara got held up by some work and only Cade and Tanu were left to do the task.

The Jampatoms, Cade's soon-to-be in-laws had already made an appointment with the leading designer stores around the city. All he had to do was drag his friend along from shop to shop and try on the suits.

After trying on who knows how many suits, they finalised on the Bordeaux-coloured tuxedo with with white shirt.

Cade has anticipated that his fiance would come along to try on the suits with him. But he was disappointed to see that it was his fiance's secretary who showed up, requesting him to pick out a wedding suit for his boss as well.

When Cade asked how he was going to pick out a suit for someone he had never seen before, the secretary's answer was that "Khun Raya would look good in anything he wears."

This left Cade speechless. Despite the respectful way the secretary talked and behaved, he could still sense that the other party didn't actually think much of him.

Like boss, like secretary. 

Cade was already disappointed in his fiance. To boot it all, when he asked the secretary why Raya hadn't shown up, the answer he got was that "Khun Raya has gone abroad for a business meeting. He won't be back until Saturday."

He felt really disheartened after hearing that. He had already come to peace with the fact that it was only a business marriage and nothing more. But Raya's attitude was making it worse.

Thankfully. Tanu had been there with him to cheer him up. Tanu was also the one who found a matching tuxedo for Raya as Cade himself was in no mood to do that.

After exiting from the designer shop, they finally got rid of the secretary who had been following them around since noon.

In order to thank Tanu for spending the whole afternoon helping him, Cade offered to treat him to dinner at Tanu's favourite rooftop restaurant. Even though the place was a bit expensive, he didn't mind as the food there was delicious, and the ambience and service were good.

Having placed their order, Tanu excused himself to use the washroom and left Cade alone to wait for the food to arrive.

POP. POP

The popping sound caught Cade's attention. He saw a couple at the other end of the restaurant.

A guy brought in a bouquet of flowers.

The boyfriend took the flower and handed it to his girlfriend. "Happy sixth anniversary, baby." He kissed her forehead.

"I thought you forgot about it," The girlfriend said pouting shyly.

"I will never forget our special day, dear" The boyfriend replied fondly. He pulled a velvet box out of his pocket and opened it in front of her.

She gasped in delight and covered her mouth.

"Let me put this on for you."He took the delicate designer necklace from the box and put it around the girl's neck.

Everyone around them clapped and congratulated them on their anniversary.  It seemed that all of them were the couple's close friends.

"I am going to puke myself to death if they are going to continue feeding me dog food instead of some real food," Tanu said as he got back from the washroom.  

"The food will be arriving soon" Cade chuckled. His friend couldn't stand lovey-dovey couples.

"Can't these people just get a room?" Tanu asked as he eyed the kissing couple. It looked like the two would eat each other's faces at this point.

Cade looked down at the drink and stirred it with the straw. He was somewhat envious of the couple. He wondered how nice it would be to have someone who would remember their special days and give them surprises like the boyfriend in the couple did.

He eyed the couple. The guy was handsome and the girl was beautiful. They looked perfect together like a match made in heaven.

There was a part of him that longed to have a similar relationship. He too wanted to be loved, to be taken care of.

"Cade, let me warn you. After your marriage don't invite me and Nara for PDAs like this" Tanu said in a serious tone.

"Khrab" Cade scoffed "After seeing his attitude today, do you think that there would be any affection for display in my marriage?" 

Tanu pressed his lips together, regretting what he just said. His bestie's fiance had already gotten a zero on his first test.

"Everyone, please have whatever you want. Tonight, your bill is on me!" The boyfriend announced.

"Should we order some more food? I want to teach this show-off bastard a lesson." Tanu whispered mischievously.

"The money is his, but the stomach is yours. You have already ordered way more than you eat on a normal basis" Cade answered with a chuckle. His friend develops an extra stomach every time someone else is treating them for food. 

Tanu pouted. "It's a shame that Nara is not here. Or else she would have been of help."

Cade laughed at the statement. Nara is the same as Tanu. When someone else is treating them, her stomach turns into a wormhole and she would eat a lot until the one paying the bill doesn't go bankrupt.

"You can laugh all you want. But this meal doesn't count as your treat since someone else is footing the bill. You owe me another dinner." Tanu hmphed.

"Okay. Okay," Cade agreed.

Soon, the food arrived and they dug in.

Tanu was cutting the steak as if he was venting his anger. He felt bitter watching the couple.

"There's no use in being jealous, dear." Cade tried to pacify Tanu.

"Why are all good men taken? I have been looking for one all my life!" Tanu poked the fork into the streak piece.

"Don't worry you will find one when it is time." Cade could only say that. He himself had been looking for a good man and he ended up like that.

He started wondering if he did wrong by breaking up with his ex just because he wanted to keep their relationship a secret. Back then he had found it fishy and intolerable given that his ex's every previous relationships had been public and he too wanted to go public with theirs.

His ex had refused to do so as he was a guy and dating him publically would mean admitting that he was gay in front of everyone, which he wasn't very keen on.