After the confrontation with Mariah, Aeiou went back to the restaurant and bumped at Angeline and Heather at the door.
Angeline crossed her arms and on top of her voice she spat, "Where have you been?"
Aeiou pointed his side, to the school gate meters away, and said, "I left my wallet at school." He put his other hand inside his right pocket and pulled out his wallet. He wave it in front of Angeline's face and smiled convincingly. But honestly, it was there all this time. He was just lying his way out of the interrogation.
Quickly, Heather pointed out, "Your eyes look red, is everything alright?"
Aeiou looked away, then he scratched his eyes. "Yeah. Something got on my eyes. Um... is Jake still there?"
"No, he and Hansel ran outside ten minutes after you left," Heather said. "Actually, with their faces filled with fear, we thought something bad happened between you and Zed again. But since..." It might just be Aeiou's imagination but Heather was smiling deviously, "...the both of you now have a good relationship we finished our food first. Is everything alright?" She asked worriedly but her eyes were beaming with light.
"Yeah, everything's good. What do you mean good relationship?"
Someone slapped Aeiou's arm. "We overheard something from the other table about what Zed said earlier to the students. That no one should touch you or else he'd get back to them a hundredfold," Angeline took one step forward and squinted at Aeiou. "I wonder why he is protective of you now..."
Suddenly, two hands clasped Aeiou's arms. When Aeiou looked where it came from, he saw Heather staring up at him with widened eyes.
"Aeiou, look in my eyes. What happened between you and Zed? Hmm?"
"Oh... umm... umm... well, um...the truth is I also doesn't have a mother so... I guess... I guess Zed felt like he wanted to... umm... protect me? As a brother."
Heather looked at Angeline, then she looked up at Aeiou's head. "You don't have a mother too?"
"Yeah. She left me to my father after she gave birth to me."
Angeline pulled Heather's hand off Aeiou. "There's no way they kissed, maybe you drank a lot that night and you started seeing things."
Aeiou raised his hands in defense and feigned disagreement, "We really didn't kiss. We just talked."
Heather took a deep breath and finally looked down. "Okay. I guess I'm wrong... Sorry." She turned her back and walked away gloomily.
Watching her back fade to the distance, Aeiou sighed internally.
He looked down and saw two eyes with purple and red eyeshadow prying at him.
"What, Angeline?"
"You guys really didn't kiss?"
Aeiou snickered loudly. Then, he rolled his eyes away feigning annoyance. "We didn't. Why would we?" He lied. "Ask Zed... no don't ask him. He's a liar." He lied." Honestly, with you and Heather forcing that we kissed, this might go around the school and become a baseless rumor because someone overheard it." He lied. "No. We didn't kiss, and everything else who says so are liars," Aeiou spat those lies as if he was puking casual words.
It might really take a keen eyes to see that Aeiou was manipulating the people around him. To be specific, if Mariah spread the news that he and Zed kissed, which Aeiou admitted himself, and even if Zed back it up, Mariah would be gaslighted by the one and only Angeline. With Angeline's rough mouth, who wouldn't believe her? Angeline was able to deter Heather's speculation, she surely would be able to deter everyone else.
Additionally, Mariah would look like she was spreading fake news to destroy Zed, and that wouldn't end well based on Aeiou's experience in this school.
"Well, between you and Zed, you're more likely to manipulate the truth, y'know? I'm just checking," Angeline sighed.
"Fuck off. I'm not a manipulator." Maybe I am, but just a little.
***
When Aeiou went back to their room, Zed was sitting on his seat with a cold expression. Aeiou walked towards there and up until he walked pat Zed and sat, Zed didn't bat an eye to him. He's ignoring me? Tsk. Okay. Then, I'm not going to talk to him too.
It was then that Aeiou realized for the first time, he wasn't the type to approach first. He didn't abandon me, right? If he abandoned me then he should be away back to his original strand but he's here in front of me now. Maybe he'll cool down and talk to me again soon. He better talk to me first because I am not talking to him until he do so.
Classes came to an end that day and yesterday came, they didn't talk. A week came by, and Mariah entered their room cursing at Aeiou for lying that he and Zed kissed. Aeiou denied he said anything to Mariah about kissing Zed, and said how she was desperate to destroy his image to everyone that she includes Zed to it now. Consequently, someone pulled Mariah's hair out of the room. When Aeiou looked who it was, it was Sarah slapping Mariah on the face. Mariah ont he other hand pushed Sarah's silver necklace to the back, choking her. Aeiou crossed his arms and laughed, watching the bitch fight he manipulated silently.
But even after that, when Aeiou looked back at Zed's seat, Zed was staring at the window. Aeiou bit his gum. Okay, then don't talk to me! Pssh!
Months passed, Zed didn't even bat an eye at Aeiou. Aeiou and Zed never talked again since then. But even if Aeiou wasn't talking to Zed and he showed nonchalance towards it, he'd feel more than anxious every time he came first to school and there was still no Zed in front of him. He'd sit and wait. Stare at the empty seat. Scratch his head and bit his gums. Everyday, he'd wait for a tall guy with big biceps and diamond like skin to enter the room and sit in front of him like a stone - cold and unmoving. If not, Aeiou would go crazy. The word scared was not enough to describe how he'd feel if Zed did abandon him for real. He might just get sent to the mental hospital if that happen.
Thankfully though, Zed never missed a day of school but only to sit, plaster his face on the table, and sleep. But even this small thing, was enough for Aeiou to calm himself.
***
With his hand stretched out all the way on his single-sized be, Aeiou have this unsettling feeling of his bed getting bigger.
Was I getting thin?
Aeiou looked down on his stomach and saw six pack abs and lean chest. No... I wasn't.
Consequently, he shifted his glance to his side, only to see two piles of papers nicely compiled on top of his desk.
Aeiou sat up and dragged his feet towards those papers. Did I pile this last night? He was not sure if he's the one who piled it last night, or was he so tired that he forgot that he was the one who did it.
A knock came from the door. "Aeiou, let's eat." Philip's voice can be heard from the kitchen.
As usual, Aeiou unwillingly dragged his feet towards the door.
Philip was already sitting at the table. Their breakfast was pancake again for months now. But Aeiou showed no reluctance and took a fork, stab two pancakes, and put them whole inside his mouth.
Philip chuckled. "You eat like this and you never get fat? I wish I was like you... by the way, did you come out last night?"
Aeiou threw the fork to the sink and turned his head back to Philip. He shook his head. It was a no.
"Oh... I heard the door opened but maybe it was just in my dream."
Aeiou squinted and thrust his hands to the air before walking to the bathroom.
Eat, bath, then suit himself in his uniform, it was his usual day.
When he reached an alley, Aeiou bumped into four men wearing suits. Talking lowly on the side of the street while holding a strange blue paper. These four men gave Aeiou a bad feeling. Are they the land buyers?
With a blank face, Aeiou walked gingerly on their direction and sharpened his ears.
"This are the map of the whole building. Sprinklers, smoke detectors - make sure to add and fix all of those in time. Also keep an eye on the fire exits and extinguishers; check if they are still accessible..."
Those were the words Aeiou was able to hear until he was far.
For the longest time, nobody had ever bothered to check on those kind of things in their apartment building. Truth be told, this apartment was older than Aeiou and the fire exits were mainly used for shortcuts and sexual pleasure of some. But at least they are not land buyers.
With a sigh of relief, Aeiou walked casually and realized; Is it fire prevention month?
On his way to school, Aeiou was still bothered to the odd feeling every morning. The feeling of waking up and feeling like his bed was bigger. He was starting to think that he's being hunted by a beautiful ghost, or perhaps, maybe Philip was sleep walking again and unconsciously walking inside his room to sleep beside Aeiou like they do when Aeiou was young. Philip got his habit of sleepwalking when he was still working as a construction worker. He was tired from work but he had to walk half-asleep and come home due to Aeiou's nightmares. Even though this wasn't the case today anymore, the habit never left Philip's body.
Regarding Aeiou's nightmares, Aeiou used to cry in his sleep when he dreams about Philip leaving him to go to abroad or what and he always had to wake up with Philip beside or else he'd panic to death.
But it could also be because of the stress of senior high life had brought.
This paper works got me so messed up.
Aeiou had to do school during daylight, then help his father during the night. Not to mention, he had to sing during Fridays and walk alone under the moonlight.
With this kind of setup, Aeiou would feel his eyelids getting heavy at the very moment his bum landed on his bed. But that wasn't just the problem.
When Aeiou reached their classroom, his eyes landed on the pile of folders on the table in front. Without further or due, Aeiou pulled out the papers out of his bag that was piled and stapled nicely on his table. He then put it on top before he walked towards his chair.
With a heavy breath, Aeiou gazed at the seat in front of him and there was Zed with his face on the table.
Aeiou let out an exhale when a voice asked him, "Aeiou, your papers are so thick! It's like two papers almost." It was Heather.
Aeiou broke into cold sweat and said, "I just had a lot to say... Good morning," He walked away.
The teacher went in and the class started casually. Some students were focused on the discussion while some were conversing lowly. Only a few students were actually paying attention to the teacher.
But naturally, there was an exception.
There was one person who was not doing anything but have his face shoved down on his desk. With his arms as his pillow, the broad back of that person was moving like ocean waves.
Whenever this person raises his head, he will always block Aeiou's view. Thus, forcing Aeiou to tilt his head to the side to see the monitor during discussions. But now, Aeiou was free to look without hindrance.
And that person was Zed.
Why is he always sleeping?
Staring directly at the sleeping figure, Aeiou couldn't help but to wonder what could Zed be doing every night.
For their first month of being strangers, the hatred of the students to Aeiou gradually vanished. Consequently, Aeiou thought it was his chance to enjoy his chic boi life and chase girls. But he wasn't able to do so which would be discussed later on.
Aeiou started to notice that Zed was sleeping a lot lately. It came to the point that the prince would only raise his head whenever its break time.
"Aeiou..."
Aeiou raised his eyes to the student seating in front of Zed.
"Get one and pass the teacher said..." The student spoke low and soft, scared to bother the sleeping form of Zed Nuevas.
Aeiou gently stood up and reached for those papers. It was blank white paper.
Aeiou passed the last paper to his back, intentionally leaving two papers on his desk.
"Those students who will not pass this activity will be deemed zero for the upcoming exam." The teacher stated fiercely.
Aeiou then gazed at Zed's back. Zed didn't move.
It took Aeiou five seconds before a wind came out of his nose. His pride was formidable, so he pulled out his ballpen and focused his eyes at the instruction on the board.
"Write a 2000-WORDS ESSAY regarding the topic..."
Sounds of disappointment can be heard throughout the classroom; all of the students were not happy. But Aeiou found himself twice as stressed. Now, he have to write a 4,000 word essay on those two papers. The clock was ticking, so Aeiou raised his pen and named the back of the paper with Zed's full name and the other one with his.
It might be obvious now. As Zed was always asleep, Aeiou was the one doing all of Zed's assignments, papers, activities, name it all, Aeiou did everything just as smart as his own works for months now. Those papers he passed, it was his and Zed's. He did them with equal efforts.
This was the very reason Aeiou wasn't able to chase girls. He didn't have the time to due to twice workload on his shoulders. Another day, another disaster. Aeiou knew how to vary his handwriting and knew how to produce two random angles from a single topic; a feat that every manipulator was an expert at. This infamous skill of him had convinced the teachers and students that it was Zed's handwriting all along, even causing Zed to maintain a good remark for the 1'st semester.
Of course, Aeiou was pissed. He badly wanted to roll the paper and harshly slap it on Zed's head to wake the prince from his slumber. But surprisingly, he didn't. He endured it.
Even if their ties were already cut, Aeiou still kept an eye over Zed. He sometimes Hansel where Zed was and all he get was: "Jake said Zed has been going late out at night and coming home before sunrise. Maybe clubbing. Doing his usual fuckboy thing."
Aeiou became more pissed when eh remembered that. The answer that he got for the sleeping form of Zed just irked him. He accommodate himself with a lot of hot girls every night; he's having fun while I'm here acting like a fucking girlfriend who was scared of him to drop out - whether we talk or not, he still makes me suffer!
Aeiou willed the lingering annoyance off his mind. He didn't bother to wake the prince anymore and tried to think of two different angle on that single topic instead... like what would a girlfriend do for his boyfriend.
***
When the night came, Zed found himself sitting comfortably on a soft sofa, fidgeting his feet.
Kring...
Zed immediately picked up the phone. "Did you do it?" He doesn't need to greet the other person on the line.
"With ease, young master. The engineers and tenants made it possible to fix everything in a day. Tomorrow morning the project will be done."
Jaspher, who was on the other line, spoke continuously. But Zed was only focused on the first few words.
They finished it in a day. Zed looked down and inhaled a deep breath.
As Jaspher finished speaking, the line went into silence.
"I owe you one." Zed hanged the call.
He stretched his back on the soft sofa. So tonight will be the last night?
A creaking sound from the door came in, "Zed, are you gonna eat here tonight? Or are you going out to see your..." Jake trailed, peeking his head to the small space of the kitchen's door.
For the past months, Zed lived with Jaspher. Henry was not in the mansion anymore but Zed had already made himself comfortable at Jake's condo. His moves were not watched by the maids nor by the cameras that were meant to tell Henry what he was doing.
"I have to meet a girl." That casually said sentence was cold and firm, but it was starting to sound cliche on Zed's ears as he had said it a lot of times already.
Jake squinted. Then, he spoke, "Zed..."
Zed turned his head to Jake and saw him slowly walking towards him with a worried expression on his face. His friend sat beside him and ran his arms around his neck before speaking. "You're meeting this girl too frequently. Is she your girlfriend?"
Jake, unlike Hansel, never joke on things like this. he was obviously worried.
As Zed saw that, he turned his head and spoke politely. "She's not."
"Then why are you meeting her every night? Is she that good in bed?"
Hearing that, Zed's eyebrows immediately frowned. The fact that Jake wasn't even joking irked Zed more.
Staring directly at Jake, the prince was determined to land a punch on the face of his friend. "Take back what you said."
Jake raised his hand to the air. "I'm sorry, I'm just worried, you always went home too late just for that girl — look, your eyebags are starting to show."
Zed removed Jake's arms around his neck. He shake his head a few times before shiting his glance to the clock, it was barely 10:00 pm. He then came into a halt and felt the urge to ask Jake about something.
"Jake..." Zed's tone was calm now. "The time where you got separated with Jaspher, did you go crazy?"
Zed can see Jake's eyes as it widen on his peripheral vision.
"Jaspher... Jaspher? Why would I go crazy... crazy... for your cousin?"
Zed closed his eyes. "Answer the damn question before I grill the shit out of you. I know what's going on between the two of you, I'm not dumb enough not to notice that you were wearing Jaspher's perfume sometimes, I even caught you guys on the CCTV at the garage—"
"Okay okay! I'm gonna answer it!" Jake interrupted.
Zed squinted his eyes. He heard some faint sighs.
The moment when Zed started to smell something fishy was after the night of Jake's 18'th birthday.
Jake tipsily walked out of his room while having his face painfully squinting on his every step. And Jaspher slept there, because he said Zed might kill him in his sleep, who flew all the way from Spain the day before Jake's birthday. What made it more obvious was Jaspher was supporting Jake as he walk and looking at Jake with eyes full of guilt.
With all those clues combined, Zed could only think of one thing; my friend got fucked in the ass. Zed knew how big Lorde's cocks were, so he fully sympathize with Jake.
As a friend and as a cousin, Zed never talked about that he knew. He acted the same way just like how he acted before, trying to show that he's not aware of the situation. In short, he feigned ignorance and still warned his cousin about taking girls to his room but in truth it was his way of saying: Don't fuck my friend inside my room. Do it somewhere else.
"Three years ago, when Jaspher left. I felt like getting worried that he might found someone else, a girl - a beautiful one..." Words started coming out of Jake's mouth. But what struck Zed was the next two sentences. "But even if we never meet again, I will only pray for his wellness and that he will find his own happiness soon. Even if that means that I'll never be his happiness again."
It was strange, but Aeiou's image flashed on Zed's head. He swiftly shook and turned his head down as he inhaled a deep breath. I do want him to be happy... but not with me? I don't want that.
Zed had never felt this strongly before. Truth to be told, Zed asked Jaspher to use his connections to arrange a quality check for the fire protection system on where Aeiou lived in. How did Zed knew where Aeiou lived? That'd be for a later discussion.
Zed opened his eyes, he stood up and tapped Jake's shoulder in a friendly fashion. That was the closest thing he could give from a hug. His voice carried coldness, but his gestures implied an undying support from a friend. "Jaspher gave up on his dreams to be an artist for his family. But he didn't give up on you despite of you two being guys. He flew from Spain to here, declining his meetings. You're Jaspher's happiness he's not willing to give up on. See you tomorrow."
Zed took a black leather jacket and suited himself in it before he left the condominium. He walked towards the parking lot and pulled out his keys, his long finger slide on the alarm button.
A Black Ducati then started alarming on the side, that was Jaspher's first birthday gift to him, a gift when Jaspher discovered Zed's fondness of motorcycle games.
Zed shoved in the key, put his other leg over it, and kicked the stand strongly to the back. Now, time to see him one last time.