Evan's POV
"Are you sure this is a great idea?" He asked for the fifth time. Looking back at his secretary with uncertainty in his eyes.
Brian simply patted his back and nudged him forward in encouragement. A too-wide grin plastered on his face.
"Don't be a pussy and just go inside. We're just here to check up on them and eat, then, we'll leave right after."
He looked back at the cafe a few steps away from where they're standing and the unsettling feeling inside his chest never fade. When he made no move to detach himself to their car Brian grabbed his wrist and starts pulling him towards the direction of the cafe. Panic immediately consumes him and he instinctively struggle on the other's grasp.
"Wait, wait, wait- give me a few minutes! I'm not yet ready!" He whisper-yelled as his free hand went to grab on the vehicle.
"You'll never be ready if I don't give you a push! Well, in this case a pull but, the point still stands! Let's. Just. Go!" Brian grunted. Now pulling him with both hands. He profusely shakes his head.
"Come on, dude. We've been going back and forth with this plan for two weeks now. It's time to put it into action." His secretary whined. Finally giving up on pulling him but not yet willing to let go of his wrist. Just ending up giving him short tugs.
Of course, Evan knew that. He knew that what they're about to do is for the better. Not just for him but also for the both of them. After all, the first step is to have closure.
"You look so pitiful right now."
Both of them looked back to the only person left inside the car.
"Shut up. Nobody asked for your opinion." He can't help but retort with eyes glaring at his cousin, who's leaning out of the car window with an arm hanging outside and staring at him in boredom.
"And nobody also asked for you to be such a pussy yet here we are."
He heard Brian let out a snort behind him but immediately went quiet when he directed his glares at him.
"Why did you come anyway?" He asked, curiosity getting the better of him. Of course, not because he wants to divert the topic. Nope.
His cousin simply shrugged and looked away.
"I'm bored." He replied, pulling out his phone to do who-knows-what.
Evan can't help but roll his eyes and let out a sigh. It's not like the younger is wrong. Yes, he's being a coward but, he couldn't help it. He's just not yet ready to meet him.
He doesn't know if he'll ever be.
He shakes his head and immediately dispels the thought. Of course, he'll be ready to meet him. What is his brain talking about! He's Evan Fong for fuck's sake!
He stood up straight and faced the other man.
"You're right." He said out loud, a spark of determination flaming in his body.
"That you're a pussy?"
"Ye- No! I'm not talking to you!" He gave a quick glare behind him before looking back on their other companion. One look on the man and he can already tell that Brian have already caught what he's feeling when their eyes met. He received a quick nod before he saw his friend open his mouth.
"Ok. Let's do a quick run over with our plan. When we enter, what are we first gonna do?"
"We'll greet whoever's employee is available /hopefully, Brock/ and find us an available seat." He answered like how they practiced.
"Good. After that, then what?"
"Then Brock will call Jon and ask him to take our order."
Satisfied, Brian went on to the next question. "If he did, what will we do?"
Now, here's where things start to get complicated. "We'll say our order and ask if he has some free time to join us eat but, if he's not I'll ask when he will be available for us to 'hang out'." He said the last part with two fingers on both hands motioning for a quote. He heard a snort from behind and raised his middle fingers. Brian slapped down his hands and proceed to the next question.
"And if he didn't take our order? Which we hope won't happen." He asked with his eyebrows furrowed. Evan can't help but let out a sigh. Eyes downcast and spoke barely audible.
"Then we'll proceed to plan b. Operation: Talk to the Manager." He doesn't really like that one considering it's going to be a very awkward talk and will 'probably' not help him at all (since it's like seeing a neon flashing sign on the irish man's head about his big fat crush on Evan's ex-husband). There's low chances that the other guy will be willing to help him.
So the conclusion? He's fucked.
But hey, when did he ever made a risk-free decision? Like they always say, 'Go big or Go home' and this time, Evan wore his big pants and he'll march right inside and man up.
. . .
. . .
. . .
"Any day now." Brian impatiently tap his shoe on the pavement, staring at him with an impassive look.
Hold on! He's still reciting his speech! He doesn't want to stutter you know? That would be so lame and embarrassing. Yeah, he's practicing (for the 13th time).
"This is so dumb." Lucas muttered under his breath, opening the door of the car and stepping out before speed-walking towards the cafe.
Both of them watched him go and before Evan realized it he's already following the younger. The chime of the bell above the door snaps him out of a trance and a familiar cheery voice greets them.
"Smitty!"
An amused snort left his lips as he watched Kryoz literally tackles his cousin, now both laying on the ground.
"Oh my god, you're back! God, you have no idea how much I miss you, buddy!"
He playfully shakes his head as he analyze his cousin's reaction to the last word and yep, not a great one.
"Dude just got friend-zoned." Brian whispered to him, voicing out his thought.
He took a quick look around the cafe and never spotted his ex-husband.
He glanced back at the two young men and cleared his throat, which obviously caught both of their attention.
"Where's Jon?" He asked, staring at Kryoz.
"Oh, Jon? He didn't come today." Kryoz casually replied while shrugging his shoulders.
It took him a few seconds to process the information before he slowly turned to his secretary with a glare.
"You said he's here."
"I 'thought' he'll be here." Brian countered.
God dammit, all of that nervousness and overthinking for nothing.
"He's sick." It's Brock that told them. Placing down an order on a nearby table.
"Sick?"
"Yep. It rained last night and he didn't brought an umbrella. We told him he should get a ride with us but he profusely refused. Then just sprint away with just his jacket as cover."
That idiot. What kind of dumbass let the rain get them soaked to the bone considering they're tired from working since the early morning? Evan can also recall reading somewhere the temperature dropped a few degrees.
But he needs to ask the most important question.
"Then, who's taking care of him?"
Brock just simply shrug. Evan can never really tell what's going on inside the other man's head. Brock always act so mysterious and, sometimes, just for fun, talks in riddles.
He turned back to Brian and asked, "Well, now what?".
Brian can do nothing but shrugged. "I don't know. We didn't discuss something like this."
With a defeated sigh, he motion for the other man to follow him out of the place. But before they can even took another step further, Brock's voice stopped them.
"Why don't you guys visit him?" Brock said behind them, pointedly looking at Evan.
The two stare at each other for a moment before a wide grin plastered on both of their faces.
"Honey, you're a fucking genius!" Brian praised as he grabbed his husband's waist and peck him on the cheek, causing the other to chuckle.
"Well, one of us needs to."
"Ha, ha, very funny."
Before things got too sweet (for Evan's taste) he cleared his throat and interrupt the couple.
"You wouldn't mind giving his address to us, right?"
Brock entangled Brian's arms around him and smile at him. "I wouldn't," He replied, making an emphasis on himself before his gaze shifted from Evan to something behind them. "but he will."
Or someone.
Even before Evan could look he already knew who Brock was talking about. Yet, he still followed where Brock's eyes leads him to.
"Do we seriously have to ask him?" Brian groaned, voicing out the question he himself was thinking.
"He's the boss and Jon's friend."
"You're also Jon's friend."
With patience running thin, Evan started marching over where David just finished taking care of a customer and going back to the counter. "Let's just go ask. The faster we finish this, the quicker we can go to Jon."
"Ok, yeah, yeah, good idea. See ya later, Hon." With a quick kiss on his husband's cheek, Brian hurried beside him and towards the manager.
"Mr. Nagle." He greeted. The said man stopped and stared at him for a second before putting on a forced smile.
"Mr. Fong, it's been a while since we last saw each other. Also, I told ya before to just call me David. Hello to ya too, Brian."
Brian waved as a response.
"So, what can I fellas get cha?"
Evan took a deep breath, he didn't know why he's suddenly nervous, oh, who is he kidding, ofcourse he does! But that's besides the point. His priority is to first know where Jon was currently living.
"We just noticed that Jon's not here so Brian went and ask and that's when Brock told us that Jon is sick and there's no one taking care of him."
Ok, Brian may not be the one who asked but who cares? It sounds better and casual.
(It didn't.)
David gave them both a hard look before sighing and taking off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"And ya're here to ask me for his address, am I right?"
"... Yes."
Another sigh left the taller man's mouth as seconds tick by. Brian and him shared a look, both hoping that the other will give it to them.
After a whole minute David puts back on his glass and look back at them.
"As much as I want to, I can't. Sorry guys but Jon will be pissed." David said, shaking his head. Both him and Brian's jaw slacked at the response.
"What? But who will take care of him?!" He can't help but slightly raise his voice. The familiar feeling bubbling inside him when things don't go as planned. Brian gave his shoulder a squeeze and direct a pleading smile on David.
"Come on, dude. Ya know we also care about Jon. We just wanna help." Brian tried reasoning. But by the looks of it, David seems pretty firm on his answer.
"I really do apologize but I can't give you his address. Besides, it's confidential." With a final mutter David excused himself to assist a customer, leaving them standing in the middle of the busy cafe.
With nothing else to do, Evan march his way out of the place. He can hear Brian calling for him but he still kept walking.
"Hey, man. I know you're upset but it's gonna be alright. We can try another time, y'know?"
He felt a pat on his back but the only thing he can focus was his heart feeling like it's getting firmly squeezed.
"Mr. Fong!" Another voice called, snapping him out of his trance. He looked behind him and saw a familiar face. What's his name again? Louis?
They stopped walking, a couple of meters away from his car, waiting for the other person to reach them. As soon as they did, a piece of paper was being handed to him.
"I heard you guys talking back at the cafe. Look, I care about Jon as much as you guys and I wanna make sure he's taking care of himself so here, I wrote his address. Just don't tell him and David I gave you that."
Evan stared at the paper for a second, hands hesitantly accepting it. "Ok. Thank you...?"
"Lui. Lui Calibre."
"Thank you, Lui. You have no idea how much this means to me." He replied. A sigh of relief escapes his mouth as he caught a glimpse of the address at the same time the other giggles.
"I can tell. Anyways, I better go back before David notices that I'm gone. You guys also do that as well to check up on him." And with that, the smaller male was sprinting back inside the cafe.
"Wow. What a nice guy." Brian commented as they continue walking. He silently agreed.
"Should we pass by the grocery store?" Brian asked as he hoped on the passenger seat. He paused wearing his seatbelt and looked at his secretary confused.
"...Why?" He asked. Brian is still busy with his own seatbelt as he replied.
"So we can bring some food and stuff." As the sound of the seatbelt clicking into place, another thing clicked in Brian's mind.
"Wait, don't tell me... you have no idea how to take care of a sick person?"
Ah shit.
Evan, in fact, did not have any idea how to take care of a sick person.
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Authors note: HI HELLO! I'm still alive!
Yes, I know it's almost a year since I updated this. Yes, I did kinda forgot this story and I apologize for that. Soooo, a quick update to my life (for those of you who wants to know), I took another course! Yes, I already graduated but my parents want me to get a course where I have a license to have a 'better' opportunity to get good jobs so I'm currently in my 2nd year; 2nd Sem in Landscape Architecture. :)) Yeyy (I guess?). Anyways, I'm not gonna abandon this story that's for sure. I WILL FINISH THIS. Although, it will take a while for another update (as you can see) and I'm either going to speed things up OR I'll give a whole summary of the rest of the plot if I can no longer create an exciting chapter.
So I guess that's it. See y'all in the next update! Toodle-oo~ (≧▽≦)