A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.
Third Person POV
Once all the activities of the promo event and get together ended, Perth asked to be excused from the rest of the group.
He had been thinking of Saint the whole time, all alone in the house, still recovering and tired from his trip after being discharged from the hospital.
He stopped by a florist shop and ordered a big bouquet of flowers. The flowers were a combination of peach colored roses and white and pink carnations.
He took a cab and gave the driver the directions to Saint's house.
It was already evening and almost dinner time but Perth was not hungry. He just needed to be with Saint. He had been looking forward to be with Saint all day.
He excitedly buzzed at the gate and thanked the housemaid who opened the gate for him and let him through.
When he opened the door, his heart sank when he saw James in the arms of Saint.
Perth did not know how to react right away. He was too shocked and hurt at what he saw. Had Saint been unfaithful to him all this time?
"Perth!" He heard Saint call his name.
The pain in his chest was too strong that he could not get any word out of his mouth.
At that exact moment Saint's mom walked into the living room and saw Perth.
"Perth! How lovely to see you!" the mom said excitedly, "come and let me give you something to drink. I was just about to fix some dinner. I will make enough for all of us here present this evening."
All this time Saint and James were silent, too much taken by surprise at the arrival of Perth because Perth had not called or texted Saint that he was coming over to Saint's house.
Perth bowed to Saint's mom.
"Thank you for the invitation, ma'am," he said, in a voice that was almost a whisper because he was finding it hard to talk, "I just came to drop off these flowers."
"No, no, no," said Saint's mom, "I insist that you stay for dinner."
During the conversation between Saint's mom and Perth, Saint asked James to wait for him in the dining room because he wanted to talk to Perth for a few minutes.
James hesitated at first, but decided to give in and respect Saint's wishes.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," said Perth, "but I really have to go. My parents are waiting for me to have dinner with them."
"Perth," finally Saint spoke up, "could I please talk to you for a minute? If you want me to walk over to you, I can get up from the couch and use my crutches."
Saint was already standing up and positioning his crutches under his arms.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Perth handed the bouquet to Saint's mom and rushed over to Saint.
Perth assisted Saint to sit back on the couch.
Saint's mom walked over and handed the bouquet to Saint.
Saint accepted it but suddenly started to cry.
When Saint's mom saw that, she excused herself to give Saint and Perth the privacy they needed to talk.
"Perth, before you judge me..." Saint was talking between sobs.
"I'm not going to judge you," said Perth, grabbing some tissues and wiping Saint's eyes, "I understand that you needed company after you got back from the hospital and I wasn't available because of the promo event and after-promo activities with my group."
Perth continued to talk while he was wiping Saint's eyes and cheeks, "My question now is, what are you going to do with James?"
"That is what I wanted to talk to you about," Saint said, "he came because his mom sent him to bring me some mangoes to welcome me back from the hospital. Since you were busy, I accepted his company, but there was nothing going on between us."
Perth looked at Saint doubtfully before he spoke.
"Are you talking about the embrace that I saw between you and James when I walked in?" Perth asked, looking into Saint's eyes intently.
"Let me explain that to you before you jump into the wrong conclusions," Saint said hurriedly, "we had just finished watching a sad movie and the ending was so emotional and I noticed that tears were falling from James and I got some tissues to wipe them but it only made him cry even more so I hugged him to comfort him."
Perth's eyebrows were furrowed as he was listening and he started shaking his head.
"Perth, please..." Saint was starting to say.
"I know, I know," Perth assured him, "I understand, but I'm afraid I cannot stay for dinner. It will be too awkward with James' presence and I know it would be rude to shoo him away. It's nobody's fault. The situation just happened because I was not available for you today."
Saint looked very sad but he could understand Perth's logic.
Perth hugged Saint and rubbed his back gently up and down.
"Tomorrow, the group doesn't have any activities," said Perth, "if you want, I will come to visit you tomorrow."
"Yes, please, Perth," said Saint immediately, "please come and visit me."
"What time tomorrow?" Perth asked.
"After midnight," Saint replied.
"Whaaat???" Perth's eyebrows were raised so high that they almost reached his hairline.
"I was just kidding," said Saint, "but that was just to let you know how eagerly I am looking forward to your visit tomorrow."
"Can I go to your kitchen to say goodbye to your mom?" asked Perth.
Saint hesitated. He remembered that James was in the kitchen with his mom. James was probably helping his mom prepare the ingredients for dinner.
"If you're worried that I might cause any trouble with James, don't worry," Perth assured Saint, "all I will do is say my good bye to your mom and then I will be on my way."
Saint nodded gratefully.
When Perth walked into the kitchen, he saw James chopping up some celery sticks while Saint's mom was putting a pot onto the stove.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," said Perth, bowing to Saint's mom, "but I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving now."
"Are you sure that you can't stay for dinner?" asked Saint's mom.
"I am sure, but thank you for the invitation," Perth replied, "I will be back to visit Saint tomorrow anyway."
James stopped chopping the celery sticks when he heard what Perth said. He kept his head down, not looking at Perth but just looking down at the celery sticks.
James started thinking frantically. He had to do something. He wanted to ask Perth what time he was coming to visit but he knew that Perth would not answer him.
Suddenly his phone sounded with a text notification.
He fished out his phone from his pocket. The text was from JJ.
"Are you at home?"
"No," James texted back.
"Where are you then?"
"None of your business." James replied.
"What's with all the secrecy?"
When James did not reply, JJ texted again.
"Are you with Saint???"
When James continued to ignore JJ's messages, JJ finally texted, "Okay, I guess you are with Saint. I'll just give you a call much later tonight."
In the meantime Perth had gone back to Saint in the living room to give Saint a hug before leaving his house.
"Come back early tomorrow, please," Saint begged, "you can have breakfast with my mom and me."
"Okay, I will bring you some muffins and coffee," said Perth.
"No, no, no," said Saint, "my mom would love to fix breakfast for you."
"Fine then," Perth agreed, "but be sure to let her know first that you have invited me for breakfast so that she won't be taken by surprise at my early presence."
"I will," Saint promised.
On impulse, Perth planted a kiss on Saint's lips.
Saint's eyes grew wide but he did not protest.
With a smile, he waved Perth goodbye. He was too much taken by surprise to be able to say anything else.
With a happy heart, Perth walked through the door and towards the gate, accompanied by the housemaid who locked the gate after him.