Aki bit the corner of his mouth to stop the corners from rising. He learned from Mia that since one of the part-timers was running late, Liam agreed to extend his shift up to four hours. His roommate looked tired but still the perfect waiter as ever. Liam glanced at Aki and smiled.
"Thank you," Aki said and buried his face on his food before he would do any stupid things like staring and smiling stupidly at the waiter. He hoped neither Liam nor Zy saw his expression.
Liam nodded as he placed yet another sweet in front of Zy.
Zy took it wordlessly and stuffed himself once more. "I'm no longer updated about you," he said sullenly. "By the way, when are you going to invite us to your new home?"
Aki quickly glanced at Liam's direction who was cleaning up the used plates in front of them before answering. "That... I still have to discuss with my roommate."
Now that Liam heard about it, Aki would have to talk to him once they got home. What if Liam thought that Aki bragged his home? Or acted as if he owned the place? Liam might even get mad. Aki could not stop himself from peeking at the corner of his eye to see his roommate's reaction. But Liam wore his professional face on.
Once everything had been settled on the table, Liam stood straight. "I don't mind," he said with a small shrug.
Both Aki and Zy stopped eating and gaped at Liam, in which he answered them with a smile. "How about this weekend?"
Before they could answer, Liam was called to another table. He excused himself and went back to work.
Zy leaned over the table and whispered. "That's your roommate!?"
When Aki nodded, Zy's jaw dropped again. "Isn't that The Liam Figueroa?"
"You know him?" Aki whispered back even if he did not understand why they were whispering. It just felt like they need to.
Zy stared at Aki, his mouth in a straight line as if saying, 'duh'. "He's the school idol or something in your university right? His popularity extends even to our university. I heard he's the most requested in group dates."
Aki had no reply to that. Liam was popular. That was a fact. He should not be surprised. Really, he should not. Though he felt rather... vexed for some reason.
Zy watched Liam with intense curiosity and Aki had the urge to block the view. But of course, he did not. So what if Zy or anyone for that matter stared at Liam?
"I never knew he would be working here or he would ever work at all. Because, you know, rich kid. I always thought he's got a wild side in him since I always see him at the bar."
Aki knitted his brows.
"Come on, you should have seen him! Every time we go there, he's also there with his friends."
The lines on Aki's forehead deepened. That was news to him. But then again, his world used to revolve around Zy. Though he could not help but wonder if that was where Liam knew Aki's name. Now he was irritated to his past self for not paying attention.
His thoughts jolted back to reality when Zy exclaimed. "Ugh. Finally. Drew's here."
Drew sauntered towards their table, sat beside Zy and nodded at Aki. Even if they had not seen each other for quite some time, they easily got engrossed in a discussion as if they had only seen each other the day before. The three of them, talking and laughing, just like the old times.