Chapter 5: Chapter 5
In the corner of the café, Joshua and Henry had sat down, still in disbelief over the entire situation, both still holding a sliver of hope that this was all a big misunderstanding or that they had been the victim to a cruel joke.
Joshua felt a little shocked at how this all had played out, but in a different way to Henry. To start off with, he had felt this entire thing had been a bit of a cliché romance plot, but now it had transformed into something much, much worse.
This had become a boy's love trope, one of the most biggest of them all.
Yes, the second son of the Lore family had indeed read the BL novels found in the deepest, darkest corner of the web, whenever he felt like reading something out of normal, he would turn to the genre. However, he had far too much shame to read anything graphic. Some would even call him a prude when it comes to reading, with how ardently he avoids all sex scenes.
But that was not the matter at hand. It was the fact he had found himself in a BL plot as a very straight man.
Joshua decided it was best to expel or thoughts and experience he had with BL novels.
Henry realised they could not sit here in shock all day and decided someone had to break the ice. It didn't seem like the beautiful man in front of him was going to any time soon, so he decided to take the lead.
"Is there anything you want to drink?"
Joshua snapped his head up at the sudden question. The blonde man in front of him had stood up, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "What I mean it, it is a little rude sit in a café without ordering." He had spoken sense, in all the craziness, he had completely forgotten about his manners, in fact, Joshua still wasn't sure they were all that restored. "Black, cold brew." It was only after the younger man had nodded and headed to the counter did he realise his answer and that he was right, he still had not regained his manners.
Henry had noticed the dazed look on the man's face and decided he was probably not as rude as he was coming off as now. In fact, he had been exceptionally polite and kind when they had bumped into each other on the street. This could only confirm to him that neither men had been expecting this outcome. That was a bit of a relief to Henry, it made him feel a little better about hating this entire situation. He had no idea who the man was nor what sort of person he was, and he was appalled by the idea of being set up with him, but if the feeling was mutual at least he would come off as less rude.
But really, he couldn't help but wonder what his parents had been thinking with this. Or what his brother was when he clearly agreed with this insane plan.
Henry's libido was also rather disappointed, not that he would ever admit it.
He finally approached the counter and looked at the girl who was handing back the previous customers card with a smile. He couldn't help but feel like her face was somewhat familiar. With the combination of the shocking revelation of his marriage meeting partner and his current confusion, he must have stared too long because the young girl clocked.
"Is something wrong?" Joshua shook his head, but now that he had been caught, he had no reason to stop looking, trying to figure out who or where she was from. He looked at the nametag, which read Samantha.
Samantha. Samantha. Did he know a Samantha? Not recently was the answer. It must have been some time ago. Henry started to think back as far as he could, checking to make sure there was no customer waiting behind him.
Samantha… it couldn't be that Samantha?
"Are you the girl from high school who kept competing with my class pres, the top student from the other fast stream?"
"Wow, I didn't think you would remember that." She really couldn't have expected that, she had never even talked to him. "Anyway, your order?"
"Ah! Yeah, of course. Sorry about that. Can I have a…" Henry looked up at the menu above the counter for a second, "a chai iced latte with almond milk and less ice," he looked back straight, "and a black cold brew." Henry couldn't understand the strange look he received.
"Um, Henry… are you sure that's Joshua's order?"
There was a moment of silence before two people's voices resounded, reattracting everyone's attention to the two beautiful men.
"Who?"
Henry turned around, hearing the voice behind him. Behind him was the man he had been set up with. Did she say Joshua? A Joshua form the Lore family… it couldn't be the second son of the Lore family… right?
Similarly, Joshua was thinking the same, it had to be Henry Reyes. When his family had said a child of the Reyes family, the had meant a direct child, not a cousin. He had been set up with the younger Reyes son.
The two met eyes and immediately started to see some clarity on the situation, this is why their parents immediately thought of this 'relationship' as a foundation to the merger. However, both, now knowing exactly who the other is, they had a better idea on how to handle the situation, namely not to attract anymore unwanted attention towards themselves before someone else recognised them, it would be harmful for the merger if someone got a wind of the two families having their sons meet. Best course would be to leave any further discussion until they were sat down with their drinks, away from curious minds.
Treating this as business now, the two calmed down.
"Can you add four pumps of syrup to the cold brew, please."
This is why the girl held so much disbelief in Henry's order for Joshua, another fact about him she had been aware of having worked at the coffee shop by her old school once she had moved due to a better scholarship offer: Joshua hated bitter foods. He was a surprising sweet tooth, of course with his looks he could pull even his childish taste buds off as normal behaviour.
Samantha nodded, finally printing the order for the second cup and handing them over to the cup to the other barista, who had completely lost track of what exactly was going on; she wasn't on her own.
Instinctively, Henry handed over his card and she took it to insert it into the card machine. As the transaction took place, Joshua suddenly became aware of how he had been paid for, Henry Reyes had done it so naturally even though it makes no sense to pay for someone you do not know. Now he was a little confused, did he owe this money back? He knew the Reyes family were just as well off as his own but that didn't mean Henry himself had a lot of money. Plus, he was not only the older person, but also the one holding a senior position. It dawned on Joshua that while he was good at a lot of things, socialising had slowly been left on a back burner and forgotten about; his casual social skills had burnt to a crisp without him even noticing.
It was only when Henry had paid and joined Joshua at the collection side of the counter did he realise the perplexed look and how he had been acting. "Sorry, I paid without thinking about it. It's a habit, when with friends, whoever orders pays. Please don't think much of it." Joshua shook his head, hiding how he was starting to feel a little out of depth now. When it came to meeting clients or business associates with far more superiority and experience I comparison to him, he could speak with nothing over his head, as long as the job was done and the company's reputation was not tarnished, it was fine. He could happily disagree with people capable of removing him from his position because when it came it the number he was in charge of, he had more than enough confidence in his ability and knew he was right.
This situation however was not something he was too confident on. Of course he was no recluse, but as mentioned before, a bit of a workaholic. While the other person was clearly reading and responding to social cues, Joshua was not. Of course he had no desire to express this to Henry. There was no need for that.
"So, do you know Samantha?"
"The barista?" Henry felt a bit more at ease with the return of regular conversation. He did not want to spend the entire time trying to keep things from getting more awkward than they already are. Joshua looked at the girl as another customer came in, quickly recognising her face. "She was the scholarship student in the year below me while I was in middle school. I think she also used to work in the coffee shop after she moved."
"What a coincidence, she is a mutual classmate. I wouldn't have expected that. She went to my highs school, although in the other class. Suppose that does explain that how she knew something was wrong with your order."
Their drinks finally arrived and both of the pretty men held back a sigh of relief, they could finally get down to what exactly was going on here. Thanking the other barista for their drinks, they went back to their corner booth, sitting across from each other. There was an awkward moment of silence as they waited to see who exactly was starting the conversation and finding out how much the other knew. This time, Joshua decided to stop being so passive and talk without having to be spoken to first.
"So, how much did your parents tell you about things?"
"Everything." Henry then stopped before correcting himself. "At least I thought everything up until I realised I was meeting a man." Henry couldn't stop the slight bitterness in his voice, now regretting not pushing for the information file after the hacking crisis had been averted. "Looks like we are in the same position, then. And I believe we are in agreement with this not becoming the foundation of the merger."
"Absolutely. Our parents must have lost their minds to have come up with this."
Now that it was at how their families were insane for deciding to go through with this, they both got along splendidly.
"Just to be sure though; you aren't gay? Right?" Henry asked before realising how it sounded. "Not that I am homophobic or anything, I just do not want any hard feeling between us during this project because I am extremely straight."
"No, of course not. Similarly to you, while I have no problem with men getting together with other men, I do not want to do so myself. I have no idea how I even found myself in this situation, all I did was accept for the sake of the merger to see if there was a possibility."
Henry decided to agree, hiding the side of his that had agreed almost instantly after seeing the picture, thinking he was meeting a beautiful woman. "Exactly, who knows what went through our families' heads."
Joshua was now glad he hadn't mentioned how much of a factor the picture had in his decision, definitely for the best.
A lot of time had passed, neither of them really having noticed in their daze until Henry went to take a drink and only came out with a loud, empty slurp. Their drinks had already been finished. Seeing the younger men, Joshua looked at his empty cup and then his phone, it had almost been an hour and a half. Both had misjudged how slow they had been from the initial shock, their drinks had been finished within the initial silence whilst they were waiting for one of them to speak up first. In fact, it had taken them over 30 minutes just to have completed their order.
There was just over 45 minutes until the restaurant reservation with their parents and it took about half an hour to get there by cab.
"Shall I order a car?" Henry asked, Joshua shaking his head with his phone already out. "It is fine, I will get someone to drop my car off here. You can ride with me since we are going to the same place. Which brings up the main issue, how exactly are we to confront our parents on this?" The both shared a look, it was true.
Neither was so thick faced to tell their families before they all sat down to dinner together, nor while they were eating, or in the restaurant in general.
Henry knew the reason his parents had asked him to stay at their family home tonight was so they could talk about today away from prying eyes. If he acts indifferent throughout dinner, they shouldn't ask him until after the families go their separate ways. He would take the coward's way out and act normal, a tad awkward perhaps.
Thinking in the same direction as Henry, Joshua was also thinking about acting awkward to stop his parents form asking unnecessary questions that could spoil the mood over dinner. Even though this 'marriage meeting' had obviously fallen through right from the get-go, a good relationship would be needed between all of them for the merger to be successful and for them to have any chance to combat the Q Group's wrongdoings. He could talk to his parents at home about how the entire thing was insane.
Little did they know, things were not to go even slightly to plan.
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