Remain By His Side (MxM)

Question (1)

I Will Remain By Your Side

Volume 1

Takano Masamune

Chapter 1: Question (1)

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Sitting cross legged on the bed, Jayden moved closer to his lover to see what he was doing. “Are you reading that book again?” he asked while resting his chin on the other’s shoulder.

“Yes.” Anthony quickly replied and continued reading, his thin pale finger traced the words on the page as he read them with his own pace.

“What’s the story about?” Jayden asked the same question he always did.

“It’s better if you read it on your own.” And sadly Anthony gave the exact same answer he always did.

‘You say that but you never allow me to touch the book…’ Jayden thought to himself as he stood up from the bed.

At some point their daily life had become like this. Day after day the same events would repeat themselves, however neither of them would complain.

“Do you want to eat something?” Jayden asked, while heading to the door of their bedroom.

“Sure, can you make some Korean fried chicken?” Anthony asked while placing his book mark on the page he had just finished reading.

“Fine but it’s going to take a while.” Jayden said as he headed to the kitchen.

“That’s alright.” Jayden said quietly even though the other had already left the room.

*

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*

About an hour later both of them sat down to eat together.

“It’s hot so don’t rush.” Jayden said while placing the plate in the middle of the table.

“Alright.” Anthony took a piece of fried chicken and gently blew at it to cool it down.

Jayden sat there watching his lover. ‘How come he no longer talks at the table…’ He wondered to himself, while remembering the past where the other male wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut whenever they met.

“You’re going to burn a hole through me if you continue staring at me like that.” Anthony said with a calm voice, he wasn’t angry just slightly annoyed.

“I was thinking… you no longer talk at the table.” Jayden finally said what was on his mind.

“I have nothing to talk about anymore. We’ve already exhausted all the topics of conversation for the past 11 years.” Anthony said with an indifferent tone.

‘Is that really the reason? Or do you just not want to talk to me anymore…’ Jayden wondered while looking at the other eating. Deciding not to voice his thoughts at this moment in time… ‘Even if I ask him that, he’ll just give me his usual answer…’ He thought to himself.

“You should eat before it gets cold.” Anthony said as he pushed the plate with food closer to the other male then stood up.

“Aren’t you going to eat more?” Jayden asked his lover that had only taken a few bites of the food laid out on the table.

“I don’t have an appetite anymore. I’ll go upstairs to read a little more and then sleep.” Anthony said then turned on his heels and walked away.

 ‘It’s not the food that’s gotten cold...’ Jayden thought as he looked at the table still covered in dishes, out of which nearly nothing was eaten.

*

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Several hours later Jayden went up the stairs only to see his lover had already gone to bed. ‘…and this is my only day off…’ he thought to himself. He had wanted to spend it pleasantly with his lover of eleven years but that didn’t seem to be possible.

Jayden laid down in bed next to his lover and embraced him from the back. It was obvious they weren’t going to do anything tonight but he might as well at least cuddle. ‘I wish he was as energetic as he was before…’ He thought to himself.

Recently Anthony has been constantly tired and avoiding the other’s advances. Though ‘recently’ for them would mean the past three years. They almost never have any time for each other and on these rare occasions that they do happen to be in each other’s arms… How come neither of them make a move?

*

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The next morning Anthony got up as he always did and quietly went to wash his face and teeth. Then went to drink a cup of tea and shower afterwards. It was his morning routine that hadn’t changed for him since his high school.

Jayden woke up about an hour or so later and felt the coldness of the bed. Once again there was nobody by his side. This had happened so many times by now that he’d already gotten used to waking up cold. However this morning it was slightly different. It wasn’t only his body that felt cold at seeing his lover missing…

“Do you want to go somewhere today?” Jayden asked the man that was taking a shower in the bathroom. The door was open as to allow the heat to go out since the other became easily dizzy in the shower.

Anthony stopped the shower head and walked out of the bathroom naked, not bothering to put a towel on. “Don’t be silly, you have work to do today.” He said.

“I’ll finish up quickly and then we can spend some time together outside.” Jayden suggested. It was true he had a busy lifestyle but it wasn’t so busy as for him not to be able to do anything about it.

“I’d rather stay home…” Anthony said rejecting the man’s offer. “It’s so cold outside, a person might freeze to death…” He said as he looked through the window.

The weather outside was slightly cold but not at horrible as the man had described it…