LOVE ME A LITTLE MORE (M×M)

~4~

Bitter dark chocolates. In contrary to its name, it looked too sweet coming from Mr. Alderic Hudson. My eyes were focused on the chocolate box and on the note attached to it. Something about the note made my heart very giddy. It was making me feel emotions I had last felt in my early years of adolescence. And I wasn't really liking it. If anything, I didn't want to feel any of those emotions.

"You gave me a scare, Theo! You should have been home hours ago! And the storm rolling outside wasn't helping my fear. Are you okay?" She asked me gently and I smiled at her, nodding my head as I placed the bag of groceries down on the counter before plopping down on the sofa chair.

"I'm fine, Mom. I got late from the office itself and then I...... I met a friend and dropped them home since they didn't had any way to get back to the home. And it felt wrong to leave them in the hour of need." I said, not wanting to tell her that I had dropped my therapist home. I didn't want her to know why I was even visiting a therapist. I was too scared to let her know.

Her eyes narrowed infinitesimally, making me press my lips together as she gazed at me with her scrutinizing eyes.

"Is this friend of yours by any chance the very friend you went on a date with fifteen days ago?" She asked me. And I knew she was being smug about this. Though she didn't show it but I knew she was being smug.

"And why do you think like that, Mom?" I asked her with my own narrowed eyes and she smiled teasingly at me. The mischief in her eyes scared me to another level. She sometimes behaved more like a best friend than a mother. A best friend who liked to tease you until you end up in tears.

"Because of this exact reason, my son. You have sweat beading your forehead. Your eyes are wide like I have just caught you stealing the cookies I had denied you to eat. So, you did met her, hm?" She asked me again, making my cheeks to heat up.

She was getting excited for no reason. Would she be asking me with the exactsame excitement if I would have told her, it was not any girl but a guy. My therapist to be more precise.

"Yes. She just needed my help." I said, rubbing my temples and she sat down beside me. Wanting some more tea.

"Did she ask you to drop her home? Or you offered her like you should have." I didn't miss the warning her eyes had and I rolled my eyes. This woman.

"She asked me to, Ma. Now can you please drop this? I'm really hungry. And cold too. I'll go change out of my formal wears, okay?" I said and she laughed, nodding her head at me. She was amused. At least, any one of us was finding this funny.

"Of course, Theo. I'm just saying she asked you to drop her home. It's perfectly fine. It's not that you should be excited that she trusts you or something like that. Why don't you freshen up and I'm almost done with the dinner too. Your Dad will be here in another twenty minutes. Then I'll serve the dinner. Okay?" She asked me and I nodded my head, walking up to my room.

"That's fine, Ma. I'll be back downstairs in a few minutes. Dad would be home until then." I said with a soft smile and she nodded back.

I took a warm bath, stripping out of my shirt and pants as I sat down in the bathtub filled with hot water.  The events with Alderic Hudson flashed in front of my eyes.

I had dropped him to his home. And unlike of anything I had imagined, his house was an apartment in a building. I didn't knew if it was neat or untidy. But considering his soft yet stern demeanor, I could only imagine it to be tidy and clean. But then again, I didn't want to stereotype him or his habits for that manner.

I walked out of the bathroom, wearing a pair of trousers and a t-shirt before I walked down. Dad was already sitting on the chair and the food was served on the dining table. Dad smiled at me as I sat down beside him with Mom in front of him.

Something as simple as eating a meal together seemed too much of an accomplishment in a time like today. We hardly had time for lunch. And sometimes we are running too late to have breakfast together. So when we all meet for dinner, it seems as special as it seems normal.

"Theo met a girl in the supermarket. He dropped her home." Mom said. Her eyes were bright and Dad looked up at me, surprised. Even with a frown.

"You like a girl, Theo?" Dad asked and for a second I felt like he knew. Like he knew who I was. What my sexuality was. But when his lips curled up in a small smile, it felt like he knew nothing. Maybe he was just bewildered that I had a woman's company with me.

I just shook my head simply. It was a lie. But I didn't had the courage and strength to tell him the truth either. I didn't even want to know how their reaction would be when they would get to know that their only child, only son is gay.

It shouldn't matter. But it did. My fear wasn't even legit but it was real, as real as the demons residing inside us. When everyone argued about the fear being nothing but a myth, I knew it was real. I could feel it. I was feeling it.

"She's..... she's just an acquaintance, Dad." I mumbled but mother seemed to not believe my theory. She was adamant on believing something else. Something she wanted to believe.

"She us the same girl he took her out for dinner that day." Mom said, clearing her throat and my jaw clenched in visible annoyance.

"That doesn't mean I am fond of her or that I like her. It was just a formal meet." I said and Dad rose his brows at me. I rarely ever got so annoyed. If anything, I had always been a calm kid. A calm adult.

"It's okay, Theo. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. Don't tease him, Laura. He's clearly not comfortable with this conversation." Dad said and Mom sighed, nodding her head and I looked him gratefully.

The rest of the dinner went uneventful. We ate silently, with some conversations here and there. But nothing major. Once we were done with dinner, I did the dishes since it was my turn to do the chores; and then I retired for the day. I was too tired anyway.

~~~~~~

Your appointment is rescheduled for 2.30 p.m. on 5th of December, 2021 with Mr. Alderic Hudson.

I read the message again and again. I couldn't get over it. Mr. Hudson had rescheduled my appointment even after I told him that I would reschedule it once I deem fit.

Something about him remembering about me made my heart to stutter but the fact that I had to see him again made me anxious.

I shook my head, slipping my phone back in my side pocket as I started to make the designs for Mr. Jones's company. This was me changing the designs for the fourth time because somehow any of our designs didn't satisfy their needs.

They had literally made me change one thing over and over again. I slammed my file shut in irritation before I walked out of my office to Kyle's cabin. I was done for today.

"You missed me already, Sir?" Kyle teased me when I walked in his cabin and I scoffed, sitting down lazily on the chair in front of his desk.

"Shut up, Kyle. Are you up for a cup of coffee?" I asked him and he furrowed his brows worriedly at me.

"But you don't drink coffee, Theo." He said and I sighed, shaking my head.

"I don't. But I really need one right now. Are you free right now or do you have some work to be done?" I asked and he shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll be free if you allow me to be. Remember I'm under your supervision." He said cheekily and I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I even doubt myself for befriending this man. What was I even thinking?

"And I'm under Mr. Jasper's supervision. But since both of our superiors are shits, we should grab a coffee each, no?" I asked and he chuckled, shutting his laptop as he stood up from his chair, shaking his head.

"I don't know about you, Theo but my superior isn't s**t. He is a grumpy butt but not shitty. He is even letting me ditch my work."

"Only for half an hour." I mumbled under my breath and he laughed, slapping my shoulders.

"So tell me what has stressed you out so much that you— Theodore the Roosevelt needs coffee." His dramatic display of placing his fist against his forehead as he tilted his body made me laugh. I swear, this man is something else.

"Nothing it is just Mr. Jones. He is never satisfied with what I to have offer. And when I asked them to change their architect, they are not ready for a new architect either. I am so done with my professional life now." I said sipping my coffee and he hummed in agreement.

"I understand. Sometimes clients can be..... a bit more demanding and ungrateful. But money bind our hands. Sometimes even I wish to punch them in their nose but then I remember these clients pay our company and our company pays us. So, I just swallow my anger. And sometimes a strong drink helps too." I scoffed, sipping on my coffee before I pulled out two chocolates I had carried from the box Mr. Alderic Hudson had sneaked in my shopping bag.

"Damn. I never thought I would see a day where Theodore Roosevelt will buy something as unworthy as chocolates by his own wish." He mocked me my own words making me roll my eyes as I handed him one before I unwrapped mine.

I cautiously and almost in uncertainty put it inside my mouth before slowly chewing on it. It was bitter as the name itself suggested. But not a bad kind of bitter. Infact it tasted tempting, almost gratifying. The nuts that were in the chocolate only increased its taste and texture.

He was not lying. These chocolates were really delicious. The chocolate melted on my tongue and the rich taste of bitter cocoa made me close my eyes.

"Damn these are really good." Kyle purred and I nodded my head in agreement. "I didn't knew you had such good taste in chocolates."

"I don't. I didn't buy them." I said with an uncomfortable smile and he narrowed his eyes at me.

"You didn't?" He asked me and I shook my head.

"Did your secret girlfriend buy it?" I glared at him and he laughed at me, raising his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay. Did your boyfriend buy it for you then?" He asked me and my eyes widened at his joke. It wasn't really a joke for me. Not when he had caught me off guard.

"Shut up, Kyle. Just a..... just a stranger bought it for me when they saw me eying the chocolate box with uncertainty. Their guess just turned out to be pretty good." I said and his mouth opened in shock.

"Wow, Theo. You're having strangers buying you chocolates and I'm having strangers making me pick their trash. How the fate is being unjust and cruel to me." He said with a very dramatic sigh and I laughed softly, shaking my head.

"Let's head back to work now. Shall we, Mr. Kyle Green?"