Be With Me

Chapter 16

Leslie returned to her apartment looking revitalized.

And then poured Kelvin with some of the juice she bought and plonked herself down on the couch right next to him.

"Leslie, what should I do to gain more experience?" Kelvin asked and Leslie almost choked on her drink.

"Uhm… experience in what?"

"Experience in… se… in everything. About the things I don't have any clue about. Like the things that lovers do or any normal things that a normal gay man in my age would do?"

Leslie cleared her throat. "Kelvin, what has brought this on? Tell me. What did that man do to you? What exactly happened."

Kelvin hesitantly answered. "We danced and it was wonderful. I felt like we were floating on air. It was an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life."

"And then?"

"And then, he took me to his open air garden with an amazing view of the city. It was breathtaking."

"And then?"

"And then, when he found out that I was a virgin, he said he wasn't the one for me."

Leslie was speechless. What kind of man turns away a gorgeous guy just because he was a virgin? Like really, it's not like Kelvin can get pregnant or something. And f**k that bastard, can't he see what kind of treasure he had in front of him? Most men would have taken advantage… And then Leslie inwardly gasped as her eyes widened as a revelation came to her.

Maybe… just maybe, he did see the treasure in front of him and that was why he rejected Kelvin?

Oh man… did she just get angry and beat a man because of some sort of misunderstanding?!

That Cris Yoon may not be a bastard after all! Actually, it even sounded like he found out that Kelvin was pure and innocent, so he decided to sent him away because he didn't want to taint him!

Facepalming herself, Leslie faced her friend, her face now serious.

"So what now? Are you not going to see him again?" she asked, curious.

Kelvin fell silent for a while. "I don't want to give up on him, yet. I think he's the one, Les," he confessed. 'The one I can love without him falling for me…' he inwardly thought.

"Okay, I got it. So what are you planning to do now?" Leslie asked.

Before Kelvin could answer her, a call interrupted them. It was a video call from Leslie's cousin.

"What?" Leslie said impatiently while the guy on the phone was almost yelling, trying to be heard over the loud, roaring music in the background.

Kelvin saw that the guy was in a dark, chaotic place with different coloured lights flashing across the room.

"Les! Where are you? Why aren't you here yet?"

"Didn't you read my message? I told you I'm not coming tonight."

"Huh? Geeezz… You're totally missing out on all the fun here tonight!"

"Yeah, yeah. I can come another night. Bye bye."

When the call ended, Leslie sighed and looked at Kelvin to continue their conversation. However, Leslie saw that Kelvin became curious.

"Where is she?"

"In a bar."

"That's the place that you said wasn't for someone like me?"

"Oh, well, yes."

"Les, I'd like to go there."

"Cough, cough. Why?"

"I just want to go there. I feel like I'm too ignorant about a lot of things. I want to see what the world is like and to go outside my comfort zone."

". . . but Kel, it's not a nice place for you."

"Please…" Kelvin looked at her with big, round, pleading eyes and Leslie knew she couldn't possibly say no to him. Gosh, she's really weak to that face.

"Sigh. Okay, fine."

…

The next night, Leslie brought Kelvin to a bar, as promised. Leslie was a party girl so she was well acquainted with what went on inside these bars.

So she's very reluctant to take Kelvin but he insisted, so there they were, in a dark, smoky bar, about to join the crowd of people who were there mostly looking to have a good time.

They walked through the corridor, their shoes sticking to the ground with every step - the remnants of alcohol spilled on the floor from the night before. As they waded their way through the sticky path, Leslie couldn't help but ask her friend again. "Kelvin, are you sure about this?"

"Yes." Kelvin's response was quick and to the point. There was no hesitation.

Leslie sighed. She had never seen her friend be this stubborn before! "Make sure to stay beside me inside the bar, okay?" she could only warn.

"Okay."

The corridor opened into a large double storey area. The place was already quite crowded with about the same amount of women as there were men.

Most of the people were leaning over the bar, which was situated on the left side of the room, trying to catch the bartender's attention to purchase some much needed alcohol.

Kelvin's first impression of a bar was that it was quite dirty, but after a few drinks in them, people probably wouldn't care too much about hygiene, he quietly guessed.

Kelvin looked around and saw that the place attracted all sorts of different people. Leslie had told him that these bar is LGBT+ friendly so there were a lot of patron especially during the weekends.

Like tonight, the place was full pack. There were some wild looking people, with lots of piercings and tattoos, but then he looked up to the second storey and that seemed to be filled with more mature guests in business suits.

"Come here, Kel. It's too crowded down here. I'm afraid some bastard will grope you," said Leslie, as she grabbed Kelvin's wrist.

Leslie had looked around and determined that the ground floor was too crowded for her to protect Kelvin. The second floor looked less chaotic than the ground floor, so she dragged Kelvin through the crowded dance floor and up the stairs.

Kelvin could only follow his best friend's lead.

The upstairs area was definitely quieter with people mostly minding their own business or looking down at the chaos on the ground floor with interest.

Kelvin felt that these people who were watching the goings on the ground floor were looking for their next prey and he couldn't help the slight shiver of repulsion that came over him.

Leslie found a quiet corner for them to sit in and it looked clean as well - a rare find indeed. She walked over to the bar - yes, there was another bar on that level - and bought them a couple of drinks.

Unbeknownst to both of them, there was a certain man sitting in his own secluded corner, who immediately recognized Kelvin. He took his cellphone from his pocket and started to dial a number.

The receiver picked up after just three rings.

"What is it?" the man on the other end of the phone sounded impatient.

"It looks like a little lamb just walked into the wolves' den," he cryptically said knowing full well the other person on the other line would know exactly what he was talking about.

Then, he hung up straight away not bothering with farewells and continued to nurse his drink, all the while, keeping an eye on the little lamb and her hooligan friend.

Meanwhile, at the corner booth, Leslie was giving her friend some advice.

"Kelvin, you're not used to this place so I think for now, why don't you just observe first, okay? If you don't like being here, just tell me and we can go, alright?"

"Okay, don't mind me, Leslie. Go and I'll watch from here."

Leslie ventured out into the crowd and made her way to the bar to buy them some drinks. The bar was full of people and there was a huge line, unfortunately, so Leslie would have to wait a while to get their drinks.

While she waited, she glanced in Kelvin's direction and was relieved that he's following her advice and just observing the crowd.

And then, she turned her attention back to the bar menu and thought about which drink Kelvin might like and if she should get some finger food too, so she didn't saw a waiter approach Kelvin, giving him a drink.

And Kelvin, not knowing how things worked, thought that Leslie must have asked the waiter to give him the drink, so he took it without question.

Kelvin sipped at it and threw a disgusted look at his drink. 'Really? This is what people in here like to drink?' he thought.

On the other corner of the bar, Cris Yoon just sat down next to the caller and his eyes immediately picked him out from the crowd.

Cris saw that Kelvin was by himself, that a waiter had given him a drink and that he took a sip of that drink. It was so obvious to him that this was Kelvin's first time in a bar by the way he was looking around the place.

And it was also blatantly obvious, that was the first time he tasted alcohol by the disgusted look on his face after he took a sip.

In his mind, Kelvin was like a lost angel who had mistakenly walked into the realm of devils.

Kelvin looked so innocent and vulnerable that he was sure that it wouldn't be long before he attracted some sleazy, worthless trash of a man who would look at him as easy prey.

In the next second, Cris' prediction came true. A man in an expensive suit walked up to Kelvin's table and started speaking to him. His beady eyes looked him up and down and he could practically see the drool falling from the corner of the man's lips.

The moment he saw the man extend his hand towards Kelvin, Cris Yoon's aura blazed!

****************************