Chapter 181
"So, basically, you're telling me that Zeno beat you?" Ezra asked as he stood in front of Sebastian's car, staring at his black eye.
Sebastian leaned against his car, his hands in his pockets, "That's not what I said," he frowned.
"Mm, how many times did you say he hit you?" Ezra asked, raising a brow at Sebastian.
"Three," Sebastian replied.
"Then that's beating," Ezra went over to Sebastian and patted his shoulder.
Sebastian was mute, gritting his teeth angrily.
It's been three hours since he left Zeno's place, and ever since, Ezra hasn't stopped mocking him for his ordeal.
When Zeno had kissed him last night, he'd been very sure that everything would be back to normal between them; he didn't expect Zeno to suddenly ask him about his engagement with Sakura.
He wanted to lie and tell him that there was nothing between them, but he didn't, he wanted to be open with him. The moment he told Zeno that he was still very much engaged to Sakura, he never expected the heavy punches that landed on his face.
Three punches for three reasons: first one, for trying to play with his feelings again; second one, for hurting him; third one, for cheating on Sakura.
Zeno had said respectively to each punch, and after that, he left the house. He didn't see him till he left with Ken the next morning.
Nana had asked what happened to his eyes and he had told her he slipped in the shower and fell. He couldn't tell her that her grandson had beaten him in the wee hours of the night.
"See you tonight, friend, hopefully, you come back in one piece," Ezra smiled and went over to his car.
Sebastian sighed and entered his car. They had stopped for lunch in a restaurant and decided to hang around since they had nothing to do, but now, he was alone once again, Ken was long gone, leaving him to his own devices.
He pocked his phone and texted Gerald, one way or the other, he was seeing Zeno tonight.
***
Nicholas was in Zeno's gym that afternoon, idly watching him run a treadmill. He looked preoccupied, and he guessed that was how he'd looked while he was running, too.
He was done with his own exercise, and he wasn't even sure if he felt the burn; his body felt dull and dumb to the strains he was supposed to feel.
He was feeling tired, and it wasn't from the exercise; when he tried to think about what was bothering him, he would only get frustrated because Ezra's face would be the only thing coming to his mind.
He was getting under his skin with his new attitude, he had only said a simple morning that morning and walked out to Zeno's apartment to wait for Sebastian.
He didn't even take the damn coffee he made for him, so much for wasting his time in brewing a perfect coffee.
Ezra was completely avoiding Nicholas, which was supposed to be fine by Nicholas, but why was Ezra's sad face popping into his head? He couldn't stop thinking that Ezra looked weird when he asked him if he hated him.
"Hi," A voice said behind Nicholas.
Nicholas blinked and slowly turned to see who it was, "Oh, hi, Zen," He smiled at the young man.
"Tired?" Zen asked, sitting beside Nicholas on the bench.
Nicholas sighed, "Not really," He replied.
"I see, you look quite tired... emotionally," Zen said.
Nicholas chuckled, "You're quite an observer, huh?" He smirked at Zen.
"Well, you can say that; want to share? What's on your mind?" Zen questioned.
Nicholas wanted to say no, but he decided to actually speak to someone about it; Zen didn't know Ezra, so it wouldn't cause any harm.
"Um, I hate someone, I've hated them for years... I tell this person to stay away at every little chance I get, I tell him how annoying he is and how I hate doing things together with him. But he actually listened to me for the first time and now, he's keeping his distance from me, not speaking to me, not even looking at me," Nicholas sighed after speaking, he felt a little better speaking about how he truly felt without having to mince his words because he feared people might know who he was talking about.
"Um... okay. I have four speculations: firstly, you never meant any of those things; secondly, you like this person and are missing his presence in your life; thirdly, you've been saying all things for a long time to convince yourself that you truly hate him and not falling in love with who you're supposed to hate; fourth, this person is already your boyfriend or an ex and you're currently having a fight with them. So pick one," Zen smiled at Nicholas.
Nicholas scoffed, "Are you for real? No, I meant all I said, I don't like him, I don't miss him, and he's neither my ex nor my boyfriend," he stated.
Zen frowned, "Denial," He smiled.
"Always keep in mind that I'm a psychologist; I just gave you a free consultation; keep me posted on your brewing steamy romance, that is, if you haven't succeeded in pushing him into someone else's arms... I bet he's hot," Zen stood and waved at Nicholas.
"See you soon," He winked at him and went over to speak to Zeno.
"Spewing nonsense," Nicholas muttered, eyeing Zen with regret.
He should have just kept his mouth shut; now Zen had dumped a whole new set of ideas into his head.
'Ezra is not hot, even if he were, he wasn't his spec, he hated him, period,' he stood and walked over to Zeno, who was waving him over.
"Done? Ready to go home?" Nicholas asked as he handed Zeno his towel, ignoring Zen, who was giving him a judging look.
Zeno was sweating all over, his white shirt glued to his wet skin, "Yeah. I'll be at the club in the night but I don't think I'll be working tonight," He said as he walked toward the exit.
"Oh, that's okay, we can just chill together then," Nicholas replied.
"Am I invited?" Zen questioned as he followed them behind.
"No," Nicholas refused.
He didn't want Zen coming that night, he might run into Ezra, and being the nosy psychologist he was, he might put one and two together and find something out from the way Ezra behaved around him.
He didn't need someone spreading fake news.
"You can come; an additional person would be fun," Zeno said as they walked out of the gym building.
"Of course, I'm always fun to be with," Zen laughed at Nicholas' disagreeing expression.
"See you tonight, Zen," Zeno said and got in his car.
"Why did you have to ask him to come?" Nicholas asked as they drove away.
"So he'd keep you company since I'll be busy discussing business with Gerald; remember Leroy's family business I was helping them with? The guy texted me and asked to meet in the club tonight," Zeno explained.
Nicholas frowned, "So that means you're meeting up with Sebastian," He stated.
Zeno nodded, "I know." He shrugged.
Nicholas stared at Zeno's face, "And you're okay with it?" He questioned.
Zeno nodded, "Yeah, I already told you what happened last night, I've let myself get distracted, Nick, and I'm done for real this time. I'm not going to care about Sebastian anymore; I can't deal with his complications." He responded.
Nicholas sighed, "They shouldn't have come, they're causing a lot of trouble already," He murmured.
"No, it's really fine, they can only cause trouble if you attach importance to them. I'm going to blame Sebastian entirely for last night; I played a part in fooling myself for the second time; I wanted what I knew I could never have; I guess I just wanted to remind myself why I left him; it was a good wake-up call," He smiled sadly.
Nicholas turned his face away and looked out of the window, 'They can only cause you trouble if you attach importance to them.' He repeated Zeno's words inside his head.
'Does it mean I'm attaching great importance to Ezra? Was that why he was troubling me with his presence? Even in his absence, I feel troubled by him,'
"Shit," Nicholas gently slapped the arm of the chair.
"Are you okay?" Zeno asked, glancing at him before focusing on the road.
Nicholas balled his fists, "I'm fine, just... thinking about some personal shit," He replied.
Zeno nodded, "We all are," He smiled, the smile not reaching his eyes.
'Fuck!' Nicholas cursed quietly.
Could what Zen said be true? Then why did it have to be so? When did it happen? He shook his head, 'Impossible,'
He couldn't remain like this, he was going to speak to Ezra tonight, and he would ask him about the important question that had been playing around his mind since Zen said those words to him.
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