Chapter 23: Every action has a reaction. pt. ii

Marcel snickered, crossing his arms again as he paced in front of Nick, "So, you're not going to tell me? I thought we were friends!"

Nicolas sighed, "What my father told you is the truth. I don't know why you don't just take my word for it."

Marcel smiled, putting a hand on Nicolas' shoulder, his eyes squinting at him, keeping a quiet demeanor, "Nick," he whispered, in an almost serious tone, "I'm your friend. I've been your friend for a long time now, huh? Not to mention I'm also a lawyer and I can recognize when one of my clients is lying to me. Clients I've known for a week or two. But you?" Marcel pressed his lips together, keeping a smile on his face.

Nicolas kept his stern look on his friend, not budging to the statements. Though after a second of silence, Nicolas smiled back, "Marcel, don't you have somewhere to be this morning? I'm sure being a lawyer is one hell of a job." he responded in a sarcastic tone.

Marcel frowned, dropping his hand from Nick's shoulder as he heard the door to the office open. Both males turned around to face the assistant who held two water bottles.

Marcel grinned at him, relieved that he had come back so fast. At first, Nicolas didn't let him talk since he had brought up a personal statement. Marcel could only hope that Seven would say something now, "Welcome back-"

"Marcel." Nick interrupted as he grabbed the water bottle from the PA who handed it to him. Seven eyed Marcel slightly, handing him the second bottle, "I brought one for you, too."

Marcel eyed Nick as he grabbed the bottle, "Thank. You. Seven." Marcel gave Nick a sly grin, almost mocking Nicolas. Marcel was in all honesty, a bit frustrated. After Marcel had left for law school, he felt his friendship had drifted slightly with Nick. Of course, coming back, it went back to normal. He knew most things, if not everything, about Nick. He knew how obedient Nicolas was to his father and never really questioned the orders he got from the chairman. Marcel would know when Nicolas was out of character compared to the Nick he's known. To put it in Marcel's perspective, Nicolas missed an important meeting with WebBaze, which could've made the chairman happy. Nicolas also referred to his assistant by his first name which he hardly does. The lie that the two have put out was that Seven was having bad anxiety during the donation event and that Nick had to take him out. To Marcel, actually... Nicolas has never been considerate of people's feelings. He was always so strict and if it were any of his former assistants, Nick would've said "deal with it" considering it was an important event. Marcel was a lawyer who came with fantastic thinking skills and putting puzzles together. It was no doubt to Nicolas that his friend will eventually find out what actually happened at the event.

"Took you long enough," Nicolas commented.

Marcel turned his attention to Seven who stood by them, staring at the CEO, "On another note, you never advised our good friend here, Seven. I want to hear what you have to say to him about his little marriage plans."

Nicolas scoffed, opening the bottle of water, "He doesn't have anything important to add to the situation."

Seven squinted at the CEO, almost angry. He started feeling a sense of pressure on his chest as if he was being stepped on. It was infuriating to have the weight on his chest. It reminded him of how everyone treated him in high school... as if he didn't have a voice of his own. When kids would bully him, talk over him, talk for him, ignore him. It was like Seven wasn't allowed to even say a single word about anything. Teachers would take the other kid's words as his own and not even bother to ask Ochoa about his thoughts.

"Am I even allowed to talk, Mr. Anderson?" Seven returned, tilting his head as his tone came off as sarcastic. Marcel raised an eyebrow at the comeback, a grin slowly appearing on his face at the way the assistant talked so boldly to Nick. For a split second, Marcel was relieved that someone could speak to Nick so carelessly. At first, he thought Seven was someone who would act formally no matter what. He believed that Seven was just another assistant who wanted a job that paid well and would take any damage no matter what. Hearing Nicolas throw him off at the mention of his aunt made Marcel confuse as to how someone so 'formal' could be bothered so much by a personal topic. Seeing it now... hearing Seven stand up for his voice in a discussion was quite frankly something different. Nicolas would always put down his assistants, neglecting their opinions and emotions and it frustrated Marcel at how easily they accepted the fact that they were 'below' him. Now, Marcel understood. Seven was formal, doing an assistant job out of the goodness of his heart. Not because he felt obligated to be a 'servant' for someone, but because he wanted to help. Marcel recognized now the difference between Seven and Nick's former assistants: Seven didn't see himself as below Nick, but rather someone standing beside him... and being looked down on was not something Seven was going to take.

A good change, to say the least.

Nicolas turned his head, swallowing the cold water, "Excuse me?"

Seven kept his glare on the CEO, "With all due respect, Mr. Anderson, I don't appreciate the fact that you're talking for me."

"I'm not talking for you, Mr. Ochoa. I just really don't care about what you have to say on a business matter." Nicolas threw back.

Seven scoffed, stepping back at the remark, "Seriously? I may not be relevant in this conversation, but God help me if you don't let me advise you with this situation."

"This isn't a math class, Mr. Ochoa. You can't just raise your hand and expect me to listen to you-"

"Yeah, this isn't a math class! Don't confuse the topic of the conversation with a simple 2 plus 2 question. The fact is, your father wants to marry you to someone you don't even know. You don't even have a say. Are you even going to argue with him? Assumingly, the way you're acting now, you're just going to follow up with the order - which in essence, could benefit the company, but what about you?" Seven kept his stern look on Nicolas, keeping his tone flat and formal, not wanting to step over his boundaries. Of course, he also recognized that Marcel doesn't know much about the two, so he didn't want to give off any ideas that they were 'close'.

He wasn't going to say anything on the topic. He knew if he did, he'd go off and talk in a way that an assistant shouldn't speak to a CEO. But being shut down... being spoken for has possibly gotta be one of his all-time pet peeves.

Marcel stepped back a bit, keeping his eyebrows raised and realizing now was the time to see how close the two associates really were.

Nicolas rolled his eyes, shaking his head, "Is that all, Mr. Ochoa? Are you pleased with letting out everything you kept inside?" he said in a sarcastic yet genuine tone as if he were mocking the PA.

Seven balled his hands into a fist, biting the inside of his cheek, "Can I ask what exactly are you going to do?" he calmly asked, keeping himself under control from shouting.

"I don't know, Ochoa. I'll let my future self figure it out when the time comes." Nicolas smiled.

"Really? Wouldn't it be better if you figured it out now so you wouldn't have to stress about it later?"

Nicolas sighed, throwing his head back relieving the stiffness from his neck, "Ochoa, go sit down. You have a priority, right? Go focus on that rather than trying to get involved in my personal life." Nicolas stepped forward before Serene could get a chance to respond. Closing the space between them, the height difference could be pointed out. Serene eyed up at the male that stood in front of him, feeling the warmth cluster between their chests. Nicolas kept his ocean eyes at Seven's, a sly smirk appearing on his face, "Unless you want to... you know... get involved in another way."

Seven's eyes widened, feeling his chest tightened by the statement. A lump grew in his throat, hearing the comment being whispered to him. It was just embarrassing at this point, how close the two were. Whatever the intention that Nicolas had with saying what he said, Serene didn't take it lightly. His eyes darted down to Nicolas' chest, now remembering the night of the party. How close they were and how intense the pleasure felt that night. Seven's lips parted, keeping his emerald eyes on the CEO's white plain shirt, his cheeks heating as he remembered the build-up, the sweat, the noises, the intensity. It was too much to think about, Serene had to step back, putting his hand on Nicolas' chest, pushing him away.

Nick stepped back from the push, raising his chin high, looking at the reaction of the assistant. He bit his lower lip as the corner of his lip curved into another smirk. He raised an eyebrow, almost proud of the reaction he had gotten. How quickly Serene turned around to hide the embarrassment from his face was exactly what Nicolas wanted to see. Though, he didn't do this to shut him down. Nicolas knew what he wanted. He knew that he would give up talking just to hear Serene talk for hours! Though the way the assistant was speaking... advising him... it was his job, but Marcel was still in the room and Nicolas was taking caution of Serene's words, making sure he didn't say anything that would hint to Marcel how close the two were.

To the PA, Nicolas whispering that comment came off as sexual, taunting. Him whispering 'Unless you want to... you know... get involved in another way' was out of the blue and embarrassing.

On the other hand, Nick said it because he knew how obvious it was that Seven had grown onto him. With the fact that Nick brought up his aunt and made Seven shift gears mid-conversation was enough to make Marcel start questioning their relationship. Seven's reaction was not expected at first; The CEO did not expect the assistant to react so bluntly in front of Marcel, and Nick felt the need to take it down a notch. So... he said what he said to catch the PA off-guard and step back before he said anything else. Reasonably, he had to whisper it, too. So Marcel wouldn't hear him and also to add a little 'intensity' in his comment.

"Speak, Ochoa." Marcel eventually spoke, noticing the weird tension between the two.

Seven cleared his throat, turning his back to the two taller friends, shaking his head, "I have work, Mr. Adams." Seven muttered, walking towards the couch.

Marcel frowned, raising an eyebrow and turning to Nick, "What the hell happened there?"

Nicolas sighed, shrugging, "Must've realized he had a job to do. Unlike you, Marcel! Why are you still here?"

Marcel shook his head, turning his back to Nicolas, "We're not done with this topic, Nick!" he shouted, waving at his friend as he walked out the office. For a split second, he glanced at Serene who stood by the coffee table and saw how tensed the assistant was.