By Zephyria Koi, who had arrived 20 minutes earlier than the appointed time, brightened up when he saw the Bentayga in the distance. He waited for the car to stop and then hurriedly got into the passenger seat, greeting first.
“Hi, Ash. You’re early.”Seeing the car clock belatedly, it was ten minutes earlier than the appointed time. As Koi greeted him happily, Ashley glanced over his entire body instead of returning the greeting. It was the first time he had done such a thing, so he paused without realizing it, and then Ashley spoke.
“What are you wearing? Didn’t I buy you new clothes?”
Ah, Koi was relieved and answered.
“I should wear that when we go on a date.”
I’m faithfully keeping what you said, Koi looked at Ashley with all his heart.
“We’re friends, so this isn’t a date, right?”
Ashley stared at him without a word. Just in case, Koi repeatedly affirmed.
“Don’t worry, I know that much. I’ll never cross the line.”
He looked at him with friendship filling his eyes, but Ashley fixed his gaze forward and started the car.
* * *
Inside the fancy and bright French restaurant, quite a few people were enjoying their meals. Koi pretended to drink wine and glanced at Ashley sitting across from him. As he had when they came here last time, he was impeccably dressed in an expensive-looking suit, his brilliant platinum-blonde hair neatly combed back, truly the epitome of a successful man enjoying his meal.
If it was the same as last time, Koi was no different. The only difference between him and Ashley was that he was wearing the same clothes as before.
It can’t be helped. This is the best I have, anyway.
The only good clothes he owned were more than ten years old and didn’t fit properly. At least Ashley had bought him a new set of clothes, but it was only for dates, so he couldn’t wear it today.
Ash clearly stated that we are just friends.
Because of that, Koi had no choice. He was inwardly nervous when Ashley pointed out his clothes, but he brushed it off casually. Ashley had always been kind to Koi, no matter what he wore, and he was the same now. Koi was confident in his ordinary attitude.
Ash hasn’t changed after all.
As the meal moved on to the fish course, Koi naturally started a conversation.
“Thanks for calling me first. I was worried you might be busy, so I couldn’t call.”
“I thought so, so I called.”
Ashley replied in an indifferent tone, but Koi heard it differently. He even thought of Koi to that extent, and his heart welled up. Ashley then said.
“I was worried too.”
“Worried? About me?”
Koi asked in surprise, and Ashley opened his mouth calmly.
“Because I hadn’t heard from you. I was wondering if something was wrong.”
It was a natural concern for a friend. Both Koi and Ashley thought so. Ashley continued.
“Maybe you got hurt while working.”
“No way!”
“I called you after a long time, and when you didn’t answer, I thought that might be the case, so I tried a few more times.”
This, too, was something a friend would do. Koi’s heart welled up at the thought that Ashley was so worried about him.
“Sorry for making you worry, nothing happened.”
“It’s okay. It was wrong of me to call during your date. Did I interrupt you?”
Ashley asked with a smile. Koi thought for a moment, ‘Was I?’, and soon answered.
“No, it ended quickly, and the next time I called you was when I went to the bathroom.”
“Bathroom.”
Ashley repeated the word Koi had uttered. Koi nodded obediently.
“Yeah, to take care of business.”
Ashley drank his wine without saying a word. The meal continued. When there was a brief pause before the next dish came out, Ashley spoke.
“How have you been? Have you been on a lot of dates?”
He hadn’t been on any real dates. At best, if he was being very generous, he could barely consider his meeting with Sarah as one. But Koi couldn’t be honest. Ariel’s ‘request’ immediately came to mind.
〈Koi, if Ash asks you how your dates are going, just say they’re going well.〉
Koi repeated the answer that Ariel had given him as an example.
“I’m still meeting people. There are a few people I get along with, so I’ve been making plans every weekend. I was really lucky that you called when I had a free weekend.”
He didn’t want to lie, but he couldn’t help it. There was a reason why Ariel had asked him to lie like this.
〈You’re wishing so hard that you’ll be happy, but if you say it’s not working out, Ash will be upset, right?〉
Ariel was grumbling, but she was still thinking of Ash.
Koi felt grateful to her and added the prepared words.
“There are so many wonderful people in the world. I’m going to meet more of them in the future.”
“……That’s good.”
Just as Ashley said that, the waiter brought the next dish. After they were alone again, Ashley spoke again.
“How was the person you met last time? The person you were meeting when I called.”
“Ah, Sarah?”
Koi’s eyes sparkled as he recounted the story he had shared with her. The story about stars, the universe, astronauts, and spaceships went on endlessly.
Koi, belatedly realizing Ashley’s reaction of just listening silently, stopped in surprise. Silence fell, and then Ashley opened his mouth.
“It seems like you met someone you get along with.”
“Yeah, very much.”
Koi added with an excited face.
“I didn’t even realize how time was passing when I was with her. We were talking for four hours at the cafe when you called that day. Thanks to your call, we moved to another place, and even while we were eating dinner and until we said goodbye, it wasn’t enough.”
“You must have been sad to say goodbye.”
“Yeah.”
Koi nodded quickly at Ashley’s short response.
“So, we’re going to meet tomorrow, but if I hadn’t made plans with you first, I would have met her today too. It’s amazing that I can get the latest news about space right away, isn’t it? She said she’d invite me to a party next time, and she said she’d introduce me to employees who work at NASA then. She said there are a lot of nice guys too.”
Ashley stopped cutting the meat and looked at him.
“Guys?”
“Yeah.”
Koi continued with a bright smile.
“They’ll all be attractive. There will be a lot of people as wonderful as Sarah, right? Just imagining it makes my heart flutter. I can be introduced to a lot of people like Sarah, regardless of whether they’re men or women.”
He meant that he could make new friends with the same hobbies, but Ashley heard it differently. Ashley, who had been looking at him for a while, opened his mouth.
“You look happy.”
This was also an answer in the manual that Ariel had prepared. Koi recited it as it was.
“Yeah, very. Thank you, Ash. It’s all thanks to you.”
He didn’t forget to add it after deliberately leaving a 1-2 second gap.
“I’m really glad I came to the East Coast.”
Seeing his brightly smiling face, Ashley put down his knife and fork without touching the steak he had only eaten half of. Koi, surprised by the sight, asked.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to eat more?”
“I’ve had enough. Don’t worry about it, keep eating.”
After saying that, Ashley poured himself some wine and soon called the waiter to add another bottle of wine. And he drank three more bottles of wine without saying anything else.
*
The meal ended without any special conversation. After emptying the last bottle of wine, Ashley called the waiter to pay the bill. Koi, who had been anxiously watching him, hurriedly rummaged through his pockets and said.
“Ah, I’ll pay for my share.”
They were friends, so it was natural. It wasn’t a date, so there was no reason for one person to pay. Fortunately, the price range here was affordable enough for Koi to pay, so he didn’t feel burdened.
Without saying a word, Ashley placed his card on the tray along with the money that Koi had taken out and placed on the table. Koi, watching the waiter take it away, whispered in a small voice.
“Are you giving all that as a tip?”
He asked because he thought it was too much, but Ashley didn’t react. After a while, he took the card that the waiter had brought and immediately got up from his seat. Koi also hurriedly followed him out of the restaurant. And they maintained silence while driving in the car.
“Ash.”
It was after Ashley stopped the car that Koi finally spoke. Ashley, who had stopped at the place where he had picked up Koi and had just turned off the engine, glanced at him, and Koi carefully continued.
“I’m not very perceptive, but I know that much. There was something you didn’t like, right?”
A heavy silence fell. Koi asked with a very nervous face.
“Did I, did I do something wrong?”
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