52 – Cypress Mosaic

Lorenz ​was ​momentarily ​flustered. ​He had completely ​forgotten ​the ​fact ​that ​he had agreed to ​meet ​her here.

Adriana, approaching ​his side, asked ​Lorenz.

“Have ​you ​been ​waiting ​long?”

“No. ​You arrived right ​on ​time, ​so there is ​nothing to worry about.”

“That’s ​a relief. ​By the ​way, who…”

She ​looked back ​and ​forth ​between the two ​strange men. ​Lorenz readily introduced Elian ​to her.

“I happened to ​run into an acquaintance. ​Please, introduce ​yourselves. ​Mr. Wesley, this is Mr. Elian ​Belloti, my younger brother’s ​counselor.”

“Your ​brother… ​Ah, ​you ​mean your youngest.”

“Correct. ​He resides ​at ​the stolen content[unauthorized copy]mansion and ​takes ​care of the child. Mr. ​Belloti, this ​is…”

As ​Lorenz moved to ​introduce ​her ​to ​Elian, ​he hesitated ​for ​a moment. ​He couldn’t instantly decide how he should ​introduce Adriana.

Should he ​say she was ​the person he had ​an arranged ​meeting with? That ​their ​conditions matched well ​and he would ​likely marry ​her?

Despite ​that being ​the ​clearest fact, ​strangely, ​the words ​wouldn’t ​come ​out. He felt ​a ​strong resistance ​to ​speaking ​them, ​as if his throat were tightening.

“This is Ms. Adriana Wesley.”

In the end, Lorenz stripped away all modifiers and introduced her by name alone.

“Hello, I’m Adriana Wesley.”

“I am Elian Belloti. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

The two shook hands.

As Adriana gazed at Elian, a look of honest admiration appeared in her eyes.

“I wonder if it’s alright to say this upon our first meeting… but you [Read on Read BL Novels]are truly handsome. I’m not usually one to say such things visit our siteopenly, but it would feel more awkward to let it pass without telling Mr. Belloti.”

“Ah… no… Ms. Wesley, you are the one who is beautiful.”

He must be well-accustomed to compliments about his appearance to the point of being tired of them. Elian, rubbing the back of his neck and stammering, seemed uncomfortable with the conversation.

“Wesley… Could it be… the Senator…?”

Vincent, who was standing nearby, was the first to realize her identity and muttered with a bewildered face.

“Yes, that’s right. Edward Wesley is my father. I look forward to your support during the general election in November.”

At the joke Adriana added, everyone let out a light, or perhaps awkward, laugh.

Now it was time for them to naturally part ways. Adriana seemed to be waiting for that as well. The gazes of the three gathered on Lorenz, and Lorenz looked directly only at Elian.

He did not want Elian to have dinner alone with that man. He wanted to prevent that, no matter what. At this moment, nothing else was a consideration for Lorenz.

The pre-booked suite and the meal there—such things were not a problem at all. It was clear that Elian would not be pleased, but this was not the time to be considerate of his circumstances. Without hesitation, donning his social mask for the sake of his goal, Lorenz looked around at the three and proposed.

“How about this? Since we’ve stolen contentalready introduced ourselves, why visit our sitedon’t [visit our site]the four of us have dinner together?”

■

Vincent returned to the private room carrying plates piled high with food in both hands.

“Wow… It really is the best buffet in New York. There are so many things that look delicious.”

“Did you get the crab cake?”

Adriana asked in an expectant voice. A hint of excitement could be seen on her face. While being guided to the private room, she had recommended it to the group several times—that one must eat the crab cake when visiting this restaurant.

“Of course. It looks like it’s packed with crab just by looking at it.”

“It’s been my favorite dish at this restaurant since I was a child.”

Adriana seemed pleased at the prospect of sharing food that evoked childhood nostalgia.

When Lorenz suggested the four of them eat together, she had readily accepted. She seemed even happier to eat in the restaurant rather than in the room upstairs. It was the reaction he had anticipated.

If today’s meeting had been a real date, Lorenz’s proposal would have been utterly rude—to the point where he would have had no excuse if Adriana had slapped him. However, even [Read on Read BL Novels]though the [Read on Read BL Novels]two were considering marriage, they were by no means in a romantic relationship.

He figured that with her lively and straightforward personality, she would prefer mingling with new people over having dinner alone with the boring Lorenz Lockhart, and his prediction was correct.

Of course, Elian’s reaction was the opposite.

The way he blinked rapidly and kept moistening his lips. He was clearly displeased. Strangely, Lorenz could not take his eyes off him. Like someone who cannot look away from a brutal scene on a screen even while frowning.

Do I really make him that miserable?

Or, does he want to be alone with that man that badly?

Whatever the reason, I’m sorry. Because I have no intention of letting you have your way.

Sitting opposite Lorenz at the large circular table, Elian was still avoiding eye contact with him as much as possible. He merely gave short responses to Adriana’s words with a faint smile.

Vincent, who had dove into the meal with enthusiasm, raised an eyebrow as he looked down at his friend’s plate, which was starkly different from his own.

“Hey, what’s this?”

“Smoked salmon salad and… I think this is an avocado canapé.”

“No, why is your plate so empty? You should have brought more.”

On Elian’s plate, there was only a bit of salad and two or three pieces of finger food. They were good foods for appetizers, but to Vincent, it looked meager.

“You ordered Eggs Benedict too.”

“Still, this isn’t right. There’s no point in coming to a buffet if you’re going to eat like this.”

At his friend’s nagging, Elian smiled lightly and said,

“Don’t worry. I plan to eat a lot, slowly.”

Yeah, right, if it goes according to your plan. — Vincent wore such an expression, but he seemed to decide to stop the lecturing there.

Having quickly finished one of the crab cakes Adriana strongly recommended, Vincent looked around the luxuriously decorated private room in admiration.

“Thanks to you two, I actually get to eat in a room like this. I heard it’s hard to even book the weekend brunch buffet. To think they’d give us a private room even on short notice. I guess there’s nothing the names Lockhart or Wesley can’t do.”

It was a tone that could have been either gratitude or sarcasm, but Adriana didn’t mind.

“Rather than the name, it’s probably because they are long-time customers. They likely manage their clients based on who spends the most money. People say America is a capitalist country before it is a democratic one, right?”

Adriana’s blunt answer surprised Vincent. After taking a sip of champagne, her gaze turned toward Vincent opposite her.

“Come to think of it, I didn’t get to hear the name of Mr. Belloti’s friend properly.”

“Ah, I’m Vincent Belloti.”

“Eh? Belloti…?”

Adriana looked back and forth between Vincent and Elian. Understanding what her puzzled reaction implied, Vincent grinned and placed a hand on Elian’s shoulder, giving it a light, affectionate squeeze.

“That’s right, I have the same last name as Elian.”

“Surely it’s not a coincidence…”

“We’re brothers.”

“Brothers?”

She looked even more confused. This was because the two men before her seemed to have absolutely nothing in common, not only in their features but also in their atmosphere and personality.

Adriana wasn’t the only one shocked by the statement that they were brothers.

From the moment the name ‘Belloti’ came out of Vincent’s mouth, Lorenz’s hand had stopped mid-air, still clutching the champagne glass.

Brothers?

Ridiculous. To call such a thing a joke…

As if demanding the truth, his gaze lingered obsessively on Elian.

It was difficult not to notice Lorenz’s gaze, which didn’t waver for a second, staring as if pushing him against the wall behind. Yet, Elian continued to avoid his eyes.

Moistening his lips with a sip of champagne, Elian explained to Adriana.

“Actually, I was adopted by Vincent’s parents.”

There was no sign of hesitation in his voice. Elian simply laid out the facts plainly.

Adriana nodded as if she finally understood.

“Ah… I see.”

“You thought they looked too different to be brothers, didn’t you?”

“Haha, it was hard not to think that.”

Vincent playfully teased her expression, and Adriana readily admitted it.

“I understand. It’s practically like King Kong and Ann Darrow.”

This time, Vincent shrugged, acknowledging the different vibes between himself and Elian.

“Haha, that’s a pretty good analogy.”

Leaving the two to exchange pleasant jokes, Lorenz continued to stare intently at Elian.