章 29: Chapter 29

Henry turned to Joshua, only to find the dark-haired man with his gaze down, turned slightly away. The sudden bashful behaviour could only be described as cute, there was no argument about that. It also was not often that people would thank the young man so sincerely.

Having studied abroad for university, where his course was a year shorter than those in Country A, he had entered the workforce half a year before his peers. This combined with how much he was required to move around the company due to his role as the second heir, a lot of Henry's current friends were older, making him the baby of the group. His younger age and youthful looks not only meant most of his friends doted on the beautiful man, but they would also not ask him for help on anything too personally important.

All in all, since Henry rarely had the chance to help anyone sincere, he rarely received such gratitude. It had never been a bother for him. But now that Joshua had thanked him so sincerely, he couldn't help but feel a warmth within him; his injuries hurt a little less, they seemed more worth it.

The young man instantly realised he had read a lot into a simple 'thank you' and cursed himself, although he was not quite sure what for. In reality, it was not strange for such a feeling to have such an effect on him, it truly had been a long time since he had been thanked like this from someone other than family, so long he had forgotten the feeling.

Of course, Henry unaware of this, stuttered a little as he scorned how easily he felt touched by actions all of a sudden.

"N-no problem."

Henry scorned himself again, this time because after those two, measly words, his mind went completely blank.

Archer found his head hurting a little; he could not help but feel that his little brother's behaviour was too inconsistent. He turned to the Reyes's heir, seeing Samuel also felt the same. Both had to hold back a dejected sigh. Undoubtedly, the two had been left with the most difficult job.

"Do the two of you want to leave early?" Samuel asked after it was clear the two men planned to just sit in silence. "I mean, what just happened isn't the easiest to come to terms with. Our parents wouldn't mind if you two wanted to leave early."

At the mention of what had left them in such a state, both Henry and Joshua sharply exhaled, biting back a laugh at the ridiculous run of events. The older brothers could only make eye contact, worried.

"Sam's right, it is not every day you have a horrific fall only to be attacked immediately after. It is alright to be a little… shaken." The word Archer really wanted to use was 'weird', because that was how they were behaving. "It might be better if you both went home and slept it off." It would also give everyone else peace of mind.

Sleep sounded tempting; Henry almost took the offer. It could be part of the reason he was thinking too deeply into nothings – it wasn't. However he was also incredibly hungry after his too eventful night and morning. So instead he shook his head. "I'd rather stuff my face with grease for the hangover."

Joshua found Henry's words appealing, food seemed like a much better option than sleep at the moment. "Yeah, we went too far with the alcohol last night, food would be good."

As he spoke, he realised just how parched his throat was. "Can you pass the water?" The water bottle Hanna had brought was still half full and by Samuel. He was passed the water and started to drink; watching the other man made Henry feel thirsty too. "Don't finish it, I want some."

"Mn." Joshua took one more sip before passing what was left to the younger man. Henry tipped the remains back, relishing the refreshing drink.

Neither of the two batted an eyelid to sharing the bottle, it was normal to them to assume the other would be fine with it considering they had shared a cigarette before. The same, however, could not be said for their onlookers.

"You two really did get close quickly," Archer commented.

Luckily, Henry had just drank the last of the water before he registered what had been said by the Lore's first son. This meant the young man didn't choke, causing yet another problem. Joshua, on the other hand, did choke on his own breath. "No, we didn't."

"It's not embarrassing, but you two really have."

"No, we haven't."

"The hickeys say otherwise."

"We didn't have sex, dammit."

Silence followed.

Joshua did not have a clue why he was suddenly so aggravated. Well no, he did, he was reminded of the fact their families thought he and Henry had slept with each other; what he was unsure of was why he suddenly lost his patience and answered so recklessly. He did not like the fact their families thought it was so, but their goal relied on their fake relationship and that wholly relied on convincing their families it was real. Instead of letting them think so, Joshua went ahead and not only vehemently denied to his brother that the two had gotten closer – a blatant lie as it was – but also denied their assumptions on their relationship. He had just put the entire plan at risk.

Of course, both older brothers had just thought that the man was embarrassed, only silent because neither would have ever thought that the ever-perfect Joshua Lore could act out like that, even after seeing him act out of character minutes ago.

"We've only known each other a week, you know." Henry's voice was filled with nerves. He had no idea if he was on the right track to convincing their brothers that there was still a chance at a relationship after Joshua's sudden outburst. "Don't you think that's a little, you know, too fast." It was ironic for these words to come from the same man who had only ever had one night stands when it came to sex.

Samuel and Archer knew nothing about the young man's track record, so instead they found themselves wondering if their brothers were in a more innocent relationship than one would expect.

They would have definitely never guessed that the entire 'relationship' was built on deceit.

Joshua had to hold back a sigh of relief; when it came to words, Henry really was the one who excelled out of the two.

Before anyone could answer, Joshua's stomach rumbled loudly, the man wincing in shame as he saw Henry bite back a smirk.

The older brothers decided that was their cue to finally leave the bathroom, they had been in here far too long. Each older brother stood up, no spoken communication needed between the four people who could all be considered odd geniuses, helping their respective young brother up, neither of the younger men were able to walk on their own now.

Once they were both stood up, they subconsciously glanced at each other in the mirror, however they were immediately distracted by their own reflections.

It was the first time Joshua had seen himself in the mirror since his glace at his hair from the side mirror of Henry's car, this time he managed a good look at himself. The image made him freeze. He had seen the hickeys when Henry had pointed at his neck earlier, but he did not remember them sticking out so much, but now that he was looking properly, they trail of kiss marks were far more prominent than he had thought.

At the same time, Henry finally came to realise that he had a hand mark at the base of his neck, a relatively dark and obvious mark at that. For a moment, the man felt as if he could cry in shame; he had really turned up to their family brunch with that on show. The young man wasn't sure if he could ever face his parents the same again.

Both thin-faced men, filled to the brim with embarrassment, shared a short look in the mirror before bowing their heads and turning away. It was finally dawning on them that their families might not need as much convincing as they would have thought.

Archer wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry when he realised that both the younger men had suddenly gone back to their quiet selves from embarrassment, this whole thing had just made the heir's head hurt.