~¤SxJ¤~

 “Where is your gun?”

   Lu Feng simply ignored him, as always. Jibran tried his hardest, he really did. In the chaos of the last weeks, when he was uncertain if he was going to even see his friend again, he imagined all sorts of miraculous reunites – he believed Lu Feng will survive, but he worried about what kind of mental state the Arbiter will be in.

   And now… he really… REALLY wanted to know what happened, because he couldn’t think of a single moment when Lu Feng left his apartment without his gun before. Since he joined the Trial Court, he always had it on him. And Jibran was aware of the Trial Court’s requirement emphasising that their weapons should be kept on hand in all circumstances.

   Countless questions flooded over his mind, so many that he physically felt them pressing to his skull from inside, causing him a pounding headache.

   The possibility of Lu Feng losing his gun was a straight-up sacrilege. So he either left it somewhere willingly, gave it to someone willingly, or someone took it by force. But who could do that? Not An Zhe, for sure. Lu Feng had said to him and Seraing that the boy didn’t have any offence or defence mechanisms, thus he was harmless. There was another major fact: the Arbiter was physically more gifted, well-trained and more intuitively strategic, an overall outstanding officer, while that xenogenic was tiny, soft and naïve – so the Arbiter had no need for weapons to be involved in restraining him. Yet, An Zhe was gone. And yet… Lu Feng had the sample back. Shocking, really. Did they fight? If so, why did Lu Feng let him leave? If not, why not? Did An Zhe give back the sample willingly? 

   This reminded him of Seraing’s words: did the Arbiter instruct him to steal the sample? This would be the only reason why An Zhe gave up the white thing, after he went through so much trouble to just get it. What exactly is their relationship then? Why did An Zhe come to the base? Had they met before in the wilderness and decided to have a secret mission of something? Why did An Zhe have to escape if they worked together? He wasn’t even badly treated in the base – well, apart from the torture – and he adapted to the laws and rules quite well. 

   Lu Feng was indifferent, but Jibran wasn’t fooled by his façade. The man sat on the opposite side of the armored vehicle and looked out of the back window with a content expression on his face. The doctor watched him closely. Doesn’t matter what kind of relationship it was; it was not the things they said or how they said them. It was the way they kept being each other’s company for so long when Lu Feng wasn’t the kind of person who would want any followers or little helpers around him. The way the Arbiter just accepted the little boy’s kindness and made sure he got out of all the dangerous situations, sometimes even going with him to protect him…

   Never, never in a million times, Lu Feng acted on his emotions before. This was the sheer reason Jibran knew he was the best Arbiter of all. If anyone, then Lu Feng was the one who never abused his power for personal matters and never acted impulsively. In fact, Jibran respected the shit out of him for that, and when he was about to throw their friendship out of the window over Lu Feng’s other, not-so-much-pleasing personality traits, this was the one that made him change his mind again and again. Emotion-fuelled acts were something that Jibran disagreed with, most of the time.

   Many people thought the Arbiter had an affair with that xenogenic. Jibran didn’t know what to think about that. Lu Feng never confirmed it, even when he asked. But even if that was the case… he doubted, it is JUST that. Lu Feng was never sexually interested in anyone’s physical attributes – they had known each other since forever, and Jibran was completely aware of this. And the doctor was 100% sure, Lu Feng was a virgin as well. He was always alone anyway. And though, he was handsome, no one would dare to approach him, for the moment he opened his mouth his personality instantly killed all kinds of curiosity and sparks of intimacy.

   Jibran decided that he will stick to Seraing’s idea about the secret agreement between Lu Feng and An Zhe for now. They had to have at least a comrade-like relationship if nothing else. Their mutual understanding was screaming into everyone’s face. But the details… that would’ve been a big help in clearing out the issue about An Zhe and Madam Lu’s case.

   All of these questions suffocated him, but he couldn’t ask anything out loud, not right here. There were a few soldiers around them escorting the doctor through the wilderness – of course, the United Front Center sent them; in fact, they didn’t want to let Jibran come. The only reason they let him join the rescue mission was that he mentioned his ability to make quick tests on Lu Feng to see if the Arbiter was infected. Which was a lie, he lost that instrument but no one had to know.

He just sighed again in his helplessness and looked at his own communicator.

Speaking of Seraing…

   A tiny weight appeared on his stomach as he opened up his messages. There was one, which he left unread last night…

 “I hope you are doing well. I…”

   This was the only sentence he could’ve seen from the message without opening it. But it was not his only message from Seraing.

 “Have you spoken to Seraing?”

   Jibran was startled, and swiftly looked up, instinctively hiding his communicator from the attentive eyes.

   Lu Feng stared at him flatly, probably noticing his hurried movements and thinking “are you a dumb child hiding your love letters?”.

   Hah, not as if they were love letters, of course! Jibran got defensive in an instant, and lifted his chin.

 “Why do you ask?”

 “Before I called you, I tried to dial his number yesterday, but he didn’t pick it up.” Lu Feng said. “Is he alright?”

 “Alright?” Jibran asked back, and a light grin climbed onto his lips. “Have you not listened to me before? Do you know how much work we’ve done at the base, while you were out on your little date in the wilderness? In the past week, I haven’t slept more than one hour per day, the whole base is still in chaos. What do you think he’s doing all day, waiting for your call? When we literally thought, you might…” The words suddenly halted in his tightening throat, and decided to not finish his sentence. “Do you have any idea how much pressure you put on that boy?”

 “Pressure?” Lu Feng asked back. He showed little to no concern, which made Jibran’s heart ache and his blood boil.

 “What do you not understand?” He scoffed coldly. “He’s still doing your work at the base. He tries to keep the Trial Court together and safe, while trying to save people and make sure that everyone gets their needs in the residential areas, because… well, no one else has the capacity to do that. In the midst of a mass panic, he’s targeted by the military, by civilians, by your own Judges. They’re all surrounding him like sharks, waiting for him to fail. The civilians know he’s your replacement, and pressing him to give out all the information he knows about your facility; the Judges are divided, not all of them want to follow him. Oh, but of course, the military still blames him for letting An Zhe escape as well. And you know what’s even more saddening? That he blames himself too, because you were not even capable of reassuring him, that he did a good job replacing you, even with that accident! You left him crying in a dark corner without a single compliment!”

   Jibran felt heat in his chest, but his words were icier and icier as he spoke at a fast pace. His throat started to ache trying to keep his voice low. He wanted to shout at Lu Feng. The Arbiter listened to him in silence, looking at his face, until those green eyes turned down somewhere on Jibran’s knees.

 “He’s my adjutant. He’s been a Judge for many years by now. He’s not that weak to cry in a corner if I don’t pat his head.”

   Jibran’s eyes widened, and he literally felt the dropping of his jaw. He looked at Lu Feng, watched him moving his lips, heard his voice, but he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. 

 “… Are you for real?” He asked with a deeper tone and leaned forward, not even trying to hide that he felt offended on the behalf of Seraing. “You don’t deserve him as an adjutant if you seriously said that. Do you even know him? Do you think he’s your exact copy, not feeling a single thing? I thought you were very well aware of how much weight your job can put on someone. How did you expect him to carry YOUR responsibilities in the same manner as you do? He’s much more sensitive and a lot kinder than you’ve ever been! He cares so much for everyone; he tries to please everyone, while he is getting torn apart by people, who have no idea about his work. And you seriously think this is “normal”? How the fuck he wouldn’t cry after this? And I even tried to convince him, that you’re keeping him in high regard! Don’t make me choke on my words!”

 “You never cared this much for Seraing before. What happened?” Lu Feng’s voice was still icier than Jibran’s – he had more experience in being a cold-ass dickhead. However, Jibran was taken aback; the cold tone of Lu Feng ran through him, making him shake, as he realised how his voice did get louder in the end, and how harshly he scolded the Arbiter in front of the soldiers.

 “Nothing, I just…” But he silenced and pressed his lips together, clenching his fist, and the memories of the last couple of days flooded his mind about this certain person. Before he had a chance to gather his thoughts and dignity, Lu Feng continued.

 “I do keep him in high regard. I wouldn’t have assigned him to be my replacement otherwise. I have no one else to rely on. I don’t expect him to be me. I just know he is capable of taking my position temporarily. I didn’t leave him for weeks intentionally…”

   Jibran’s fighting spirit slowed down and he looked away. True… none of them predicted that the Arbiter’s plane would crash. None of them expected him to be away from the base for so long in times like this. He shouldn’t have been so harsh on Lu Feng. What was gotten into him? Jibran rubbed his temples. He just couldn’t forget all the discussions he had with the young Judge these days, and he saw all of his hardships and suffering… maybe he felt bad for him a little. But Seraing wasn’t his subordinate, he shouldn’t have judged the Arbiter’s way of treating people, even if he disagreed. Also…

   He looked at his communicator again, and every spark of his leftover anger towards Lu Feng suddenly disappeared.

   It should’ve been him who was getting scolded, not Lu Feng. He wasn’t being fair to the Arbiter, he knew… Instead, he was being pretty hypocritical.

 “Anyway… just… when you go back, make sure, you compliment him and tell him what you’ve told me just now,” Jibran said in a low, hoarse voice.

After a brief pause, he heard the usual, cold, flat voice.

 “Alright, I will.”

   They both fell silent after this. Jibran didn’t want to argue anymore, it was none of his business. He should not develop such double standards over someone else. Venting out his thoughts helped him calm down anyway. The only noise around them now was a quiet snoring that came from the deeper segment of the car. The small boy whom Lu Feng saved was sleeping in the resting section, guarded by the soldiers. Jibran had a few questions about him as well – he had some hopes that the boy would tell more about what happened between Lu Feng and An Zhe. But not now.

   Jibran turned away towards the wall again, hiding his communicator, as he lifted it to look at the screen once more. 

What followed the last “I”? What did Seraing tell him?

   Jibran’s fingers wiped down the side of the device, without touching anything else. In the end, he selected the first message.

He got it that evening after they slept together in Seraing’s room.

 “Doctor, are you feeling well? Is your wound healed? If you need assistance, just call me.”

Seeing his own answer, Jibran’s mouth felt bitter.

 “I’m ok. Good night.”

   For his excuse, he was highly distressed on that day. His morning was terrible. He’d woken up cuddling Seraing from behind; their legs were intertwined, their bodies were pressing each other, and his face rested on the soft and hard neck that he had mistaken for his pillow before. The nice scent he had felt that day was also there. It just made him so comfortable and warm. Actually, he was so comfortable, that his body thought – from all the cursed mornings when it could’ve happened – that it was the greatest time to give him a morning erection. He didn’t remember if his dream was related to the situation, but when he came out from it and opened his eyes, he was… very excited, unconsciously rubbing his pulsating parts to Seraing.

   Never before had he flown out of a bed as fast as he did at that moment. With this attraction, however, he’d woken up Seraing too. Which made everything even worse at his downstairs, seeing the young, extremely beautiful, sleepy face with the extremely sexy, dishevelled hair – how can someone’s bedhead be that attractive? It should be a crime. But anyhow, Jibran had no idea, if the young Judge had noticed his state or not. In the evening, he said, he is a light sleeper. But then – without feeling ashamed for doing it – the doctor ran away, not even saying goodbye.

   Because he still had to work and because his focus just simply didn’t even exist, that day wasn’t the best day of his life, in general. He felt frustrated the entire day, even when he had to contribute in meetings and conversations; this led him to shout at his colleagues. So, when finally the day ended, and he fell into his bed and got this message… he wanted to cut things with the young Judge. He wanted to act cold. He didn’t want to do anything with him anymore, because this was just not leading anywhere, and he felt uncomfortable because of him.

But…

This dumb, unbearably stoic Judge with his sexy bedhead didn’t want to leave him alone.

   The next day was so busy that it forced Jibran to redirect his focus and energy to his job, with countless calls and meetings. It was the first time they’d noticed the fusion of inanimate objects, so he kind of forgot about Seraing, he had to drive his brain back on track… just to be flattered in the evening by the new message.

 “Doctor. I saw you today at the Lighthouse. I was escorting some of your scientists. You seemed to be tense. I hope everything is okay. Don’t forget to calm down and slow down sometimes. You can take a few minutes break. Don’t stress yourself out. If you need my help, call me.”

   Now, who the hell would be able to resist such a caring and kind gesture, and not say a word? Jibran remembered staring at the screen for a while before he answered. He contemplated a lot – A LOT LOT – if he really wanted to continue this little thing, and also procrastinated in the hope that Seraing was asleep already, so he wouldn’t reply right away.

 “Next time if you see me, don’t just see me. How come you didn’t come over to greet me? Maybe I would’ve calmed down sooner if we talked.”

   It was not like he invited Seraing or anything. And it was not like he had that much time that day; they would not have much interaction, even if the young Judge said hi.

   Then he almost got a heart attack when the communicator instantly rang, giving a sign that he got a new message.

 “So far I only made you pissed off, so I doubt I would’ve had a good affect on you.”

   Before Jibran could’ve gotten angry for the ignorance of this person, there was the continuation.

 “But I understood. I will not just see you but talk to you if I come over again. Please, be ready for my stoicism. I will most likely refuse your flirtation while I’m working.”

   This was enough for Jibran that night, he did get upset again. However, as he stormed into the bathroom for one last time before sleeping, and went to wash his hands afterwards, he glanced at the mirror above the sink and froze. The mirror must have been broken. Because there was an idiotic, wide smile on his face. 

   Then the next night, Seraing messaged him again; unfortunately, it was just a short one, because the young Judge was really tired, he just wished a good night to him. Then next evening… they decided to make a call instead of texting. It was a long day for Jibran but the excitement didn’t wear off just yet – for the first time in his life, he spoke with other scientists from the Underground City Base. Although their conversations did not bring any fruits at the end, he felt extremely happy. This experience was one of a lifetime experience in his eyes – especially, since the world was about to end.

   Jibran’s and Seraing’s facilities weren’t tied together in every aspect of their jobs, but the doctor felt safe and secure telling everything to the young Judge that happened. Mainly talked about the call, of course, all the experiments and breakthroughs they’ve shared, regardless if Seraing cared about it or not, or even understood him – but it seemed like the young Judge was very good at biology as well, because he was following him just fine.

   And to be fair, their tasks were still related to each other; the discovery of this fusion really elevated the already heavy and depressed atmosphere of the base to the next level, there was no chance to hide these progresses as a secret of their job – or rather the lack of progress they’ve made. But this time, it was not just him talking.

 “We were at the military residential areas when we noticed,” Seraing told him. His voice was low and hoarse, carrying a hint of sadness and maybe a little fear. “There was a person stuck in his room in one of the buildings. We thought he was missing or dead since he didn’t show up after the magnetic pole restarted. That was when we saw it… his room just… grew into a cube without openings. The window was thick and stretchy, it… it felt… alive. “Jibran could’ve bet on it that Seraing shivered at this point. “We couldn’t break in… one of my subordinates wanted to use a grenade launcher. But the room was too small. It would’ve killed the person inside if we used such weapons. Others started to argue with my decision to not use that launcher… I really don’t know, how I would handle this all day every day, if I was an Arbiter, doctor. I feel like I am already the Arbiter… It’s not like I didn’t want to save him. But I had to be logical. There was not much that we could’ve done… this is what I’m telling myself after what happened…”

 “What happened?” Jibran asked him when the young Judge silenced. He didn’t see the man’s face, yet his emotions became heavy and painful too. Seraing must have been feeling the same security that the doctor felt at the beginning of their call, because he entrusted him with the answer after a few seconds of silence – which he probably shouldn’t have done if the circumstances were different. This was related to the distortion, but it was also an inside issue between the Trial Court’s members.

 “The other Judge didn’t listen… he went to bring the launcher… some others went with him… but the time they were away, and I and the rest of the team tried to come up with a solution, a smaller group of civilians showed up. Turned out that they’d already sent notes about this trapped person… but no one paid attention to their messages. They’ve tried to get him out every day and begged for our help but… Obviously, we became the villain in an instant. Then the Judges came back with the grenade launcher… you can imagine… We had to shoot two civilians, who tried to attack that idiot. I tried to make him rethink his plan… but in the end, he fired the launcher.”

 “Did he kill the person inside?” Jibran guessed quietly.

 “Yeah… and not just him. The building was in a very strange state… when the launcher hit it, it didn’t really break, it tore apart like a balloon… it gave out a shockwave after the hit, and broke the building at the opposite side of the road. It fell down very close to us. We were fast enough to escape, but half of the civilians… Those… those who survived, they’ve lost limbs and were also in a very bad state… After that… we had to shoot all of them. None of them was in the position to make it to the Twin Towers, and I doubt anyone could’ve saved them, even if they made it.”

   Jibran knew this. At this point in their life, hospitalising badly wounded civilians was something they couldn’t do; they’d lost a lot of their equipment, supplements, ointments and drugs even, the limited amount they had from these were personal stocks or saved for the military, as they were more important now than any other person. Thanks to the distortion, they still couldn’t check all of their resources, and every day they discovered a new problem with a few of the already checked ones. Rescuing severely injured individuals was beyond their capacity.

   The doctor had more experience in leading; he explained to Seraing, that there were and will be conflicts of interest issues as the doomsday was approaching. He shared all his knowledge about handling situations like this, and then they wandered off of the topic towards the return of Lu Feng as well.

   Their call ended after five hours and twenty-five minutes – only because Jibran simply fell asleep mid-conversation.

   The next day was once again quite exciting… after many years of secret messaging, Jibran took the courage, and illegally opened the channel of the Highland Research Institute. Sadly, Pauli Jones was doing something else at that time; Jibran was only able to reach his assistant. But the person knew about him, and seemed just as excited to talk to him – kind of refreshing reaction; Jibran rarely got this type of welcoming from the people in the base. Their channel was not too stable, so they had only an hour to talk. It was also very late.

   Jibran missed Seraing’s message. Probably because his attention was on the call, he hadn’t heard the sound of the communicator. He felt like his soul left his body for a moment and quickly answered, but Seraing had probably gone to sleep; he didn’t reply until the morning. Jibran was awake already, so they could write to each other for a couple of minutes before they both had to go to work.

This was the point when things took a bad turn.

   Jibran still felt his stomach cramping and he swallowed. He didn’t want to reread that text from the night before yesterday, yet, his fingers were already working and selecting the message to open.

 “I’m in bed. Rough day. How was yours, doctor?”

Jibran still thought, even to this day, that the young Judge’s words carried a hint of depression.

 “What happened?” – This was his answer, quick and short.

 “Nothing serious, don’t worry.”

The assumptions! The audacity! How the hell did this guy know Jibran was worried?! Can he read minds through communicators?

 “I’m thinking, maybe I will quit being a Judge if this chaos ends.”

 “That doesn’t sound like nothing… do you want to call?”

 “No… I yelled so much today, my throat would not survive. But if you want to talk to me, I wouldn’t mind hearing your voice.”

   Even though this happened two days ago, Jibran still felt a sudden rush of hotness on his face and in his stomach just by rereading that line. His fingers gripped the communicator. This time around he was able to catch himself smiling again – for how long were the corners of his mouth curled like this? Who knows… Quickly stopped doing it, and glanced over the car to check if anyone saw him. Lu Feng was holding a piece of paper, fully sinking into reading the text on it; the soldiers went ahead to the driver’s cabin, and talked about something quietly – no one gave a damn about the doctor. 

His eyes turned back to the messages, and swallowed his nervously pounding heart.

   His answer at that time was slightly late, because he couldn’t do anything with the unexpected reactions of his own body.

 “I would feel awkward talking by myself…”

 “You talk a lot anyway. Just start to explain to me how you figured out the biological targets in xenogenics, or whatever is on your mind, and I will listen.”

 “After you’ve just said that I talk a lot, I won’t say a word to you anymore!”

 “Are you offended? I didn’t mean it negatively. I like your talkativeness. You’re complementing me. I like it better when I can just listen to others.”

   The way Jibran felt after these exchanges was unexplainable. And as per usual, when he happened to be uncomfortable in his own skin, he couldn’t let the frustration out of him in any other way… just by teasing. He really should’ve stopped doing bullshits like this. 

 “Are you trying to flirt with me?”

   At that time, he didn’t think anything of that message. Or rather, he thought, it was quite familiar to the young Judge already, that Jibran had this habit of joking… but he should’ve known better. For his defence… he thought he was going to be flatly rejected again, at best. He even started to come up with arguments for that situation, depending on Seraing’s wording… because, well, of course, he did not want to experience that stoicism again.

But the reply struck him like lightning.

 “Is it working?”

Oh, hell yes, it was working.

 “I thought you’re going to deny it…”

 “You haven’t tried to flirt with me since then, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

 “You rejected me too many times.”

 “I didn’t.”

 “Liar. You kept rejecting me.”

 “I apologised.”

 “And what? It’s pointless to flirt with you, I didn’t get anything from it, so I’m done.”

 “I won’t reject you anymore.”

 “Do you want to convince me to flirt with you?”

 “If you’re not trying to do it in times when I cannot reply to your flirtation, I would like to…”

 “So you will reject me then.”

 “Well… just please, don’t flirt with me while I’m working. I would be too focused on my job, and I would hurt you again, unintentionally. Any other times are okay.”

   Jibran at that point lost all of his confidence about what to do. He still couldn’t fully believe how this conversation went… His “flirtation” wasn’t even real… he just said it because he was in a high-alert state. Why didn’t Seraing see this?

   He contemplated if he should flirt with Seraing for real this time… if he would mind having that relationship with him or not. He couldn’t deny it anymore, that he was very much attracted to that dumb boy with his unbelievably pretty eyelashes, but… the meaning of this act would lead to a place, where Jibran never had been before.

He never had a boyfriend.

   He always wished to have one, but somehow no one could match his energy – he planned out every single moment when he was about to approach someone, but the reactions were completely different from his expectations. His lame jokes and awkward topic choices failed, he was often misunderstood or called weird, or he felt like the other person was too boring, or when he was approached by someone, he felt that the person was just not the type he wanted to do anything with. Thus, he didn’t have anyone who could’ve been the first. Now, having the opportunity in front of him, he was suddenly much more conscious about his own expectations and lack of experience.

   But he really wanted it; in his mind, he fantasised about the same things as everyone else: to be with someone in peace, trust in someone, make love with someone, and this kind of stuff.

   Before Jibran could calm himself down and sort out his feelings, Seraing sent him another message.

 “You don’t have to, doctor. I’m fine with having any type of conversation with you. Don’t push yourself. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable with me.”

   Jibran realised, that if he misses out on this chance, it will be lost forever. And surprisingly, this idea made him anxious and weirdly afraid.

   So, he tried to come up with a flirty sentence. But then he deleted it first, for it was too cheesy. Suddenly, he felt like he needs to write a really good one. Thus, he had to avoid using indecent comments and half-assed teasing; he knew these were nowhere near being good flirting tools. He had to impress Seraing. At the same time, however, this required a lot more effort and more knowledge. He didn’t want to make it feel forced either. He also wished to elevate things, if that’s what this unbearably clingy Judge asked him to do…

He never knew that flirting was this hard when he was not joking about it.

 “Make me, sweetheart.”

   He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t make it better. After a good amount of tries of cute or romantic flirting, he realised he liked them even less than his usual style. So he left just a subtle dirtiness. He hoped Seraing wouldn’t feel uncomfortable about it. He knew he wouldn’t be able to continue the cuteness and cleanliness for long. Eventually, he would’ve been exposed. So this solution might be still better – if Seraing judges Jibran to be weird, as some others did, at least they will end their flirting before it goes further. 

   This was not the first time he’d called Seraing sweetheart either, but the nickname never meant anything before. It was just like any other teasing of his.

   Then, he grew uncertain again. Suddenly, a thought popped up in his head: what if Seraing was so innocent and naïve that he wouldn’t even be able to recognise the dirtiness? Would that annoy him or make him feel relieved? There was something attractive about innocence. Jibran liked innocence a lot. In fact, innocent boys were kind of his weaknesses. However, if that was the case, it meant, Seraing was going to be just one of those people who couldn’t match his dirty mind. Maybe this kind-hearted Judge was even more of a virgin than he was – if he cannot understand the underlying message of this sentence that would be the proof of that.

Come to think of this, did he have a boyfriend before?

   Suddenly, Jibran wanted to know. He wanted to know everything about Seraing’s personal life. What type of boys – or girls – did he like? Did he even have any preferences? Or any fantasies? He ought to have some, right? He was still a man after all. Which posture did he like the best? What were his thoughts about long-term relationships or love? What were his thoughts about Jibran? How much was this real for the young Judge and what did he expect him to do? What did he want to do as a partner of Jibran? He knew Seraing was very intelligent, both intellectually and emotionally, but he never tried to dig into his soul and life before. He only knew that the first time they met, he saw him as a bit naïve, tender, kind and pretty boy, who idolised Lu Feng. That was all. His capabilities only started to come to the surface now, that he actually was talking with him daily. Jibran started to feel a type of thirst for him. It was different from sexual thirst, rather the thirst of communicating and knowing this person to his last bits.

   He got excited about one particular thing as well. He was always “doctor” for Seraing. He wanted the man to call him by his name at least, but somehow never got a chance to say it. Now, he wished to get a nickname as well. What did Seraing think would fit him? Will he come up with something personal, or just a casual “baby” or “darling”? Jibran pondered about what would be his favourite if he was able to choose, but he got embarrassed thinking of it.

   Then once again he thought, maybe Seraing was not going to get the hints and wouldn’t call him anything.

   He had to be prepared for the flatness and rejection. He had to be prepared that he will be called “doctor” again, or that Seraing will be too innocent to top this level of flirting.

But…

He wasn’t rejected.

HE WAS IGNORED!

COMPLETELY IGNORED!

Seraing didn’t answer him.

   Jibran waited for two hours that night before he had to accept, he probably took too much time to decide, and Seraing fell asleep. It was an incredibly painful experience.

But he didn’t get a message in the morning either.

   He wanted to shake it off. He really did. He tried his hardest to distract his mind from this unpleasant feeling, but once again, he became irritatingly offended. He couldn’t help but think that Seraing seemed to not make any effort, or wasn’t even caring for Jibran’s answer, as if it was not important. Nothing. Not a single sign that he even read the message.

   Jibran felt rage when the sun hit the highest point of the sky. He stopped wanting to find any excuse for that little bastard, and wanted to hate him for making him come out of his comfort zone, try something he never tried, and then make such a big fool out of him.

   At that point, he decided to end this whole thing. He was wrong even starting it. It isn’t worth the suffering for him. He was better off by himself. As always, it never worked out when he wanted to have someone.

So, when yesterday he got this last message, he didn’t even open it.

No matter how much urge he felt to do it, how much curiosity he felt to do it.

   He was on his way to get Lu Feng anyway. There were much more important things to do than playing with that stupid Judge and his attractive eyelashes.

   But he couldn’t lie, he wanted to see that message so badly. Now even more than ever. Lu Feng was fine, the sample was in good hands and a huge stress factor disappeared from his shoulders – he had time again to worry about Seraing’s message.

   Sighing deeply, he closed his eyes and then he did it. He opened it. He didn’t dare to look at it first. Just after a couple of seconds, he turned his eyes to the text and his throat was very tight, his fingers were shaking.

Previous

Next

Súgó Még nincs hozzászólás.

Új hozzászólás Frissítés