In the middle of the afternoon, with the sun still persistent and radiant in his small, endlessly hot room, Lucian had to start thinking about what things he should pack to move into Nathan's house for a month.
Of course, only the essentials, because he wasn't going to stay for long. He pulled a suitcase big enough for his clothes and belongings from under his bed and, without further ado, began to select what to pack. Not that he had many clothes to choose from.
The whole mission of helping Nathan regain his memory was leaving him a bit mentally exhausted. He was still a little surprised and stunned by the fact that he would be living with him for a month, which meant he would probably see him every morning, and that they would have lunch and even dinner together. To him, those kinds of things could be considered intimate.
'I have to have a neutral mindset and at the same time act as if it's nothing to me. In theory, I should act like a worried boyfriend who is desperate to help him get his memory back, right?'
He felt a bit uneasy and also uncomfortable having to act that way with Nathan. He didn't know what kind of script to follow. After all, he wasn't really an actor, and the plot wasn't entirely an act if one of the two parties wasn't truly acting. Lucian still thought Nathan was convinced they were a couple or something similar.
'Should I act uninterested? Or should I act like I actually care and be the kind of person who is good at housework?...'
'I mean, he insisted on letting me live in his house without having to pay a cent, no matter how much I insisted, so I should at least do something, right?'
'Wait a minute... Is he going to ask me to cook?' Lucian immediately went into alert mode.
'I don't know how to cook!!'
'What should I do now? I don't have time to learn how to make some dishes out of nowhere...' But right away, realizing his ridiculous assumption, Lucian calmed down a bit.
'What am I talking about? You don't necessarily have to expect your partner to have extraordinary cooking skills, right? Besides, he doesn't know how to cook either, from what I remember! Well, it's not like he had to bother to learn.'
'Right! He should have someone to assist him with meals. I'm completely sure that lady wouldn't let her son bother with that kind of work.'
'Hahaha, I'm worrying about nothing. I should stop overthinking it.' The poor guy was just nervous.
He concluded his afternoon by organizing and tidying everything he would have to take to Nathan's house the next day. He wanted to finish everything before going to work.
To his surprise, the very next day he would be moving into someone else's house. He had expected at least a week to think it through, but things had turned out differently.
'Since you woke up, you haven't given my heart and mind any rest... When you get your memory back, I hope you won't be too angry with me and will take into consideration how difficult it was for me, hahaha.' He was laughing, but a few seconds later, his face reflected worry and a touch of sadness.
'Suddenly, I don't feel so excited about him getting his memories back.'
'I hope he doesn't sue me...'
'I don't have money for a lawyer.'
....
At the other end of the city, a young man in a suit entered a busy cafe near the official buildings.
He wasn't too tall but not too short either. His hair was black, a very dark black, just like his eyes which looked tired. He seemed a little stressed and looked hurried and nervous about not being late to come back to work.
When the barista on the other side of the counter noticed John's presence, she immediately started preparing some drinks.
"John! Your coffees will be ready in five minutes!"
"Thank you so much, Sarah!" John replied with a sigh of relief as soon as he heard her.
John was a regular customer at that cafe, and whenever he went, he would order the typical drink one would expect an office worker to be drinking: Americano coffee.
Sarah was already used to seeing him every day rushing to get coffee and understood it was for his colleagues. After all, he was the scapegoat in his office.
If someone needed anything, any errand, any job, it was for John. Everyone in his office knew it. After all, many had started to hate him ever since word got out that he was the son of a somewhat prominent figure.
Everyone began to feel envy and think it was unfair that many things came easily to him. Rumors, such as his father having bought him the position by bribing his boss, spread everywhere and always reached John's ears loud and clear.
For that reason, he always ended up being in charge of buying coffee for whoever wanted it.
Seeing that the five drinks were already ready on the counter, John didn't hesitate to go and pick them up in a flash. "Thanks, Sarah! I really owe you one for the help!"
"Don't worry. We all have busy lives here, so I understand," Sarah replied with a friendly smile.
"I made an extra coffee for you. With three shots. On the house." She winked one of her eyes.
"You're the best! I really owe you one!"
"Don't worry about it, John."
"See you soon!" John said goodbye to her while professionally holding the six coffees in his arms as he opened the door to leave.
"Bye, John!"
Once outside, his cell phone started to ring, so while holding the coffees with one arm, he tried to get his phone out of his pocket to answer. As he walked, he made sure not to spill the drinks. Who knows what they would say if he did.
"Yes?" he answered the call.
"John, what time are you getting here? Why are you taking so long? It's just going to buy coffee!" One of his colleagues was complaining on the other side of the phone.
"..."
'Breathe, John... Breathe..,' he repeated to himself, holding back all his anger.
"I'm on my way back! Anyway, there shouldn't be any problem since we still have a break."
Not listening to him he replied "I'm reminding you that you have to fill out a form. The rest of us are busy with too many documents to do it, so you're the only one left," he was complaining.
'What damn documents do they have to do that I don't?!!'
'I'm just as busy!!'
"Alright! I'm on my way!" John responded with a huge smile on his face. He was holding back all his anger with all his might. The last time he exploded and complained, it didn't end well with his superiors.
"Oh, right. And the boss wants you to take care of a few policies, so you'd better hurry up and get here."
"..." His smile broke.
'F**king boss!!!!'