“But you didn’t pay attention, because that’s what you do. You don’t appreciate people and things that are there. You only want them when they are gone,” Her lips were pursed in a thin line. He didn’t focus on her tone as he smiled somberly, “No, when I lose something I replace it with something better.”“Then why haven’t you replaced Tristan yet?” She asked in a cold voice. This time Roth turned at her in bewilderment as he felt the chills in her voice, “Something better for him perhaps does not exist. He was many things in one, I have to collect as many things to replace him.” It was only after he had uttered these words that he became aware of his wrong selection of words. Inwardly condemning himself, he tried to make it right by turning to her and holding her hands, “I have you now, Eleanor. You are more important than everything I have lost. The movie just reminded me of Tristan, but I don’t think of him.” He knew it had not worked as he saw tears pooling up in her eyes. Grea
Oliver had one more secret, but this other one he planned to tell Tristan soon, in fact as soon as that very night. His birthday was the next day, and for his own birthday, he had planned a surprise for both of them, because he was doubtful if Tristan even knew his birthday. Although he knew Tristan’s. But Oliver didn’t know that the universe had planned a surprise for him too, a surprise that he would not like very much. As Oliver entered the house that night, he was excited, and that excitement could be seen in every gesture of his as he skipped through the living room and into the bedroom, when he saw Tristan sprawled on the bed. Maybe he had fallen asleep waiting for Oliver. Careful not to wake Tristan up, Oliver placed his watch and phone on the nightstand. Since he had taken on to the red and white corporate building project, his life had been consumed by it. But after he would be done designing the project, it would not take up so much of his personal life, or at least that
Since Roth had not pre planned the call, or even expected it to be received, he was taken by surprise and suddenly found himself at a loss of words. What do you even say to a person who was once your best friend, but secretly had feelings for you, who then raped you and you hated him until he left your house, and whom now you just can not stop missing and don’t even know why you are missing him? x - x - xOliver had picked up the call without checking the caller ID. There had been silence on the other end for several minutes as Oliver held his own phone in the other hand, scrolling through his playlist searching for the perfect music for the occasion. When Oliver realized after a while that Tristan’s phone was still clutched between his ear and shoulder and there had been no sound of it despite that the call had been connected for minutes, he pulled the phone away from his ear. He checked the caller ID in confusion, but it was an unknown number. He pressed the phone back to his ea
Oliver waited for Tristan’s ex to say something in response, but he was more stubborn than Tristan’s story had described him. So Oliver pulled the phone away from his ear, and after contemplating the phone for a while, pressed the red button. He took some breaths to compose himself. He could not help but wonder if Tristan had given this guy the green flag to call him late at night? He narrowed his eyes at the number before him in the recently received calls on Tristan’s phone, suddenly realizing what he had done. Whomever had been calling Tristan at 2 AM, it was not Oliver’s business to talk to them. And even if it was to save Tristan’s sleep from being disturbed, Oliver had no right to talk to them on Tristan’s behalf. It was for Tristan’s own good, I am just looking out for him, Oliver comforted himself with the explanation. But he was well aware of how meek it was, as he stared at the screen. Tristan could never know that he had talked to Roth that night. Oliver had planned a
“I have phonophobia,” Tristan said quietly. Oliver looked at him in confusion - he clearly was not familiar with the term. “Fear of loud noises,” Tristan explained, “When I was a child, there was a bad storm in Ireland one night, and a tree fell over on the attic of our house.” He paused for a while, checking for Oliver’s expression, which had changed from confusion to sympathy. After a while, Tristan added, “My room was in the attic. Since then, I have been afraid of loud noises.”Oliver looked down at their hands, then interlocked his fingers with Tristan’s, and said softly, “I am sorry, Tristan.” Tristan shook his head, “You didn’t know and had no way of knowing.” Both of them sat in silence for a while, holding each other, when suddenly Tristan realized something. He raised his head from Oliver’s shoulder where it had been residing, “What was the party popper for though? Is tonight something special?”Oliver looked at Tristan’s face for a while, then his face broke into a sol
Tristan walked out of the bedroom, dressed in baggy pants and a sweater vest on top of a button down shirt. To complete the outfit he had put on a cross body bag on himself too. Everything about him screamed an art fanatic. Taking a look at him, Oliver did not even have to check the list to see where they were headed, it had to be some sort of art museum. “Aren’t you dressed yet for the Met?” Tristan gasped as he looked at Oliver, who was dressed in a plain-white T-shirt and blue jeans. Oliver chuckled, “I would have preferred if you wanted me undressed.”Tristan smiled teasingly, walking up to Oliver, “All in good time, baby, all in good time.”Oliver groaned, “Do we have to go to the Met? You must have gone there a million times!”“Yes, but never with you!” Tristan’s voice was firm enough to make it clear to Oliver that he was not changing his mind. “Can’t I just stay here and appreciate the art in front of me?” Oliver grabbed Tristan and pulled him towards himself, as color ros
That and the fact that he was alone now. Eleanor or no one could replace Tistan, but earlier at least there had been Eleanor. This was the first time in his life that he was utterly alone, and he did not like that idea. But he disapproved of the idea of being with someone more, so he would have to pick off the lesser evils. The desktop beeped again, and this time when Roth glanced at it, he didn’t have to be disappointed. A satisfied smile spread on his face and he pushed the intercom button to order his manager to get his car ready as well as the chauffeur. That notification was the single ray of hope in Roth Dimitri’s life at that point. x - x - xOliver was five months into his new project. The workers had started working on the actual building after establishing the basic framework. Oliver now had to go only twice a week to check on the progress, and he was satisfied with his routine. Tristan, on the other hand, was far from satisfied with Oliver’s routine. Oliver being at ho
Usually he would not even bother passing on the message to Roth, but something about the way this man cared for his boyfriend spoke to him. “What is it?” Roth’s brittle voice hit his ears, making him regret calling Roth. “Sir, are you familiar with our architect, Oliver Bardott?” “Get to the point.” The manager stifled another sigh. “Sir, he wants you to meet his boyfriend who is just starting his new business and could help with more partners,” Even before uttering the sentence, the manager could tell how absurd it sounded, as he internally condemned himself for calling Roth for something so lame. “And what are you for?” “Huh, I am sorry, sir?”“I hired you to tackle this stuff yourself and not let it get to me, but instead you are the one conveying these messages to me. If you can’t do your job properly, tell me and we have no shortage of candidates who would give anything to replace you,” The manager was especially unlucky to have caught Roth on a bad day. After another fiv