Julian opened the door of his house when someone rang the doorbell several times, which made him feel annoyed and scared at the same time. However, when he opened the front door, he stood there in surprise because there was no one at the door.
Thep man furrowed his brow, then walked toward the gate of his house while looking left and right. But there was no one around, only himself.
"Who rang the bell like that? Was it just some kids playing a prank?" he asked in surprise.
For a moment, he stood silently in front of his yard, looking confused as he observed the quiet surroundings that afternoon. At that time, the clock still showed 4:15 p.m., and for some schools, it was their dismissal time.
"But I don’t remember any children living in this neighborhood. Maybe he was just passing by and doing something mischievous," he muttered, trying not to think too much about it, then walked back into the house.
Unbeknownst to him, someone was hiding and taking photos of him from a distance while Julian stood in the front yard of his house.
Sitting back on the sofa, he watched his favorite movie while waiting for dinner time to order something. He was also curious about what Arcane was doing at that moment.
"Drinking with the teachers? That must be fun because you have friends to go out with. Meanwhile, I’m still at home without a single friend," he said with boredom.
Until now, he hadn’t found the job he was hoping for, and Hans hadn’t even responded to Marshal’s message because he was busy. But the man promised to let them know as soon as he found someone who might need Julian on their team.
Dinner felt so lonely with Arcane still not home. Julian sat alone at the dining table watching videos on his phone.
He glanced at the chair opposite him, where Arcane usually sat and ate dinner with him.
"It feels so quiet without him here. It usually feels so warm, especially when he asks me a few questions about what I did today. Even though the answer is always the same, he still asks me every day," he said, staring at the dinner he had ordered earlier.
Meanwhile, Arcane was sitting with his fellow teachers at a pub, enjoying drinks and snacks they had bought there.
They talked about their students, especially the problematic ones and the difficulties they had in managing them. They laughed, relieving each other’s fatigue and stress as fellow teachers.
Arcane took a sip of his drink, then glanced occasionally at the principal sitting at the end of the table. The principal smiled and laughed casually, as if he considered them all his friends.
Next to Arcane, Kyle sat drinking juice and enjoying the food.
"You don’t drink alcohol?" asked Arcane, who was met with a shake of the head.
"No. I don’t drink alcohol because I get drunk easily and don’t really like the taste. So I choose to drink juice instead." Kyle replied somewhat shyly because he was the only one drinking juice while the other teachers, both male and female, were enjoying alcohol.
Arcane nodded in understanding, especially considering how the man next to him had always appeared. He always looked neat and like a good man who didn’t touch alcohol.
And it turned out that Kyle was also married to a man. His husband was a construction worker who was quite rough with him.
"Sometimes he comes home looking very angry. I can’t do anything about it; my parents wanted me to marry him, so I just have to accept it. But I’m sure Ethan is a good man. He’s just acting rough because his job keeps making him angry and just tired," Kyle told him.
"But you can’t keep putting up with it. If you keep letting him hurt you, he’ll just think you deserve to be treated that way. I know you’re no match for him, but try to think about yourself too. There’s nothing wrong with being selfish when someone treats you badly," said Arcane.
Somehow, his words made Kyle feel much better, as if someone had finally listened to what he had to say. All this time, he had been the guy who listened to everyone else’s stories, but no one listened to him except Arcane.
"Thank you. I feel much better," he said with a soft smile.
Arcane returned his smile and glanced back at the principal, who was laughing at the teachers’ jokes. His green eyes narrowed sharply, like an eagle that would not let go of its prey.
He seemed to have something unsaid to the middle aged man whose hair was starting to turn gray. Their eyes met, Donald looked at Arcane before Arcane finally looked away when Kyle spoke to him again.
"So what is your husband like? I hear he’s a good man like you," he asked.
"My husband? Hmn... Julian is..."
He tried to remember what Julian was like. And in his memory, he saw every smile and pout that man had ever given him. His smile when he felt victorious or had accomplished something, his protesting and angry face when Arcane kept teasing him, and when he cried while calling his parents.
He felt like he had seen all those emotions from his husband even though they had only been married for seven months.
"You’re smiling."
"Hm?" Arcane looked at Kyle in confusion.
"You looked like you were smiling when I asked you to describe your husband. It seems like you’re remembering memories of the two of you. I’m sure you must have loved him very much!" Kyle smiled too.
This surprised Arcane a little, because their marriage was not based on love but on a contract.
’How could I love someone like him? Our marriage was only a temporary contract until I achieved my goal. Was I really smiling when I remembered him?’ he thought to himself at that moment.
They continued the night drinking and eating until they were drunk. Kyle, who didn’t drink, was the only one who wasn’t drunk at the party, and he felt confused about how to leave his colleagues.
"I can’t leave them like this, can I? Plus, Ethan told me to go home. What should I do?" he muttered in confusion.
At that moment, the clock showed 9:35 p.m. When he turned to Arcane, he saw the man’s cell phone in his hand and heard the sound of an incoming message. Arcane, who was drunk, didn’t seem to notice.
Kyle saw this as an opportunity for him. Slowly, he took Arcane’s cell phone and looked at the message that had come in.
"Oh, could it be that he..."