Far away from the Xu family’s private island, a small gathering was going on in Xander’s exclusive room in Vilux.
"Aww~ I thought I could et Calix here tonight. That man’s on a trip with his wife and daughter, huh?"
A man, his long hair dyed red, exhaled a sigh as he leaned against the plush cushion of a couch. Looking at the other two people in the room, he clicked his tongue upon sensing the heavy mood in the air.
"Co on, guys. I’ve just returned after so many months. Aren’t you happy to see ? Tsk tsk, we’re not at a funeral ah."
Xander gave no response to the man’s remark as he sat on the single couch. His somber countenance reflected the bleakness of his inner thoughts.
Davin shook his head in helplessness. Extending a hand, he poured so wine into a glass before handing it to the man. The red liquid shimred under the soft orange lights above.
"Ryken, why don’t you shut up for a mont, en? Here, finish this glass."
The crimson-haired man arched his brows as a smirk lined up on his lips. He took the glass from Davin without any words before gulping the entire content down his throat.
Davin refrained from sighing. He glanced at Xander before looking at the man with a low ponytail dangling over one shoulder.
The red-haired man was Ryken Mo, the fourth part of their small inner circle. The man was always abroad, traveling from one country to the other.
More often than not, Ryken couldn’t be reached easily. He tended to hike the hills and mountains, camped in the deep forests and explored the caves with the fellow travelers he t along the way.
Ryken was away for over six months before he appeared out of nowhere today, dragging Xander and Davin for a eting at Vilux.
Ryken wanted to et all of them, including Calix tonight. Unfortunately, the latter was out of the city.
Well... Davin could picture how the situation would be more awkward if Calix tagged along. He knew the latter hadn’t spoken to Xander which he didn’t bla his friend for.
Emptying the glass, Ryken put it on the table with a soft thud. He snickered at Davin, "I’ve shut up for a minute. Now, follow ."
"...hey!"
Ryken grabbed Davin’s arm, pulling his friend to the balcony of the private room. He didn’t forget to close the sliding door despite how obvious his action was.
Xander lifted his eyes, throwing a quiet look at Davin and Ryken. He could guess what the red-haired man wanted to inquire from Davin.
Ryken dragged Davin to the right side of the balcony where a wrought-iron table and two chairs were placed. The nightscape of the city was perfectly clear in their eyes.
"I’ve heard about them from you but, damn... I didn’t expect it’ll be this serious."
Sitting with one leg crossed over another, Ryken remarked about Xander and Calix’s currently strained friendship. He tilted his head, causing his red fringes and ponytail to sway.
Davin sighed, seemingly at his wit’s ends. Throwing his gaze over the city illuminated with colorful neon lights, he uttered, "It’s bad. I’ve never seen them fight like this before."
Ryken might be hard to reach during his journey but, Davin had been filling the forr in with almost everything that happened back in their ho country.
One of them was the cold war between Calix and Xander.
Without sugarcoating anything, Davin acknowledged Calix was in the right to defend himself and his family over Xander’s continuous prejudice.
"I heard Violet ask for a break," said Davin after a period of silence, "Seems like it’s true. I haven’t seen them together recently."
Davin had never expected this turn of events after he and Violet both advised Xander to reflect on his actions. None of them wanted the latter’s longti friendship with Calix to be destroyed.
Davin guessed that Violet thought deeply about her relationship with Xander following the crisis between him and Calix.
After all... one could say the lovers’ romance got off on the wrong foot.
Xander was very persistent in his quest to get Violet. Even though Calix and Davin always advised him to approach the lady slowly and with care, the man didn’t listen to them.
Despite showering Violet with expensive gifts and whatnot, so far Xander failed to give her much respect. He always wanted to have the final say in sothing related to her.
Ryken’s voice penetrated through Davin’s trance, pulling the latter’s attention back to him.
"If I were Calix, I’d be mad too. How could Xander double down on his view about Calix’s wife? When I heard about him suggesting Calix returned to Aria, I was like, what the hell?"
Ryken was fully aware Xander could hear what he and Davin were talking about but, he didn’t care. He spoke everything he had in mind.
"Urgh... That Aria thing is another issue. Calix was so mad when Xander first brought it up."
Davin pinched the space between his temple, feeling a headache coming. He was trapped in the middle of the conflict between Xander and Calix.
Narrowing his eyes, Ryken stared at Davin’s tired face. Unable to contain his curiosity, he asked, "Has that woman co looking for Calix after she returned? She’s still in the country, right?"
"So far, she hasn’t," admitted Davin, speaking the truth, "I bumped into her a few weeks ago at a party. She ran away once she saw so, maybe we can say she’s ashad to et us?"
"She better be."
Ryken despised Aria for hurting Calix over seven years ago. He didn’t expect how shaless and delusional that woman could be after cheating on his friend with two different n.
Aria had been abroad for years after being dumped by Calix. Ryken could only hope that the woman would stay out of his friend’s sight. Even better if she never thought of reconciling with Calix.
Shifting his eyes from Davin to the closed balcony doors, Ryken wondered what Xander would possibly be thinking inside.
Shouldn’t he try to find out?
Reviews
All reviews (0)