20. Aftermath

Ari arrived in the wee hours of the morning not expecting to find Mun in his apartment still awake. Ignoring his friend's mockery at how dishevelled he appeared, he quietly proceeded to his room for a shower. Though the two often held no secrets between them, this time, Ari felt too many emotions churning inside him that he didn't know which one dominated the other, what to say and what not to. Fear, excitement, joy, anger; he'd experienced them all in one night.

"Isn't it about time you started talking?" Mun inquired after Ari had gotten back from hiding. "Don't tell me you hooked up with some rando at the club or that client."

Mun's words sent Ari hiding further into his shame. Part of him was filled with guilt over what had transpired between him and Rey and his coping mechanism had always been to open up to his friend, lest he wallows in his guilt and succumbs to depression.

Before Mun came into his life, he'd kept all to himself, his trauma of coming out to his family and having been rejected among other broken relationships. It became habitual to nature to isolate himself feeling unworthy and humiliated. After meeting Mun during their first year on campus, who'd pretty much followed him around out of curiosity, Ari found himself opening up more than normal and in turn, he picked a few habits from Mun. One of them was to change his perception of how he sees himself and how others saw him too. He also learned that his coming out was not something he needed to be ashamed of doing and this shift in perception eliminated feelings of inadequacy, which in turn helped him fix his inferiority complex.

"Did you two break up?"

"What?"

"You and Ned. Though judging by your surprised look, it appears that isn't the case." Studying Ari's exposed neck, Mun concluded Ari was a man fresh from sex. "No more trouble in paradise since you look chewed up."

Pulling his shirt up, Ari stared into space completely lost in thought, his mind still processing what had transpired the night before his silent escape from Rey's apartment. Every inch of his body hurt but his pride had been the most wounded one. Rey had not only been mercilessly rough with him, exposing the inner depths of his vulnerabilities. He'd also left him quivering as a leaf in the middle of a cold blizzard.

"Mun..." Ari hesitated. "I'd often fancied the fragile state of my crushes and I feel the same way with both Ned and Rey. Well, at least from my last memory of his petite self whilst a fresher on campus. Ned is gentle, very good looking and takes care of himself but then, he is the opposite once he takes his corporate mask off..."

"Spare me your sexual experiences, please. I was just about to retire before you got me all curious. Go straight to the facts..."

"It's Rey." Ari cut in, unable to stay hidden in his shame any longer.

"Ari, the guy simply admires your work ethic, nothing in between. Whatever you keep hoping to happen will never come to pass."

"Except it did."

Mun's eyes grew wide, waiting in anticipation to hear more but Ari simply remained quiet, staring into nothingness. "Spill the beans already!"

"I-I don't know what to say or feel..." Ari whispered, his body trembling then raised his bowed head to look at Mun, who'd already rushed to sit on the table in front of him. "Mun, he dominated me completely."

"Don't we already know that? You've been hung up on him for years! At least tell me there is some progress between you two."

"We had sex...or at least he had sex with me."

A smirk formed at the corner of Mun's lips. He was about to jump with joy but then decided against it. He wanted to listen to the details, even though it had been clear from the start what had happened judging from the visible hickies Ari wore on his neck. "For him to go all the way, he must have been drunk silly."

"He was...for the most part, and you are right. Rey defended me in front of that arrogant client despite his intoxicated state. Things got a little too heated up and I had to get him out of there. Then one thing lead to another and before I knew it we were kissing in the car, but Rey is so tall...we ended up on his bed."

Ari's last statement sent Mun bursting into laughter enough to fall from the table. Grabbing onto one of Ari's legs, he pulled himself up while his other hand held onto his lower abdomen.

"You got bottomed from the looks of it."

"This is not something to celebrate over. I never expected to take an unfamiliar position with him. Perhaps I pine after him a little bit too much to compromise my pride."

"Forget you, think about Rey! Isn't he supposed to be straight?"

"I...I don't know." Ruffling through his hair in a frustrated manner, Ari added. "How dare he compare me to his girlfriend though."

"He is dating?"

"He said they broke up and... Damn it! I didn't bother to ask him! I was upset he'd compare me to some girl for that matter but then he said I'm pretty or I smell nice... His fingers kept rubbing at the back of my neck and a strong desire to kiss him took over me."

Mun hard-smacked Ari's shoulder, congratulating him on his major milestone.

"That hurt you, moron!"

"Don't blame me! Go and find your lover and tell him to give you a massage after ravishing you mercilessly."

Ari's expression suddenly dropped, his hand rubbing the part he'd been hit to even the pain out. "Which one?"

"I almost forgot about your aristocrat. Are you going to double-date them?"

"What-No?! Rey is bound to regret what happened as soon as he wakes up. He probably was just curious about what it feels like to have sex with a man. Remember he stereotyped me before thinking I sleep around with just about any guy anywhere, anytime."

"As much as I want to refute that, he has been harsh with his words and openly declared being a homophobe."

"He did repeatedly point out that I'm amenable to...well...my clients' sexual advances and remember that difficult client he somehow won over? Turns out the guy still holds a grudge against me. He even made advances towards Rey and if I hadn't taken him out of there, he'd have jumped Rey who surprisingly turns into an annoying horny beast when intoxicated."

"As much as I look forward to seeing that, we must address the elephant in the room."

"Yea. Ned and I had a huge fight with details I can not disclose."

"It's out in the public. I know he got married to some wealthy conglomerate. The ceremony was kept discreet and announced in the newspaper as a formality."

"Yes. He got back yesterday afternoon and told me of it."

"Dang Ari, why do you always put yourself in these situations?"

"What are you talking about? I've never been in a situation such as this before."

"At work, you are never a pushover but in your personal life, you let everyone walk over you like a doormat."

"There is no one walking over me now!"

"As if! Rey, a straight guy and your campus junior just bottomed you! Have you ever even paid attention to anyone you considered your type? They all looked like certain someone."

"You're too invested in my life you've become delirious."

"I'm I? I bet you didn't accept your aristocrat from the start since he looks the opposite of Rey. As a matter of fact, I find it interesting that you slept with many people and never realised Mr funny marshmallow head has always dominated almost half of your existence."

"Then what would you have me do? I'm crazy about him I could die! In fact, I don't feel a tinge of guilt for sleeping with him!"

Mun chuckled. "Glad that's cleared out." Scooting beside a frustrated Ari, Mun added, " Either way, I'm a serial player and you used to be one until you burned out."

"What's your point? You're getting on my nerves."

"Couples fight, but they don't go sleeping around, especially after mutually deciding to go exclusive."

"When you put it like that, it sounds as if I'm the only one cheating yet he wedded someone behind my back, and now the whole country knows about it. The funny is, he expects me to go along with it. Mun, I'm not his concubine."

"What a conundrum. You took advantage of a drunk straight guy while on the other hand, your gay boyfriend is married to some rich girl; A homophobic straight man sleeps with a gay man and a gay man marries a straight woman, making you what? Did you say, concubine?

"You are enjoying this aren't you?"

"You know me too well."