Stranger

Darren wakes up to the sound of the alarm. The man is getting up from the bed to snooze it. The room is dark and cold. Darren hugs himself under the duvet as he listens to man's movements. He hears the clicking of the bathroom light, the closing of the door and the flush of the toilet bowl. Darren keeps his eyes closed through the shower and the water dripping sounds.

He falls asleep and only wakes up again when he feels cold hands caress his face. The room is now dimly-lit. Calm, yellow light coming from the lamp on the corner behind him. The man is kneeling on the floor. He is now fully dressed again. Darren smells his familiar perfume.

"Wake up, sleepyhead..." the man says as he kisses Darren.

"Come back to bed." Darren moans.

"I need to go, love." Darren looks at the man and stretches out his hand. The man holds his hand and kisses it. Darren is still naked under the sheets. He pulls the man back to bed.

"Can you stay a little bit longer?" he asks.

"Well, I... I can but..." the man stammers.

"Don't worry about it."

Darren and the man dress up and enjoy a dinner at the rooftop of the hotel. The restaurant is packed with people which Darren finds strange on a normal weeknight. He orders cheeseburger for himself and lets the man have a slab of baby back ribs. The man never runs out of questions and stories to tell as Darren quietly listens and only occasionally chimes in.

"By the way, how's your mom?" Darren asks as he slices through the burger in half.

"Stable, for now... Still in the hospital but the doctor said she can leave in a few days if her lab results shows continues to get better." The man empties the beer bottle on his side. Darren calls a waiter to order another two bottles.

"I hope she gets better."

"Me, too." The man smiles to Darren. It was a sad smile he tries to hide. The man raises his fork with a cut of meat and puts it in front of Darren. "Let's not spoil the mood tonight, yes?"

Darren hesitates.

"Come on. Open up." the man commands. Darren opens his mouth and shyly chews the meat. The man looks satisfied and happily continues with his meal. Darren empties his beer bottle, too.

Darren sees the waiter approach with two ice-cold beer.

"So, another round after dinner?" the man teases.

Darren's face reddens as the question is heard by the waiter, judging by his sudden but controlled smirk. Darren pretends to cough. "Excuse me. Sorry, what?" The waiter leaves with no further remark but Darren is still shaken.

"Bathtub time?"

"How... Can you... Uhm... Can we not talk about it here? People can hear you." Darren stutters.

"Relax, love. You should learn to start giving no fucks about what other people think. How can you be truly happy if you're always looking behind your shoulder with fear of judgment? They can judge all they want. Don't let it affect you."

To say that Darren is surprised with the simple wisdom from the man is an understatement. Darren smiles. He wants to say something but thinks better of it. He clears his plate as the man changes topic and talks about his daily life.

The man insists on holding his hand as they walk out of the restaurant. True enough, there are some eyes prying which make Darren both uncomfortable and proud. As they walk back to their room, Darren notices the man's red face. He looks like he may have drank more than his usual.

"I'm not drunk." he disagrees.

"You just look like one?" Darren laughs as he hugs the man in the waist.

The man sits on the couch and asks Darren to sit on his lap, facing him. Darren, a little buzzed himself, follows and starts unbuttoning the man's shirt. He traces his fingers on the man's chest.

"Sorry for tearing your shirt earlier. I was just in the zone."

"Shhh." Darren takes off the man's top and kisses him. The man puts his hands on his butt as he leans to the chair. They passionately share a kiss and let their hands play around for several minutes.

"Shower?" Darren asks.

Each step they take, a piece of clothing gets taken off. Darren turns the faucet on in the bathtub as the man turns the shower on in the cubicle. Darren joins the man in the shower as the steam rises and covers them. His body is pressed against the wall as the man does his grinding. Darren's violent breaths fog the wall as the shower continues to wet their bodies.

After that steamy encounter, they retreated to a bubbly bathtub where Darren rests on the man's body. The man crosses his arm around Darren's waist as they savor the silence with random kisses.

"I wish we can go back to being like this everyday." Darren whispers, inaudible to the man.

"What?" Darren shakes his head. He gives the man a kiss and asks him to hug him tighter. He leans back and lets the man kiss him in the ear.

"Happy anniversary..." Darren continues as tears build up in his eyes.

The night is rather still. Darren craves for fresh air so he invites the man to walk around the hotel vicinity. They go to a nearby convenience store to buy ice cream. They walk along the park and pass through the coffee shop, now closed, where they met earlier. Darren mentions to the man that it is one of his favorite places.

Under the thick canopy of trees and the pale moonlight, the man purses his lips for a kiss request.

"What, here?" Darren hesitates.

The man nods. He moves his face closer to Darren and closes his eyes. Darren stares at his face as if memorizing each laugh lines. Darren smiles and decides to put the cold sundae towards the man's lips. The man slowly opens his mouth. Darren laughs and runs away from the man.

"Fuck!" With ice cream in his lips, the man chases Darren and puts ice cream on his cheek. He cages Darren in his strong arms and gives him several kisses around the face.

"You deserve that." the man says.

They both stop when the man's wrist watch alarms to announce that it's already midnight and a new day has officially started. Darren's shoulders fall as they slowly walk back to the hotel.

"Time's up."

The man quickly washes up his face to remove the dried, sticky ice cream. He wipes wet towel onto Darren's face as well and reminds him to start a skincare routine to properly moisturize his face. Darren just watches him as he savors the last few minutes of them being together.

The silence is palpable as the man quietly gathers his things. Darren stands by the window, watching the moon. He hears the last zip from the man's bag.

"Darren..." He turns to the man. He looks as handsome as the first time he saw him. They are a few feet apart from each other as Darren crosses his arms to hug himself. "Can I get the...?"

"Of course." Darren moves closer to the man and opens his bag. He hands him an envelope. The man opens it and saw money bills.

"Isn't this too much?" the man shyly asks.

"You need it for your mom, right?"

The man hugs Darren tight. He thanks him for his kindness. No kisses this time. Darren closes his eyes as he feels that it is their last embrace.

"I need to go..."

"I know." Darren is unable to stop himself from crying. The man holds him by the shoulders and looks at him kindly. He wipes the tears falling in Darren's cheeks.

"Hey, hey. Don't cry."

"Sorry. You can go." Darren takes a step back and wipes his own tears.

Darren opens the door to the veranda of their room as he bids the man goodbye. He leans on the side of the wall and hugs himself. The man carefully stands beside him. On a safe distance. "Will you be okay?"

"Yeah. Don't mind me... It's just an emotional couple of days."

"I figured. Do you want to tell me what's wrong? I can extend for a few minutes if you wanna talk."

Darren just looks at him. The man grows uncomfortable so he moves closer to Darren and tries to be romantic again.

"Today, well yesterday since it's already past midnight, should've been our tenth anniversary together." Darren starts.

The man stops and goes back to the safe distance he maintains before. Darren hands him a photo from his wallet. The man opens his mouth in awe of what he sees. He looks at Darren with a curious and confused look.

"He looks like me." the man says.

"Right? I could not believe my eyes when I saw you online. I didn't know what I was thinking, to be honest, hiring a man who looks like him on our tenth anniversary. I miss him so badly..."

"How...? What happened?"

"Car accident. Three years ago." Darren could not look into the man this time. His eyes is now fixed to the view outside. He reminisces a lot of pain and longing. "We would've already left this shithole by this time and started a new life abroad. But he left me... Not that he wanted to, but he did. Inevitable but not beautiful."

"I'm sorry."

"I just wanna feel less alone today."

The man moves behind Darren and puts him in between his arms. He hugs him tight as Darren cries. Darren clings to the man for strength and support.

"Look at the moon, Darren. Is he really alone in the dark?" Darren stops crying and looks up at the man pointing to the night sky. Light wind brushes in their faces.

Darren stays quiet.

"Though the sun has left, the moon rises... and the stars twinkles with it. They may be distant but they always keep each other company in the dark."

The man turns Darren around. They are now face to face. The man cups Darren's face and kisses his forehead. "Focus on the stars."

"Thank you." Darren says.

"What's his name, by the way?"

Darren takes the photo from the man and turns it around. The man reads the note:

D, I love you.

Forever, Ralph

"Ralph..." The man smiles and recognizes the name.

"What's your name?" Darren asks.

-

THE END