Chapter 69

"Ah, and I must congratulate you on your engagement too. Whether intentional or not, the announcement itself has bought a lot of impactful change," Ren added. He really believed that it was only the starting ripple to a wave of change in the country.

Adam, on the other hand, snorted back a laugh. "But it only caused you trouble." There was clearly a story behind this, but before proceeding, he turned to the teenagers. "This is an adult only conversation. Why don't you two go chat next to the snacks."

Penelope looked like she was about to sweettalk her way into staying but Reed stopped her before she could even start. "No. Come on."

Henry was shocked at the commanding tone that had come out of the 14-year-old, him seemingly not even realise it. He just watched as the two walked away, not knowing what to say.

"I know," Adam said, understanding the reaction, "the kid may be adorable but he's a natural Dom. But forget that, this story is way funnier.

"So, Ren's wife was always a bit overly conscious of everything. Like she would just pop up to the office to catch a girl to accuse him of cheating. Which is insane because he was literally besotted even after 15 years of being married. But anyway, always suspicious but never found anything because nothing to find. Anyway, so after you and Lore came out as engaged, this crazy lady started dropping in more and more but was weirdly quiet and just watch us do our work. We were near a breakthrough, so our group spent like four days straight in the lab, and we made it and it was great. So anyway, we sent the tired undergrad and masters students off and were tidying up when this insane bitch comes crashing in at like 4AM and starts accusing him of cheating again… with me… pft, its funnier every time I say it.

"So, obviously that's all bullshit but she claims to have proof that I'm a habitual homewrecker that seduces married men by waving my ass in the air." By this point in the story, it was a miracle that Adam had not burst into laughter. "Sound familiar?"

It took Henry a mere second before he was covering his mouth to muffle his own laughter. "No way, was she talking about that dog shit festival performance where they made you a hussy? She thought that was real?"

"Mhm, she even had a video of the rehearsal and tried to spread it through the department. I mean, she failed bitterly but she tried. Anyway, she threatened to take him to court and take all of his assets in the divorce, so I referred him to that odd-jobs guy you know." Of course, the man was talking about Gin. "And that's when it starts getting crazy.

"So, this crazy just kept trying to defame me for literally nothing. Like every chance she got she would out me as a hussy homewrecker, which is already hilarious. But she started something online with a water army and things started to blow up a little around uni so… I outed myself to the whole uni instead."

"What?" Henry said, bringing the story to a halt. He was confused. While he knew his friend was not exactly vanilla, he did not think it was something worth coming out about.

"What he means is the entire institute now knows he's a sexual deviant with a kink for dominating and degrading cold, successful older women and used to work part-time as a Dom-for-hire in a BDSM club to fund for his masters." The professor may have managed to say all that with a straight face but it had taken him almost two weeks to come to terms with it, especially seeing as his soon-to-be-ex-wife fit the bill almost too perfectly. As it would turn out, Adam really did have his eyes on her, until he realised she was married to Ren.

In fact, it was the young man who had been initially shocked, because when he had first met her she did not give off the committed in a long-term relationship vibe at all, and Adam prided himself in being able to tell the involved people apart from singles. Of course, there was a reason for that.

Hearing Ren explain it like that, Henry understood what he meant. The reason they had all gotten to know each other was their non-stereotypical outlook on sex and relationships – a whole other story – and of the people he was friends with, Adam was the most typical of the bunch in his standards and boundaries. But, when it came to other people, it did make sense that it was not all that typical at all.

Yes, this is the same man who panicked about being set up on a marriage meeting with another man.

"But anyway, back to the story. Ren hired him to collect evidence that he had not been cheating but instead he was hit back by evidence his wife had been cheating on him… since before their marriage. On multiple occasions. That day she came storming in trying to 'expose' us, she had come to the lab directly from a tryst. Imagine, this lady has been having multiple affairs and one night stands behind her husband's back and she had the gall to accuse him of cheating. Is that not the most insane thing you have ever heard?

Anyway, so as it would turn out, because she was dead set on her suspicion of her husband cheating, despite not a shred of evidence and her own affairs, after seeing your engagement announcement, she came up with the idea that the reason she hadn't found another girl was because he was fucking me. I didn't think shit like that happened in reality. Genuinely gobsmacked."

The story was finally over and Henry was struggling to keep a composed expression on his face.

"Your friend seems to be the only one still shocked at the turn of events. Apparently he has never heard that cheaters always assume they are being cheated on."

Adam, "Because it was fucking insane. I've never seen a crazier person in my life."

"Didn't you have a class with professor Greenwhistle?" Henry asked. "The man literally thinks he's a leprechaun."

"He is right, Greenwhistle may be a genius, but he is most definitely madder than Carla."

Adam looked between his friend and then his advisor before sighing. He knew Henry was always good at winning people over but had forgotten he extent of it.

Before more could be said, both academics noticed Henry's attention waver, following his gaze to Joshua Lore. The other man was talking in a group of start-up representatives, those being the only people who were both tolerable and speaking in words that did not numb his brain. The couple were looking at each other, engaging in some sort of non-verbal conversation of subtle facial expressions. In the end, Joshua put his thumb up out of sight from those who he was talking to. Henry's expression immediately softened, a small but genuinely smile playing in his eyes as he nodded.

The interaction had been short, barely 10 seconds long, but it was enough sugar to give the two single men cavities.

The professor did not feel anything wrong with it, he just found himself smiling at the expression of young love. He had seen clips from the broadcast, which was when he found out that his PhD candidate was the young man's friend, and already thought that they looked good together. But he was well aware of how the elite class he had escaped functioned. Not everything was always as it seemed. However, now that he saw it all with his own eyes, he was certain they were a good combination. Even having only met one of them, it was clear the two both complimented each other.

On the other hand, Adam was picking his jaw up from the ground. He thought he would feel some bitterness because of how single he had been for the past year, but all of that was now out of the window. He had never seen Henry's eyes melt like that; it was like he did not know the other man at all, as if they had not spent three years together in a tightknit group of friends. Seeing how deep their emotions were, he found himself wondering why it took Henry so long to stop sleeping around. That only led to a thought entering his head he absolutely did not want to believe.

"Yo, just to be clear, your fiancé does know everything, right?"

Henry, entirely unaware of the kind of facial expression he had made, along with what everyone else had made of the face he made when feeling touched at Joshua's concern, turned to his friend, face confused. "What do you mean?"

"Um, you know… like when we go clubbing… that stuff."

It took a few seconds for the blond man to realise what Adam meant. "Oh, that? No, yes, of course he does. We've literally been clubbing together. He knows pretty much all of it."

Adam let out a sigh. It was not that he did not have faith in his friend's integrity, but he just felt like he had to make sure. "So, you still…?"

"No."

The professor wanted to shake his head and sigh at the young pair. Did they think dropping words would make it less obvious? If the young Reyes had not stopped the conversation so decidedly at that point, he would have taken it upon himself to intervene. Warren did feel a little nostalgia from it all, to be young and dumb again.

Meanwhile, across the room, with the seminar just ten minutes away from starting, Joshua was met with a certain problem group of peers.