Boss, Mr. Lordcaster Has Arrived…

When you least expect it, amazing things happen, or sometimes scary, depending on which side of the story you end up on. The person who can be considered a friend or even a member of the family can turn out to be the knife that will stab you in the back or even in the heart since certain people have fun watching you in the eyes as he stuns you with the killing blow when you least expect it.

Most of the time, the person to whom you can't spare some of your time and attention, and the one who repulses you no matter what, is sometimes a pearl covered in dust. No matter how you try to look at them and understand them, which is often due to their temper or something about them that bothers you, they are often the most caring person you can trust with your eyes closed.

Since all humans are the same and are most often driven by the same thirst and needs, it is more prudent and wise to pay attention to those you meet every day before putting all your trust in them. You never really know who you're dealing with.

This Sam, whom Ewen only saw as a nuisance, a pain, and a bundle of nerves who talks too much and breaks his ears, doesn't just seem like that because deep down, she's someone with a big heart and who appreciates others for what they are. He misjudged someone once, but no one can blame him since his experiences with girls weren't the happiest.

Since the confrontation at his parents' villa, it's been a long time since he found himself in the company of his mother, to tell each other about their day and have a good time together. He should keep a low profile by the time his father digests everything that happened at home that day. He's just content to stay in his corner, giving him freedom from his mother's constant surveillance and pampering.

Not to mention the circumstances of his estrangement from Aim, which allows him to get to know, at best, someone with whom he has consistently refused to share his time because she chews on his nerves every time he comes across her.

He learns to know this girl, worse than his mother but of a superior species to Zack's sisters. She is their complete opposite and a bit crazy around the edges too.

"Mom, don't worry; I'm fine, I assure you, so stop looking at me with those eyes." Sitting in her office, he tries to convince her that he's okay and she doesn't have to worry about him.

"How else do you expect me to look at you when you lie unblinkingly in front of me?"

"I'm not lying to you, and since when did I ever lie to you? Yes, it's true, things between Aim and me are a bit tense and stuff, but it's okay. I'm telling you, you have to believe me. "

"Okay, I believe you, but tell me, what exactly is going on between you? Is he being mean to you after what happened at the villa? Has he changed his mind about you? "

"Yet he didn't seem to have a problem with it. Considering how he protected you and took you from his bodyguard's arms, it's like he didn't want anyone else to touch you. " Ewen gave a faint little smile when he heard his mother say those words, but the little smile faded as quickly as it appeared.

"Mom stops dramatizing and being romantic about things and looking for little hidden intentions that don't exist, okay? "No, and no, he didn't mistreat me or be mean to me because of this concussion or whatever."

"Anyway, that has nothing to do with the tension between us. He is a little difficult, and communicating with people is not his glass of milk. Sometimes he is raw, and it hurts a little."

He finally said, lowering his voice throughout the sentence, ending in an almost audible whisper, forcing his mother to crane her neck over the large desk to hear him.

"Did he say something wrong to you, my darling?" His mother whispered to him as if she didn't want to ask the question, as if she didn't want to know the answer but that she had to since it was her beloved child.

So, no matter how difficult the answer may be to digest, she still needs to know, and she wants to go and say a few words to Aim to let him know the bottom of her thoughts if he thinks that he can afford to hurt her baby as he wants too.

Even if Ewen's father and grandparents abused him all his life without her being able to protect him adequately, that does not mean she will remain with folded arms and watch a stranger play with her child's feelings after everything he's been through his short little life.

He felt the tension that suddenly took over the place in his mother's office. He hastened to raise his eyes towards her; they were misted with tears, but he managed so that they did not flow. He put his wet gaze on his mother and forced a cute little smile while making sure his tears stayed where they were.

"Look, if you told me how he carried me away, what do you think since I wasn't aware, hm?"

He knows his mom likes to talk about things that make her heart flutter and melt like butter, so he tries to distract her by giving her something more fun to talk about.

'Yet he was not well. He was in pain, but he still managed to carry me; how could he act like this? He is so confused, pff, he thinks while trying to picture the scene in his head. He would like to witness all this and see the disgust on his grandparents' faces.

"You know that Zack fractured two of his ribs in their fight," he announces to his mother to better encourage her to talk.

"Well, it's good for him," his mother shouted back at him with a sulky face, as if she was waiting for him to say something like that to get out of this black cloud that materialized above her head.

She also doesn't want to get angry with the only person, apart from her and Zack, who saw Ewen's exceptional soul. The only person she knows who hasn't seen a kind of shame in her son and an unhealthy sin.

"Don't be like that, mom. Besides, I was the first to get angry at him over something stupid. So, since he's not the type to stick to a thing, he left me in my corner to brood at him instead of coming to talk to me, so that's how everything became tense and more unbearable, and that's how we got to 'here. "

"You know me. I'm stubborn when I get angry, and I wouldn't say I like going back on my decisions. It's not his thing, either. He doesn't even know if it's normal to come to me and try to reconcile with me. That's sucks. "

"Well, say that; it sucks," she snarled.

"He'll never hurt me. I know that not as you think because he's not like them."

"If you say so, but you have to promise me to be careful with him. I don't want you to get heartbroken over that boy."

"Don't worry about me. I will manage to prevent this from falling over my head. " Then he muttered, as for himself, "hm, If only you knew..."

"I heard you told the Cliffords that Aim was your boyfriend." Are you still talking to each other? How did Zack take it? "He hasn't come home since that day and doesn't call me to ask about you."

"Ah, that," he laughs softly. He looks away for a moment to avoid the heavy, solemn gaze of his mother that he feels on him. He remembers when everyone was chasing Aim, he stayed behind to have a moment with his all-time friend, who stood up for him more than once.

Zack was in a deplorable state that can only be described as pitiful. He couldn't even look at him. Since the one who put him in this state turned out to be his boyfriend, it was his duty to apologize since Aim wouldn't, and Zack was defending him somehow.

If it weren't for him, he wouldn't have bothered to fight Aim for such a mere provocation, and he had to prove himself in front of Ewen's grandparents and his father. He can't allow himself to be insulted like this in front of everyone without doing anything.

He scrunched down next to Zack to help him up when Zack pushed his hand away from him, glaring at him. Despite the other's refusal to take his hand, he persists until the latter has no choice but to take the hand.

He offered to help sit up while his father assisted them, standing a few steps away, leaving them a bit of space as if he weren't there.

Ewen leaned over Zack when he finally sat down to hug him while whispering a few words of thanks in his ear.

Thank you for always being there for me. And don't worry about what he says; my friend has another understanding of things and reality. But I hope that one day you can forgive him and become friends next time you cross paths because I would like to know that the two important people in my life, apart from my mother, get along wonderfully.

When Ewen took him in his arms and started whispering in his ear, Zack felt that the words he was about to say should not be taken lightly, and his heart began to twist in his chest as if someone wanted to drain and dry it.

How important is he to you? How long have you known him? Zack snarled at him as he got out of Ewen's soft embrace.

He was starting to enjoy the soft warmth from his small, flexible, and smooth body against him. Still, when he hears that this snappy boy who just made him lose his face in front of all his family has the same place as him in the latter's life, the soft embrace suddenly becomes a kind of prison for him. He was there before him. How is it possible? How could he trust him so quickly?

"Because that's how it is," cringed Ewen as his body stiff. "He's important as important is defined in all the dictionaries," he replies almost curtly. He was rolling his eyes because the latter allowed him to contest his place in his life as if he were the only one with the right to stay close to him.

"That's not an answer, Ewen," Zack continues authoritatively, grimacing in pain with every word he says.

His jaw is in pulp, but he is not ready to let Ewen get away with it without giving him a clear answer to the situation. He wants to understand by what happy event this boy is placed on the same scale as him.

"As I told you, that's how it is, and then what can it bother that I have someone other than you in my life, huh? I don't belong to you as far as I know. Or is there something I don't know about?" This one asks him with a daring attitude, that attitude he knows how to do only too well.

"You can have as many people as you want in your life. I don't care about that, but what bothers me is how a newcomer can match me when I've always been there. That's my only problem."

'Oh! so that's it," he replies innocently... "Uh, my dear friend, this friend is more than just a friend; he's more like my boyfriend. Here you are. Are you happy now that I tell you?"

"Yeah, it's better that way," Zack replies with a pang in his heart. He mumbles something incomprehensible before shifting his gaze away from Ewen's twinkling gaze.

"What? That's all you're saying," Ewen asks him, a little on edge. "What exactly do you expect me to tell you? You don't need my permission, that I know to date whoever you want, right?"

"I know that, but your reaction is not what I expected, to say that I was afraid to tell you."

"And why that?" Zack asked harshly, trying hard to keep his tears from soaking.

"Because I was afraid you'd start freaking out and lock me up so I wouldn't see him, because sometimes you're much scarier than my grandparents and my father put together, I was afraid you'd take it poorly."

.Well, that's nonsense; you have too much imagination. Now you know at least that it's a right that you have to see who you want and when you want, it's true that I would have freaked out inadequately with your parents and grandparents who are always on your back, but I see that he is not afraid to face them, so it's okay I'm okay."

'So, are you okay with me having a boyfriend and not a girlfriend?" resumes Ewen like a wide-eyed child.

Zack laughs nervously, shifting his gaze elsewhere. He can't understand how Ewen simultaneously manages to be cute, innocent, and evil.

But anyone paying attention to his nervous laugh will realize the sob hidden behind this forced laugh, and his father saw him. He decides to join them, rescuing his son, who is being tortured by Kenan, who does not realize what is happening before his eyes.

He's so used to the protection and attention Zack shows him that he never doubted once that all that attention could mean something else to him.

"I have nothing to say about this choice," Zack finally says, gathering all his courage. Without hesitation, Kenan dived into his arms, shuddering him a little, completely forgetting that his boyfriend had just roughed him up.

He snuggles against the latter happily, who remains a little stunned by his gesture, it is true that they knew each other a long time ago, but he has never been so emotional with him.

Zack looks up at his father, who has arrived at their level and did not miss the little conversation. Without knowing why or how two streams of tears traced their path on the latter's swollen cheeks, he hastened to wipe them away while his father gave him a little sign of his head like a kind of approval that means a lot to him and his tears begin to flow freely of their own free will.

Kenan pulled out of his embrace as he felt the tremors in his body. He lingered his tender gaze on his friend's distorted face for a moment before asking the other innocently. "Why are you crying?" in a sweet worried voice.

Zack smiled much more like a grimace, given the state his face was in and the pain that prevented him from moving his facial muscles properly. "What are you talking about, silly? I'm not crying."

Ewen kissed him on the cheek before his father ended his only son's suffering. 'Well, I think it's time we went to take care of these nasty wounds," announced the warm voice of Richard behind Ewen's back while bearing the pained gaze of his boy.

He could read all the sorrow he was going through in his eyes. Suddenly, Zack loses all his charisma, all the charm he has despite his lack of interest in dressing correctly.

Ewen detached himself from him and let his father help him to stand up. Once on his legs, he let himself go into his father's arms which he opened to him, knowing very well what was going on in his child's head.

It's as if he was living his son's nightmare too. He always saw clearly in his son, even if he never said anything about their friendship and stuff.

He never missed the way the latter marvels and looks at Ewen. Not a second passes when they are all together, only to find his son's gaze lingering on his friend for endless minutes.

He often looks at him as if there were only him and Ewen around, as if the latter were the only living being on earth. He sees how he smiles when Ewen smiles at him or when he does something to provoke his old stuck-up grandparents. He watched them grow up, and from afar, he understood that his son didn't just see Ewen as a simple friend.

"Mr. Clifford,' Ewen's voice rose softly beside them. While patting his son's back, he slid his gaze over to Ewen, who was looking at him with a shy smile and a little embarrassed. " Go ahead, tell me, son," the latter replies with a warm smile.

"I'm sorry for everything that happened, because of me you couldn't spend a few hours of peaceful relaxation discussing the things that are important to you. And I'm sorry for Zack. It's because of me and my friend that he fought."

"No, my boy, don't worry about that. You don't have to worry about me. It was in no way your fault, and I find you very well like this, don't let yourself be destabilized by your old people. They are marginal people with a fixed idea of the world, society, and everything that passes around them."

"I'm pretty happy that you are trying to understand who you are, that you are freeing yourself from the chains to which they have tied you, continue to bloom and be who you are, and it will make me happy to know you are happy."

"Thanks, Uncle Richard, so take care of Zack for me today. I have someone to catch up with before he's gone," he said shyly, shuffling from foot to the other.

"Go ahead and get him before they hurt him." A chuckle escaped Ewen's mouth at Richard's words. Then he muttered to himself, "I'm afraid not."

With a light heart, he dashed off towards the door. He stumbles twice under the weight of powerful dizziness that grips him little by little, but he continues to run, thinking of only one thing - Aim's captivating blue eyes on him.

Once Ewen's back disappeared behind the door, Richard pulled his son out of his embrace and looked up at his pain-stricken face, bathed in tears and snot. He almost wanted to laugh seeing him like this, but he was careful not to. This is really not the time to laugh at the appearance of his little brat of a son.

"Why didn't you tell him?" He only asked him, and this question was enough for Zack to burst into tears for the most beautiful. He didn't even hesitate to hide his despair. "So you knew," he said before he fled again into his father's comforting arms.

Ewen looked at his mother, and then he smiled… "yeah, I told Zack, and it made me feel relieved that he knew now. I was afraid he wouldn't take it too well."

"And why is that? His mother asks with a sideways glance." knowing how to well what she has on her mind since she was also aware of Zack's feeling for her dumb boy.

"Well, because he freaks out all the time when it comes to me, I was afraid that the news would make him lose his mind for good and end up locking me somewhere just for my sake and that of my relationship with my father." the innocent and pure Ewen replied sweetly.

His mother chuckled before bursting into laughter, "I didn't know my son could be so stupid," she mumbled, tilting her head to the side to better let out her laugh.

As she laughed heartily at her son's stupidity and lack of common sense, her assistant poked his head through the half-open door and announced the arrival of her appointment for the day. She was looking forward to that appointment, one of the best sponsors of her charity galas, always making the headlines.

Boss, Mr. Lordcaster has arrived…