Chapter 17

'I've already thought of this before, but...' Theodore looked at Chesca, who was busy matching clothes for Yuri to wear. 'Isn't she a bit too fond of him? Just what did that guy do for her to act like this?' he thought.

"Hey, isn't this enough already? I doubt he's gonna buy everything anyway. Why don't you just pick something and get this over with?" Theodore frowned as he looked at his cousin, who was thinking deeply about what she should pair with the shirt she was holding.

"What do you mean? I'm gonna pay for them," Chesca said as she shot her eyes up and glared at her cousin. "And why would you do that?" Theodore asked as he raised his chin a little and lowered his eyes to look at Chesca.

"It's a given. I chose these clothes, so I gotta pay for them. Besides, this has nothing to do with you. Just sit on that couch and wait for us to finish, like a good boy," she said and patted Theodore's head.

"Whatever. Suit yourself," the alpha mumbled and walked away. He sat on the couch Chesca was talking about and fished his phone from his pocket.

Yuri came out from the fitting room, wearing the clothes Chesca picked for him.

"Looking good!" Chesca giggled.

Theodore looked up a little to see what Chesca was fussing about.

He was wearing a red and black plaid shirt with a graphic T-shirt underneath and his black shorts from earlier.

'If he changed his shoes and socks, wore some accessories, and styled his hair to fit his outfit, he'd look like someone who gets his photo taken by random photographers on a fashion street,' Theodore thought. He looked at his phone and scoffed in disbelief.

'Although I hate to admit it, he really does look good. Still, that doesn't change the fact that I don't like him,' he thought.

"Try this on next!" Chesca said and pushed Yuri back to the fitting room.

'So troublesome. This is gonna take a while,' Theodore thought.

*****

"Hey, do you know it's already almost 1? Were you planning on starving me to death?" Theodore grumbled while carrying the paper bags.

"Chesca, you didn't have to pay for them. I'll promise to pay you back once I get more of my allowance," Yuri whispered as he looked at Chesca with an uncomfortable expression.

"Oh, no. It's okay. You don't have to do that," Chesca smiled. "I can't do that. It's a little too much," Yuri whispered.

"Are you ignoring me?" Theodore frowned as he looked at his cousin.

'It seems like he feels uncomfortable about me paying for his stuff,' Chesca thought. "Sure, you can slowly pay me back. Instead, can I just treat you for lunch this time?" she smiled at him.

Yuri's face brightened and he immediately nodded, feeling relieved that he won't feel that burdened anymore.

"Theo, baby, we're already near the restaurant. I know you're hungry, but could you please stop grumbling?" Victoria said, her patience running thin.

Although she likes Theodore, she still gets pissed at him, and a lot at that. She may seem calm outside, but she actually doesn't like it when she hears people whining and complaining a lot.

"And could you please stop calling me baby? Besides, I still have to stop by the baggage counter to leave these there. These aren't even mine. How could I stop grumbling?" Theodore frowned even more. "Seriously, why do I even like this guy?" Victoria mumbled as she tried her best not to roll her eyes.

Yuri looked at the paper bags that were in Theodore's hands. It didn't feel right to him that Theodore was carrying them for him. Aside from the fact that they're not on good terms, Theodore seemed to hate carrying the paper bags too.

Yuri took the paper bags from Theodore's hands without warning, their hands brushing as he took them. Theodore immediately let go of the bags as he felt Yuri's hands against his. Had it not been for Yuri already holding the handles, the paper bags would have fallen on the floor.

"Let me carry these. I'll go to the baggage counter, so you guys head to the restaurant first," Yuri said as he looked at them.

Theodore looked at him with a horrified look on his face. He immediately put his hands inside his pocket to brush off the feeling of their skin touching and looked away.

'Again... He really makes me feel uncomfortable,' the alpha thought.

Yuri looked at the girls while smiling a little and started walking in the direction of the baggage counter.

Chesca glared at her cousin and said, "You fucking asshole. Did you really have to complain like that in front of him?" She took a step closer to Theodore and said, "I know that I forced you to come with us and I can see that you don't like him, but you didn't have to run your mouth like that."

The way Theodore is seeing Chesca at the moment, he knew that she was definitely mad at him. It was as clear as day that anytime now, Chesca would declare that she's gonna ignore him for a while, the same as what she usually does whenever she's mad.

"Go after him and apologize. Right. Now," she said in a firm tone.

"Why should I do that? What I said wasn't even wrong," Theodore said as he glared back at her. "Because you were being an insensitive whiny little a bitch. What's gotten into you? You were never like this even if you didn't like someone," Chesca said, raising her voice a bit.

Victoria felt uncomfortable as she listened to the two of them argue. "Guys, lower your voices please," she said, begging them to keep their voices down to avoid unwanted attention.

'She's right... Although I don't like him because of my ungrounded suspicions about him, this is no way to act around someone,' Theodore thought. 'What's... gotten into me?'

"Fine. I'm going after him if that quiets your soul," he said and left the girls behind to go after Yuri.

As he walked in the direction of the baggage counter, his eyes searched for Yuri. He then saw him standing in line to leave his baggage, and as soon as he spotted him, he couldn't help but sigh in frustration.

Just as he was about to head in his direction, a man approached Yuri before he could go near him.

'Who's that?'