Chapter 42

The following morning, Reyes presidents had come to the Lore's company building for a meeting with Hanna and John. At least, that had been the initial intention. Instead, the four of them were sat in a meeting room, looking at Joshua and Henry, confused.

Joshua had the morning off in return for the sudden presentation; there was no reason for him to be present within the company at 10am.

Henry, of course, had even less reason.

Their parents' confusion was well merited.

No one was entirely sure what time their sons had finished their discussion the previous night.

In fact, the four of them had spent a decent amount of time standing at the glass doors that led to the garden, watching them talking and smiling. It was a new experience for them. Everyone had now witnessed the fleeting gazes and small gestures between Henry and Joshua. They had also seen their awkwardness in front of others as well as their sweetness when they forgot others. But, other than the bizarre bickering on the bathroom floor during brunch, they had never seen the two men actually conversing like this.

Haerin and Ramy had seen it a few times now. Their other children had spent Saturday with the pair, meaning they had also gotten a chance to see the two normal. But because of how the second sons were accustomed to hiding their true personalities when at home, this was the first chance the parents had ever gotten.

The scene warmed their aging hearts, so sweet it had reminded them of their own loves.

However, even if they spent more than a couple hours watching the son, they saw no sign of their conversation coming to an end. Once it had hit 11pm, the Reyes family left to go home, excluding Henry.

Samuel had initially been hell-bent on convincing him to return back to their family home that night instead of letting him finally return to his apartment. He had paced and raged and ranted to his wife, Archer and Penelope. He had curated a list and planned his touching speech before dinner. Meera, while half making fun of him, ended up giving him multiple techniques to coax Henry. The pair of Lore siblings watched in amusement, but still helped, humouring the energetic Reyes heir. All in all, Samuel was more than prepared to convince his brother after they had finished eating, no matter what condition his brother came down in.

With Henry's semi-bold announcement during dessert, however, his plan was completely thrown off track. Not only was his brother looking and acting considerably better, he was even more focused on the wedding arrangements than the bastard's betrayal.

This did not deter Samuel. The man just let his talk get delayed.

But when he found himself being called down to leave, he also saw the scene his parents had been watching. Henry was laughing and speaking animatedly, his smile dazzling and bright under the dark night sky. Of course, he could not miss Joshua's expression, that matched his brother. And, much to his relief, Hanna revealed that sometime after they had started watching, the men had stopped their heavy smoking too.

Finally, the elder brother could not bring himself to disrupt his baby brother's moment of happiness with a painful reminder, letting Henry stay to go back whenever and wherever he wished to. Not that he had given up; the first thing he would do when arriving at the company in the morning, he would look for Henry.

Presently, Henry's manager was informing Samuel that the young man had requested for the morning off due to some business at the Lore's office.

After the Reyes family had left, the Lore family also found themselves retiring for the night. All that was left was the order for their security personnel to watch over the two men and to chauffer the young man home if he decided against staying the night.

When they had come down for breakfast that morning, Haerin informed the presidents that Henry had left at some point last night. Additionally, Joshua had left early in the morning without eating breakfast. What the PA decided to not mention was that Henry had left at half 3, Joshua himself heading out three hours afterwards. She decided it was better not to worry the doting parents with the lack of sleep.

The short truth of what happened last night was that Joshua and Henry had gotten far too into their brainstorming… if it could still be called that.

That was what had brought them to the present scene, the two men stood in front of their parents in a meeting room within the Lore's company building at 10 in the morning. The younger man's arms were outstretched, a relatively hefty folder offered to the four presidents.

Caroline was the first to snap out of it, being the closest to her son. She took the folder from him, looking as the two young men stood their patiently, neither's expression giving away why they were here. She then looked back at the folder, putting it down onto the table. "What is this, a project proposal?" Her voice still showed confusion, the woman only being able to pick up her coffee mug, taking a drink as she opened the folder to the left of her official documents and read the first page.

All attention was on Caroline and the folder she had accepted, but if any one of them had looked to the two men, they would have seen them sharing a nervous look.

Marcus, who was curious and eager to read with what the couple had presented them with, pushed his chair back and wheeled it behind his wife so he could read over her shoulder. The papers that he and his wife had brought with them had meant it was too far for him to lean over.

This turned out to be a blessing dressed as a curse.

Just as he stopped the chair behind his wife's, Caroline turned to her right, spitting out her coffee where the man had been sitting – a split second decision on her part, the papers were more important than her husband's clothes – immediately starting to cough. Everyone watched in shock, worrying as Marcus jumped up and started patting Caroline's back.

John, although he was without a doubt worried, could not help but marvel a little at Marcus's dumb luck.

Curious as to what had shocked his wife, he glanced at the open folder. His actions froze for a second before he promptly forgot about his wife's choking. Instead, the man covered his mouth, sputtering back a laugh and turning his face away from the others in the room.

Between Caroline's violent coughs, one could start to hear laughter.

Hanna gave into her curiosity and reached over the table, spinning the file around so she could read it. Her and John both read the title together, suddenly understanding the shock. Even though Hanna was one to usually find it relatively easy keeping her face clear of emotions when needs be, she struggled to hold back a full-blown laugh. The usually composed woman ended up hiding her face in her husband���s shoulder, giggling like a child.

John was the only one to manage an adult appearance, finding himself flipping through the folder. Every so often he would look up at the two men who had brought the folder to them, his expression both incredulous yet amused. He did not think his younger son could amuse him this much. "Really?"

The contents of the folder that had turned the four well-mannered, esteemed presidents into a group of amused teenagers? A wedding plan.

Of course, the word 'plan' did not do the piece of work any justice. The document presented covered just about everything one could possibly consider when organising a wedding, including the pre- and post-wedding events, a complete outline for the joint engagement-merger celebration, the best date for the ceremony, a guest list limit, a clear description of the desired atmosphere, venue options that were listed by preference, the kind of food, even a number of charities they wanted guests to donate to instead of buying gifts. That was not all either, they went further than just going into detail about the wedding. There was also a document outlining which projects and operations would need to have their deadlines and budgets adjusted. There was another that clearly stated which events were public and which were private. Even details on a honeymoon, well the lack of and why the two men only wanted a long weekend off.

In a sense, Caroline's initial question had not been wrong. Henry and Joshua really had handed in their wedding plan as if it was a project proposal.

At first, the two men were confused, as anyone would been.

The confusion quickly transformed into nerves, which was also a natural reaction. They had spent most of the night working on this, and as much fun as they had throwing themselves so deep into planning the events to their liking, they had worked laboriously on it. There had been a lot of chopping and changing of Joshua's original five plans, the two properly discussing every detail and preference. They cross-referenced both of their families, companies and personal calendars, not a simple feat. They really had thought of everything they could and expended all the effort they had.

In the end, even if neither thought the plan was faultless, both could consider the plan a masterpiece of work, one they had both put their heart and soul into as to deal with the current situation. It was natural for anyone to want validation on something they had put so much into, even the two whom the majority of people considered perfect.

They could not work out whether the reaction was good or not. In the end, Henry and Joshua could only look at each other with the hope the other was calm enough to ease their nerves. Unfortunately, both of them were so nervous that it was displayed for everyone to see; now they felt more apprehensive than before.

It took about five minutes for everyone two recollect themselves, all of them turning to face their endlessly cute sons.

Caroline asked, "Why did you print it out? This is, what, 40 pages?" It was 43.

When she received no answer, John asked, "Was there a need to format it like a proposal? It is not like you have to convince us."

Marcus, "It is not that formal either. It was too unexpected. Give us a warning next time, we are not young anymore, we can't handle this big a shock."

There was a moment of silence, Hanna having the last word. "Did you two really even sleep last night? How did you do this much?"

The thin-skinned 'couple' both found themselves too embarrassed to meet their parents' eyes. Clearly, neither had realised just how over the top they had gone.

Their parents could only internally gush; this time they managed to keep their faces mostly straight.

Haerin, who was stood to the side of the room silently with Ramy, discreetly took a picture of the two's face, updating the group chat of what was happening.

"J-just tell us what you think after reading it," Joshua managed to mumble out, his eyes anywhere but in front of him. It was weirdly unlike him to act this way, he had always been the epitome of polite and well-mannered, avoiding eye was not something he would do. It only served to show just how embarrassed he was.

Henry just nodded, already raring to leave. Well, in truth, the man wanted to hide in a hole for the rest of his life, but then the past night would have been for nothing. And, of course, the lie of a relationship too.

Both were so embarrassed that they had momentarily forgotten about the validation that had made them so nervous to start with.

"We'll go now."

As soon as they received a hint of a nod, the two men left the meeting room as fast as their exhausted and injured bodies would allow them to.

The four parents looked at the spot the two had been for a few seconds longer before turning to each other and lightly laughing. John could not help but comment, "What are we going to do with them?" None of them had an answer, but none of them felt any urgency for one either.

All that mattered was that their surprisingly cute sons were doing well together despite how rashly they had been thrown into the upcoming marriage. It truly eased what little worry they had in their hearts after seeing such an eager plan.

They had undoubtedly made the right choice setting them up together.

As their parents talked about it, Henry and Joshua entered an elevator; both shivered simultaneously.