Breakfast With The Enemy

[Johan's POV]

"Good evening, guys!"

Johan fought the urge to roll his eyes at the uncharacteristic cheerful grin on Diego's face. He didn't even need to turn to see the others cringing inwardly at the man's fake attitude. Sending the document he finished checking, the screen flashed that it's the last in the queue. Johan grabbed a cutter so he can work on the decorations he needed for the board.

"How's it going, Johan?" Diego appeared on his side, and the powerful stench of his cologne made him gagged. "What time—"

"The workload's fine." Johan flashed the perfect fake smile to show how it's fucking done. "And I clocked in at the exact same time listed on my schedule portal."

"You never changed, do you?" Diego laughed and reached a hand to ruffle his hair. But the slow clacking sound of the cutter's blade as Johan unsheathed it ominously had him retracting it. "As long as you're not late, I guess."

"Can I go on 'Idle Mode', Diego?" Johan asked, lifting the cutter and colored paper on his desk. "I want to finish this up today."

"Okay." Diego shrugged and continued his trek to his office.

Johan tried not to let a laugh slipped. Diego looked crept out, which was his intention all along. Chancing a glance at Adrian through the mirror on his left, he smiled. Adrian was watching the exchange between him and Diego with apprehensive eyes. But so long as he didn't throw a fit, it's cool. That's progress.

"What the hell was that?" Jacqueline asked in a hushed voice.

Of course, they'd be curious. Since the day Diego showed his true colors, he'd lost the respect of his subordinates. For him to suddenly walked in one night acting all friendly and shit, Johan would be shocked if no one pointed it out.

Johan quirked one shoulder to show he gave zero fuck. "Maybe he ate something bad."

Christy cackled out loud; the kind that would make others laugh too, not because something was funny, but because her carefree laughter was just that infectious.

"Tone it down, friend," Jacqueline warned through her own silent giggles. "He might hear you."

"I don't care. It's not like he'll know what we're laughing about." Christy lightly kicked the back of his chair. "Right, Jo?"

Johan swiveled to give her a triumphant smirk. "He's an assumptive frog if he does."

That provoked another round of laughter from Thesa, her heels clicking on the floor as she stomped her foot. She pulled Irene's hair playfully, and the sleepy girl retaliated with a slap to Thesa's upper arm, covering her mouth to suppress her own laughter.

Amidst the laughing fit, Johan met blue eyes. Adrian sent a subtle wink. He would have replied with a reprimanding stare, but nobody noticed. The girls were busy laughing among themselves, so he'll let it slide.

"Okay, guys. Let's go back to work," Jacqueline announced. "We've got twenty-one documents on the queue."

They all shuffled back in front of their monitors, furious fingers clicking on the keyboard. Twenty-one documents weren't that many. He'll just leave it to them, and for Jacqueline to audit their works.

As Johan went back to the mess across his desk, the conversation he had with Diego last Saturday morning resurfaced in his memory. And his smile warped into a serious frown.

———

[Flashback]

"You should have seen the glare he sent me!" Diego yelled through the wind current as his sports bike swerved past another car. "So hilarious!"

"I don't care if it's hilarious or what! Fucking slow down!" Johan gripped Diego's waist for dear life. He'd rather take a bullet in the head and die than get his body mangled on the asphalt road and live a crippled life.

Unlike Adrian, Diego didn't listen. He accelerated even more. "This brings back memories, isn't it?"

"Those memories are long gone! And so is your entire existence if you don't slow down, you fucking asshole!"

After they reached an intersection, Diego swerved to the main highway and slowed down before he got the attention of SBFZ's traffic enforcers.

Johan sighed and removed his arms around Diego. He whipped his head to the left as they passed by La Banca Cruises. Expensive yachts lined the commercially-owned port, and a handsome bespectacled man appeared in his mind. He shook his head.

"We're here." Diego pulled him out of his reverie, parking over the space in front of a restaurant beside a shallow lake.

The signage read 'Spider Lagoon' in black and orange letters over a white background, and Johan had the sudden notion to drown Diego. Of all the business names they could have chosen, why put a spider in it? They could have tried Frozen Lagoon or Lagoon Fairy, and he'd roll with it. "What do they serve here, fried tarantula?"

Diego gave him an incredulous stare. "You're making me lose my appetite."

Johan shivered at the visual image that came to his mind. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

For a fast-casual restaurant, Spider Lagoon looked elegant; white walls, huge glass window panels, and wooden tables with spider-like legs. The main attraction was the wooden dock where customers can take a leisure walk or go fishing. Thankfully, they don't serve exotic foods like fried tarantulas. If they did, Johan will find the owner and drown him together with Diego.

Sat in a table for two at the far corner, Johan stared at Diego as they waited for their order. "You realize you're acting weird today, right? What do you want?"

"Weird?" Diego creased his eyebrows, fingers tapping against the wooden table. "What's weird about having breakfast after shift?"

Johan poked the dining fork's handle, mindlessly. "We stopped hanging out after shift a long time ago, Diego."

"We stopped hanging out because you choose to hang with The Cougar, Peppa Pig, Blond Gaylord—"

When Johan picked up the fork, Diego halted listing disparaging names for his unfavored subordinates. "Did you bring me here to insult my friends?"

"Not really. No." Diego flashed a smile. "I ask a friend to decorate the board. So, I brought you here to return the favor."

"And as far as I could remember, we were work colleagues, not friends."

"Ouch." The dramatic pout he pulled wasn't convincing him in the very least. Diego leaned on the table so they'd meet eye to eye. "That's not how I remembered things, Johan Fernandez."

"What are you trying to imply?"

Their department head smirked just as a waiter walked to their table, handing their order.

Diego Laxamana, twenty-eight, a handsome bachelor with a punchable face. When Johan first started working at Blue-League Mortgage as a regular document analyst, Diego was one of the people he hung out with. While Johan admittedly fantasized about him once or twice, that was all in the past before Diego transformed into a major douchebag.

When he became a quality analyst and started dating again, his attraction for the bachelor evaporated. But it turned out his boyfriend shed the same skin as Diego, and the psychotic asshole had the audacity to threaten him. Johan poured his frustration in making Diego's life miserable by challenging his authority. Someone needed to stand up against his shitty attitude, anyway.

Seriously, even when he's still in high school, Johan always attracted jerks. He's starting to believe he got a demon-magnet in his body until heaven descended an angel to their department in the form of a blue-eyed blond hot dude—Adrian. Hopefully, he's not like the rest.

"Why don't we eat first?" Diego said after the food server left. "I'm hungry."

Grumbling under his breath, Johan grabbed a spoon and shoved rice and beef broccoli in his mouth. Despite the crappy name of the restaurant, and his detestable companion, the food tasted delicious. It felt like the chef was trying to rip off his clothes or something. Johan felt scandalized at his crazy imagination.

"So how's it going with Blond Gaylord—I mean, Adrian?" Diego asked as he chewed his food.

Johan exited his lascivious thoughts for a minute and stabbed Diego with a glare. "Can you not call him that? Adrian's got a girlfriend. Shove your insecurity up your single ass."

"Wha—?" Diego pressed his lips together. "But it's true. He seemed interested in you," he said, making him stop eating. "You think I wouldn't notice? He's always tailing you like a puppy, putting his hand on your waist. He's sending me glares with pure hatred when I'm around you."

"He's my friend." Johan put his cutleries down. "So what if he's doing those things? I don't see anyone making a big deal when you put your arm around my shoulder or my waist earlier. Does that mean you're interested too?"

"Why are you getting defensive?"

"Why are you bringing this up?"

"Maybe I am." Diego put down his fork to grab a glass of water and drank.

"What?" Johan was unsure which question Diego answered.

"Do I have a chance?"

"Is this your way of coming out?" Johan bit back a sarcastic laugh at the casual confession Diego threw at him. "You're fooling no one, Diego. What exactly is it that you want?"

"Is this your way of rejecting me? I feel hurt."

"You don't look hurt at all." Johan grabbed his spoon to continue eating, but Diego put his hand on top of his knuckles. Their eyes met.

"I'm telling the truth," Diego said, his obsidian eyes throwing the most pleading look it could muster. "Give me a chance, yeah? Unless you're already in a relationship with a certain someone."

Was he trying to make him confess he's with Adrian? He didn't even ask if he's interested in men. Johan withdrew his hand. "Can't we just finish eating?"

The slight turn of Diego's lips told him he's scheming something. He needed to be cautious.

[End of Flashback]

———

Johan entered Diego's office with the materials and leftover construction papers. "I'm done putting the decorations. Do you have other things you need me to do?"

Diego stopped typing on his keyboard and looked up, stress marring the middle of his forehead. "No. Thanks for the hard work, Johan."

It's the end of the month. He must be busy with reports.

"Alright." Johan pushed the glass door open, but a hand latched onto his elbow. "What?"

"Let's grab some breakfast?"

Johan shook his head, removing Diego's grasp. "I'm going to the market today. Tomorrow, maybe."

"It's a date then." Diego's eyes flickered to Adrian as he passed by and paused.

Johan kept his eyes down, biting the inside of his cheeks as Adrian clenched his fist, but continued walking to the door. He swallowed a scoff and flashed a smile. "Okay. You're paying, right?"

"Leave it to me."

If he wanted to play, then he'll play with him.

'Not me, Diego. Not me.'