Rio, Roe

The sound of the commotion caught the attention of two people in the corner. The female blonde who had her hands wrapped around Rio's arms, like a snake, looked towards the fight situated not far from where they were.

Who she saw were two people, a familiar man in a suit and a white boy lashing out on the former. The argument was so loud it reached the place they were at.

"Roe, look at that man, isn't that Solei?" She tugged on Rio's arm to get his attention.

She never expected she'd encounter the infamous Roe in this club, much less flirt with him. But lady luck probably smiled at her tonight, because she was actually invited by Roe for a dance.

The handsome man did not propose to end the night earlier to have some fun, for reasons she did not know, but she thought it was an opportunity. She thought this time would be enough to do some tricks and maybe win Roe's heart.

Of course, what she wished for did not happen. Roe did pull her in the corner, but he didn't even made out with her.

Nothing happened. No kisses, no pecks, nothing.

The blonde woman felt so dry that she wanted to just yank Roe and do whatever it was that she had in mind. Although she knew she'd only do that if she had finally gone crazy.

She couln't come up with a conversation to talk about, and if she didn't start the talking, that means Roe won't speak either. 

Fortunately, a topic presented itself before her. 

What else would be a good conversation topic aside from another couple fighting?

Rio leaned in to take a look at where she pointed.

"Solei? From Kaeure?" The response made the girl grin.

'Finally, A conversation!'

"Yes, you know them right? I think the head of Kaeure arranged Solei with the daughter of the Lombers, you know, those family that tried to push their oldest on you?"

Rio watched the drama with an uninterested look. He remembered Solei as that wimpy older man who tried to curry favor with him before. Although he wasn't really that old. He remembered the old man was probably around 24 at the time.

It has been 5 years since then. That means Solei is almost 30 now.

Rio commented, "He wasn't much of a sugar daddy with that age."

Rio assessed the two, who appeared to be a couple in the middle of a feud. The other man, who was extremely white, seems like a young man. Rio couldn't see his face clearly so he couldn't confirm it. Solei on the other hand, looks much older than his actual age because of how haggard he looks.

Despite that ragged appearance he appeared to be doing better financially. He had this expensive suit and gleaming watch draped all over his body.

'His family probably got better'

The thought passed Rio's mind and like magic, the blonde woman opened her mouth and spoke the same words.

"His family got better financially last year. You probably didn't know since you're in another country."

"Apparently, Solei hooked up with a son of a big name and the boyfriend asked for his dad's assistance to help the Kaeure. That white boy must have been the son of the big name."

"Well, Solei and his family deserves the hate. I couldn't bear how they shamelessly betrayed the hand that fed them." The girl blabbed non stop.

Rio did not mind, he was oblivious to these facts and he loves gossips.

"How'd you know that?" Rio asked, curious as to why this girl seems to know a lot of things and stuffs happening around other people.

The blonde woman sighed and gave an answer, it wasn't much of a secret why she knew these rumors, after all, they were....

"Rumors"

"It's a rumor so i know." Right, she really could understand why this hunk was so surprised that somebody knew about this supposed to be private stuffs among families.

He only came back from his stay on another country and she heard from the other girls that nobody could contact Roe aside from his parents and close relatives.

Roe came from the lineage of Pierre, and everyone knows a lot of stuffs about the Pierres. It wasn't because the family was consisted of actors or all those whatnots, but because they were rich. Extremely rich even.

It was actually a weird thing that their eldest vanished for a long time, but some matters would remain an unknown field no matter how much one wants to wander around them.

"Oh, that so?" Rio nodded and internally thanked the lady for the gossip.

The woman saw that he was pleased and took advantage of his good mood. She leaned towards Rio and smiled at him. This provocation almost made Rio laugh, as he wasn't the least bit interested on having any action tonight. He had more than enough before he came back in this country.

He dragged her along earlier for the sake of having a breathing body nearby. He doesn't like being alone and since he's in this body, there would be no problem even if he acted however he liked in public. But his parents thinks otherwise, Rio can only act well-behaved even without their prying eyes.

His mom especially hates it when he does things that might harm his health. Yes, like his sex life.

She was especially keen on keeping him safe because of his situation.

Just as he thought of his mom, his phone rang and interrupted his thoughts. He took it out and saw his mother's name on the screen.

"Excuse me." Rio excused himself in a hurry.

"W-wait!" The blonde woman tried to stop Rio from leaving. However, it was such a sudden departure that she wasn't even able to stop him. She felt aggrieved but had no choice than to let go of the big catch.

Rio, with his still unanswered phone, went out of the club and uninterestedly walked past the commotion. Earlier, before he walked past them, he saw the two up close and even the face of the white man.

He doesn't have any reason to get involved in other people's businesses and he was not even the slightest bit interested.

'The guy wasn't even my type'

Rio reached a quiet place quiet far from the club, although the main building was still visible. The distance was enough for the conversation to go through both ends without the disturbance of the loud noise.

When he picked up the call, the soft voice of a woman was what he first heard.

[When are you going back?]

The sound of a chopping board getting knocked continuously by steel and the whistle of a boiling dish inside a caserole made Rio frown.

"Mom, are you in the kitchen?"

Rio's mother, Camilla, coughed and acted as if she had missed what he had said.

[Go back home! It's almost about time and you're still out! What if people see that and report it to scientists for experimentati---] The supposed row of scolding was cut off by Rio's laugh.

"Mom, stop worrying over nonsense."

There was no one in the family who was ever caught and Rio wasn't an idiot.

There's still a lot of time before he transitions, so he sat in a pose similar to a squat and placed his free arms atop one knee.

There was no sign of panic in the man's actions. Afterall, he had been like this for a long time.

Compared to the first time he transitioned, he was now much calmer and had long accepted this odd trait he had.

[Rio--no, Roe! You hard-headed kid!]

Rio was about to respond when his attention was grabbed by a certain figure.

"White?" He squinted his eyes and focused his attention on that oddly white figure.

[Roe! Roe?]

"Yes Mom? Sorry, talk to you later, love you muah", Rio said and ended the call. He remained at his post while still glaring at that figure. He wasn't mad, he was just trying to see who it was.

The figure went closer and closer, and all Rio could see was white. A white moving figure.

"What's that? A ghost? " He murmured to himself.

The figure finally closed in enough for its face to be recognizable and Rio then realized who the person was.

"Oh, him."

It was the guy who fought with the Kaeure, or Solei, earlier.

The night was unbearably cold and Miru shuddered when the wind brushed past him. The quiet sound of the nearby club kept his consciousness together.

The blast of its light that would occasionally leak through, briefly illuminated the place where Miru was.

Rio was a certain distance away, so Miru did not notice he was there. The guy could not even open his phone to call for a cab so he could go home. He just thought it would be an embarassment once the guy found out he was also in there.

Miru stopped when he realized he was nowhere near Solei's sight anymore and that nobody could see him anymore. He breathed in and out.

Rio watched him in the corner with a pokerface.

'Now I really don't want to be seen'

Miru tried his hardest to regulate his breath to calm himself, but it was far from successful.

His mind would always disturb him, by constantly reminding him of the fact that his boyfriend cheated on him.

Miru abandoned all his acts and flopped down to the ground. The tough face he kept on earlier vanished and was replaced with something indecipherable.

Rio stared at the white man who was now on the ground and avoided his eyes.

Embarrassing. To see someone emote because they thought they were alone is embarassing.

'Solei would get married soon anyway, it was all over the news.' Miru walked away from Solei who he once thought was an his ideal man. He was all he could wish in a guy and he wanted him. Since Miru was 20 and Solei was 30, Miru sees no problem on pursuing the relationship.

But his first relationship ended just like that. It was so out of nowhere that it didn't even let him feel surprised. It didn't even leave him any time to beat his boyfriend, ah no, ex-boyfriend up.

'I did the right thing.....did I?'

Miru glanced at the sky as if it could give him an answer.

This scene of him sitting still on the ground while looking at the sky, with the occasional light acting as the effect, made Rio avoid his eyes in embarassment.

'Dude is really emoting'

Rio decided to just leave. He couldn't take this drama, nor did he have any intention of watching it. But before he could even stand the continuous kriing kriiing echoed in the silence.

Rio started to feel around his body to check if it was phone's. But when he confirmed that it wasn't, he glanced at Miru's direction. If it wasn't his, then it was the white guy's.

The white guy took his phone and stared at the screen for a long time. Rio could not see the white guy's face clearly, given the distance. 

After a few minutes of, probably inner contemplation, the white guy finally took the call and raised the phone near his ears.

Rio watched the white guy converse with whoever it was on the other side of the phone and abandoned his plans of leaving.

He just couldn't take it. The embarassment if ever he got found by the other wouldn't be something he could take. He also wanted to save the guy from embarassment.

"I told you to stop calling me!" The yell of the white man made Rio flinch.

He was unable to hear the white man's voice earlier because it was too low, but then he yelled. It also seemed as though he won't be stopping anytime soon.

What followed next was several muffled voices. It seems the white man was in an arguement with the person on the other side of the phone call.

"I told you.... mother? What? How dare you..."

The white guy's sarcastic laugh placed emphasis on his obvious hatred.

"You're a shameless Mother then!"

"Just stop! Stop bother.....!" 

The white man stood up and Rio watched him walk back and forth. He would sometimes place his hands on his waist, or up in his mouth to have something to nibble on, or most of the time on his head. 

Rio frowned, hearing those words come out of the white man's mouth rubbed him off the wrong way.

He stood up and went a little closer to confirm if he heard it wrong. 

"Your child? now you claim.....won't ever consider you as my mother." 

Rio wasn't wrong. That's what he truly said. A frown appeared on Rio's forehead. He couldn't imagine himself acting that way towards his own Mother.

Rio stood up to leave, he does not wish to hear any more of this indecencies. When he had finally started to walk, quietly, his phone spoiled his supposed silent exir by ringing loudly. The attention of the two was shifted to the sudden interruption. 

Miru thought his day couldn't get any worse, but expectations were never the same as reality.

First, a cheating boyfriend. Then, his so-called biological mother called him, and now someone was actually nearby, loitering around. That person probably enjoyed the little theatre he had created.

This was the first time he had misfortunes followed by another misfortune.

[V-van, my child]

 Miru's temper got the better of him and he ended the call. He had always held himself back. He tried to not give the woman who left her before any of his attention. He never even thought of disrespecting her, but now he did. 

'Why does she have to call me at this time'

Miru glanced at the place where the ringtone of the third party came from but saw that there was no one there. 

It seemed the other person run away. 

'Ah this is the worst'

Miru left with a sour mood and Rio left with an impression of Miru that was nowhere near favorable.