Back to Normal

After the Halloween festival and subsequent emotional upheaval, everything somehow returned to normal. Derek stopped spending so much time at his office and returned to eating breakfast, and sometimes dinner, at the house. Aiden also got a handle on his activities and balanced his schedule better so he wasn't as busy anymore either.

Not much changed between Aiden and Derek in their everyday lives other than more frequent smiles from Aiden and the occasional hug for no reason. However, they were both a lot calmer as they understood how the other felt and had agreed to be together. Aiden wasn't thrilled about having to hold back but he knew why Derek wanted to wait. So, Aiden started a countdown till his birthday, which was in May, on his phone's calendar.

It was the weekend right after the festival and Aiden had just gotten back from working on his group project. There were still a few hours left before dinner and, for the first time in a while, he had nothing to do. That's when he thought of everything Derek had told him about him being drugged and the people behind it.

"Hm…I should look into it," Aiden mumbled to himself. He went back to his room and turned on the computer. Since he didn't have a lot of information about either one of them, he started off by running a standard background check on both Lisa Knox and Kain Grant. What he learned was pretty normal.

Kain Grant was the son of Mathew Grant, who owned K Construction. He worked at his father's company, lived in an expensive apartment uptown, and had no criminal record at all. He didn't have so much as a speeding ticket.

Lisa Knox was the daughter of Luther Knox, a powerful political figure. However, her mother was Luther's mistress who died when Lisa was young. She had no known employment information and still lived with her father. Neither Lisa nor Kain looked all that impressive according to what Aiden found so he dug deeper.

The next thing he did was look into their relatives, their friends, bank statements, credit card history, and cell phone records. He also started looking into everything he could find on K Construction. Then, he cross checked all available information for any connections to Derek, his company, and the Montgomery family in general. While he did find irregularities in the bank statements and cell phone records, nothing else turned up. So he decided to take another approach.

Assuming that Derek had used the hotel's security footage as a start and then sent people out on foot, Aiden decided to 'borrow' facial recognition software from the police and search for the fake employee who moved Derek to the room after he was drugged. He gained access to CCTV all across the city starting from two weeks before the incident and ran it against the image from the hotel security footage. Then, all he could do was sit back and wait.

A few minutes later, the first matches popped up. Aiden began arranging the images in order as they appeared and matched the time and place of each one on a map. As more and more images were found by the facial recognition software, the marked places on the map started to appear in one general direction. He narrowed down the final location to a rundown part of the city but he couldn't get closer than a few blocks.

Finally finding a solid lead, Aiden decided he'd go check out the area tomorrow. He didn't want to take the chance that the person he was looking for would leave the area. Just as he was finishing up, Mrs. Hudson knocked on the door and called out,

"Aiden, dear, dinner's ready when you're hungry and Derek called to say he's running a bit late but he'll be here soon."

"Thanks, Mrs. Hudson! I'll be down in a minute."

"Alright. Take your time, dear." After she was gone, Aiden saved all the information he'd found on a usb drive. He stored it safely in a small box with a combination lock on it and shut down his computer. When he was done, he made his way down to the dining room. As he sat down at the table, Mrs. Hudson brought out the last dish. "Here you go! Eat up!"

"Thank you." She nodded and went back to the kitchen. Looking at all the food, Aiden's stomach growled. He was relieved at first that Derek was late and hadn't heard that but it didn't last long.

"If you're that hungry, go ahead and eat already. No need to hold back on my account." Aiden's cheeks flushed. He slowly turned his head to see Derek standing in the doorway of the dining room smiling at him.

"...So you heard that, huh?" Aiden asked shyly.

"Mhm." Derek looked highly amused as he walked over and sat down in his own seat. Aiden pouted.

"Don't tease me! It's because the food smells so good."

"I wasn't teasing."

"Liar."

"Okay, maybe I was teasing a little bit." Both of them laughed and started their meal. There was a calm and tranquil atmosphere around them. After some time, Mrs. Hudson cleared away the dishes and brought out dessert. She had made small individual strawberry shortcakes.

"I'll be heading out now," Mrs. Hudson told them. "You don't have to worry about the dishes, I'll clean them up in the morning."

"Goodnight, Mrs. Hudson!" Aiden smiled.

"Goodnight, dear!" She waved and left the house. Wasting no time, Aiden took a bite of the cake and his eyes lit up.

"This is amazing! How can anyone bake something so delicious?" Derek chuckled and reached up, wiping whipped cream from the corner of Aiden's mouth and licking it off his finger.

"Y-you…! That's…not fair!!"

"What?"

"Don't act all innocent now! You know what!" Derek smirked and ate a spoonful of his own cake.

"Hm, it's good."

"And now you won't admit it? Hah! Fine! You just wait. I'll get you back for this."

"Mhm, sure." They ate the rest of their dessert while chatting comfortably. All the while, Aiden was plotting his revenge. If Derek wanted to tease him while being the one who said they can't go further, then two could play at that game. He'd have to think of something special though.Derek finished the cake without ever knowing what would be in store for him.

Later that night, after everyone else was asleep, Derek got a phone call from his grandfather's assistant. He debated for a moment whether to answer it but, in the end, decided it was better to deal with whatever it was now then put it off and be constantly nagged for not answering his phone.

"Hello?"

"Derek, sorry for calling so late but you know how your grandfather is when he makes up his mind about something." The assistant sounded exhausted on the other end of the line. Derek couldn't blame him though. Anyone would be tired dealing with that man all the time.

"It's fine. What's this about?"

"Um, well you see, I'm not exactly sure why he wants to but your grandfather wants to invite that young boy Aiden over for dinner next weekend. The thing is, it won't just be Mr. Montgomery there. A few other important people will also be attending."

"He wants Aiden there?" Derek asked somewhat confused.

"Yes. Also, um, I don't really know how to say this."

"Out with it already."

"Well, your grandfather, he…said you're not invited. He specifically told me that he only wants Aiden to attend and no one else." Derek frowned and his eyes narrowed, Just what was that old man planning this time?

"And if Aiden says he doesn't want to?"

"Ahem. Your grandfather said he'd personally send a car to retrieve the young man on the day of the dinner."

"...I see." When it was clear that Derek was done talking and not planning to say anything further, the assistant quickly told him he'd send information regarding the time and appropriate attire for the event in a text in a few days. Then, he hung up. Derek tossed the phone onto the mattress. "Damn that old man!"

It didn't make sense. Why was his grandfather showing such interest in Aiden? It's true that the old man seemed to like him a bit when they were at the family's banquet but it didn't seem like more than passing amusement at Aiden's words. Derek's grandfather wasn't the type of person to do something without a reason and those reasons almost always had something to do with business and making more money.

The situation made Derek anxious but there was nothing he could do. That fact alone added a level of frustration. He knew that Aiden was smart and wouldn't be easily messed with but he also knew just how cold blooded most of the Montgomery's were. After all, he had to constantly deal with it first hand. No matter what though, Derek had no intention of allowing any one of them to cause a problem or to harm Aiden in any way. He'd make sure of that.