Chapter 20

Joshua and Henry were sat on opposite sides of the coffee table, the latter on the couch in light of his recent health, a plate of pasta in front of them each, staring at each other awkwardly. Gin sat down with his laptop on one hand and a plate of pasta for himself in another; the third man clearly comfortable moving around on his own in Henry's apartment. The awkward duo still weren't sure what was going on.

Clearly they were both friends with the red-head enigma, and apparently close with how he acted around them both. But what they were wondering was since when? There was no question about why they had been dragged into a joint meeting however. Joshua had mentioned to Gin that he wanted to repress a few things. Henry had contacted him because he was the holder of list of his one-night stands. Gin had given them all that right form the beginning.

The coincidence was too insane for them not to mull over it.

"'Kay, with what Joshua said and the broadcast, I think I managed to dig up everything on what happened. None of the chicks on Henry's list are going to be a problem from the looks of it, but I'll keep an eye on them. I scoured for hate, not much turned up and honestly don't think much will with the way you two acted during the live stream; which means there isn't much suppressing to do without Caroline catching on, and if that happens you two can consider me gone.

"Really, the only thing I have is making sure things I've kept quiet stay quiet, other than that, I got nothing."

After he has finished with his part, he dug into his plate of pasta, savouring the simple but homely flavour. Gin then looked up at the other two, cheeks full as he frowned. "You waiting for it to go cold? Eat."

As their mutual friend continued to comfortably eat, Henry and Joshua both glanced at each other before sighing, not being able to do anything but start to eat.

As they did, the tension slowly decreased, the atmosphere becoming a little more comfortable, a lot of it down to the same man who had created the high tension to begin with.

Henry was the first to voice his question on how the other two knew each other.

Before Joshua was even given the chance to think, Gin had already started to answer. "Hacked his laptop back when I was studying for my GED, we ended up chatting and then studying together while he gave me a few easy cover-up jobs from him and his friends. Only a couple of us stuck to him enough for him to still talk to us. He's also fun to get drunk, almost as much as you."

Simultaneously, both men in question started to wonder what he had meant by that.

Joshua internally shook his head, that was not what he wanted to know, at least not foremostly. "And how about the two of you, how do you know each other?"

Once again, Gin answered before the other man could even comprehend the question. "He was doing the internship I did in Country B at the same time as me, realised who he was and challenged him to a hacking contest. He won, so I pulled out some material to blackmail him with, instead he hit me with a job offer. Next thing you know we friends and I was being paid to keep his playboy ways and drunk shenanigans quiet so his mom didn't suspect him over covering himself."

"I am not a playboy; the list cannot be that long." Can it? Even if Henry was defending himself, he was starting to feel a little unsure. If the number had been somewhat low, he should be able to remember it, or at least hazard a guess. However he had no idea at all, no matter how much he though over it, he could not come up with even a precise estimate.

Gin scoffed, looking at his blond friend in disbelief. He knew Henry was not intentionally playing around, the man was rather chivalrous when it counted with a decently cute side to him as well as always polite. However, to keep his identity from being found too easily – by both the paparazzi and his family – he would always go to different parts of the city, never going further than a one-night stand in hotels. With that considered and Henry being a healthy man, the number had racked up. "Of course not, it is just 53 women. Not long at all."

Henry did a doubletake, immediately feeling shame.

Joshua continued to eat. The number did not seem all that high.

"T-that includes the ones before we met… right?"

Gin nodded, satisfied enough with Henry's reaction, the embarrassment was deep enough that the man felt know need to tease him further on the subject. He also knew just how unresponsive the older man's reaction would be. Joshua and Henry had very different standards for what number was high. Gin almost felt like outing him on it, however he wanted to see how it would play out in the situation that the two had dug themselves into. Knowing the two, he was sure it would be amusing.

"Anyways, moving on," Gin said, as Henry started to shovel pasta in his mouth in a childish attempt to hide his embarrassment, "instead of you both asking me to supress things I can't, I'll just make sure you secret stays secret until you need it to. Chill?"

The man was answered with two absent-minded nods.

"On that, actually, how long you doing this?"

Even though it took a couple of seconds, the question registered in their heads, Joshua almost choking on his food as he realised something unimaginable but true.

"We didn't talk about that, it was mostly an on-the-spot decision. We only talked about how we were making the lie work."

Hearing Henry's answer, it was clear to Joshua that the other man hadn't realised what they had unintentionally done.

"Well, you both doing this 'cause of the Q Group, it's not like you can keep going 'til they finally fall, that'd take like a decade or two."

"Huh?" In confusion, Henry turned to Joshua, only to see the 23-year-old's face in an ugly expression.

He thought about it properly. The two had agreed because the Q Group were going after their families and the Reyes' company. The whole point was to establish the merger quickly so they would stop acting desperately to stop the merger.

However, they had made a horrific assumption: that they would stop the attacks because of the merger. The more the young man thought about it, the more he realised that it only gave them more incentive two bring both families to ruins, it would just mean that instead of liquidating or attacking family members or even the public, all focus would be put on burning both families to the ground in a clever way. On top of that, one of their parents' intentions since the attack on the youngest Lore had been the start the downfall of the Q Group, no doubts they would use the success of the merger to help with that.

Joshua met Henry's eyes and saw the realisation sink in, neither of them had thought about things further than stopping the immediate threats.

If they broke the relationship off too quickly after the merger is settled, the companies would suffer, the Q Group will find a gap and they would not let it go to waste. Alternatively, if they wait until their parents and brothers take a stand against the Q Group, any sound of a problem in their relationship would be seen as a weakness, and they are even less likely to let that chance go.

Neither of them had thought past the completion of the merger, let alone when they could end their lie, not until this very moment.

"T-they won't make a stand soon after they finish the merger… right?" Joshua vocalised his fear, Henry's complexion going paler. Both had long stopped eating.

Meanwhile, Gin was trying as hard as possible to keep his laughter internal. Joshua and Henry were truly two of the smartest people he knew, however there were times the two were incredibly dim. He had never thought it would ever be to this level, however. The two really had amazing chemistry, they somehow made each other dumber, a scary complement of personalities but also undeniably funny for a bystander.

Both second sons both knew that what Joshua had said was 100% not true, the severity of the treacherous group's actions would not be forgotten. And over the course of the morning, they two had come to realise their parents were quite similar, meaning that their families were not going to return these attacks in three-fold once they were capable of it.

Suddenly the two were very worried, just how long would they have to pretend to be gay? How long would this lie have to go on?

Were they going to get a chance to stop it?

Henry felt sick at the thought. Joshua wanted to shiver in disgust.

A newfound determination bloomed within the two men, both still holding eye contact after all this time – the third person present was quite amazed they could both stare at each other for so long and still have the audacity to deny the reasoning behind why everyone believed the two were a couple – both nodding at the same time.

"We get the merger finished as soon as possible."

"And down the group just as fast."

Joshua and Henry had decided on an impossible task: to reduce the Q Group to nothing within a matter of months, neither wanting this to go on longer than a year. The thought of that was as horrifying as the Q Group ruining their families, perhaps even more to their recently jaded minds.

With the two in agreement, Henry reached over for his blazer, that he had flung onto the couch as he had stumbled his way into his apartment earlier. At the same time, Joshua turned to the mutual friend, his face determined as opposed to his horrified look from moments ago.

"We have another job for you two. We need everything possible on the Q Group. Data, history, statistics, reports, rumours, hidden scandals, disputes, allies, enemies; anything and everything humanly possible on them."

Gin could only look at his friend in shock, somehow they had come to as for a more impossible feat than going against Caroline Reyes online, they wanted him to dig around the Q Group like he had a death wish. The man could not say he was not interested, however he could not believe they were suggesting this like it was any normal digging around, the could get him and his girlfriend murdered if he wasn't careful; of course he would be.

Henry lit the cigarette he had put between his lips whilst Joshua had given their request before leaning forward, over the coffee table, his hand with the carton outstretched. Joshua took one out with a nod before holding it out, allowing the younger man to light it for him.

The entire interaction was casual, as if second nature.

Gin twisted his face in disgust, the scent of the tobacco/menthol blend filling the room; he stood up and opened the windows as well as the exhaust fan to prevent the smoke alarms from going off through the whole complex before he could hack the one in the apartment to isolate and temporarily disable it.

As he did this, he couldn't help but ponder on how Joshua and Henry interact. If he hadn't known the truth about when the two had really met, would have believed their public lie, in fact even knowing that he might still have. Even if he knew it was the influence of going to university in a very different society from their own, it was no wonder why their families believed they could be dating, they seemed almost completely familiar with each other.

The man now surely believed one thing, regardless of whether the two pull off their impossible goal or not, not a single person will believe them once the truth comes out.