Chain Reaction

[Adrian's POV]

"How did you two made up?"

"We just ate ice cream and watched anime," Johan answered Jacqueline's question with a straight face.

It was Friday night. The girls had reached the peak of their restrains and felt it was time to satisfy their curiosity. A subtle warning look from Johan told Adrian to leave the rest of the talking to him.

"That's it? You didn't do anything else?" Christy had an accusing tone in her voice.

Adrian expected Johan to blush at the implication of her question. To his surprise, however, Johan only shrugged it off with a scoff.

"We did nothing else." Johan leaned back to his chair to check their workload on his monitor. He faced them again after confirming there were zero document in the queue that needed to be processed. "Oh! Actually, we had a walk at the seashore and he told me his mother met his German father at the beach."

"Boring!" Christy and Jacqueline chorused, their shoulders sagging.

"I think it's romantic," Irene quipped.

Johan rolled his eyes and crossed his legs. "What were you expecting we'd do?"

"Kiss and play sword fighting," Thesa said with a hearty laugh, slapping hands with Christy and Jacqueline. They created clanking and swishing sounds with their mouth, laughing some more.

Adrian's dick twitched in his pants at the memory as embarrassment colored Johan's cheeks red at their word of choice. He pressed both his palms to his face. "Can we please not talk about stuff like that?"

"Come on, Jo. You're twenty-one already. You should be more open to these kinds of topic." Jacqueline urged. "You're too innocent for your own good, you'll die a virgin at this point."

Adrian snorted and Johan glared at him through the gap between his fingers. If only they knew how corrupted he was behind those innocent looks. Heck, even Adrian didn't know the extent of Johan's knowledge of sex, yet, and how far he'd gone with his one-night stands. His chest tightened at the thought, and Adrian cleared his throat to quell the uneasy feeling.

Although the information he disclosed to their prying wasn't a complete lie, he omitted details with ease and only the two of them knew it wasn't the entire truth.

Lying with a straight face and acting bashful. Johan had a knack of turning things to his favor if needed, and Adrian was unsure if he liked it or not. It's beneficial to their situation, but what about the truths between them?

'Relax. He showed you a side of him he wouldn't normally show to anyone. That means you're special to him, right? You're not one of his one-night stands.'

Christy nudged his knee. "Why are you being quiet?"

"I have nothing to say," Adrian said.

"How about you tell us what you feel for Johan?" Plump fingers grabbed his armchair and made him face them fully. "Damn it, Adrian, you're heavy."

"Heavier than you?" He chuckled when she hit him in the arm. "Why do I feel like I'm in a showbiz hot seat?"

"Because you are, Mr. Heartthrob."

Johan turned back to his monitor and pretended he's working, and Adrian resisted furrowing his eyebrows. Was Johan not interested to know how he felt for him? It's not like he'll say things that will compromise their secret affair, but playing along with the girls' shenanigans was his easiest escape route without acting rude or suspicious.

"Now, Adrian Guevarra," Christy started, and he laughed. She enjoyed playing a talk show host since they were in high school. A playful slap on the arm only made him laugh more. "Who is Johan in your life?"

"He's..." Adrian shot the reddened neck a look. Johan's listening, and that made him smirk. "He's special to me. A special friend I want to be by my side no matter what."

That statement alone made the girls crazy. Jacqueline pulled Johan's chair, but he clutched his desk and refused to face them.

"Look how red he is!" Jacqueline pointed out. "Show us that pretty face, Jo. It's alright. It's just us."

"N-No. I'm trying to work here."

"We don't have workload yet."

Oh, so he doesn't want to talk about feelings. Adrian was about to stand to tease him a little, but the beeping sound of the biometric door lock alerted them of someone coming in. They all turned back to their desks just-in-time as Diego walked in.

"You were gossiping again, weren't you?" Diego said in a gruff tone as he stalked towards Johan's desk. "What were you talking about?"

"Nothing. Don't scold them for gossiping if you're interested to join in yourself."

They all bit down their amused laughter as Johan threw Diego another one of his sassy remarks reserved especially for him.

Diego only scowled. "Whatever. How's the workload?"

"Low. It's Friday."

"Good. Come with me. I need your help with something." Diego left no room for argument and was already on his way to his office, which was only a glass cubicle that separated him from their commoner's desk, as they called it.

"Watch the workload for me," Johan told Jacqueline and pushed himself up and dragged his feet to Diego's office.

Despite their apparent distaste towards their department head, they feared Diego's authority. Neither of them had the guts to oppose him but Johan, who held no interest in company hierarchy. Add to that, he's the youngest in their department. How he got away with it, they'll never know.

Not even five minutes after they entered Diego's office, Johan emerged with Diego's hand clasped around his shoulder.

Adrian followed them with squinted eyes. What did he say again about analysts? They read people's body language and decipher the meaning behind their actions.

"So, I want to make a chart here to show our team's monthly score card, quality standing, and top performers," Diego said after he guided Johan to an empty wall. "I want you to come up with a design."

"Three years and you only thought of this now?" Johan looked up to Diego with exasperated eyes, but didn't shrug off the hand on his shoulder. "And why me?"

Adrian didn't like what he's seeing.

"I'm busy, okay? I'm managing three shifts at once."

"Busy, my ass. I saw you sleeping in your office yesterday." Johan faced the wall, his hand pinching his chin in thought. "Fine. It's been a while since I do some board decorations though."

"You can do it. You're good with art, anyway." Diego's hand traveled down to his waist and gave a slight squeeze.

Adrian fought the sudden urge to walk up to them and wrench it away. That space was he's fucking place!

"I better get a salary increase for this," Johan said.

"I'll treat you lunch at the pantry." Diego removed his hand to scratch his head, much to Adrian's relief.

"No thanks. I have my own lunch. I don't need you bribing me with disgusting food."

Diego laughed. "Breakfast then. Fries and float?"

"I want large fries."

"Okay. Deal." Diego walked back to his office as Johan remained standing, facing the wall.

Christy nudged Adrian and pointed at the document he abandoned to observe the exchange between their department head and quality analyst.

"What the hell was that?"

"I heard they used to be close before Diego was promoted as our department head," Christy explained with a lowered voice.

That explained Johan's laid back interaction with him. Diego was in his late twenties, and he's the definition of the tall, dark and handsome guy. Filipinos being obsessed with lighter skin, however, Adrian outshined him in every way.

Still, he disliked what he saw because it played with his imagination the wrong way.

"Who was the department head before him?" Adrian couldn't help but ask in curiosity.

"Your girlfriend's department head, Quinn."

Adrian knew Quinn since he came from her department. When they announced over-staffing, he and Christy were one of the unfortunate souls who got transferred.

Questions filled his mind even after Johan walked back to his desk and the people from the graveyard shift entered. "Lunch break?" he asked them.

Their lives at work were back to normal except at lunch where Johan avoided his table when Rhia's around, not wanting to be in the same space with her for a reason Adrian understood. He could only chance a hidden glance from a distance as Johan ate alone at the corner of the long table.

"How is he?" Rhia suddenly asked before putting a spoonful of rice in her mouth.

"Hmm?" Adrian followed her line of sight and he almost choked at his own food. Rhia was also looking at Johan. Adrian grabbed his bottle of water and drank. "What do you mean?"

"He's from a breakup, right? He sounded heartbroken over the phone last weekend."

Crap. He almost forgot about that. Rhia believed Johan's lie, and she's now worried about him.

"How about we join him? He looks so lonely eating alone like that." Rhia stood and grabbed their plate. She's already walking to Johan's table before Adrian could come up with an excuse not to bother him.

Shit!

"Hi!" Rhia placed down their plates across from Johan. "Care if we join you?"

Hazel eyes widened, and apprehension flickered in them. Still, Johan flashed a small smile at her. "Sure," he said as the girls from their department emerged from the pantry door.

Adrian prayed they wouldn't join them, but as Christy pulled a chair beside Johan, he knew this was heaven's way of punishing them.

"Coffee?" Christy offered.

Rhia only smiled in acknowledgment. She's not particularly fond of his female friends, but she tried to be civil for Adrian's sake. It's one of the reasons why Christy was more supportive of Johan than her. She felt like Rhia's restricting him too much when Adrian's not doing anything wrong.

Problem was, he already did. Just not with a female friend like Rhia feared. And Adrian doubted Christy would keep her mouth shut forever once she discovered the truth about him and Johan.

"How are you feeling, Johan?" Rhia asked with her soft voice. "How's your heart?"

Johan brushed his bangs and gave an awkward smile, not meeting Rhia's onyx eyes. "I'm okay. Thanks."

"Why are you asking how was his heart?" Christy sipped on her piping hot coffee. "Did something happened?"

"You didn't know?" Rhia raised her fine eyebrows. "I thought you were close."

Christy took offense of Rhia's little jab, but she shrugged it off. "Johan's a little secretive. He doesn't share much."

"Oh, sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." Rhia grabbed her spoon and continued eating.

It's too late, though. It already caught Christy's attention, and she gave Johan a look. "You know you can share problems with us, right? Bottling it up won't do you any good."

"I'm okay, really." Johan searched Adrian's eyes, and he saw the uncertainty in them. Adrian inserted his hands inside his pocket before he made a mistake of reaching for Johan's. "It's a just a break up, but I'm over it," he delivered the lie with a clear voice.

"Wait! What?" Jacqueline placed her own cup of coffee and cheese bread on the table. "Break up? You had a boyfriend?"

Johan froze, and Adrian cursed Jacqueline with his eyes for her dumb question. They realized that despite the believable lie Johan concocted; it has a chain reaction they didn't see coming.

And they feared to know Rhia's reaction at the revelation.