Chapter 18

The only sound in the vehicle were the engine and navigator instructions; neither knew what to say to the other.

Even if they had agreed the plan just before the press conference, Henry couldn't help but feel like it had been a long time ago. In fact, the cyberattack from the morning even seem from this lifetime. However, with that all said, it also felt like just yesterday Henry did not have such insane worries, especially worries that had left him with a male fiancé. Just thinking about it made him want to smoke suddenly. On reflex he had already reached for his pocket, only realising halfway through the action; he placed his hand back on his lap, he did not want smoking to become habitual.

Joshua had a very different stance on smoking at that moment, he was itching to get out of the car and light one up. Of course he did not want to become dependent on the nicotine however the situation was almost demanding it, his stress levels almost to the heavens.

Silently, Joshua pulls up in front of a building complex, recognising it as one of the Reyes's successful development – an unsurprising fact with the diversity of amenities and connections in the area, as well as their at-the-time, newly establish variable rent system, which allowed for a good number of people to afford renting. While Joshua did not usually know so much detail about the other family's actions unless it was stock or finance related, he vividly remembered this.

It had been about three years ago and Archer did not stop talking about it since it was one of the first things the other heir had overlooked once taking role of director. Joshua's older brother had researched it to quite the length, knowing all the finer details; once he found out it was a project Samuel had proposed to his parents during his last year of high school, he would never let the topic go.

They were both the same age, Archer barely three months older however the timing ended up with him going to university a year before Samuel, even if they did both end up classmates for the three years they did share together. To the Lore heir, the fact that Samuel had the capabilities that allowed him to engage in projects while still in school was truly amazing, and while he could never admit it to anyone's face other than his brother's, he really did admire the opposing heir.

This gushing admiration led to Joshua knowing almost everything about the project; he did not disagree with his brother of course, it really was an amazing feat.

All his knowledge about the development did not aid in directing him to his next action; what was he supposed to do now that he was here?

It took a couple seconds for Henry to realise he would actually have to talk to the other man. Despite the hectic morning with him, he felt a little awkward.

"You can borrow the car to the hospital if you want to see your sister, just return the keys to the reception desk."

"Hm?"

The proposal had caught Joshua by surprise, making him wonder how Henry had known he had planned to visit his sister. Obviously his amazing memory allowed him to quickly remember what Henry's sister-in-law had suggested while refuting his attempts of freedom. Suddenly he was not surprised, the other man's social competence had always shone.

Also, recalling the drive, he realised that while Meena had been right about Sir Williamson Hospital being 10 minutes away, however she had 'failed' to mention that this timing was by car.

"Is that alright?"

"It's fine, my parents have it fully compensated in the case that anyone else needs to drive the car. Besides, I don't need it again until tomorrow."

"Well, if it is fine, I will take you up on the offer." While he also felt awkward around Henry, Joshua did not hold back. This whole thing was essentially down to his sister, she was always the first priority.

The blond man had easily guessed that would be the case; even if he was not happy with the misconception behind the entire situation, Joshua seemed like a nice enough person – save from his teasing earlier – and they seemed to be in this lie for a long haul, he would rather be lying with someone he could be friends with than someone he did not get along with.

With a nod, Henry opened his door and exited the car, only to tumble onto the curb and realising he had forgotten how his knees were still quite numb and achy.

In the driver's seat, Joshua found himself suddenly panicking, ready to reach over with a shout. In any usual situation, he would have gone on with the action without a second thought, however the lie he had committed to with the man played in his head, making him hesitate. There was fundamentally nothing wrong with worrying for someone who had fallen right in front of you, Joshua was well aware of that, but still couldn't act it out as he usually would.

In the meanwhile, blood rushed to Henry's face, ready to drown in embarrassment, he felt like today had just been him making one fool of himself after another. Keeping his face turned away from the other man, his hair acting as a curtain, he pulled himself onto his feet. Once stable enough, he ran off into his condo, that is what it felt like to him but in reality he had walked away as if he had never fallen.

Not sure what else to do, Joshua left for the hospital once sure that Henry had made it into the building safely.

The drive to the hospital was uneventful, Joshua too mentally exhausted to continue to think about other things while driving, quickly arriving and finding Penelope's ward. Joshua entered to find his sister talking to the boy in the bed next to he – he was too tired last time to have any recognition of the boy his sister was friendly with.

Once again, the boy curtly ended the conversation and gave Penelope and Joshua privacy, pulling his curtain and taking out his headphones. After the last couple of days, he was well aware than once his beautiful underclassman was free, she would throw a pillow at his curtains despite her injury.

As her older brother sat down, Penelope started smiling, remembering everything she had witnessed through the live stream and family group chat.

Being confined to a hospital bed, the girl had been the first to see the posts on social media, allowing her to see how the playout from the view of the public, not the families' involved.

The second Joshua's and Henry's new relationship status had been announced, posts from different news networks and journalists surged, all showing the only pictures they had prepared: what happened outside the company as the reporters were going in. Within moments, there was debates on whether it was the truth or not. The said debates were just as quickly quashed by the keen eyes noticing the matching rings.

Of course that in itself was not enough to convince everyone, however this had all happened within a couple minutes of the announcement, meaning the two second sons had only just started speaking. The stumbling of words and sheer nervousness on their faces had convinced most people that there was some truth in their relationship.

As the conference continued to the questions, behaviour specialists had started to deeply analyse the livestream, none seeming to be able to plausibly disprove the situation. By this point, the majority of the public had accepted the engagement, not many having the heart to say a word against the beautiful men.

With the general consensus along with how Henry and Joshua had both answered their questions, by the time the livestream had finished, there was little doubt left.

Of course, Penelope knew the real situation, which had sprouted a few concerns in her mind, however it was greatly downplayed by how cute her brother and Henry had acted. Even if she knew they had not been in a relationship or even known each other before the weekend, she genuinely did believe that the two had a lot of potential together.

However, she could also see how exhausted her older brother was now, understandably so seeing as a lot had just been thrown at him.

The worries were still nothing in comparison to Penelope's burning desire to continue gushing at her brother's interactions with Henry.

The teenage girl had stared a little too long, her brother noticing. Joshua sent her a confused look. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"No reason, just remembering your act during the press conference. It was one heck of a public debut."

Joshua immediately leaned forward in his seat, hiding his face and groaning in embarrassment. "Do not remind me, I am going to die of shame."

"Why? It was cute."

Cute? Joshua had been called a lot of things in his adult life, from good to bad, all sorts of adjectives had been thrown at him due to his looks out of both admiration and envy. Cute, however, had never been one of them. No one had described him as cute in almost 15 years for a specific reason, he was not remotely cute.

The young man was strangely offended, not that he would ever let on the petty feeling.

"That aside, looks like you have gotten quite close to my brother-in-law."

Joshua shivered, sitting up straight. "Do not call him that, it is slightly mortifying."

"Well, you did agree to marry him, so why should I not? I, for one, am quite excited at the prospect of having a fun, not embarrassing older brother. Oh, and a sister too."

A pang of guilt stuck the man's heart, this was the first time he had really been faced with the fact that his family were happy about this, that they were excited about the union, that they were happy for him.

The fact that he was lying to keep their happiness alive was painful. The fact that he now had to keep lying to them was painful.

And while he would never admit it, the fact that his family thought he was gay was the most painful, not because he wasn't – well not entirely so – but because he now had no idea how to play things out now in a way without hurting his family after he and Henry decide to bring the lie to an end. They were being so accepting and in turn he was most likely going to hurt them.

Unknown to Joshua, his face had slowly paled and started to show a surprisingly ugly complexion, one that people wouldn't think possible on such a beauty.

Penelope's worries resurfaced.

"Um, Joshua… you are alright with the marriage, right? It was not just because of the merger or the Q Group… right?" Penelope had been the most clearheaded about the marriage once hearing they had agreed, mostly down to the fact word had come to her shortly after the Q Group had tried to kill her again. The 13-year-old was perhaps the strongest of the siblings, easily accepting how the Q Group were trying to force her family away from the merger through threats to her life – she knew she was in safe hands and there was no reason to worry.

However it was this mentality, along with the memory of how out of it Joshua had been after the fire, that had seeded the small concern at the back of her head. Even though from the looks of things, him and Henry really did have the makings and chemistry of a good couple, it had been nagging at her for the past few hours.

The older brother almost did a double take; his sister had guessed the whole situation so easily!

However, he immediately knew he could not confirm her suspicions and continue to worry her, Penelope would not stand for it and have the fake relationship dissolved at her own hands. He couldn't allow her to be at a bigger risk than she already was, or to further threaten the already quite flimsy merger. It may pain him to lie, but he will continue with it until he knows his family are out of danger.

"Of course not. Do you think your brother is stupid?"

The denial was fast, putting the young girl at ease – while as much of a genius as the rest of her family, she had full faith in her brother's words, no matter what they were.

"So you do like Henry?"

"I-I did not say that." Even if Joshua had in reality stutter to stop his response coming out too forceful and hateful, to anyone else it sounded like he was embarrassed or nervous."

Penelope couldn't help but toy with her brother a little. "So you hate him? But you just said-…"

"I did not say that either," the older brother quickly cut his sister off.

She giggled before looking at her brother seriously. "Well, even if you don't like him like that now, you would not have agreed if you did not feel something for him, so I won't pry… for now."

Of course that was not true, however Joshua did not show the thought on his face.

To say Joshua did not feel anything would be a lie, did feel something for Henry: a sense of comradery and shared pain. They had both been thrown into this situation together.