Chapter 66

This time it was Archer who was checking up on the pair, who had once again gone MIA.

Luckily, this time it was just the two not answering any calls or emails while in the office, so everyone knew they were safe. The main issue was that when Henry had been doing his job this morning, the senior manager from marketing he had been working with had expressed some concern about the young man. His work was as impeccable as ever; however it was worrying how exhausted Henry had been when he came into the office, and perhaps the two energy drinks he chugged down before clapping his own face was just too much of a sight. He just looked too tired and so the manager decided to drop by the presidents' office to express his concern. When Marcus called both Joshua and Henry, there was no response. After everyone tried a bit, they started to worry too, because the whole family had no witnessed what the two were like when they were tired.

Hence, the Lore heir was sent to check up on the pair.

To say Henry looked exhausted would have been an understatement, and that is without even taking into account how much work he had put in this morning to mask the two sleepless nights. He even had to pull out the concealer he had locked away in an attempt to cover his dark circles.

And Joshua had not been much better. His translucent skin seemed to be both reddened and grey at the same time, moving sluggishly throughout the day. The perfect description of his current aura was fragile beauty. When he had walked into his department this morning, his staff had all thought a light gust of wind would be enough to blow him down.

Archer steeled his heart as he opened the door, not knowing what kind of absurd scene he would come face to face with, they had a track record of acting odd when tired. But when he did let himself in, he did not know what would have shocked him more. Unlike what he expected, the two were sitting next to each other at Joshua's large desk, the remnants of a meal between them.

The two were napping.

Archer had taken a picture of the surprising yet adorable sight before freezing. He was still mad at them for ganging up on him about Penelope's matter. Well, no, he was mad at Joshua for that, his issue with Henry was the bitterness he felt when his beloved sister had once again announced this morning that Henry was her favourite brother. That was his role! And while he agreed, because Henry was by far his favourite brother (Joshua was cute but his fiancé was cute and sociable) he could not stop his sour feeling in his heart that his sister had picked someone else over him.

…well, if Joshua turned around and told him Samuel was his favourite brother, he would also be mad. He needed to be everyone's favourite siblings, as the eldest, that was his role. Why was the youngest two throwing all that in the air?

And yes, at this point Archer had fully integrated the whole family as one, Henry was his brother and Samuel was his younger siblings' brother. Although personally he could not view the Samuel and Meera any differently to how he had before, that would make things a little weird after all this time.

Ultimately, Archer's pettiness meant he did not share the picture, that was his own to keep now.

He did, however, send a text to everyone else saying the two had been sensible this time, feeding themselves and getting some rest. With that, everyone's worry was abated.

Leaving the cute couple to sleep, Archer tidied up the leftover rubbish before picking the third chair in the office up above his head with ridiculous ease. He took it with him around the table, and once he was successfully past Joshua's swivel chair, he expertly placed it down in front of his younger brother's desktop, not making a single sound. As he sat down, he took a glance at his brother's face, which he could not see on coming in due to his arm placement. Despite the fatigue evident on his face and the slightly off state of his skin, Joshua looked calm.

It was not the first time the young man had been found having a nap in the office, he was an over worker, especially when projects were involved. However, none of these times did he seem to sleep peacefully, normally there would be a slight frown etched on his features. Even the time he came to pick his brother up after his first major project he was involved in was successfully completed, he looked ever so slightly uneasy. But his expression now, it was just calm.

Archer rested his chin in his hand and looked at Henry. The young man really had made quite the impact on Joshua's life in the short time they had known each other.

When he thought about how his parents had come to him about the marriage meeting, he was almost certain it would blow up. Regardless of his brother's possible preferences, it was ridiculous to think that the two families could pull it off as a whim. But now, he did not know whether it was a stroke of luck or if the four parents had truly known it would work. Because it did work. Regardless of the fake relationship and impromptu engagement, the two were definitely good for each other, and they probably did not even realise it.

No, he knew his younger brother did not get it yet. He knew Joshua had not realised just how mellow he had become since spending time with the blond man. It was not something noticeable to stranger, even less so to the person themselves, but for those who lived and worked in their vicinity on the daily, it was abundantly clear. Joshua was clearly enjoying life a lot more now than he had before, and it showed in just about every aspect of his life. He had found that someone special.

Archer sighed. Now if only his idiot brother truly saw that. For someone whose head was so filled with romance plots, why could he not realise just how deep his feelings were. It was slightly frustrating to watch sometimes. As cute as they were, they acted like a primary school couple for the most part.

Shaking his head, he decided it was not worth his lamenting. Their progress was good for a pair of virgins in their first ever relationship. It would only be a matter of time before they realised how much they meant to each other… although, deep down the man did not have much real hope in the speed of such high EQ development.

Archer sat up in the seat and unlocked the desktop; Joshua had a bad habit of using the same technique for choosing his passwords.

It was simple enough really. If one was to look under the pillow of the young man's bed on the day the password was set up, whichever book was under there, the password would be the full name of the main lead's father. In every instance, that was the case. That is what lead Archer to knowing half of his brother's passwords, most of which were work-related.

On the screen was several PDFs, some which he recognised as part of the information pack and brochure for the two events tomorrow. But what really caught his eye was the most recently opened window. At first glance, it seemed like some sort of thesis or study, but after reading a paragraph, Archer recognised the piece of academia. It was Henry Reyes environmental sustainability paper from when he was in university. The man could not stop a light laugh escaping his lips, turning to look at his younger brother once again.

His whole family knew Joshua enjoyed reading, and it only took one real glance at his filled wall to see how wide a range it was. He had always been like that, for almost as long as Archer could remember. But there was some things that were never part of Joshua's leisure reading, in fact many things because as it would turn out, Joshua Lore only read fiction. It was nothing his family ever called him out on, there was no need for it, they could already tell why just by thinking about it: non-fiction literature bored him.

That is why Archer found it funny. Of course it could have just been his younger brother looking into the topic of the conference tomorrow so that he would be well informed and be able to make coherent, well-considered contributions; that was simply the kind of hard-working person he was. But something told him that was most likely not the case. All the other windows showed articles that would be specifically discussed or the information found on the website for the conference. This single essay was the only thing that was not required reading, it was something Joshua would never consider reading normally.

It was easy to guess why.

The sound of laughter right next to him was enough to wake Joshua up. He had not been sleeping too deeply to begin with. Unlike Henry, he had a chance to rest his eyes in the morning as well. He was awake enough to recognise the sound of his brother, but not tired enough to remember he had been avoiding his family the past week. While he did not sit up, Joshua did turn his head up to look his brother.

Archer was quick to notice and simply smirked. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. I just never thought I would see the day you would read academia out of your own will. Did you enjoy his essay?"

It took a few seconds for Joshua's head to catch up to what Archer was talking about. But when his eyes slowly moved from his brother to his desktop monitor, he immediately understood, feeling his face getting hot. "I-it was for the, um, seminar."

"…"

"Don't look at me like that!"

The young man hid his head in his arms, steaming in embarrassment. His brother did not have to call him out like that.

Of course, his older brother's thinking had been right. The only reason he had considered reading the essay when he did not need to was because Henry had written it. However, it had been pure curiosity. Joshua had been quite active during his university years too, going as far as helping in a research group for a new financial model. However, Henry's essay was of a different scale.

The young man said that it was just a critical review on what was at the time considered cutting-edge green procedures. He said it was just your standard 5000-word essay you were assigned to write during first year for an elective module. He said it was nothing special and it was quite rare that his family had known about the paper.

A quick internet search said otherwise.

Last night was the night Joshua Lore found out that his fiancé had made such an impact at university that he had been the reason why there had been such a radical change in structure in terms of the education of green technology and sustainability outside of the environmental, technological and political sectors. And while the news of Henry's involvement had not quite reached their own country's ears, despite having only completed a bachelor's, several universities had offered him fully funded master's and PhD's. His own university went as far as inviting him to be a professor during his finally year. All of which he had kindly rejected. And to top it all off, he had been the curator of an entire sustainability module that was co-taught through several institutes.

After seeing such impressive and yet well hidden, credentials, it was only natural that he wanted to read the essay that had essentially started all of this. Joshua had initially decided to leave all academics behind with his studies. He hated academic reading, it was all dry with convoluted wording and mind-numbing repetition. As a student, he would rather spend a couple days trying to derive the proof of a mathematical theorem than spend half-an-hour on his readings. But even he had to read the piece that had lit a fire in society itself.

And to top it all off, he enjoyed the work. It was informative yet concise and somehow so well composed it could be considered literary art. Joshua left like he could rave on about it for days if someone got him started. The fact that Henry wrote it, and of course his curiosity, may be the reason that he considered reading it however he would be lying if he said he was not interested in reading all of Henry's written papers in existence.

This all, however, was not nearly enough for him to hold face in front of his older brother teasing, incredibly mistaken glance. Because the insinuation was not entirely wrong. He really did only read the essay because Henry had written it, and he really did enjoy the essay a lot despite it being non-fiction and academic.

Archer kept laughing, making his brother whine.

"Shut up!"

Ah, Joshua really was the cutest when riled up, he had almost forgotten what it felt like to watch.

Luckily, to Joshua's grace, there was an urgent knock on the door before opening.

"Sorry, I know you said not to interrupt but there is something weird with the data we received on Company S." At the door was a lady in her early thirties that did not look a day over 25, and one could not forget to note her stylish clothes. Despite working in finance, a notoriously boring section from what the Lore heir had found, she was fresh looking and knew how to do herself up. And her clothes seemed to fit perfectly to her curves while leaving just enough for imag-

A sharp jab to the chest stopped Archer's reeling thoughts before they became lustrous.

Joshua stood up; ears still red but face mostly composed. "It's fine, let me come take a look and hear what you all have to say." With that, the young man left the office, not before glaring at his brother for both embarrassing him and then lusting over his subordinate.

"He's gone, you can laugh now."

Henry peeked up, a smile on his face and no sleep left in his eyes. Archer had long noticed Henry waking up to his initial teasing. The young man's amber eyes locked with the other party's green eyes – his seemed much darker than the younger siblings' – before shaking his head. "No, it was just a bit satisfying seeing him as the butt of the joke for once."

The look they shared solidified a sense of understanding between the two: throwing Joshua off guard was the best.

In that second, Archer felt whatever lingering resentment he had towards Henry melt away, he could no longer bring himself to be bitter over his siblings picking Henry over him. Right now, without a doubt, if Penelope, Joshua and Henry were all drowning, Henry was most definitely the one he would save first, the other two knew how to swim.