"Adrian, you sound completely serious," Charles said, searching his friend’s eyes. "What happened?"

Adrian froze under his gaze. For a moment, he couldn’t speak.

Charles took another step closer.

"Adrian," he called again, more gently this time. "What’s going on?"

"Hey... what is it?" Frank asked, more seriously.

Adrian swallowed hard.

He opened his mouth—

Then stopped.

I promised him...

His hands clenched slightly at his sides.

"It’s nothing," Adrian said quickly.

He forced himself to take a slow breath, trying to calm his racing heart.

"Just... don’t say things like that, Charles," he murmured. "Even as a joke. Words have weight, and you never know who might hear them and take them the wrong way."

Charles didn’t move. He just stared at him.

"You’re lying," he said l.

"I’m not—" Adrian murmured.

"You are," Charles cut in, I know you."

Frank frowned, looking between both of them in confusion.

"What the hell is going on?" he muttered.

Adrian opened his mouth, finally about to explain himself, but before he could say anything, his phone suddenly started ringing.

The sudden sound interrupted the tense atmosphere immediately.

Adrian quickly pulled out his phone and checked the screen.

Matteo.

He let out a small breath before looking back at both of them.

"I’ll be back," he said. "Let me go see why he’s calling me."

Without waiting for another question, Adrian stepped out of the guest room and walked down the hallway toward Matteo’s room.

When Adrian entered the room, he looked at Matteo with an exasperated sigh. "Why do you keep calling me? I already told you I would be back, but I wanted to talk to my friends. You keep calling and calling. Why?"

Matteo looked up, his expression a mix of jealousy and annoyance. "Since your friends got here, you just run off to them. You don’t even sit and talk to me anymore. It’s just friends, friends, friends."

"I explicitly said I would come back to you," Adrian argued, crossing his arms. "So why the constant calls?"

"I called you because I miss you," Matteo said plainly, stepping closer to him.

"I know, but I want to talk to them," Adrian replied. "Once I am completely done spending time with them, I will come back to you."

Matteo walked toward the bed before dramatically gesturing toward the closet. "Just pack your bags and go move in with your friends then."

Adrian smirked immediately, deciding to play along.

"Oh, should I really pack my bags?" he asked jokingly as he walked toward the closet. "Fine then. I’ll just go stay in the guest room with them permanently."

But before he could even reach the closet properly, Matteo quickly walked over and wrapped his arms tightly around Adrian from behind, pulling him firmly against his chest.

"What exactly do you think you’re doing?"

Adrian melted back into the embrace for a second, but then his face turned serious. He turned around in Matteo’s arms to look at him directly.

Matteo noticed immediately.

"What happened?"

Adrian hesitated for a moment before speaking. He explained everything that happened outside the guest room and how Mark heard the conversation.

Matteo listened quietly.

"So now I don’t know if I should tell Charles the truth or not," Adrian admitted.

"Listen to me, Adrian," Matteo said. "Don’t interfere."

Adrian blinked in surprise.

"I know Charles is your best friend, and you want to look out for him," Matteo said, his hand resting on Adrian’s shoulder. "But this is something serious between him and Mark. Let them handle it in their own way. If they’re meant to be together, they’ll figure things out themselves. But if you keep stepping in every time something happens, trying to explain who was wrong or fix everything for them, then they’ll never really grow together."

Then he sighed. "It’ll just feel like everything is being solved for them instead of them putting in the effort themselves. So... let them handle it."

Adrian stayed silent, looking at him.

"Mark already explained what happened to me," Matteo confessed smoothly. "I know he’s hurting because of what he overheard at the door, but he’s a grown man. If I were him, I would also take some actions just to be sure about the kind of person I want to be with. So don’t get between them. Don’t go back into that room and tell Charles, ’Oh, I saw Mark at the door, he heard everything.’ If your friend finds out because of you, I’m going to be really angry with you. Let their relationship work the way it should. This is their own test. Just let it be."

Adrian swallowed hard, realizing Matteo was right. "Okay, baby," he murmured. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Matteo smiled slightly before pulling him closer.

"Good," he murmured. "Now stay here instead of running back to your friends every five minutes."

That immediately made Adrian smile.

And because of that, Adrian didn’t return to the guest room again until much later that night.

Later that night, the three friends eventually gathered outside in one of the quiet garden lounges behind the house.

Near the back garden was a beautiful outdoor sitting area surrounded by soft lights, flowers, and a small fountain nearby.

Frank, Adrian, and Charles sat there together drinking and talking casually while enjoying the cool night air.

At some point during the conversation, Frank suddenly stood up.

"I’ll be back," he said. "I need to use the bathroom."

The moment Frank walked away, Adrian’s phone vibrated again.

Matteo.

Adrian immediately sighed dramatically.

"Your man misses you again," Charles teased.

Adrian rolled his eyes while standing up. "It’s been a while since I left him alone. I’ll come back soon."

Charles smiled at him. "Alright."

With that, Adrian also walked away, leaving Charles sitting alone in the quiet garden area while the bodyguards remained nearby.

For a while, Charles just sat there quietly, lost in his thoughts.

Even though Mark now had his number and social media, he still hadn’t sent him any message or called him since they got back home earlier.

Charles sighed softly to himself.

Maybe I should just go knock on his door, he thought.

But just as he was about to stand up, he suddenly noticed a figure standing a few steps behind him in the darkness.

The person was dressed completely in black.

Because the area was dimly lit, Charles couldn’t see the face clearly at first, and for a second, his heart jumped in fear.

He honestly thought it was Matteo.

But then the figure stepped forward slightly into the light.

Charles blinked.

"Mark?"

Mark didn’t answer immediately.

Charles stared at him again carefully before asking, "It’s really you, right?"

That finally made Mark speak.

"So you still can’t recognize me properly when you see me?"

Charles instantly shook his head.

"No, I’m sorry," he explained quickly. "You were standing there quietly wearing all black and it was dark. You scared me for a second."

"It’s fine," Mark murmured.

He walked closer and took a seat directly beside Charles on the outdoor sofa. Once he sat down, he glanced at the glass in Charles’s hand. "So you’ve been out here drinking?"

"Yes," Charles answered. "I was drinking with Adrian and Frank."

Mark looked around the empty terrace. "Where are they?"

"Adrian went back inside to see Matteo," Charles explained. "And Frank went up to use the restroom upstairs."

"Alright," Mark said softly.

They sat together for a long time, but neither of them said another word. Mark remained completely silent, and Charles didn’t know what to say to break the ice.

The heavy, quiet atmosphere made the situation feel incredibly strained, as if something was deeply wrong.

Suddenly, Mark turned his head and stared directly at Charles.

Charles looked back, meeting his gaze.

They locked eyes for a long, intense moment until the mood between them began to shift, growing thick with an undeniable heat.

Slowly, Charles leaned his head forward, closing the distance to kiss Mark’s lips. But just as their faces grew close, Mark subtly tilted his head, dodging the kiss. He acted smoothly, as if he hadn’t intentionally waved it off, and instead buried his face straight into the crook of Charles’s neck.

Mark pressed his lips firmly against Charles’s sensitive skin, making Charles instantly gasp and close his eyes.

Mark sucked gently on his neck, his hands tracing down Charles’s chest. His fingers moved lower, trailing down past his ribs, over his navel, and straight down toward his trousers.

Charles’s breathing turned heavy. His eyes stayed shut tightly as he began to make soft, breathless sounds, completely pulled into the sudden wave of desire.

While Mark was doing all of this, his eyes remained wide open, completely alert, watching every single one of Charles’s raw reactions.

He slipped his hand down, his fingers rubbing against the swelling hardness of Charles’s cock. The sudden, intense friction made Charles whimper, his whole body trembling at the touch.

Mark stared at Charles’s flushed face for a few more seconds before he suddenly stopped moving his hand.

"Let’s go to my place," Mark said, his voice husky.

The sudden loss of friction made Charles drag his eyes open, looking at him in a daze. "Do you mean your room?"

"No," Mark replied, his gaze piercing right through him. "I mean let’s go to my actual house. We will be passing the night there. What do you say?"

Charles swallowed hard, his heart racing. "Okay."

"Alright. Go get ready," Mark told him, standing up. "I will go get ready too, so we can leave immediately."

They both stood up from the outdoor seats and walked back inside the house.

Charles practically rushed up and burst into the guest room to break the news to Frank.

The moment Frank heard it, he practically jumped up in excitement. "Oh my god, it is finally happening!" Frank started teasing loudly as Charles rushed to change his clothes. "Tonight, you are finally getting fucked by your crush! By the absolute love of your life!"

"Frank, shut up!" Charles laughed, his face burning hot as he threw on a fresh outfit.

Frank continued laughing and teasing him the entire time Charles got ready.

"Frank!" Charles groaned in embarrassment. "Enough."

"No, it’s not enough," Frank replied. "I love seeing you like this. Teasing you is too fun."

Once he was ready, Charles pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Adrian to let him know: I won’t be sleeping here tonight. I’m heading to Mark’s house.

Adrian already knew about it because Matteo had informed him earlier.

A few seconds later, Adrian replied:

Alright. Have a nice night and enjoy yourself.

With everything set, Charles stepped out of the room and headed downstairs. Mark was already waiting for him by the front entrance, and the vehicles were lined up in the driveway.

Tony was sitting in the front passenger seat of the main car alongside the driver, while the secondary vehicle packed with bodyguards idled right behind them. Mark and Charles slid into the backseat together, the doors clicking shut tightly as the cars drove out of the estate gates, heading straight toward Mark’s private home.

The drive to Mark’s house...