Julian walked in and only then realized that the curtains in this room were drawn tight, not allowing a single ray of light to filter through. Fortunately, the room was not pitch black like the first time Ethan had arrived; a warm yellow lamp had been added. Seeing them from a corner, Felix nodded but did not speak. Julian nodded in return, just in time to see Louis slouched over, leaning against Felix and fast asleep.

He remembered Ethan telling him earlier that he had just gone to meet Louis and Kieran not long ago. How was it that Louis already looked as though he had fallen into a very deep slumber?

"He has been busy with a lot of things lately." Felix said to them in a hushed voice.

Right at that moment, Kieran approached, the sound of his slippers shuffling against the floor echoing softly: "Is it not because of the mess you two made? He spent the entire night sorting it out, then immediately caught a flight here. It is only natural that he is exhausted."

Suddenly, Julian felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. He and Ethan had been happily indulging themselves, playfully tangling in bed before falling asleep in each other’s arms. Meanwhile, the absolute chaos outside had ultimately been tossed to Louis to resolve.

To make matters worse, after arriving at their home, the man did not even have a proper bed to sleep in, forced to lean exhaustedly against someone else in such a miserable state.

As if Ethan could read his thoughts, the man whispered softly into his ear,:"He does not like sleeping on a bed. He actually prefers leaning like that."

At first, Julian did not quite understand, merely following Ethan’s gaze to look at the two men resting their heads together. Coincidentally, at that exact moment, Felix was carefully tucking a stray lock of hair behind Louis’s ear. Perhaps feeling a bit ticklish, Louis shifted slightly, burrowing even deeper into Felix’s embrace.

Louis was by no means a small man; after all, he was the boss of an entertainment company. Regardless of his actual capabilities, his outward appearance was absolutely top-tier. Louis had to be nearly one point eight meters tall, yet somehow, he looked completely engulfed within Felix’s arms.

Felix was roughly the same height as Louis, but Felix was a military man. The physique forged by rigorous military training was nothing to joke about.

He was solidly built, projecting an aura of absolute unshakeable stability.

Observing the intimate demeanor between the two of them, what else could Julian possibly fail to understand?

And to think, just the other day at their gathering, he had heard them lamenting about Ethan leaving the game and settling down so early. Everyone had complained about being lonely and single, returning to empty homes. But looking at the current state of Felix and Louis, their ambiguous relationship had likely been going on for quite a few years.

One only needed to look at Kieran’s utter lack of interest in throwing even a single glance in their direction to understand everything.

However, Julian was unaware that Louis and Felix were actually one of the primary reasons Kieran felt he should completely avoid falling in love.

Before Ethan married Julian, no one in their friend group had ever engaged in a proper, serious relationship. Being wealthy young masters, they all possessed at least a few playboy tendencies, moving from one woman to the next without a second thought. Of course, there were also those who stayed far away from both women and men, such as Ethan or Felix.

But that was merely their assumption before discovering the true nature of Felix and Louis’s relationship. Later, upon finding out, Kieran could only click his tongue and remark, "It turns out the ascetic monk was dragged down to the mortal realm by an enchanting demon long ago."

Indeed, that enchanting demon was a member of their own circle, the very person who usually put on the most prominent display of a flirtatious and romantic playboy. Working in show business, there were undeniably countless temptations.

Yet, who could have ever anticipated that the boss of the top entertainment conglomerate in the country, the man countless celebrities would willingly sleep with even without the promise of career advancement, was actually... the one on the bottom.

Louis and Felix’s relationship was one of physical intimacy.

To be precise, Louis had been so thoroughly claimed by Felix that he simply could not seek out anyone else on the outside.

This relationship... calculating it, had been going on for nearly five years.

It sounded truly terrifying.

They had no one else on the outside, nor did they engage in any frivolous affairs. Yet, they stubbornly refused to give each other any sort of official title or status. During the first few years, they even pretended to be nothing more than ordinary, sworn brothers within the group. Perhaps they had grown tired of the charade, finding it too bothersome, so they eventually just came clean on their own.

That was right; the two of them had confessed it themselves, because the rest of the group, including Ethan and Kieran, had completely failed to notice a single thing.

While Kieran was lost in his rambling thoughts, Julian was simultaneously being educated on the romantic history of the two men.

At this moment, the gaze Julian directed toward the dimly lit corner of the sofa suddenly carried a hint of subtle fascination. He truly could not resist evaluating the two figures huddled together a few more times. One was an entertainment mogul who could summon wind and rain with a single word; the other was a cold-blooded, iron-willed military officer. Yet, they had been clinging to one another in this exasperatingly laughable manner for five whole years.

Julian’s curiosity was excessively obvious, so much so that Felix, who had his head bowed, had to lift his eyelids, shooting a bland glare that nevertheless carried the lethal force of a strict warning in his direction.

Immediately, a large, warm hand carrying a familiar temperature reached over, accurately obscuring Julian’s line of sight. Ethan wrapped an arm around his waist from behind, his searing breath ghosting over the shell of Julian’s ear as his deep voice, laced with a lazy amusement, spoke. "Baby, what are you looking at so intently? If you keep staring at him like that, Felix will start thinking you have ulterior motives toward his Louis. When that guy gets jealous, he shows absolutely no mercy to anyone."

Julian shrank his neck back, tickled by the man’s breath, and hurriedly pulled down the hand covering his eyes, muttering softly, "What kind of ulterior motives could I possibly have? I am just... feeling a bit surprised. Seeing Louis normally so arrogant and flirtatious, yet when he sleeps in Felix’s arms, he looks just like a large cat that has had all its claws retracted."

"A cat?" Kieran, standing to the side, let out a cold snort, crossing his arms and curling his lips. "You should stop being so easily deceived by his docile sleeping appearance. If Louis is a cat, he is the kind of wildcat that devours people without spitting out the bones. Last night, while cleaning up the mess for you two, he cursed up a storm in the corner, berating everyone from the directors to those paparazzi hounds without missing a single beat. The staff under his command were so terrified that no one even dared to breathe heavily."

The moment Kieran finished speaking, the person curled up on the sofa suddenly stirred. Louis furrowed his exquisite brows tightly, letting out an irritated grumble at being disturbed by the noise. Felix immediately shot Kieran a bone-chilling glare. His rough hand, heavily calloused from handling firearms year-round, instinctively began to pat Louis’s back gently, the soothing motion so practiced and skillful that it would leave anyone speechless.

"Too noisy..." Louis scolded in a hoarse voice, his long, narrow eyes finally fluttering open. What met his sight was the pale yellow glow of the lamp and the sharply angled, resolute face of Felix. He showed not the slightest hint of embarrassment at being entirely engulfed in another man’s embrace in front of so many people. On the contrary, Louis lazily rubbed his chin against the crook of Felix’s shoulder even more, extending a hand to demand, "Water."

He did not look like his usual carefree and frivolous self in the slightest.

As for Felix, he did not say a single word. He simply stretched out his long arm to grab the already opened bottle of mineral water from the table, bringing it directly to Louis’s lips. Only after Louis had swallowed two mouthfuls did Felix use his rough thumb to wipe away the stray droplet of water lingering at the corner of Louis’s mouth.

It was only then that Louis shifted his gaze over to Ethan and Julian, who were standing not too far away. He sat up straight, smoothing back his messy hair, and let out a scoffing laugh. "Are you two ancestors finally willing to show your faces? To be perfectly honest, after handling the media for the two of you, I might have just aged several years."

Naturally, Louis was merely lamenting and playing the victim for Julian to see. Because earlier, when he had met Ethan first, he had not even bothered to mention a single word about this matter.

However, upon hearing this, Julian’s expression changed slightly.