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It happened on Thursday morning when Damen was waiting for his best friend, Nikandros, in front of Annual's cafe. They had promised to do their project together that afternoon since this is the only day they had the day off. Saturday and Sunday didn't count. They were for having fun, not thinking about university life.
He had been waiting for almost three fucking hours but there was no sight of the man. Damen groaned as he stared at his three giant empty glasses. They were full of many kinds of fruit juices before. Bored, Damen put his head on his arms on the table and gazed outside the cafe. His brown eyes caught a staff of the famous clothing store, D'Vere, changed the bright woman poster into a black and white one. Strange. The poster was different. Totally different. Damen raised his head and narrowed his eyes. The poster didn't even consist of any clothing. It was just a face covered in a black garment. Yet there was something about it that caught Damen's eye.
"Damen?" Damen turned around and saw Nikandros was looking at him weirdly.
"Are you alright?" Nikandros asked when he saw a blank look on his friend's face.
"Huh? Y-Yeah. I'm fine." Damen gave him a smile. The duo started their project but Damen kept glancing at the poster. His mind was trying to figure out what kind of face was hidden beneath that cloth.
"Seriously Damen, what's wrong with you? Are looking for someone?" Nikandros asked, getting impatient. Damen turned back to his best friend and smile guiltily. He cleared his throat and shook his head.
"I'll tell you later. Let's finish this." He said with determination. The sooner he finished the project, the sooner he could think about the model.
Damen ignored Nikandros who was trying to get the attention of the cafe's owner. A young man their age named Jord. Damen walked out of the store and stared at the poster, eyes drank eagerly. His brown eyes locked with the black eyes of the model. They were different. The eyes were alive.
"Are you going to buy cloth, Damen? Here? Really?" Nikandros' voice brought him back to reality. Damen blinked his eyes.
"Not that you don't have money for it but I think this kind of shop will not have your size. I heard from Lazar that this store is filled with colourful clothes with lace and that kind of stuff. Pretty, yes. But for men like us? No. They do have great suits though or so Lazar said." Nikandros said, looking at the store with little interest. Damen didn't say anything. His eyes were busy trying to find out any information about the model.
Damen's eyes caught a name on the corner of the poster. It said "Laurent"
"Laurent," Damen said, smiling.
"Who?"
"Uh, the model," Damen said lamely. Nikandros looked at him like he had grown two heads. Damen smiled sheepishly at him.
"Really Damen? Do you have a crush on this......model? The one who only God knows his face?" Nikandros asked, looking at the poster with a ridiculous expression. Damen laughed and put his hand on the glass.
"I think it adds the mysteriousness. I like it. He must be handsome or pretty. I can see that despite seeing only half of his face."
"Half of his face AND it is black and white," Nikandros added. Damen laughed and pulled out his phone.
"No, no, no. Please, Damen. Don't be ridiculous. You can't take its picture."
"Why not? It is not against the rule." Damen ignored his best friend and took a picture anyway. He smiled at the poster before letting himself be dragged away by Nikandros who was mumbling about having a mad best friend who fell in love with a fucking piece of paper.
-Two weeks later-
"I'm on my way, Nik. I'll be there in a sec. I can see the cafe already." Damen whined as Nikandros kept scolding him from the other line. Damen was late for their meeting for almost an hour and Nikandros had been calling him about four times. Come on, Nik was super late for their last meeting but Damen didn't say anything. This is the first time he was late for God's sake. Nik should be happy he actually came. Who wanted to hang out in the cafe on Saturday anyway? He'd better sleep in his big king-size bed, enjoying the freedom.
Damen stopped on his track when he saw his favourite poster was changed. After two weeks, it was changed.
"So they change the poster every two weeks." He murmured.
"What?" Damen snapped to reality when Nikandros's voice once again filled his ear.
"Nothing. I have arrived. I'll be there." Damen said. However, instead of immediately going to the cafe, Damen walked to the new poster. it was a poster of someone wearing a school-like uniform, or whatever it was Damen didn't care. The model had long hair just like the previous one, but his face was completely visible. He was....cute and pretty. He was wearing a hat and his hair was swept to his right shoulder. He looked like a doll. Dear God, Damen was swooning. His eyes quickly scanned the poster and he couldn't help but feel his heart jump when the name was still the same "Laurent".
"Laurent. He's beautiful." Damen said, smiling. Damen quickly pulled out his phone and took a picture. He kept smiling as he entered the cafe.
"Good mood, Damen?" Jord asked as he ordered his usual juice. Nikandros snorted.
"Damen has a crush on the model on that Vere clothing store. They changed the poster into someone more human. I guess it is the same person?"
"It is. God, Nik. Can't you see he is so pretty? He looks like a doll." Damen kept on rambling about how pretty this "Laurent" was while Nikandros looked at Jord like he wanted to flee from his chair. Jord, however, looked at Damen and the picture with raised eyebrows.
"Something wrong, Jord?"
"Nothing, Nik. I just think it is weird, that all." Jord said as he pulled out his phone and began texting someone.
"Ignore this oaf. He is weird like that. I cannot wait if fate actually allows them to meet. It's going to be interesting." Nikandros cackled.
"Indeed," Jord said, smiling as he put his phone back in his pocket.
-Two weeks later-
Damen giddily skipped to the cafe, ignoring weird looks from the people inside the cafe. Jord and Nikandros who were getting closer day by day were looking at him with two different looks on their face. Jord was having an amused look while Nikandros was looking at him like he was insane. Damen grinned, completely didn't care about whatever Nikandros had in his mind.
"Look! another poster," Damen announced happily. Jord chuckled and Nikandros groaned.
"I can see that, Damen. I'm not blind. But.... can you.... please stop behaving like that?"
"Like what, Nik?" Damen asked, opening his phone and admiring his latest "masterpiece"
"Like that. Like a crazy person. Damen, it is just a poster of an unknown model."
"Laurent." Damen cut him.
"I don't care. Whoever he is, he might be far far away from here, okay? You will never meet him, Damen. So stop behaving like you just took a picture of your boyfriend." Nikandros said tiredly.
"Don't be like that, Nik," Jord said when he saw a sad look on Damen's face. Goodness, he looked like a kicked puppy. Jord was beginning to worry.
"Who knows Damen will meet this Laurent. Fate is weird like that."
"HA, hear that, Nik." Damen's sad face was replaced with a shiny one right now. Jord chuckled when Nikandros gave him a desperate look. It was just too fun. Damen, on the other hand, was staring at the poster across the street.
Laurent looked amazing in that poster. There were two guys there but Damen's eyes were focused on Laurent immediately. That long hair, those bare shoulders and chest, especially that cold piercing gaze. Damen wondered what colour Laurent's hair was. He wondered what colour those sharp eyes were. He wondered whether that gaze was as powerful as it was on the wall.
-Two weeks later-
Damen was cursing himself as he bumped onto his class door. He was just finished his Math class and headed toward Jord's cafe. He was happy for both reasons today. First, Jord and Nikandros were officially dating so Jord's cafe would be his and Nikandros hang out spot from now on. That led to the second reason, he would be able to stare at Laurent's picture freely and that today the new picture would come out.
"Wait, Damen." Damen turned around and saw Erasmus walking toward him, holding so many papers that probably would fall. Damen took half of them, earning a grateful look on Erasmus' face.
"Can you help me distribute these to several clubs? It will only take a while." Erasmus pleaded. Damen bit his lower lip, ready to reject but seeing the hopeless look on the smaller boy's look, he gave in.
It was about three hours later that he finished. He was so damn tired. Who knew distributing those papers could take this long? Well, if you counted the distance between each club's room, then the scolding from the Dean and some lecturers because he was so noisy and etc.
Damen walked tiredly to Jord's cafe. He hoped Jord was ready with his usual drink. He needed something cold and fresh right now. Damen smiled when he arrived at the D'Vere clothing store. Another beautiful new picture of Laurent. He grinned and pulled out his mobile phone. He took a picture and immediately disgustingly cooed at it.
"So Jord is right. Someone actually takes a picture." A bell-like voice interrupted Damen's private time. Damen turned around and was ready to scold whoever it was but his words died in his mouth. It was him. The model from the poster.
Dear God, Lauren was here. He was standing in front of him. Laurent was tall but not as tall as Damen obviously. He was also smaller than Damen, making the bigger man wonder if he fit in his arms. He had long blond hair and fair skin, very contrasting with Damen's tan skin and black hair. His eyes were cold blue colour and the second Damen's brown eyes locked with those, he was sucked in. Laurent was so beautiful in person.
"So, are you mute? What's your name."
"Uh, Damen," Damen said, totally captivated by the beauty of the other man.
"Let's go to that cafe. They have great food and drinks." Damen said, smiling. He wasn't going to miss this chance.
"Jord's? Sure. I need to talk to him anyway." Laurent said, looking at him for a moment before walking to the Annual's cafe. Damen grinned as he followed. He caught Jord from the back of the cafe and the other man held up his thumb. Damen held up his own thumb and mouthed 'Thank you' to him. He felt his heart was ready to explode from his chest. Jord and Laurent knew each other. Jord must tell Laurent about his weird behaviour. Well, fate was indeed weird. Now, it was time to woo the real Laurent. Hopefully, he was not easy to tame. Challenge, that was what Damen liked.