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Alhaitham may have a well-paid job but it doesn’t mean it can’t be stressful. Hell, bodyguards are a norm with how important his position is.
He needs a drink.
He goes to a local bar. There he meets an interesting blonde, two years older than him. He had ruby eyes most brilliant as his smiles and his arguments. The blonde has quite a smart tongue to match his wits, yet it was the most exhilarating exchange of ideas he had with someone that go against his own. He caught his eye, and his intrigue. His name is Kaveh.
What a beautiful name.
Most fitting for a beautiful man,
with a beautiful mind.
Their conversations fell so natural, from the most random topics to the most complex areas of interest, and may have sounded more like a debate —an argument to passersby maybe— that it felt right. They were basically panting after laying out argument after argument to the other. Each insight were so opposite and quite differed they complete a whole thought. It was most invigorating, they did not even notice the how much time passed. What are the odds of finding someone with an intellect that can match and challenge yours? And with such beauty to the boot, at a bar no less.
Call it fate. Call it luck. But it’s most certainly welcome.
The blonde smelled divine, Alhaitham was sure it wasn’t just the alcohol intoxicating him, and when the blonde smiled at him, it was ethereal.
He was enchanted.
Despite meeting each other just few hours ago, an instant connection was there. So natural, like a fact of life, like they’ve known each other for eons. Such magnetism pulling them together, questioning all his logical thinking. But he knows it’s not just him who felt—feels it. Alhaitham knew it’s not just his imagination, the way those ruby eyes looked at him is proof enough.
Few drinks, laughters, and conversations in (or debate rather) and they were stumbling in his room. Pieces of garments discarded from the front door to bed. Holding Kaveh close, feeling his warmth, his soft skin, hearing his voice… the sounds he made.
Alhaitham knew it wasn’t a simple call of flesh, it’s way more than that. It was unhurried. There was no rush at all, just a fervent need from finally being found, mirrored, answered carnally with each kiss, each moan, each thrust, and through each scratch on his back. Alhaitham showed Kaveh slowly and thoroughly how much he wants him. As irrational as it may sound after just the first meeting, Alhaitham doesn’t want him to just be a temporary presence in his life. He was certain it’s Kaveh and will ever be Kaveh only for him for as long as he breathes but
…Kaveh was gone by the morning.
He felt tightness in his chest, defeated, and yes there was anger. He believed there’s something more to it. He felt betrayed.
Was that all it was?
What he was to Kaveh?
A hook-up?
Just a means to satiate bodily needs?
A one-night stand?
Months later, he spots Kaveh in public, minding his own business looking through some clothes rack. He’s shopping?
Hmm.
His blood begins to boil, the betrayal he felt came rushing back. How can he go on as if nothing happened? Does he not remember? Does he even know my name?
He sees the blonde smile as he holds out some clothes. How can he smile like that after what he’s done to him? Like he did him no wrong? Like he hasn’t haunted his thoughts ever since? Looking so calm, unbothered, and beautiful and oh… so lovely… so divine. His blonde locks reflecting light, like a halo.
Like an Angel.
His smile, captivating.
And those ruby eyes, shining like the most precious stone he’s ever seen.
Won’t they look his way?
Alhaitham looks at Kaveh. Longing.
He remembers the night they spent together. How this beautiful stranger clung to him. The sounds he made. The most indecent sounds they made on the sheets. Every groan, every whimper, every whine of need. The sound of his name on his lips, like music from the Celestia. The shared warmth of two bodies as one. The taste of lips, skin, and epiphany of spending the rest of their lives together, with a tinge of sweet wine. How his ruby eyes looked at his teal ones, half lidded.
How he fit so perfectly in his arms.
How he felt so natural coming into his life.
How he smiled to him like he understood.
How he’s gone the next day,
with only the scratches and marks left to caress.
Alhaitham snaps to his senses. He realizes he’s been holding out his breath and his hand a bit as if reaching out for the blonde. As if compelled to come and speak to him. As if compelled to ask “Hi, how have you been? I’d like some clarifications (and you to be with for the rest our lives).” How ridiculous. He drops his hand on his side.
He’s angry at him, right?
He should be… right?
It’s just one night but how can he forget all that? He’s not just some one-night stand. He won’t accept it.
Kaveh needs to pay.
The blond stepped away from the rack, examining a particular garment that caught his eye and revealing the rest of him to Alhaitham’s view. Thoughts interrupted; he was taken aback when he takes in the full picture in front of him.
Kaveh is shopping, yes. Except, he’s holding some baby clothes? With a small basket in his arm, filled with… infant bottles? And what’s more,
that swell of his abdomen…
Alhaitham takes a step back to look at the storefront.
A baby store.
What in the celestia.
Mouth slightly agape, mind going haywire, his eyes widen as he looks at the blonde again. What he saw seems to be the simplest thing to understand yet he can’t seem to fully grasp. Kaveh is with child. How—What does this mean to him? What does he call what he is currently feeling?
Confusion?
Anger?
Was he really just a way to spend the night to Kaveh?
Did another man have him? Who. The thought alone brings his blood to boil but logically speaking, it should not be a bother of his. Whoever Kaveh dates is not, should not, be of his concern. Alhaitham just needs his answers, right?
He wants to know—needs to know, about this situation, about Kaveh. It hits him that he doesn’t know anything about the blonde after all. No, he’s just intrigued is all. Besides, he needs answers (he needs him) on why he was left alone on his bed in the morning. Why the same bed he has slept for years now felt so cold. And that night. That one fateful night…
The one night that haunts him to this day.
A plethora of questions flood his mind but one question— a suspicion… a “what if”, really— stands out among others.
Did their night bear fruit?
Am I–?
The question makes his heart flutter. Mind conjuring images of a family built with Kaveh.
He feels… excitement? Joy perhaps?
But his mind is conflicted. It’s not possible because… how can it be? Kaveh could’ve been with another during the time slipped away from him for all he knows! But the possibility of him being the father is not entirely zero. No, he wants it to be him. Deep in the recesses of his mind and his whole being, he wants it to be him.
Please let it be him.
But no matter. Whether its him or not, or who Kaveh was with in the past don’t matter anymore. As long as it’s Alhaitham who he’ll be with going forwards. Surely, Kaveh would not be shopping for baby clothes alone if this guy (if he does have one) cared for him enough. Alhaitham knows he can treat him right. He can treat him the best way possible.
His clashing thoughts were interrupted as Kaveh turns his back.
Wait. don’t go.
No. Don’t leave me, again.
“Kav–“ Alhaitham unconsciously makes a step forward and stops. The last thing he wants to do is to spook him. He won’t let him get away. Not again.
This blonde still has to pay for what he did to him, right? Or is it the other way around?
Alhaitham gestures for his bodyguard beside him, “Get me a private investigator and find out everything about that blonde,” pointing out to Kaveh. He has to approach this with a level-head lest his light slips off his life again.
His light? That doesn’t sound so bad.
Over the few weeks –not without keeping an eye on Kaveh and his whereabouts– Alhaitham finds out that he’s an architect with a small firm, his family situation, his friends. He also comes to find out that he’s living under his friend’s roof at the moment due to unfortunate circumstances, and that–
“He’s six months pregnant, and no one knows who the father is.”
“From what I’ve gathered, seems like he had a particularly difficult early pregnancy,” the investigator supplies. Alhaitham stiffened, his eyes stopped browsing the documents handed to him.
Eyes wide, he can hear his heartbeat ringing through his ears, as well as the facts laid in front of him. One by one, the pieces come together.
Of course,
Six months. Since the night they met.
Six months. Since the night they basked in each other’s warmth.
Six months. Since the last time he saw him.
Six months…
Alhaitham has been counting since their night. He flopped onto his chair once left alone in his office. There must be tears in his eyes because they feel wet. How can he be so smart yet so dumb at the same time?
Difficult pregnancy?
Unfortunate circumstances?
He remembers from previous reports the dates of Kaveh’s checkups. He had only been getting them recently. And that Kaveh spent nights at his office until he was seen staying at different inns and a fortnight at the same bar they met. At. The. Same. Bar.
Calling himself a fool is an understatement.
Just what did Kaveh had to endure during those months or even before that?
What was Alhaitham even mad about?
Make him pay? Make his family pay?
It should be him! It was him who has long and heavy dues to pay!
It was him, isn’t it? The man who didn’t care enough and so Kaveh’s shouldering the pregnancy all by himself.
He shouldn’t have let Kaveh go after that night. If he really wanted him in his life, he should’ve looked for him— should’ve chased after him.
Letting things be was a huge mistake, he must admit. He can’t go back and redo things, but he can face the present. Face Kaveh, with hopes he’d still take him. Now that the one person who dared challenge his perspective and beliefs in just one night is standing an arm’s reach, Alhaitham won’t make that same mistake again.
He’s sure he won’t let him slip away this time.
Well, there’s need more investigation to know who the father is does it? He wasn’t just a one-night stand after all.