Broken Bond: Between Vices and Virtues (BL)
Chapter 41: A dinner date [3]

Chapter 41: A dinner date [3]

’So, why did you run away?’ those words repeated in Knox’s head over and over. He was speechless. Not from the fact that he couldn’t find an answer, but from the expression he witnessed crossed Azrael’s eyes.

He looked conflicted about something.

He lowered the spoon and fork back to the plate, then hid his hand under the table. He looked at them as he fiddled with his fingers. His eyes stared blankly, tracing every movement he made.

Why did he run away? Knox asked himself. The answer was obvious. He parted his lips to convey it to the man sitting before him, "Needless to say, I was afraid. Like you said, I deceived you. I was brave enough to cling to your side because I needed money and protection, but after I learned that your condition worsened because of me, ever since then, I have been walking on eggshells.

"I kept thinking when will you learn that it was me, and what would happen to me if you did? Seeing how you despise omegas in general, and learning that you’re searching stores and places to find that omega who offered you a bloom, scared me big time. Not to mention how you kept flaunting to me your groups of bodyguards who always appeared as if they had just come from kidnapping someone."

Knox bit his lower lip and carefully admitted, "You’re scary. So, I ran away."

Azrael couldn’t refute his answer. Even his friends were afraid of him if he just so much glared and clenched his fist in their faces. But because Knox was a servant who never acted warily toward him and wore his expression on his sleeves, Azrael thought that he was brave and had some guts to throw back insults at him without being worried about getting buried.

Azrael stared at Knox who looked guarded and uncomfortable. His lips pursed unconsciously and he suddenly muttered lowly, "What should I do to not scare you?"

His voice was almost a whisper and was incomprehensible. Knox tilted his head in wonder about what Azrael muttered to himself, but the latter only lowered his eyes and picked up the cutleries again. He started to eat in silence, so Knox just stayed quiet and tried to savor the food in that uncomfortable quietness.

Knox thought that, that meeting would end in a quiet atmosphere, but it ended up in a racket instead.

"What do you mean you don’t have it?!" Knox screamed, looking at Azrael incredulously.

Azrael shrugged his shoulders and answered honestly, "I don’t have it. Simple. Maybe I lost it on the way here? Wait a minute, let me think this over. Hm...where did I put it?"

Knox gaped at the man who sat calmly on the table while being waited upon by the restaurant’s server holding the bill in his hand. The waiter gave Knox an uneasy look before glancing around for someone to call over.

Knox couldn’t help but pinch Azrael’s arm across the table and whispered, "Can you stop joking? He’s already looking at us like we’re some dine-and-dashers!"

Azrael arched his brows at Knox. He briefly glanced at the waiter giving them a suspicious look. Then, he whispered back, "Am I that difficult to believe? I already told you I don’t have it. Pay for it for now."

The last words he spoke were laced with mischief, and Knox understood his underlying plans. He screamed inside his head, ’He made me order expensive food and now he’s asking me to pay! I know for sure this is his plan. There’s no way he forgot his wallet. He was just toying with me, like that remote control!’

Knox stood and came over to Azrael’s side, and whispered again, "I don’t believe you because you already did this with that remote control. I won’t pay. Did you see the bill? A meal here is already half of my monthly salary! I won’t pay!"

Azrael pouted and whispered back, "You’re so stingy. I said I’ll pay you back."

The tip of Knox’s eyebrow twitched. "Who was it that took someone to a date and refused to pay? You’re the stingy one!"

It was already too late before he realized the word he mentioned which made Azrael grinning like a fool. The alpha stood abruptly, and Knox took a step back since his face might get pushed by Azrael’s wide and muscular chest from that abrupt movement.

Azarel stood tall and dropped his gaze at Knox whose height only reached his nose. He opened his arms wide and challenged him, "You can check me if that will make you believe."

Knox gawked at him. He couldn’t believe that Azrael would escalate the situation to that extent. What if he just uses his money and believes that Azrael will pay him back? But he has other bills to pay at home! If Azrael ended up just playing with him and didn’t pay back, then what would he do?

Knox reluctantly answered, "Alright."

’What is this weird turn of events?’ He even asked himself. Just a few moments ago, they were distant and ignoring each other. He sighed and thought again, ’Times spent with him are always unpredictable.’

He took a step closer and started checking on the pockets of Azrael’s coat. While doing so, he caught a woman weirdly staring at him from the other table a few meters away from their spot.

Knox glanced around and felt like hiding from the curious gazes that were given to them. He was already used to receiving too much attention, but involving himself in gossip with an engaged man was different.

He even wanted to smack his head for uttering that ’d’ word when the man was already committed.

So, he sped the checking. After the coat, he dug his hand into Azrael’s pockets. Some gasped at his actions. Even the waiter waiting at the side was looking away from embarrassment.

Knox frowned and thought, ’Rich people and their sense of weird behaviors. What is so embarrassing about checking someone’s—

Knox’s thoughts were cut off when his hands touched something hard inside the pocket. His hand froze. His whole body stiffened like a rock. His face paled and sweat began to form on his forehead.

Azrael contained his giggles. He was enjoying observing the many emotions that passed on Knox’s face one by one. His face first turned pale with horror, then it was replaced with disgust from realizing what he touched before it became flustered from the embarrassment caused by finally registering what happened in his mind.

He was amused at how easy to read Knox was.

Azrael cleared his throat and whispered, faking a trembling voice, "I...I feel molested."

Knox quickly retracted his hand. He avoided Azrael’s gaze and buried his on the floor. Even the tip of his ears was reddened, yet the damned alpha had no consideration of his feelings and even inched closer.

Whispering against his ears with a low and husky voice, Azrael said, "Did you find it?"

Knox wanted to punch the man, but he persisted. He shook his head and scooched away from Azrael. He approached the waiter and gave him his card.

The waiter immediately took it.

Knox remained standing; his back turned away from Azrael. Azrael walked to him and said, "Look at my pockets, I’m really telling the truth. I forgot it. Maybe in the car? Look!"

He tugged on Knox’s sleeves and waved the pockets pulled outward to him. Knox only glanced down at his pockets, but after his eyes caught sight of the middle part of his pants, he quickly moved his eyes away again.

Azrael chuckled. "What do you expect to grab if you ransacked my pockets so aggressively like that?"

A vein popped on Knox’s forehead, and he shouted in a restrained voice, "I did not!"

He huffed and added, "And...you’re very rich yet it seemed you don’t even know the concept of boxers. Why is it just dangling there like a banana heart—

Unrestrained laughter echoed in the entire place. Azrael laughed to the point that the corner of his eyes watered. His usual cold and domineering expression felt like a mere mask compared to his sudden laughter which looked so genuine and normal.

Knox was stunned. His heart leaped. In his eyes reflected an Azrael that he had never seen before.

He only snapped in that trance-like moment after Azrael approached closer and fondly looked at him, "I am wearing one, Mr. Arden. You touched me so casually it got awakened. Now, I’m hard."

Those last words were said with tease. Azrael was just joking, but it still made Knox’s jaw fall. Knox bit his lower lip and sharply uttered, "Pervert!"

He quickly took the card from the waiter once the payment was done. Because of what happened, what consumed his thoughts weren’t the worries that his money wouldn’t be returned or not, but a completely different matter. A matter of something big and hard.