Sweeter than Cake [MxM] [English Version]

08 / Sweet Delight

"Are you free on Saturday? I intend to search a present for my mother. Want to accompany me?" Kai asked after he finished changing his sweat clothes for a white shirt and navy trousers.

"I haven't asked Lynx's schedule yet. I'll let you know later."

I replied Kai without seeing him, closing my locker and walking out of the locker room. Kai who initially looked relaxed, quickly closed his locker and followed me who had left first.

"Really, you guys... If you don't have a schedule with Lynx yet, you should accept my invitation first."

"I answered like that because you already know I will prioritize Lynx's needs. If other people ask I definitely say no," I said casually, replying to Kai who suddenly blocked my path and looked at me with an annoyed face.

"Well then I'll just ask the person directly later. How he can being depending to you every time? He should get used to do everything by himself!"

While Kai was muttering in a displeased tone, my gaze shifted from Kai's face to the figure behind Kai. Kai who didn't know who was behind him, pretended to be dare enough to confront Lynx.

"He just happens to be here. Just ask to him."

Kai turned around and his movements were silent for a moment seeing the figure he was talking about was already there. Lynx was leaning against the corridor wall with her arms crossed over his chest.

"Hey, Lynx! Hahaha... I asked Rui to accompany me..."

Before Kai could continue his words, Lynx looked at me for a while then turned around and walked away. It was as if he couldn't hear Kai's voice so loud and shrill. Kai looked at Lynx's back with his mouth hanging open.

"I really don't understand his attitude," Kai said, shaking his head.

At first I wanted to laugh at this incident, but I stopped when I saw Kai's serious face. Kai was frowning as he was biting his fingernails.

"Maybe he doesn't understand your attitude either," I said in an even voice after seeing Kai for a while still not stopping struggling with his fingers. "I'm going home first, I'll tell you later about Saturday."

Just as I stepped my left foot, Kai blocked my steps in the same way as five minutes ago.

"Rui...a lot of people don't like Lynx at this school," Kai said in a small whisper with his serious face which seldom to be seen. "I have a bad feeling right now, you better be careful,"

"Thank you. We'll be careful," I said as I patted Kai's head at my eye height level, then walked past him.

"It's not Lynx who has to be careful, but you... hey, Rui!"

It seems that Kai isn't trying to catch up with me this time, so I'm freer to quicken my pace and catch up to Lynx who has disappeared from sight. Lynx's direction was clear, he must have walked towards the parking lot. So I stayed out of the basketball building using the back door and usually Jonathan had parked near the exit.

When I was outside building, the scene was not what I imagined. I didn't found neither the Lynx nor the car. Afraid that my gaze would miss Lynx's figure along the way, I looked back and screened what was inside of the building that could be seen from the outside through the glass doors. There were only a few students walking and talking to each other.

"We'll go home first, Rui," said the students in my class when they passed me after the glass door opened automatically.

I replied to them with a smile and went back inside the building. While scanning the corridor for Lynx, I took my cell phone out of my pocket to make a call.

"Why did you go back into the building?" said Lynx before I could say a word.

I turned around and a familiar sedan was in front of the entrance door with the windows open. Lynx was seen holding a cellphone in his left hand and his right hand on the steering wheel.

"Vanilla isn't coming? Where's Jonathan?" I asked as I glanced into the car and there was only Lynx alone.

"We're going to Sweet Delight. I told Jonathan to go home first."

Since it didn't look like Lynx would answer any of my other questions, I walked over to the car door on the right to have a seat next to Lynx. Before advancing the car, Lynx put on sunglasses and inserted the case into the dashboard.

"Wow, I haven't seen you drive in a long time. Your good looks have increased drastically," I said as if I was looking at a cool figure who usually appears on movie.

"These glasses function to block the sun, not for other functions."

"Maybe all the girls want to change places with me now."

I praise Lynx casually -without feeling awkward at all because it was very usual for me to praise his perfectness from my point of view-. Then I am being hyperbole intentionally as I turned on my cell phone and took a photo of Lynx without his permission. Lynx just smiled without taking his eyes off the street.

"Vanilla has business. So she's coming home with her guards."

My mind began to wonder at Lynx's statement. Since when did Vanilla have bodyguards? Where are they? But all I can say is one word.... "What?"

"It's not strange for an actress to have bodyguards. They are watching Vanilla from out of sight in the school building and suddenly appear when the situation is being uncontrolled."

"Could it be that the escort car has been following your car all this time?" Lynx turned and chuckled at my confused face.

Talking about Vanilla can't help but turned my mind to the problems that had been happening to Lynx right now. There were many things I didn't know including what the terrorists had done to the Olivine family. Surely the terror that was done to Lynx would be even more terrible than just giving a photo of three people who died on a piece of paper.

I looked at Lynx driving and saw no anxiety at all from his gesture. It suddenly occurred to me that after the troubles that had befallen his lately, Lynx was acting too friendly as usual. Why is he trying to hide it in front of me like this?

"What about the checks you guys did? Any progress?" I asked at the risk of changing the mood for the worse.

"Rui... I don't want to talk about this."

I took a deep breath. Lynx did the same afterwards. The rest of the way Lynx and I headed to Sweet Delight Bakery was filled with silence.

A bakery with an ancient European-style building was in front of my eyes. Lynx parked the car right in front of the large window next to the entrance. A new special parking space will be provided for VIP guest like Lynx.

Still in silence, Lynx and I get out from car and walked to wooden door which has been opened. A female waitress immediately greeted me and Lynx after we were in the entrance building. The waiter bowed down slightly and asked permission to take us to the reserved room.

When looking around the room, there were only one to two tables occupied out of a total of more than twenty tables. Even the customer who has been there was only beside the entrance. Lynx and I should be able to sit in one of those empty spaces without being bothered. But Lynx always reserves VIP room which separate from other customer.

Not only a bakery or a place to eat, Lynx also used to reserve store so that no visitors entered it. While shopping at the mall, I would often forcefully pull his into other stores where many people frequented, but Lynx's strength was strong enough to resist my tug and pull me in the direction he wanted. It's not that I didn't try with all my might. Well.. where did the Lynx's strong power come from. I've never seen him exercise though.

"Have a seat," said the waiter, pointing to a room through the open door.

The VIP room measures twenty four meters. There are three sofas adjacent to the entrance plus a television show that can be enjoyed if you choose to sit on the sofa. A long wooden table and four high chairs by the window so you can enjoy views of the green garden if you choose to sit in a high chair. And a long table on one side of the wall which is equipped with various drinks that can be drunk as you wish.

I once chatted with the store manager without being known by Lynx. The store manager told a story about history of this VIP room. It is said that this room was specially designed for Lynx Olivine because he really likes this cake from Sweet Delight.

Lynx had been here with his mother, Charlotte, and had made a statement that he will buy the store. Charlotte had rejected immediately and scolded Lynx at that time. Instead, Charlotte gave another solution for her son and asked for the owner to come.

After discussions between the owner of the bakery and the Charlotte , the room that had been originally used for the employee break room, as well as the locker rooms for female and male employees, had to be completely demolished to make the room more spacious. And Sweet Delight owner had to buy a new plot of land and build a room in a different building to move the employee space there. Every time I'm in this room I feel as though I'm one of the people responsible for the hassle of the employees having to walk further afield to reach their resting place.

"Strawberry Shortcake..."

"Make it two," I said after hearing the menu chosen by Lynx.

The waitress pressed something on her screen pad, bowed politely then left, leaving Lynx and me alone in the VIP room. Lynx leaned back on the sofa and took out his cell phone. Meanwhile I walked to the corner of the room where various drinks were displayed in a glass dispenser with a wood theme on the holder and lid.

"What would you like to drink, Lynx?" I asked as I poured myself an iced cappuccino.

"Strawberry juice."

The thought of a cold and calm Lynx being so fond of sweet-smelling things that were usually pastel in color makes me a little ticklish. Despite the serious things that might be going on, it seems that my brain was still running automatically to think of something absurd. I suppressed my laughter by pretending to cough a little.

Lynx's eyes still didn't move from his phone screen, but still managed to say "thank you" when I put the glass on the side of the table next to him. Then I chose to sit on the sofa facing the television and switch television channels with the remote to find something interesting.

When the waitress came back with both desserts on her tray, Lynx finally turned away from her cellphone screen. Lynx's eyes locked on a piece of cake sitting on a ceramic plate. From the side, I could see Lynx's interest in the enormous cake. Although nothing seemed to have changed from his cold face, but I could see changes in Lynx's dilated pupils.

"Everyone thinks you're so cold. Should I be proud to see your face like this?" I said chuckling as I took a small spoon to enjoy the cake that was now in front of me.

"There's nothing to be proud of. It's enough for you to be by my side like this."

I was stunned for a moment to hear the answer from Lynx. "Hey, Lynx... no need to be so serious. I'm not going anywhere."

Not only on the phone, sometimes there was a lot of silence between the sentences that Lynx and I said. There were times when I wanted to stop my mind questioning the possibilities Lynx was thinking. But unfortunately, I can't always make the situation better than before I asked him.

"You're questioning Manna, the eleventh grader I had lunch with earlier?" I asked after a few things I managed to sort out and get an answer.

"She is the sweet girl you mentioned. That's your type right?"

Lynx didn't look at me and focused on eating his cake slowly. I still can't understand what Lynx was really afraid of right now.

"She asks a lot of things about you. There's no way she likes me."

"If she likes you, what will you do?"

"Not for now. I'm sure."

"If that girl attacks you, what will you do?"

"Attack?"

My current face must have depicted a confused face full of question marks. Lynx stared at me for a moment with her piercing gaze.

A moment later, I witnessed something unusual from Lynx's gesture. Maybe for a moment my mind was being hypnotized by Lynx. I couldn't think of anything but to see his dark brown eyes getting closer. Maybe my whole body was frozen by now except for my heart which was working harder than usual.

Lynx's face was getting closer and I still couldn't move any part of my body at all. My hands could have pushed Lynx's body right now. My head might turn the other way. But I just didn't budge. It's as if my brain voluntarily shuts down all the rest of my body.

I felt a small touch beside my lips. It happened so fast that I only realized when Lynx leaned back in his seat that the gentle touch had come from Lynx's tongue. My breath hitched and I tried to swallow my saliva to neutralize the rhythm of my breath that had stopped.

"You have cream on your cheek. I was just trying to wipe it off," Lynx said calmly. It was so calm that it pissed me off at my own panic. "You're always helpless when someone behaves beyond your expectations."

"Hey... Lynx!"

"You're always helpless when a cute girl approaches you. They act cute, even though they didn't. When you're attacked, they act in the name of accident. Do you think I can stand to see you treated like that?"

I closed my eyes so I could think more calmly. But... oh, no! Why is my heart still beating fast? I decided to take a sip of iced coffee even though I knew coffee would make your heart work faster, not slower.

"I still don't get it, Lynx.. please explain."

"What if it turns out that I'm the one that makes you unable to get close to other people?" Lynx asked with his serious gaze, as if he didn't concern at all about my protest expression.

"Isn't it like that? I am close to you like this indirectly makes it impossible for me to be close to other people. What do you really want to talk about?"

"What will you do if I make you unable to get close to other people on purpose?"

Not that I never thought what Lynx said right now. But I didn't expect Lynx to ask me what I was going to do if he actually kept me to be close other people. Moreover, he asked in this weird condition.

"I... want to go to the toilet."