He is Enchanted

When I Saw The Thing She Ignored.

But in the end, Ethan didn't go to The Early rise coffee bar that afternoon.

Instead, he's at Duke's cafe, disturbing his best friend for a second time this day.

"Hey, here's your order. Eat it while it's still hot."

Duke put the onion rings that he ordered on his table while Ethan bent forward, laying his head on his arms.

It felt like Ethan didn't want to do anything at all.

"He's not even looking for me!"

Duke sat across from Ethan, shaking his head. "That cafe is half an hour from here. He must still be driving."

Ethan frowned. "At least he can send a photo first or a text me that he's on the way to the cafe."

Duke acknowledges he's no match for Ethan and lets it be Roman's problem.

"Anyway," Duke said, rolling up his sleeves. "Did something happen? Because to be honest, you would prefer to see Mr. Pearson instead of seeing me."

"Yeah, something happened. A lot of things."

Ethan told his appearance at Roman's office and spent lunch together. He also didn't forget to talk about Liana. It made Duke the second person who knew the story he got from Liana.

"Wow, that's crazy, you know. She might call her husband when she's with another man."

Ethan nodded his head. He ate a piece of his onion rings and even offered Duke to try it, but he refused.

"But I mean. In the end, Mr. Pearson becomes a romantic person almost like his name, shouldn't we celebrate that?" joked Duke, who a second later moaned in pain as Ethan kicked his leg.

"You know, I feel like I don't have the right to do that."

"Do what?"

Ethan sighed. "Exposing the affair his wife was doing, wasn't Mr. Pearson having an affair with me?"

Duke was quiet for a while, until finally, he bent forwards, laying his head on his arms, just as Ethan did. "That's right."

"What are you going to do next?" continued the Duke, closing his eyes. "Do you want to let him be clueless like that?"

Ethan laughed, mocking himself. "If only he and I could just go somewhere else and start a new life with a new identity, wouldn't that be a lot easier?"

"Avoiding ourselves from trouble always sounds easy, doesn't it?"

A few minutes later, Roman sends Ethan a text telling him that Roman has arrived at the cafe and even brought a black forest for him.

And he said that Ethan had better drive faster because he missed him already.

Ethan lifted his head and found Duke was no longer in front of him. He wiped the dish he had just washed and arranged them neatly on the shelf.

Seeing Duke was busy, Ethan leaned his head back and stared at the text from Roman from his home screen.

On the one hand, Ethan really wanted to reply to his text. He wanted to say that Ethan missed him too. He wanted to get up and leave, then hug him tightly when he saw that old man alone with his boring book.

Ethan wanted to do everything with Roman; laugh and cry together.

"Usually, I beg you to be quiet, but if you keep quiet like this, it kinda feels weird. I won't be begging you to be quiet again then."

Duke sat back down in front of Ethan while Ethan smiled weakly.

"I feel uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?"

"Am I wrong if I get angry seeing him being lovely to his wife?"

Duke leaned his back against the back of the chair. "Actually, if we only look at it from that side, it's clearly wrong because, after all, she is his wife. She is the person he should prioritize, right? However, if we look at his wife who is also cheating on him, they should just get a divorce, you know."

His gaze turned to the ceiling. "After the divorce, they can continue to live with their own choices, right? It's way better than pretending that everything was okay."

Ethan got up, looking at the screen on his phone. Roman called him.

Duke peeked saw the words' annoying old man' calling out to Ethan.

Who else is Ethan's favorite annoying old man, if not Roman?

"Why weren't you picked up?"

"I'm afraid."

"What are you afraid of? Will he be angry if you don't come?"

"I'm scared because I don't know what to say to him."

Duke burst into laughter, while his leg was kicked by Ethan again, Duke complained again in pain. "An Ethan doesn't know what to say to the person he likes? I'm sorry, it's hilarious, you can even talk nonsense, you can think of a winged house lizard or a giant virus."

In the end, the call finished itself.

Now, Ethan even regretted not picking up that old man's call.

But a second later, Roman called him again.

Duke was so surprised when he saw Ethan just put his phone on the table, his gaze blankly staring at his ringing phone.

"Hey bro, don't torture yourself like that. Just pick it up. You said he wasn't angry when he saw his wife unconscious because she was drunk. He would understand why you didn't come to the cafe."

This feeling is confusing, isn't it?

The second call, too, ended by itself.

Meanwhile, Ethan's face looked much more wrinkled than before. It didn't take long for the third call to come in, and Duke got up when he saw two customers enter the cafe.

"If you need anything, just call me, okay?" he said, then left Ethan.

Ethan bit his lip, the pain in his chest mixed with the joy in his heart.

This would be their first call, but Ethan had turned it down twice. Even though he had imagined, he would have a long talk with Roman when this moment happened.

While that old man would definitely take Ethan curtly, occasionally mocking Ethan, Ethan would always call him an annoying old man.

Ethan sighed, then hugged himself.

***

Roman intentionally ends the meeting earlier than it should and tells everyone to do as he's been told and that they'll continue the meeting on Monday when everyone is ready with their answers.

Roman hopes that nothing he needs to correct or adjust again, and this project will start soon.

The reason he ended the meeting early wasn't just because he wanted to go to the cafe quickly. He would also transfer some money into his wife's account, stop by the pastry shop, and bring Ethan a cake.

He bought a large cake and asked the baker to cut the cake in half; one, of course, he would give to Ethan, and the other half will he take home. His children would be glad because Roman rarely allowed them to eat cake.

Arriving at the cafe, he ordered matcha because earlier in the meeting, he was served a cup of coffee, which actually made him sleepy, and the coffee was too sweet for Roman.

But it's also not good to drink a lot of coffee, so in the end, matcha is the best solution.

He went up to the second floor with Guen, who had been teasing him and the black forest cake he had brought for Ethan. Guen also teased how happy Roman was today.

It seems Guen forgot that he was angry with Roman yesterday, who had disappeared from him just because he had brought a cake for Ethan.

Does Roman have to bring Ethan with him so that Guen doesn't scorn him every time he goes to the cafe?

"Did something happen between you two? How far are you guys now?"

Roman shook his head. "Obviously, it's not what you think it was."

But Guen squinted his eyes.

Roman finally gives in, and he tells her that he brought Ethan into his painting room. They had lunch together this afternoon too at his office. 

Guen clapped his hands. Fortunately, the cafe was quiet, so no one looked at Guen with a strange look.

"That kid is outstanding. How can he have the courage to come as he wishes, even sitting on your desk?"

Roman laughed. "I don't know. He does what he wants. No one can stop him."

But Guen keeps shooting her glances at Roman. "Are you sure you eat your lunch, not eat each other?"

Roman rolled his eyes. "We're in my office, and you watch too many dramas. Don't you think you should stop watching it?"

Gun laughed. "Well. So if you're not in the office, will you do it?"

Roman stared at him lazily before finally letting out a sigh, giving Guen the victory without a fight.

Next, Guen talked about a painting exhibition held on Sunday, which Roman almost forgot.

Guen massaged his forehead. "It's a good thing I told you otherwise. Ethan could have come alone." 

Talking about Ethan, Roman finds it strange that he hasn't arrived at the café yet.

In his confusion, Roman got a call from Ane. Roman immediately picked it up. Guen was silent while looking at Roman.

"Hello, Ane," said Roman.

"Ah, Roman, thank you for the money."

Roman nodded his head. "Yeh, your welcome. How's the day off-"

"I have to go, my friend called. Bye, love you."

The phone was turned off again. Roman put his phone back on the table.

"That was Ane, your wife Anette?" asked Guen with an uncertain note.

"Yes, Ane, who else is it?"

Next, Roman told Guen that Ane was on vacation with his friends in Paris. Guen, who heard this, again criticized Roman, who shouldn't have allowed Ane to leave as she wanted. Moreover, Roman allowed her to go somewhere for a week.

"I'm not even sure if she went to Paris. How can you be so calm about letting her go?"

Even though Roman told him at first that he wanted to go too, that didn't change anything; Guen still scorned him.

"You shouldn't have let her go. But well, she's gone. What can I do? You better call Ethan. Why is that kid taking so long?"

Roma immediately called Ethan.

But the thing that surprised him; was Ethan didn't pick up Roman.

"Looks like he's busy, Guen, and can't come. He doesn't pick up my phone."

Guen's eyes widened. "You suck, Roman."

There was nothing Roman could do but call Ethan a second time. Still the same, Ethan didn't pick it up.

Guen began to worry while Roman casually called Ethan again. "This is the last one. If he doesn't pick it up, it means he won't come, or maybe he just came late. You don't need to worry."

But who would have thought, Ethan, picked it up?

"Ah, Ethan, where are you?"

It felt like Guen wanted to take the phone away from that old man who didn't know how to make small talk.

"I-it seems I can't come."

Roman raised two eyebrows. "Why?"

"There is something I need to do. I'm sorry, Mr. Pearson."

Roman laughed. "Of course, it's okay, I knew you wouldn't come, but Guen forced me to call you."

Guen, who couldn't stand it, snatched Roman's phone from his hand. "Oh my God, sweetheart, are you okay?"

What happened next was Roman was stunned to hear Ethan cry while Guen widened his eyes.

While Roman massaged his forehead.

"Yeah, I understand."

Roman tries to snatch his phone from Guen again, but Guen pushes it away again.

"You can't help it, right? So it's okay. It's not your fault, Ethan. Did you have someone with you? Or I should be there?"

Roman saw Guen nod his head. "Okay then, call me if you need anything, okay?"

Guen finally hung up the phone.