The Secret Admiral (#2 The Secret Series)
Chapter 13
Daniel put his drinking glass on the bar table, he is currently at The Rock, where he and his friends used to gather and spend free time. He was preoccupied with answering questions from reporters about his relationship with rising artist Kerelyn Howard. New York does protect celebrities from the annoyance of fans, which means they can walk around comfortably without being disturbed by fans' requests to take pictures together and so on, but unfortunately the city could not protect them from the paparazzi who followed them like bees surrounding honey.
They just had a regular dinner and the day after the photo of the two of them has been plastered into a news headline, in fact, it turns out that the paparazzi followed them to the apartment building and finally came the news that the two of them had lived together. Daniel took a deep breath and drank back his golden liquid, yes he needed something to calm his nervous muscles that were tense imagining how Kerelyn was the target of all the news.
“Hi, did you come from earlier?” Gerard had just arrived, he sat down next to Daniel and immediately shouted his drink order to Max, the owner of the bar they were in at the moment.
“No, I just came.. Where is Alex?” he asked after realizing that his detective friend had not been seen
.
“She's still on the road.”
Daniel nodded in understanding, then went back to breathing heavily, and it did not go unnoticed by Gerard.
“Are you okay?”
Daniel stared at Gerard at a glance sebulum answered his friend's question, “ Yes, I'm fine.”
“What does this have to do with the article in the newspaper this morning?” Gerard continued without regard to the refutation of Daniel's answer earlier.
“Iya,” Daniel took his drink and gulped it down.
“So you're not okay.”
“I'm fine, G, it's just... Kerelyn who is not okay.”
Gerard raised his eyebrows while looking at Daniel, “Why him?”
“Did you forget, who is he? And I'm sure now he's being chased by those damn reporters!”
Gerard raised his eyebrows again seeing Daniel so angry at the thought of Kerelyn being chased by reporters, did his friend forget that it was one of the risks of being an artist?
“What are you guys dating?” Gerard asked curiously to make Daniel seem to want to swallow him alive and it made the teary-eyed man look happy.
“Sial, G, are you now changing professions to be a journalist?”
Gerard shrugged his shoulders casually, “Reserve work if I no longer sell as IT.” Daniel snorted laughing at Gerard's impossible words.
“So tell me, are you guys dating?”
“No.” Finally Daniel gave up and replied to the man who now seemed to be smiling triumphantly while sipping the same drink as him.
“Are you in love with her?” Daniel widened his eyes in disbelief at the grinning question of his friend towards him casually.
“Man, what are you talking about? Did you forget who he was? He, Kerelyn Howard, the rising artist,” Daniel said, shaking his head as if Gerard's question was the dumbest question he heard today.
“Terus, why if he's an up-and-coming artist?” Gerard again asked casually and for the first time he hated the calmness of his best friend.
”Listen, G, he's a famous artist while I. I'm just a regular guy.”.
“You're no ordinary man, you're in the ranks of the Sexiest Man behind the camera, so you're as famous as Kerelyn, and, D, my question should only be answered with yes and no.”
Gerard frowned in light of yesterday's events in which he did the same thing, which was to simply answer yes and no, and those were the most terrible times of his life.
Gerard shook his head trying to delete yesterday's incident, “And it's very simple.” Shit he's like Alexa when he says it's just simple.
Daniel was silent for a while, “No,” he replied in a confident tone, but why did his heart say that it was not the right answer? Oi! Why does it feel like he is lying because he was caught stealing? Daniel sipped his drink again until it ran out, it seemed like he needed more.
“What are you talking about?” Alex's heavy voice shocked the two, they stared at the godrong-haired man, his sturdy jaw covered in a beard and a sideburn, his blue eyes as usual sharply combed around before finally calmly sitting next to his two best friends.
Tonight he looks striking with a black leather jacket, black T-shirt and torn jeans, inversely proportional to both his friends who wear long-handed rolled shirts and khaki pants.
“Did you read the paper this morning?”
Instantly Alex grinned when he heard Gerard's question, “So what are you guys dating?”
Daniel looked desperate when he heard the same question in less than an hour.
“Yes God, I just found out that I'm friends with the gossipers.”
“So you guys aren't dating,” says Alex understood behind his best friend's words, “Are you in love with him?”
“Yes God! What's wrong with you two?” Daniel again looked desperate when he heard the same question again, he shouted for Max to make his drink again.
“Listen, I'm not in love with her, ok? I... I might like it, that's it no more.”
Alex and Gerard just looked at him casually while grinning meaningfully, which made the black-eyed man look riled up from understanding the meaning of the gaze.
“Sial! You don't believe me?”
The two are now shaking their heads, “Listen, D, from earlier I saw you were very worried about Kerelyn because she was chased by reporters about gossip you two.”
“That's natural, because I caused the gossip to happen.”
“If the gossip isn't true why are you this hot?” alex's question was successful in making Daniel speechless can not answer the question with certainty.
“If this isn't true, you two can simply say that you're just having dinner with a friend, and about staying together, I'm sure the reporters have confirmed this to the building management and they'll tell you that you're just neighbors. So what exactly are you worried about?”
“I only... only..” Daniel could not continue his words and that made him look even more desperate, “Ah, damn it! I hate you both!”
“We love you too, D,” said Gerard while laughing to see his best friend suffer because he just realized his feelings.
“What are you laughing at?”
The three of them turned their heads when they heard the soft voice they were familiar with, there stood Alexa, Raina and Kerelyn, the woman who had been the object of conversation. Daniel could only gape at the woman who tonight looked relaxed in her casual clothes, just like her sister and cousin.
“Kerelyn, what are you doing here?” Daniel got out of his chair smiling in disbelief that the woman was there.
“Didn't you tell him to pick me up?” Kerelyn looks confused, but Alexa says she told Daniel to pick her up. Daniel now looked at Alexa who just shrugged her shoulders casually innocently.
“Ah yes, I did ask her to pick you up, i..” Daniel's trying to find an excuse, but damn his brain is not thinking.
“Daniel was so worried all day you must have been so busy dealing with reporters' questions because of the gossip, he wanted you to have fun and forget about all the events today, he said,” said Gerard who made Daniel nod with a smile.
“No, I'm used to facing them, after all there is Eddy who will face them all.”
Daniel nodded with a smile, he looked at Alex and Gerard who were smiling mocking him as if to say, ‘I told you!’ Deheman's voice distracted Daniel who immediately smiled as he stretched out his hands.
“Wow, see this who came?” Daniel hugged the girl and kissed her cheek, as he used to do with the twins.
“You know I came yesterday, and you haven't even met me?” raina said while pouting.
“I'm sorry, the plan is today I will see you but.. today I am busy,” Daniel replied regretfully.
“Rain, you already know Gerardkan... the Superman,” said Alexa while smiling at Gerard who looks confused, why the girl called him Superman, “And now I will introduce you to Alex, he... Wolverine.”
Alex could only roll his eyeballs hearing Alexa's new name for him, he shook Raina's hand which seemed to be holding back laughter.
“So now I'm Wolverine, after yesterday I became a Zombie?” he asked while looking at Alexa who was staring at him while thinking, he then nodded confidently.
“Yes, you're like a Wolverine zombie,” Alexa replied casually which makes everyone laugh.
They were all sitting on a brown sofa that formed a semicircle in the corner of the room. Kerelyn sat down beside Daniel who immediately embraced her possessively after seeing some men staring at the girl with seductive gazes, and for God's sake, she was eager to pierce them all in the eye. Treating Daniel certainly made Kerelyn happy, even as she was now casually leaning on the man's shoulder, Daniel gently stroked Kerelyn's arm, they even too late in that closeness to not pay attention to what is actually being talked about by others.
Just such closeness has spurred the adrenaline of both, and fortunately for now they are in a public place and not just the two of them, Alex and Alexa as usual start to argue, she said, and this time the debate concerns X-Man, while Gerard looks desperate because Raina again invites him to speak Indonesian.
And he couldn't concentrate fully on what they were all talking about when the scent of lavender with the citrus mixture of a woman's parfume that now seemed comfortable leaning on him filled his sense of smell. So does Kerelyn, her heart racing, she's like an ABG child in love, who feels so happy just by holding hands. And now he is not just holding hands but half his body is leaning against the chest of the man whose hand is now coiled around his waist.
“Why don't you guys just go home?”
The two of them were jolted back into the real world when Alex's voice rang out, like a dazed person they were tapping everyone who was now staring at them with a seductive smile.
“He was right, you should go home and.. do what you want to do,” continued Gerard who made Kerelyn's cheeks flushed.
“I promise I won't report it to Mom,” said Alexa tried to look serious.
Kerelyn's face was now completely reddened, in contrast to Daniel who still looked relaxed even though in his heart he cursed his friends and his sister for their honesty, and unfortunately he really wanted to go from there and just be alone with the woman who had made him lose concentration for the first time.
“Alright, we will go home... to each apartment.... did you hear that? We'll go home to each other's apartments.”
“Yes of course, we heard it. You take it easy, we will be witnesses if you go home to each apartment,” said Gerard who can nod from Alex.
After feeling sure they were both ready to leave but they had just stepped up when Alex called Daniel back.
“D, make sure tonight you don't exercise and take another cold shower, or you'll get sick.”
Daniel turned his eyes to the cry of his best friend who only smiled skewedly, and he promised to kill the blue-eyed man later, he just turned his back when he heard the voice of the NYPD detective.
“Lexi, looks like you lost this time.”
“You mean he has noticed it?”
“And Gerard became my witness.”
“Hey, it's not legal, I didn't hear it.”
“Quietly I've recorded it.”
Daniel swore inwardly, “Oh shit, they did another bet!”
Possessively Daniel grabs Kerelyn's shoulder and they begin to walk out of the bar, several pairs of eyes were blatantly staring at them but they already did not care anymore all they needed to do at this moment was to get out of there, and enjoy their two moments.
The night air immediately caressed the bodies of the two, they walked towards the parking lot, Daniel's hand still embracing Emily's friendly shoulder and now without a doubt the girl's hand wrapped around the man's waist with a height of 188cm. They looked at each other and then smiled.
They had now been in the parking lot when a luxurious black Mercy car stopped right in front of those who looked surprised. Slowly the door opened and down came a man in a neat suit made by famous designers, his fingers adorned with sparkling gold rings and a large chain bracelet wrapped around his wrist. His handsome and neatly shaved face now smiled cynically towards Kerelyn who was frozen, his face paled, his eyes widened to look at the figure of the man who had hurt him first. The nightmare has returned.
*****
