When Delhi opens his eyes, he is surprised to see Erick still asleep, his arms around him. Usually, he always wakes up last. He takes this opportunity to observe him; messy gray hair on his wrinkled face “His hair must have been brown, which would show off his clear eyes,” in his mind. A thin mouth on a square chin adorning a rough-cut jaw. Graying hair covering a broad and powerful torso. Muscular arms and broad shoulders. “He must have been very handsome when he was young. He’s still well preserved for his age!” he thinks.

Lost in his thoughts, the young man starts to follow with his finger a wrinkle on his lover's cheek. Erick, slowly opening his eyes, smiled at him "Did you sleep well my darling?" he asked hoarsely. Delhi smiles and kisses him.

After getting out of bed, in the kitchen where they now used to eat together.

Erick asks "Can I have your phone number?"

Delhi, in a neutral tone, his eyes displaying no emotion "I don't have a phone". Seeing the puzzled look of his eldest “I have no one to call. The people who are important to me are all at the Fallen Angel, and I see them every day.”

Erick is touched by the young man's explanation, it make resonates in him an old feeling with which he has learned to live: loneliness. Finally, he begins to understand the coldness of this being. Finally, he can put a word to his blank stare.

Erick gets up, and takes the photo frame placed on a small table in the entrance to the kitchen and a piece of paper on which he writes his telephone number, then returns to sit near the waiter.

Warmly, he hands him the paper and the frame, which the young man takes with both hands and looks at. In the frame, a photo of Erick in the middle of two young adults, with exactly the same eyes and the same smile as him.

Erick, his face beaming with love “These are my children, my daughter and my son. Their mother and I divorced 15 years ago, she remarried and left with the children to live abroad with her new husband. I call my kids two to three times a week and we text each other. I travel to see them when I have holidays. They are very important to me and I want to keep our ties strong despite the distance. I was thinking, maybe I could get closer to them as soon as I retire.”

Delhi, staring at the frame, his knuckles turning white, emotions and thoughts swirling in him. Why was Erick throwing that in his face, was he making fun of him? What is he trying to tell him? He has none of that, no one to call, no family, no one needed him. His own mother had dumped him in public assistance as soon as she had found a husband. No, his mother had not taken him with her! No, he doesn't have a father who speaks proudly of him!

Seeing Delhi's complex face, Erick panics “Hey! Are you OK ?"

The young man, no longer able to repress his emotions, a ball obstructing his throat, the surrounding sounds dying out leaving his brain in a cold silence, put the frame on the table at his side and got up. A tear rolling down his cheek, he walked towards the entrance, but was stopped by Erick's warm chest. His body encircled by the cop's arms, his large hands stroking his hair and back. His ears picked up his lover's worried voice again, “If you have to cry, do it in my arms! don't cry alone. I am here !"

So he let it all out, surrendering himself to pain and emptiness, shaking with silent sobs, his hands clinging desperately to this man's clothes.

Erick collected the tears of this man he cherished so much, feeling so helpless in front of his face drowned in tears, his pinched mouth not wanting to let go of any sound... The old man hugged him, kissing his face and caressing him tenderly. Helpless, he cajoled him in silence.

Stolen story; please report.

Several hours later Delhi woke up again, he didn't know when he went to bed, with everything muddled in his mind. His eyes met Eric's. The man looks very worried. "Why?" he wondered.

The old man hugged him a little more “It's late, I know you have to go to work but I think you're not OK. Please stay here with me!”

Delhi, hoarsely “I'm not working today. It's my day-off."

Erick smiled at him “So stay with me! We could go for a walk and eat outside! Would you like it?"

Delhi, whose red eyes had returned to their expressionlessness, asked "aren't you afraid to be seen with me?"

Erick, puzzled “Why?”

Delhi in a calm tone “Because of my look and my way of being, my sexuality makes no doubt!”

Erick raised an eyebrow, looked at him for a few seconds and asked him “And you? Aren't you afraid to be seen with me?” Seeing the puzzled face of his interlocutor, he smiles at him and adds “Because, given to my look, there is no doubt that I am old enough to be your father!”

The remark made the young man laugh.

In the street, walking hand in hand, Erick obviously doesn't give a sheet to the disapproving looks of some onlookers.

Passing a showcase of women's shoes and bags. Delhi's gaze seems to be drawn to a bag. Erick, seeing the interest of the young man, guides him gently inside the shop and takes the bag to put it in his hands “Do you like this bag?” asks the old man.

Delhi, about to look at the price tag was stopped by Erick's hand, who, looking at him fondly, added "Just tell me if you like it."

The young man looked down at the pretty leather handbag “Yes, I like it a lot!”

So Erick hailed a saleswoman and gave her the bag "We'll take this bag, can you keep it for us in the checkout please?" The round-eyed saleswoman compiled without daring to say anything.

Then, gentleman, Erick guided Delhi to the shoe department "Is there a pair you like?" he asked the pretty waiter.

"Erick" Called the young man softly "that's a lot!"

The old man took him by the waist in front of the dumbfounded gaze of the shop assistants and customers “I replaced your little coat, your worn out handbag. Now I will also replace your old, filed shoes!” He told him, smiling.

Delhi looked down at the shoes displayed on a shelf in front of him, his gaze caught by pretty brown leather ankle boots, engraved with flowers, with little golden bees at the end of the laces. Following his lover's gaze, Erick once again hailed the saleswoman "We would like to try this pair please!" The saleswoman, despite looking taken aback, runs off again asking the young man for his shoe size and showing him a seat.

Erick kneels in front of Delhi sitting on the small seat of the trade, and puts on the shoes in front of the disappointed faces of the people present in the shop. Getting up, he held out his hand to his lover to help him up and led him to the mirror.

Delhi, smiling, admired himself. Erick, not taking his eyes off his pretty waiter “They look good on you! You are beautiful my darling!”

He hailed the saleswoman one last time and headed for the checkout.

The bags of his purchases for his handsome prince in one hand, the hand of his sweet lover in the other, Erick, happy, takes him to the restaurant.

“Do you like Indian food?” Delhi asked his lover, who had just taken his coat and was pulling out the chair for him to sit on.

“Yes, I like to eat here once in a while for a change. I thought that given your little nickname, you must like India and its cuisine. Delhi is not your real name! Isn’t it?" asked the old man, sitting down to.

Delhi, in a neutral tone, as usual “Delhi is not my real name. When I started my work at the Fallen Angel 4 years ago, Ritta suddenly asked us to come up with nicknames to protect our privacy. I was a bit taken aback and as I sipped a rose lassi, I thought of the city of New Delhi. And here it go!"

Erick, amused by the anecdote of his darling "It's cute!"

In his thoughts, the old cop can't help but repeat to himself "I hope one day you'll tell me your real name!"