PART 3

"Please, just leave," Mike emphasized again, his gesture feminine, sweetening his tone under the expectant and concerned gaze of the audience.

"Hey, you're looking fine. You and I could have a good time," Carlos said, flailing about, approaching Mike, whose expression grew increasingly serious with each step Carlos took toward him.

"It seems you don't listen to reason," the young blond declared with determination, hitching up his dress to tear it, revealing to all the garter belt he was wearing, "so I'll have to teach you the hard way."

Every stride Carlos took echoed in every corner of the room. The crowd was anxious for the spectacle unfolding before their eyes, a show they would gossip about for weeks, as it was clear that Carlos's imminent actions toward Mike would be anything but kind. None of the onlookers had any intention of moving from their spots; on the contrary, they awaited the scene eagerly. All of them pulled out their high-end phones to capture on video what would circulate for weeks on social media. Such was the nature of most people today, not just the elite, but everyone.

However, the incident they expected to criticize and make the talk of the town didn't happen—or at least, not in the way they anticipated. For when Carlos was just inches away from Mike, Mike deftly grabbed his wrist and, with agility and technique, executed a judo move that knocked Carlos out the moment he hit the floor.

"People like you have no place in this society," Mike declared, brushing off his hands as he received the applause and cheers of the crowd.

"You knocked the wind out of him," Johnny said to Mike after glancing at Carlos's prone body on the floor, giving him a thumbs-up in congratulations. "I expected nothing less from a black belt in judo," he concluded, removing his jacket to place it on the nearest chair and grabbing Carlos by the collar of his shirt. "I'll dump him by the trash, let him sort himself out there."

All eyes were on Mike, losing sight of the two individuals seated on the floor.

"Come with me, there's a first-aid kit in the lobby," Emily suggested to Andrew, fearful of being rejected.

"There's no need..."

"Let me thank you in some way," the young woman interrupted, extending her hand.

Reluctantly, Andrew accepted. And as Mike watched his companion walk out the door with Emily, Diana appeared at the same entrance, a sorrowful expression on her face as she sat at one of the tables in the room.

Doubt and fear flooded Mike's thoughts. He didn't know whether to approach her or simply walk away. But one thing he was sure of was that this was an opportunity he couldn't let slip by. So, with hesitant steps, he approached the table where Diana was sitting alone.

"Forgive my boldness, but are you alright? You don't look well," Mike asked, mustering all the courage he could, not forgetting to soften his voice.

"Aren't you Andrew's date?" she replied.

"Yes..." Mike nodded, sitting in the chair to the right of the young woman, feeling as if a dagger had been driven into the center of his ego.

"People are so complicated," Diana murmured after a few seconds of silence that felt eternal to Mike, "sometimes I don't understand why I have to accept everything that's imposed on me."

Meanwhile, in the hotel lobby, at one of the fountains in the corner of the vast entrance hall, Emily was tending to Andrew's wounds.

"There was no need for you to do that for me," Emily said, cleaning the cut on his lip with a cotton swab.

After a year apart, it was the first time Emily had spoken to and been alone with Andrew. And as she feared, her heart still raced at his slightest presence, his slightest breath, his subtle yet deep voice.

"If it had been someone else, I would have reacted the same way," Andrew expressed, grimacing each time the cotton touched his lower lip.

"Andrew... do you still have feelings for me?"

"How could I not, Emily?" Andrew retorted angrily, pulling away from her, resting his arms on his thighs. "You still think you're the last bottle of water in the desert."

"Since we broke up, I haven't seen you with any other girl."

"More like since you cheated on me," he corrected, a shadowed expression on his face, looking directly into her eyes. "But you're wrong, the person I brought is my partner, and I'm very happy with her. I could even tell you she's the best thing that’s ever happened to me."

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Andrew ended the conversation by getting up from the edge of the fountain to leave, but Emily grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks; he reacted by pulling his hand away.

"We both know that girl isn't your girlfriend. She must be some friend you brought to make me jealous," Emily yelled desperately as she watched Andrew walk away from her.

After so much time, young Emily had a chance to fix things with him, and she wasn’t going to let that chance slip away, so she started to chase after him.

"Even though society imposes certain behaviors and customs, it's up to us to choose whether to follow that path, even if it goes against established norms," Mike replied to Diana, finally managing to untangle the knot in his stomach, only for it to reform when he saw the sweet smile Diana gave him in return.

"Thank you for trying to cheer me up. What's your name?"

"Mik...Micaela."

For the first time in five years, he was able to have a conversation with the girl he liked, but the scene was not as he had imagined; it was much worse. He was dressed as a woman, and Diana thought he was his best friend's date. Could the situation get any worse? He believed not... however, a familiar hand grabbed his wrist, pulling him from his seat to kiss him in front of everyone.

The entire room fell silent, stunned by the sight before them.

Johnny, witnessing the scene from just a few meters away, spat out all the champagne in his mouth; Emily, still pursuing Andrew, stood frozen, speechless; Diana, sitting beside Mike, though surprised, smiled sweetly; but Mike, above all Mike, was petrified. After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, he felt his childhood friend's hand, his loyal companion, press his chest against his with passion.

Andrew's tongue moved inside Mike's mouth like a worm inside a sweet apple. Their saliva mixed, creating an image not suitable for all audiences.

Mike's body remained there, but his soul had already left him, watching everything from a distance as if it were a macabre movie in which he was the protagonist, the actor paying for everyone else's mistakes. He would have preferred, truly, to have died than to be the architect of this "bromance" scene in front of the woman who held his heart. In front of Diana, right in front of her...

How would she see him now? How could he possibly explain this completely out-of-context situation? How could he ever look her in the eyes again?

As Andrew slowly pulled his moist lips away from Mike's immobilized "corpse," he firmly grasped his hand, turning to address the onlookers, focusing mainly on Emily, who remained frozen in place.

"Now I’m happy, Emily, and without a doubt, she's the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with," Andrew shouted with all his might, his expression unreadable.

But Mike, aware that Diana was still beside him, refused to look at her, and thought that if he ever had any intention of confessing his feelings, now, more than ever, he would never, ever be able to do it.

◎•◎•◎•◎•◎•◎•◎•◎•◎•◎•◎

Two days had passed since that incident, and poor Mike hadn’t managed to get a wink of sleep all weekend. The bags hanging under his beautiful, delicate eyes were alarmingly pronounced. As he walked through the university hallway, his posture increasingly resembled that of a zombie, absent from everything around him.

"Come here, my dear Mike," Oscar grabbed his arm, pulling him to a corner of the classroom where everyone was gathered. "I heard about the magnificent kiss you shared over the weekend.""You really went too far doing that in front of the girl Mike likes," Johnny admonished Andrew.

"I'm sorry. I got caught up in Emily's nonsense and lost my head," Andrew apologized, running a hand through his hair nervously, his expression a mix of shame and seriousness.

"Well, I'd say you even enjoyed it," Johnny teased, playfully nudging Andrew with his elbow.

"Stop talking nonsense," Andrew replied.

"It doesn’t matter," Mike added, his head down, eyes fixed on the floor. "I had zero chances with Diana before, and now even less, since I can't show my face without her knowing I was the girl kissed at the party."

He ended the conversation, leaving his friends behind as he walked out of the classroom, even more depressed than before.

"Dude, you really went too far this time. Sometimes I think you have feelings for Mike with the way you act," Johnny playfully suggested to Andrew.

"Of course I have feelings for him," Andrew responded, causing a deep silence to fall over everyone. "We’ve known each other since we were in diapers; he’s gotten me out of a lot of trouble throughout my life, and he’s like a brother to me. A kiss on the mouth doesn’t mean anything."

He commented to the guys as he headed to his seat, hands in his pockets, his expression unreadable.

"Cold," Oscar remarked.

"I know," Johnny agreed, shivering as if from a chill.

Mike wandered aimlessly through the gardens of Atlanta. He didn’t know where he wanted to go, but he was aware that he longed to be alone, to escape the chatter of people and the laughter, though innocent, of his classmates. His heart felt heavy, his mind overwhelmed, and his body exhausted. He just wanted to disappear like mist, unseen, unjudged... but a sweet, familiar voice snapped him out of his daze.

Peeking around the corner, he saw Diana, absorbed in her book, pacing back and forth. She looked as beautiful as ever, especially that day, as she wore a pair of magnificent glasses that made her look even more refined, a look he had never seen on her before.

"Why is she reviewing algebra alone?" Mike wondered, hiding around the corner.

That’s when he noticed the soil falling near Diana's feet. Following the trail, he quickly realized it was from a flowerpot falling from the second floor, heading straight for her.

"Watch out!" Mike shouted, throwing himself at Diana to push her out of the flowerpot’s path, which grazed his head before shattering on the ground. "Are you okay?"

Diana heard a voice as she felt someone push her to the ground. Slowly and still aching from the impact, she opened her eyes to see Mike hovering over her, his face filled with concern.

"Yes. Are you?" Diana replied with difficulty.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit dizzy," he responded, touching his head as a trickle of blood began to stream down his forehead. "I…"

"You're bleeding!" Diana exclaimed, worried, jumping up to tend to Mike. She lifted his bangs with one hand, seeing the concerned expression on his face for the first time. "Micaela?" she asked, her voice filled with confusion and shock.