The aftermath
Diano walked to Olympic City 2 and waited for Brian to pick him up. True to his word, Brian was there in 20 minutes. He slowed down and waved at Diano to get in.
“Hey, bro. How are you?” he asked as Diano joined him in the front passenger seat.
Diano didn’t say a word.
“Have you eaten?”
Diano nodded his head.
“Do you want a drink?”
Diano shook his head.
“Home it is.” Brian switched on the music station and Mozart filled the car.
Brian seemed to know how not to disturb Diano. He didn’t talk for the rest of the drive.
Once they reached his place, they parked in the basement and took the elevator to the entrance of the main lobby. Brian swiped his Octopus card and let them in. They reached his floor and entered his flat.
“Do you wanna shower first? Let me get you some clothes.” Brian took off his shoes.
“No.” Diano felt as if his heart was going to cave in. He looked at Brian in the eye.
“Come here.”
They hugged. Diano could not hold back his emotions any longer. He let the tears flow out.
Brian hugged him tighter and stroked his hair.
“Let it out, brother. Just let it out.”
###
Suddenly the door to their flat opened and closed. There was the sound of someone sobbing. Cute went to the living room and found Summer sitting on the sofa with her face buried in her hands.
“Are you okay?” He put a hand over her shoulder.
“No.”
“Don’t cry.” Cute didn’t know what else to say. He’d never seen Summer cry before. This was a different side of her and he felt helpless.
“What happened? Don’t cry.” He tried again.
“Oliver.”
“What did he do?”
“Norman,” she said.
Cute began to feel very uncomfortable. It was the same dreaded feeling, the one from the Halloween night.
“What happened to Oliver?” He hoped she hadn’t found out about his alter ego.
“He is Norman,” Summer said.
Cute sat down beside her.
“Where’s Diano? Does he know?”
“Yes. He doesn’t wanna talk to me. He refused to come home.” She took a tissue from the box they had on the TV table and blew her nose into it.
“I’m sorry.” Cute knew he had let his friends, his family, down.
“Why do you say that? Did he do something to you too?”
“No. But, please, forgive me, okay? I didn’t want to see either of you hurt.” Cute sighed.
“You knew about this?!”
“I learned about it on the Halloween night.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Summer demanded. “How could you keep quiet about it?”
“I didn’t know how to say it. I didn’t want to break your heart as much as I didn’t want to break Diano’s. I was afraid you guys would fight. I’ve lost my family before. I don’t wanna lose you guys.”
“Silly boy. You could have stopped at least one of us from getting hurt.” Summer tried to smile.
“I’m sorry.”
“I hope Diano’s okay. He looked devastated. Oh God, why did I give in?” She sighed. “If I had controlled myself today, the situation wouldn’t have been so bad.”
“What happened?” Cute asked. “How did you find out?”
“After dinner, I went to check out Oliver’s place. We didn’t know Diano was there waiting for him.”
“And then?”
“Well, along with Diano, there was a girl there too. Both of them were hiding in the washroom. By the look of it, Diano must have been hiding there before she went in. It was the girl who screamed first and then both of them ran out.”
“Where were you?” The story seemed like a scene out of a movie!
“I was trying to make out with Oliver in the bedroom.” Summer looked embarrassed.
“And they saw you guys?”
“Yes.” Summer looked away.
“Oh my God. Then?”
“I guess she is Oliver’s ex-girlfriend. Today was their anniversary. Maybe she is his girlfriend. I mean the guy was cheating both of us at the same time. I can’t believe a thing about him any more.” Summer stood up suddenly.
“What did Diano say?” Cute didn’t care much about Oliver’s girl.
“Not much. The girl physically attacked Diano.”
“Oh, no.” Cute was alarmed. “I hope he isn’t hurt.”
“He was bleeding from the mouth. She was like a savage. I was afraid she was going to kill him or something. So I gave her a tight slap and she passed out. Oliver was trying to revive her when we ran away.”
“Passed out?” Cute was amazed.
“I don’t think she will die. At least not this early. Bitch!”
“Where’s Diano? I wanna make sure he is alright.”
“He doesn’t wanna talk to anybody now. It was a shock for him. He was in see-through lingerie.”
“Oh. You mean, you could —”
“Yes, I could see everything and so could everybody else. He must have been embarrassed.”
“I wanna call him.” Cute picked up his cell phone.
“Don’t.” Summer held his hand.
“Let me send an SMS, okay?”
“Okay.”
