I devoted my time on my work.
We continued the development of the SGT kits and ended the contracts with the test subjects who have already manifested their second gender.
Work was hectic. Not to mention, I had to improve my new suppressant as well. But it was all worth it, and all the positive outcome was satisfying.
At the end of the week, Aahmes asked me about Nathan, regarding his experiment.
"Can we go to Reubert's place today?" he asked as we drove home that.
"Let me ask them first."
I called Nathan, but his phone was off. I tried Reubert's phone, but he seems to be busy as well.
"The hell..." I looked at my wrist watch. "It's only 8 PM but it seems the two are on it already!"
"Does that mean that we can't visit them right now?" asked Aahmes.
"Do you sure you want to disturb them right now?" I asked with a laugh. "Didn't you want Nathan to get knocked up?"
"Tomorrow then," Aahmes replied after some thought.
But we still couldn't contact them in the morning.
I was starting to get worried, so I decided to call Blessing instead.
"Hello, Bless? It's your Tito Eric, is Nat-Nat there?" I asked her.
'Opo, Tito,' she replied. 'He suddenly came home yesterday evening in a bad mood. He haven't come out of his room since then.'
"Huh? Did he get in a fight with Reubert?"
'I'm not sure, Tito, you know Nathan, he never really talks to us about that stuff. He wouldn't even talk to Dad.'
"Haay, nako, it's probably just an LQ. I'll talk to Reubert and ask what the problem is."
"What is an LQ?" asked Aahmes when I ended the call.
"A 'lover's quarel'," I sighed. "Looks like Nathanwent back home after a fight. Wwll, with Nathan's stuck up pride, I guess there's still a lot they need to work on. That idiot Reubert should have gone after him, though. He should be the one to give in, knowing that his partner is still young and immature!"
"Perhaps he's giving him some space?" Aahmes suggested. "Perhaps Nathan's feeling suffocated in their relationship?"
"What ever the issue is, Reubert shouldn't have let Nathan leave. Didn't I tell him to look after the brat?" I ranted. "Anyway, let's go to Reubert first."
I tried contacting Reubert again as we made our way to his flat.
"Still no luck?" asked Aahmes.
"No, the idiot's phone is still..."
I trailed off as I saw a group of men exit an elevator.
There were five of them. They wore casual attire, but their bulging biceps were obvious under their clothes. The way they were walking was also a dead giveaway.
A quickly took a sharp turn at a hallway to my right and hid behind a group of tall Korean tourists walking towards us.
"Is there something wrong, Eric?" asked Aahmes who followed behind me.
"Shh." I pulled him behind me, but due to my accursed height, one of the men noticed me as they passed by. He stared at me for a while and even gave a little nod.
"Fuck."
A couple of Koreans glared at me.
"Eric, what seems to be the problem?" asked Aahmes.
"Seems like there's some trouble..." I mumbled.
"What trouble?" Aahmes sounded worried.
"Did you see the group that just passed by?"
Aahmes looked back and stared at the group as they headed for the exit.
"What about them?"
"Those men work for the Spider. I don't think Nathan's problem is just a simple lover's quarrel. I dare say, he's lucky he went home last night."
We went to the elevator and rode it to the 69th floor. Aahmes placed an arm on my shoulder and looked at me with concern.
"EYou have turned pale, are you sure you are okay?"
"No," I answered honestly. "I know Reubert won't be able to talk if this is another mission."
"A mission?"
"I know you're aware what his real job is," I whispered. "Just...just let me do the talking once we get to his place."
We finally reach Reubert's condo. I knock on his door and waited for a while until he opened it with a deep frown on his face.
"Reubert! How's it going?" I asked with a grin as I entered his place with Aahmes trailing behind me.
The frown in Reubert's face suddenly melted away into a pale mask. He looked frightened and panicked at the same time. It was obvious from the way he looked that he wanted to tell me something, but I knew he couldn't. The place wasn't safe.
"Prof. Antonio, Dr. Aahmes, what brings you here?" he asked instead.
"We came to visit Nathan," I said as we sat on a long sofa in his living room. "Don't tell me he's still sleeping? Did you keep him up all night again?" I snickered.
"I'm afraid he's not here right now," Reubert answered quietly, "he went back to their house last night."
"Huh? Why? Did you have an LQ or something?"I asked jokingly.
It took Reubert some time to reply.
"I guess, our relationship didn't work out, after all..." he finally said. "I'm planning to return to New York for a while... get some time to figure things out..."
"What? Just what happened anyway?" I asked, my acting gone. "Why are you just leaving all of a sudden?"
"It's nothing, really..." he replied with a frown, "There's just some stuff I need to do back in the US... I'll return as soon as it's fixed, though I'm not sure when that would be..."
"Have you talked to Nathan about it? Was he against you leaving? Is that why you had a fight?"
I grabbed his arm. I wanted to take him out of there so we could talk properly, but Reubert shook his head and pulled away. He brushed his hair and rubbed his nape, then he touched his ear subtly and rubbed his eyes.
These are secret signs I taught him years ago. It means that someone is watching and listening in on our conversation.
"Like I said," he sighed, "I'm not sure when I can return. It could be a month or at least a year. That's why it would be better for him to just forget about us, rather than wait for someone who may not even come back."
"What about the experiment?" Aahmes suddenly piped in.
Reubert and I both stare at him.
I took his hand to try and silent him, but it seems his experiment was too important to him to worry about anything else.
"We have already recorded progress and have advanced into the next stage, we can't just –"
"I never believed that fated pairs can't fall part," Reubert suddenly said. "From the start, I never really believed in fated pairs. In fact, I actually came here to the Philippines to prove that I can find my fated pair and then, break break up with him. I'm here to prove that I don't need a fated pair to be happy."
"Where the hell did that come from?" I couldn't help but blurt out.
"I had a girlfriend back in New York," he told us. "She broke up with me after finding out that I have a second gender, saying that I would surely leave her once I meet my fated pair. That's why I decided to look for my so called 'destiny' and prove everybody wrong."
"But you have proven yourself wrong instead," Aahmes insisted. "You said so yourself, it is already impossible for you to leave Nathan."
"Well, then, I have just proven myself wrong, again," Reubert replied with a resigned look on his face.
"But..."
"Aahmes, that's enough, there's nothing we can do if Reubert doesn't want to continue your experiment."
"But, Professor..."
"Aahmes." I glared at my Habibi.
Finally, Aahmes remembered my warning earlier and decided to keep his mouth shut.
"Nathan got angry when I refused to tell him everything about myself." I listened as Reubert subtly shifted the topic. "I know it's my fault for hiding the truth from him, but if he can't trust me now, then there's nothing more we can do about this relationship. He said it himself," he continued, eyes cast down, "it would be better to break up and go our separate ways, than to stay in a relationship based on lies."
I couldn't help but sigh as I watched Reubert try his best to keep his tears from falling.
"Look here, kid, no matter what your drama is, you still need to talk to him properly," I insisted. "You can't just leave without fixing this misunderstanding..."
"You know exactly whyI can't, Professor." Reubert stood up and walked towards the front door. "Any way, thank you for everything," he said as he opened the door. "Please take care of Nathan. Tell him goodbye for me."
He closed the door as soon as we were out.
"Fuck."
There was nothing I could do.
"Goddamn mother fucker."
Aahmes touched my arm and held my tightly closed fists. "We can still fix this, Eric," he told me. "Let us go to your nephew, we could at least explain the truth to him."
"No. You heard him clearly. We can't do anything without knowing the exact situation. We don't even know what the Spider is planning now. He might actually have something planned against Nathan at this very moment!"
I held my breath as well as my tongue.
I can't just spout out words I might regret later.
Who knows who might be listening? Knowing that the Spider has eyes and ears everywhere.
I kept silent until we got into Aahmes' car, knowing that his men keep it clean from all possible bugs and trackers. Only then did I get to relax.
I rubbed my face with the palm of my hands and face my Habibi. "Didn't I tell you to keep your mouth shut?" I asked, facing him. "Why did you have to mention your experiment? Who knows what or who is listening in on us while we're in Reubert's flat?! Good thing Reubert thought up of a good excuse to save our ass!""
"You did not actually tell me not to speak, though," he said, his face void of emotions.
"I know, but didn't I tell you to leave all the talking to me!"
"But he said he was leaving. I cannot just let him go while we are in the middle of an experiment."
"Is your experiment really more important than the well being of my nephew?" I glared at him. "Don't answer that!" I quickly added before he could answer.
"Then professor, what is it that you propose we do?"
"Nothing," I quickly replied. "Just what do you think would happen if the Spider finds out that you're waiting for a womb to grow inside Nathan?! What if there actually is a womb inside him? You think they would just leave an alpha capable of getting pregnant alone?"
"Hmm... I have failed to plan that far..." Aahmes said thoughtfully. "Even so, it is still a bad idea for a fated pair to be apart from each other, What if they start showing signs of separation anxiety due to Fated Pair Syndrome?"
"Frankly, if my big brother got through it, then so can Nathan," I replied, though I had my doubts. "For now, we need to know what the actual problem is."
"So, we go to your nephew next?"
"No," I replied. "It's time to visit the Spider."