Mattias Blackhorn was exhausted. He only arrived back in the country a few days ago and had not yet secured a car to drive around.
To get to the National Science and Innovation Convention he had to take a train, then walk another 20 minutes to the venue. No wonder he was running late and bumped into someone. He groaned and put his hands in his face at the thought of that embarrassing moment.
He looked important too. With a fancy suit, short black curly hair and intense green eyes. His expression was stern, but he didn't hesitate to help… Mattias groaned again. And then he was the sponsor presenting the award. So embarrassing. This is why introverts don't like leaving the house.
The train announcement softly sounded and Mattias rose as it was his stop. He hopped off the train, through the turnstiles and walked the couple of streets to his current accommodation.
Just a small one-bedroom apartment with a kitchen and living room combined, and a small bathroom. He didn't need much, and he liked small spaces because they were easier to keep clean.
He dug his pyjamas out of his open suitcase and stripped his clothes before leaving them on the bathroom floor. He would have to find some time to do his laundry. Not tomorrow though.
He had an important family gathering tomorrow. Not that he enjoyed spending time with his family, but now that he was back in the country there was no easy way to avoid interacting with them.
He quickly cleaned his teeth, then dug his rut suppressors out of his bag. He groaned again at the thought of the man who had handed them to him when helping him pick up his stuff. And he didn't even get his name.
Mattias sighed, dry-swallowed a couple of the tablets, then hopped into bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
Sunlight streamed through the curtains as Mattias' alarm went off for the 6th time. He rolled over with a groan, reaching for his phone to swipe the alarm off again.
He sighed and decided to commence step 2 of morning denial, scrolling on his phone. He read through some of the more recent reports on gravitational microlensing, along with a healthy dose of the most recent fantasy romance book.
It was 8:00am when he received a text message reminding him about his commitments today. It was a short, "Car will be arriving by 10:00am". Such an affectionate message to receive from his parents.
Whatever. He groaned and finally dragged himself out of bed to begin his morning routine.
By 9:00 he was ready to go. Since he was all ready, he hopped back into bed to continue his reading. At 9:50 he checked the time and decided to continue reading. At 9:55 he checked again and decided to continue reading.
The face of his watch was cracked, but he didn't want to replace the watch while it was still working. He would rather go to the trouble of having the watch fixed then to go and buy a new one.
At 9:58 he still decided to continue reading, and it was only at 9:59 he finally got out of bed, scrambled to put his shoes on and dashed downstairs.
As a result, he arrived at the curb where the car was waiting at 10:02. His parents were seated in the car, and two minutes late was still plenty of time to receive a disapproving glare for.
No greetings were exchanged and the car drove off in silence. Mattias was a person who avoided conflict and knew that due to the differences between his parents' and his own ideals, most conversations would end in an argument.
One tense 20 minutes later the car arrived at the Vale family mansion. The Vale and Blackhorn families were both prominent families within the capital city, with a history of generational wealth.
In addition, the grandfathers of both families were close childhood friends, and it was quite common for the two families to have gatherings together.
Mattias sighed. He hasn't been to one of these since he was a teenager and ran away from home. He put on his obedient son face and followed his parents out of the car.