4 A friend to turn in

"Oh, there comes the brother!"

"Where have you been, Irvyn! We were looking for you."

"Emily wasn't agreeing to the speech without you, you know? Where have you been?"

As soon as Irvyn came back to the church, every one of his relatives came rushing toward him. "Where were you? Don't you know your presence is so important today?"

"As if the marriage would have halted without me. It wouldn't, right? So what's the hassle?" he coldly responded, before walking ahead and leaving that person behind.

"Wh-why would you say like that, big brother?" Emily spoke up, her voice slightly heavy and choking up. And soon her eyes filled with tears. "We were just worried for you, what if you fell sick or faced some problem. Or…"

"That's too early for you to be happy, my dear sister. I am sticking around healthy for quite longer than you hope," he snorted, bringing a mocking edge to his tone, and left the church, without even letting anyone talk any further.

"Ugh! The audacity of this guy!" Emily stomped her leg angrily on the floor, making a loud noise. Thankfully, the hall was noisy enough to hide the noise she just made. But still, it didn't go unnoticed by the groom.

"Don't let it get to you, babe," Glen came to her rushing, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "It's a happy day for us, don't let anything get in the way, ok?"

Emily nodded her head in agreement slightly, not arguing any further.

------

*ring ring*

A man peeked at the landline ringing in the room behind the kitchen, slightly removing his focus from the soup cooking on the stove.

"Who must be calling this time?" he decided to avoid the call for now, as he had more important things at his hands. He doesn't remember anything important to come up right now, so it must be nothing significant. "They will stop after trying one."

But strangely, the call didn't stop at once. Not even twice. And calls kept coming even after him ignoring them so many times.

"This is annoying now. Who the hell calling the hell out of me, knowing clearly that it's the time to make my dinner?" He got super annoyed by the continuous disturbance and break of attention he was facing. He kept the spoon in his hands aside with a loud thud, and walked up to the living room to receive the call.

"Hello?"

"Midnight Courtyard, within fifteen minutes." A deep male voice spoke up from the other end, only robotically uttering the few words in a breath. If it was someone else, they would surely think it was some automated program set up. But the man on the receiving end was too familiar with the voice, also the owner of it.

"W-wait! Don't cut the call!" He shouted almost immediately. He clearly knows if not, this call wouldn't last even a nanosecond longer.

"Speak."

He let out a sigh of relief after successfully stopping the guy. "You know, you should let people at least talk. What's with this cutting the call in seconds huh? And what's with the order out of nowhere? You clearly know this is my time to make dinner-"

"I am finishing the call if you don't cut to the chase, Josh," the guy at the other end seemed to be quite annoyed at the interruption. And his voice felt like he could slap the end button right on the guy's face.

"O-okay, sheeesh. Relax, okay? Goodness why do you always sound so grumpy, Vinnie?" Josh sighed loud. "Fine, I'll be there."

"Because a certain someone keeps calling me with that annoying nickname from childhood, even after we are this much grown up now. It's Irvyn for you, Mr. Josh." Irvyn gave a glance at his wristwatch before adding more, "And with that, you just wasted two minutes from your given fifteen."

"H-hey! That's cheating, Irvyn!" Josh snapped out in panic. "Fine! I'll be there in just time."

"Better," Irvyn curtly responded before putting an end to the call.

As soon as the call ended, Josh realized a burning smell coming from the kitchen. "Hum? What is burni- OH FVCK!" He rushed to the kitchen, and as he thought, his chicken soup on the stove was burnt to coal.

"This is why I tell you, NEVER CALL ME IN THE DINNERTIME!"

------

"Huff, this is so draining," Josh panted loudly, clutching his both knees. "Who gives so little time to come this far?"

"You seem out of breath, Josh," Josh almost jumped up at the voice speaking up behind him. Turning his head, he found the very person who made him came rushing here.

"Someone who comes here by car within minutes, wouldn't know the pain of following orders, my dear boss." Josh gritted his teeth behind a weird grin on his face, sweatdrops beading on his forehead.

"And I suppose I pay my secretary enough to buy himself a car. Not my fault if he chooses to be stingy," Irvyn shrugged his shoulders before walking ahead. "Let's get going."

"But why are we at this bar? You don't even drink anyway," Josh caught up behind, giving a questioning look to his boss. He clearly knows his boss never drinks, even though he occasionally steps into this bar he owns. Especially, when he is in a sour mood.

But Irvyn chose not to give any reply to him.

"Fine, don't reply to me. But at least treat me to dinner here. I couldn't get to eat anything for so long. Just because I am your friend, doesn't mean you can call me anytime and I'll come rushing!" Josh pouted his lips, folding his arms. He almost looked like an angry kid, sulking for ice cream to his parents.

"As a friend, I can't. But as a boss, I have the right to." Irvyn stated with a monotone, and sped up into the bar without even slowing down for his friend.

"H-hey! Wait! Vinnie? Irvyn? B-Boss!" Josh sped up as well, catching up to Irvyn, and they both entered into the bar.