My Boss Is Secretly A Softie - Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Trauma
“Father!” An agile red-haired teen with bright eyes ran into the pristine office in which sat a green-eyed male with red hair.

The man looked up in surprise, documents in hand. “Ariel? What are you doing here?”

“Hehehe!” She ran excitedly towards him and plopped onto his lap.

Mr. Astridge sighed before patting her on her neat ponytail.

“You shouldn’t be here—”

“I know!” she chuckled. “Brother Basil is looking for me. Can you hide me for a bit? Thank you!”

Before a response could be mustered, the sneaky girl crawled under the large table, completely hidden unless betrayed.

Mr. Astridge sighed, and just as he was about to bend over to convince his daughter otherwise, his son barged in.

“…What exactly are the guards doing?” he muttered with a frown.

“Dad, is Ariel here? Don’t believe a word she says about playing hide-and-seek; she’s just running away from her tutor again!”

Basil crossed his arms in exasperation. As the older brother, he had to supervise his younger siblings, but those two brats were making it difficult.

One was all over his boyfriend, and the other their father!

Mr. Astridge was stumped. He considered ratting out a certain intruder so he could have his peace but knew the price to pay would be too much. What to do…?

He groaned, “I could have sworn I told that child to come to you immediately. She was here but not anymore.”

“Uh-huh?” Basil was unconvinced. He stared at his father suspiciously for a while before shrugging.

“I’ll go look for her somewhere else,” he paused and then smiled evilly, “Or even better, report to Mum.”

“You shouldn’t—”

“You snitch!” Mr. Astridge was cut off by a ginger popping out from under the table violently. “How could you?!”

Basil scoffed, “Real awesome, Dad. Making my work harder must be so fun.”

He rolled his eyes along with the defeated sigh of his father.

“Fine, I was wrong. Can you kids please give me the space I need? We’ll go bankrupt like this, you know,” he pleaded helplessly.

“We know it doesn’t work like that, old man. And you—what the! Hey, get back here!”

Mr. Astridge watched with an adoring smile as Basil ran after the naughty Ariel, who threw her shoes at him and ran even harder.

“How chaotic,” he trembled.

With a shake of his head, he returned to his work, only for a call to interrupt him yet again.

He groaned in annoyance and, seeing the caller, grunted in more dissatisfaction. It was his wife, and he was sure it wouldn’t be a happy discussion.

“Hello…”

***

A limousine pulled up in front of an estate with a immensely tall gate covering the yard but unable to hide the tall, magnificent building.

The chauffeur stepped down and assisted his passenger—an elegantly dressed blonde teenager with a youthful hairstyle but uncharacteristically gloomy eyes.

“Thank you,” he whispered as he alighted.

After that, silence prevailed, and after their identities were confirmed, he was escorted inside the wealthy estate by a brilliantly dressed butler.

Everything else went like a blur to him. He was led through the beautiful yard into the grand mansion, moving through various paths before arriving at his location—a pink door with stickers all over it.

As he approached, he was stopped in his tracks by a series of ambiguous sounds that filtered out.

The butler couldn’t care less. He bowed towards him and took his leave.

The blonde bit his lip reluctantly but persistently opened the door.

It was…blinding.

A vast contrast to the outside, with relatively calmer colors of grey, was the pink-drowned room having no other colors except the black hair and eyes of the brunette before him.

As well as his drastically pale complexion.

“Terry~,” he exclaimed flirtatiously, lying on the bed with only a baggy shirt that stopped at his thighs and a pair of striped stockings. All in pink.

“Lee…”

Terrence’s eyes caught the phone in his hand, which he hid under his pillow with a guilty smirk. He clenched his fists.

“You’re early~.” He crawled towards him seductively before leaping into his embrace.

Terrence’s face softened but hardened right after when a hand touched his zipper.

He tensed up as the male leaned into his ear before whispering sultrily, “I want this.”

He was pushed. Hard. And fell on the bed with widened eyes before giggling like a child.

“So eager~.”

Parting his legs teasingly, the bright pink underwear was in full view of Terrence, who frowned heavily.

Terrence sighed, reaching into his pocket to bring out his phone.

“What are you doing?” Lee asked with an exaggerated pout.

There was no response except a phone held in front of him.

“…This convo?” Lee rolled his eyes while snatching away the phone. “The one where I was being dragged for being the school’s bicycle or something.”

Lee yawned, “Boring. Don’t tell me you care about this…you said you’d accept me no matter how horrible my past is.”

Terrence was stared at with pleading eyes and couldn’t help softening his heart. But he pointed at the responses anyway.

It was Lee’s responses to the whole discussion, bragging about how he was still living the life despite having a lover because his lover was ‘accepting’.

“But Lee, you promised to stop. Are you still playing about?”

Lee groaned internally. Not this conversation again! And when he thought it was finally over.

“No,” he whispered with a disapproving gaze. “Why don’t you ever believe me? I stopped last year! Why don’t you trust me?! Maybe you should leave!”

Terrence stumbled at the force of the pillow that was thrown at him. He shook it off; a deep guilt filled him.

“Lee…” he muttered apologetically while picking up the pillow, only for a phone to tumble out of it.

He picked it up and, using the password he had memorized, opened the phone.

‘What is he doing??’

Lee, who had his back faced to him and face to the wall, wondered in annoyance. Usually, Terrence would pull him into a warm embrace and console him. Then why…? Wait a minute, his phone!

He turned over and slipped out a ‘fuck!’ before rushing to retrieve his phone.

“What are you looking at?!” he raged.

“Did I say you could look?!”

Terrence sniffed, then grabbed onto the boy pitifully. “Lee…Lee…tell me it’s not true. Please tell me…you’re not sending them pictures like that for money. But why?”

The boy refused to face him, instead going through his phone with rapt attention as if to assure himself that nothing in it had been tampered with.

Terrence couldn’t understand.

He had so much money. He had a loving family that would give if he asked, and he even had him. So why was he doing this?

Had everyone around him been right about Lee having no saving grace? But he didn’t believe it…he was so sweet and cared so much for him… Did he just have to accept this against his will?

But what else was he to do? He liked him so much.

He clenched the boy’s clothes tighter, eliciting a hiss. “Lee…Lee…Please stop. Can’t it just be me and you…?”

His hands were thrown off, and he was looked at with an expression of anger.

“I told you I’d change! But you keep doing this—do you even love me? If you did, this is nothing…” Lee trailed off. “Or do you take me for a hoe, just like everyone else?”

Before he could respond, Lee continued.

“I thought you were different, Terrence. I thought you could understand me for who I am…Can you be more patient?”

Accusing eyes met a pair of wavering ones, and the latter faltered.

Wait…? That’s what he had been doing for 3 years now.

For 3 years, he had been in love and a relationship with his boyfriend, Lee. Despite people’s opinions, advice, and warnings against him, he persisted—because he loved him.

Even his father didn’t know about Lee, or with his track record, his father would do everything within his power to make sure Lee was wiped clean out of his life.

Lee was polygamous and casual, but he was monogamous and serious. They couldn’t be more different, and he didn’t dare ask for much, but Lee had promised to change for him.

The first year of their relationship had been rocky. Lee slept around with others despite their very active sexual life, and after much pleading and begging, he seemingly stopped by the second year.

He thought that Lee was finally clean, only to find out he had been secretly holding orgies and selling himself out—not for the money but for the love of the game.

He confronted him, and after much pandering, pleading, and convincing, Lee finally stopped. And now…he was at it again, and he wasn’t sure, but he suspected that he had more skeletons in the closet.

And he was exhausted by everything.

Tears fell down his cheeks uncontrollably, and he couldn’t stop himself from choking.