Watching the movement of people in the cafe, outside the cafe, Harry was barely able to suppress a yawn. It had been close to an hour since the women had left the men to do some shopping. He was bored out of his mind. And from Jason's and Cameron's faces, he was sure they felt the same. They shared a commiserating look before returning to their drinks

So why were they cooped up in the cafe instead of places they actually wanted to go to? Like a bar, the casino or even another cafe? It was entirely Elena's fault. She'd refused to listen to Harry and his concerns. She had to buy a dress by today, which he understood when he'd decided to trust her. But did she have to do it outside? He had tried to convince her to buy the dress online but she refused outright. Her reason,or more like excuse, was that the dresses might not fit her. Therefore, she had to try them in the shops. He had almost exploded with fury and worry.

Even the other women tried to convince her after they knew the reason for Harry's upset. But her stubbornness refused to give in. To sound reason. She had insisted to go to the shops, by hook or by crook. She had even tried to sneak out. Luckily Cameron had caught her dismal attempt and stopped her.

In the end, Harry had to give in and allow her to shop. However he was not comfortable with her going alone with the other women. But there had not been enough time to get more guards. Faced with no other option, he had decided to accompany her. Unfortunately, his cousins decided to come along as well.

Over the course of the day, the women had shopped to their heart's content while the men had gotten whinier. It had gotten to the point that the men had been banished to this cafe. While it had defeated the purpose of their presence, Harry was happy to not flit in and out of shops just because something caught their eyes. But they had been gone for a long time. Close to three hours. The men, Cameron in particular, was getting antsy To their relief, from the guard's report, the women were on their last stop and will be joining them soon.

"So why are we here again?"Cameron asked, stirring his iced coffee with a straw. He was the most restless out of the three of them. It was like he had all the energy stored in his body with no outlet. As the time had passed, Harry noticed he had become increasingly fidgety.

"Have you talked to Sharon about whatever is bothering you?"Jason asked with a sly grin. Cameron stopped all movements, his eyes narrowing on his two cousins suspiciously. Hiding a smile, Harry looked resolutely away, ignoring Cameron's laser-like glare

"Of course not,"he barked, brows drawn together while his cheeks colored red. Jason and Harry shared a gleeful look. "I can't just tell her I'm mad because of sex. I mean, I've even planned everything out-"

"Everything?"Harry asked archly. He knew his mind was in the gutter but he couldn't help picturing the kind of depraved seduction a desperate guy would think of.

"Yeah. Like maybe travel out of the country, like Paris or Rome. A nice dinner, a reasonable length of time for a walk and then straight back to the hotel for- Well you know what I'm talking about. There'll be some clothes torn but the end result justifies it." A rueful smile lifted Harry's lips. For a moment there, the initial sweet, romantic setting had thrown him off the loop but the inevitable sex ending reaffirmed his knowledge of Cameron.

"Uh, I have no idea what you are talking about,"Jason said, his voice unexpectedly stilted. His face was frozen with no expression but Harry was so startled that he didn't take notice. He looked in disbelief at his younger cousin.

"Dude, you don't have to lie to us,"Cameron said with a laugh before turning to Harry. "Remember when he was still in freshman, high school? He was bugging us to set him up with some of our classmates." Harry burst out laughing when he recalled that time.

"Yeah, he even had names. It was like he had been stalking us at our schools,"Harry said, wiping the tears coming out of his eyes. He was laughing so hard, reminiscing the young Jason Halloway, still green in the art of sex. "There was even preferences-"

"Yeah, like big tits, big lips, big hips. If I hadn't known him, I thought he wanted a blowup doll,"Cameron added, barely controlling his own laughter.

"Hey, keep it down,"Jason hissed, his face bright red. "You are respected members of society and everyone is looking here."

"If they only knew what you talked about when still a virgin, they would never think you are a respected member of society,"Harry said, his fingers coming up to make quotation marks. Jason was becoming even redder but he was having too much fun teasing him. It was like their younger years, he teaming up with Cameron to poke fun at their, then, less experienced, more naive cousin. He wondered why they had stopped but let go of that question when he saw Cameron getting ready to launch his next salvo.

"Do you still remember what he said when he was still in Lala Land?"

"It was so long ago that my memory is failing me,"Jason snapped. "Now, for the love of God, shut up or I'll shove your straw up your nose."

"This is new. He was never so bold as to launch bodily threats."

"Our little boy has grown up,"Harry said with a sniff.

"Unlike that time where he compared this girl's rack to melons and said 'I can suck on them the entire day'-"

"What?"

A female voice made the both of them stiffen. Sharing an "Oh shit" look, Cameron and Harry slowly turned around. Their luck had run out as they found the women behind them. Sharon was wearing a look of devastation, Elena looked surprised while April had a look of merriment, her eyes practically sparkling in amusement. They hurriedly stood up.

"Sharon, when did you get here? How was the shopping?"Cameron asked, his hand reaching to help her with her bags. She shifted to face the other women and, at the same time, keeping the bags from her husband.

"I forgot to buy something else. Do you want to go out for a last trip?"Sharon said, ignoring her husband. April and Elena didn't say anything, they just nodded. Then they just bustled away.

"That was the worst thing to happen today,"Cameron said, running his hand over his hair. Harry silently agreed.

"You mean worse than humiliating yourself in the cafe?"Jason said, joining the two of them in watching their women leave for another shop.

"What-" Harry was about to ask but looking around the cafe, he couldn't hide from the judgement of everyone in their immediate vicinity. Why didn't a hole open up and swallow him? He didn't know where to look. "Oh God."

"Yeah. It was bad enough when the girls were almost here. You just can't help yourselves,"Jason sneered, making Cameron glare.

"Why didn't you say anything?"he demanded.

"Why stop you from making a fool of yourself?"Jason returned.

"Let's just get out of here,"Harry cut in before they worsened the situation further. "I'll settle the bills, you guys wait outside. We'll go to some other place, preferably a bar-" His voice trailed off as his eyes were fixed on the street across. For a moment, his eyes caught on someone familiar as he walked by. But, after blinking, the guy was not familiar at all. Was his eyes playing a trick on him?

"Yeah, let's continue at a bar,"Cameron said glumly, trudging out. Jason, with an exasperated sigh, followed him.

While, Harry, still puzzled, look at the direction the man had gone to.

Was it a coincidence that it was the same direction as the women?

------------@@@@@@@------------

"That was tense,"Harry remarked, stretching his arms over his head as he and Elena walked to the car. They were currently lagging behind the other couples where Sharon and Cameron were in the lead while Jason and April were moving slowly behind them, holding hands. The reason he and Elena were bringing up the rear was because Elena's walking speed.

With her advanced pregnancy, her speed had reduced considerably. What most would consider a stroll was nigh a jog to her. But in most cases, she would be able to keep up. Apparently, due to overexerting herself earlier in the day, she had used up most of her energy and could move at a snail's pace now.

"You think that was tense? You didn't accompany an enraged Sharon around to a many final stops. We couldn't say anything until her anger was finally appeased,"Elena related with a shake of her head. "I wish the two of them would make up already. Aren't they grown adults?"

"Just because they're adults doesn't mean this would never happen." Not that he wanted to fight with Elena but as people grow older, they become even more intractable. Unreasonably so. Fights were bound to happen.

"I-I mean I get it but t-there's no reason f-for this- Why didn't we bring the car over? And why is it so far?"Elena complained, panting heavily. She had to stop to catch her breath. Her hand reached over to grip his to correct her balance. Concerned, Harry slowly guided her nearer to the shop building and away from the pedestrian movement.

"Els, are you alright? Do I need to call the car? Oh man, I knew we should have dined in the hotel. Oh man- What about a doctor? An ambulance? Maybe Sharon and April should be here." Panic beating his common sense to a pulp, he was barely able to think coherently, the ability to do so fading with every breath of silence. He looked around for his cousins but they hadn't noticed their absence and had continued walking.

"Harry, I-I'm fine,"she said through heavy breaths. "I just ate too much and am too unfit. But I'm still fine, the boys are fine. I can still move so don't call the car over. I refuse to be-believe that a walk would defeat me-"

Relieved that she was sounding more like herself, albeit her more prideful self, Elena's grip on his arm suddenly tightened. Painfully so. Panic and surprise flaring into action again, his eyes shot to her, trying to look for whatever might be ailing her. Upon seeing the stricken look in her eyes, he was getting ready to swing her into his arms and get her to the nearest vehicle when she spoke.

"Don't make it obvious but look at the store, at one o'clock,"she said under her breath, her eyes downturned. Stumped and curious, he didn't say anything else. Instead, in accordance to her instructions, he slipped his arm around hers in a show of concern, shifting to stand beside her. Once in position, he nonchalantly glanced at the aforementioned store but couldn't see anything noteworthy. "The man beside it, do you see him?"

Man? There were many men there. Understandably so since it was a bar. People, especially men, littered the street and alleys, looking for a smoke or a quick breath of fresh air, away from the huge crowd of people cramped inside the small bar. It being a Friday night, it was quite crowded. He wasn't sure which one had caught her eyes. Was it someone good-looking? Anger flared in his chest. He hoped not. If it was true, there was no purpose to her telling him. Well, apart from him destroying the man. But knowing Elena, he was sure that wasn't it. Now if only his body, which was preparing for a brawl, would understand and relax.

A movement, one of the men straightening and preparing to leave. A familiar man. Even across the street and in relative darkness, Harry caught a sense that he had seen the man before. On more than one occasion. Frowning, he wracked his brain to squeeze out some information or memory. It was like his instincts were screaming at him but his brain wasn't able to keep up and nothing came out.

"Do you see him? The brunette."

"The one is the black t-shirt and jeans?"

"Yeah that's the one."

"I see him. I see him walk down the street. Why?"

"That's the man. The guy who's following me."

"What?!"

His cry of disbelief was so loud that he could hear the echo run down the street.

AN: Hey guys. I'm on time this week, yessss. Hope you like the chapter. I can feel things beginning to wrap up. Finally. I'm hoping to finish this by the end of the year. So barring any unexpected developments when I write, look forward to that.

What do you think about the chapter? I kind of like it because the cousins are not always shown together ( a bit ironic coming from me, the writer).

Anyways, please VOTE and COMMENT if you like it. Follow me on Wattpad and Twitter for any news, most likely urgent news. Also, do check out my ko-fi account.

THANKS 

Next update: 19 Nov