Fact #5: Alex has always had a story to tell :)

(I don't know how to say this since this is quite a sensitive issue, but the characters attend a Christian church in this chapter. If that is not fine with you, you can skip once you reach the first page divider, keep on scrolling/swiping until you reach the next one. I hope you enjoy Alex's confession, though, and the little not-so-nice surprise at the end. xx)

Chapter 48 - Lighthouse Goes to Church.

Oliver

"I'll only repeat myself one last time, Alexander. Let go!" I barked, infuriated by the way he remained unfazed despite my glare and all the effort I put into an intimidating countenance.

"Will you listen to what I've to say?" He inquired.

"Let go of me first," I bargained.

"Promise me first," he countered.

"Is this a game to you?" I hissed, suddenly irritated by him. The way he talked, the way his nose moved when he breathed, the way he blinked. I was just so annoyed, my humanity was the only thing that kept me in check.

I attempted pulling my hand away from his hold, but his grip was just so strong, stronger than mine.

"Let go!" I yelled, still trying to snap my hand away.

"Please, stop shouting. I don't want to create a scene, and I'm definitely not fighting with you. I can't afford to get evicted from the dorm at the quarter end of the semester," he explained casually like we were having a conversation.

"I'll slap you across the face, Alex, and I mean it. Let go of me now," I threatened one last time.

That seemed to get the message across to him because, then, he slowly freed my hand. I was quick to turn on my heels and begin to totter away. However, something he said made me halt at once.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?! I'm sorry for everything!" He apologised with a frustrated pitch.

Did Alex just apologise to me?

"Hold up. Did you just apologise to me?" I turned cautiously, staring at him in disbelief with my eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes, I did. I said I was sorry for everything I ever said to you."

"Are you apologising for ever talking to me in general because I'm a stupid person, or are you apologising for the hurtful things you've said to me?" I wondered, slowly walking back to him. "I'm a bit confused here."

"The hurtful things," he clarified softly. "You're actually a very nice person, and I'm very sorry for creating such enmity between us."

"Hold on a minute," I laughed incredulously, finding it very difficult to believe the words coming out of Alex's mouth. "Are you playing with me right now? Because, if you are, it is not funny," I mentioned sternly.

"I'm being serious, Olly," he affirmed, looking me right in the eye. "It's no surprise you see me this way," he released air forcefully from his nose.

"Well, it shouldn't be," I firmly supported his point, ogling at him. "So, why are you apologising all of a sudden?" I inquired.

"I'm just tired," he sighed, drooping his shoulders. "And I realised that I don't have many friends here in Lighthouse anymore."

"You never had that many friends here from the start," I corrected harshly, making him sigh again. "Sorry. I'm sorry," I let out a half-suppressed laughter.

"Can we sit? Please?" He added the word 'please' when I raised an eyebrow at him.

Scanning him and the environment just out of pure curiosity for a while, I finally agreed. "Sure." What did I have to lose?

He led us back to the chair he was previously sitting on and I sat beside him.

"So, what's the real reason behind this? Why are you apologising now? Is it because of Jess? Do you want me to help you talk to her? If that's the reason, I'll have you know that even I can't change her mind. I can only pester her incessantly, and even then, she still won't change her mind," I babbled, attempting to grasp the concept of a casual conversation with Alex.

"No, it's not because of Jess. Although I would really appreciate it if you could talk to her on my behalf, that's not the reason I'm apologising. Like I said, I'm tired of having enemies, and you're really a nice guy. I like that about you," he explained.

"So, it's not totally about Jess then?" I asked.

"Not totally," he admitted that to some extent he needed my help with Jess.

Funny story is, I'd already pleaded with Jess to talk to him without even needing him to apologise to me. However, I was passive about it then. I was going to take it a lot more seriously now. Jess had better get ready for me. It was a good thing that Yadiri was partly on my side about the Alex issue.

"I can't make any promises but I'll try to talk to Jess for you," I proclaimed shortly.

"Thanks. Thank you," he muttered, staring blankly at his hands as they played with loose threads in his short.

Puzzled by this new side of Alex, I couldn't help the questions rising in my head, so I decided to start from somewhere. Anywhere.

"If you so like my personality, why have you been such a brute to me from the very beginning?"

"Brute is one way to put it. I would say dickhead. I've been such a dickhead to you, bruv," he stated.

"Well, I'm not calling names here but that's more accurate," I giggled softly.

"And it wasn't from the very beginning. I gave myself some time to like you but I just couldn't," he explained.

"So, why?" I repeated my question. "Why couldn't you?"

"You're just so likeable, everyone likes you and it annoyed me at the time. I mean, it took me a full week before Khalid, Mako, and the other guys started talking to me, but the very first day you arrived they invited you to our third get-together," he paused and heaved a sigh. Rubbing his eyes, he continued, "Then you came and everyone seemed so interested in having a conversation with you and all," he went further to explain his point.

"It sure didn't feel like they were interested in having conversations with me. I was dying of sheer awkwardness at the time because there were so many guys," I chuckled, recalling how I'd paid more attention to the way their bass voices came out firm and strong, complimenting one another melodically.

"You were shy, it's normal. That even made me more furious because I started to wonder what the hell they saw in you," he scoffed, taking his hand away from his face and resting it on his thigh. "I was so stupid and jealous for no reason. I'm sorry."

"Wow," I murmured, awed by Alex's naked truth. "So, basically you're saying you didn't like me because everyone else liked me?"

"Yes, that's basically what I'm saying," he clarified, nodding his head.

That was just one question answered, I still had so many questions to ask him. I made sure to arrange them orderly and ask the relevant ones first.

"About what you said to me in the bathroom at Apple Blossoms," I started, hoping he would cut me off to explain himself, but he didn't. So I continued. "Do you like Khalid?" I quickly blurted since he wasn't getting my point yet.

"What?!" He turned to me with wide, shocked eyes. "Oh, God, no! I don't! Holy crap, bruv, is that what you've been thinking all this while?"

"That was the only thing I've been thinking about all this while. I wasn't left many options. Your actions really gave off that idea, and very effectively, I must add," I answered.

"Jesus Christ," he mumbled. "I had no idea. Forgive me."

"So?" I pressed on, requesting real answers.

"Oh, no, I don't like Khalid. I'm not gay. I'm not even bi, I think," he joked, laughing freely for the first time since we started this discussion. "I'm straight."

"Okay. You do you," I smiled at him, nodding approvingly. "You said something along the lines of 'you've been there and you've experienced the queer vileness'. W-what does that mean? Do you even want to talk about it?" I asked cautiously, making sure not to provoke him.

Having him apologise and explain that much to me was already going too far for him. I didn't want to push him any further without permission first.

"Oh God, I said that, didn't I?" He facepalmed himself, groaning into his palm.

"Yeah, you did," I said, clucking.

"Of course I did," he groaned into his hand before taking it away from his face. "It's something I don't like to talk or even think about, but since I owe you an explanation, I guess I just have to," he sighed, drawing up his shoulders.

"Oh, don't bother. If you don't want to--"

"It's fine. You're too nice, it's irritating," he teased, faking a scowl.

"Sorry," I muttered, trying my best to suppress my laughter.

"Okay, so, in secondary school, I had this best friend whom I didn't know was gay-- or bi, I think-- until our last term, sixth form. I mean, you wouldn't even be able to guess; he was athletic, butch, and really interested in talking about the girls in the cheerleading club. Anyway, he came out to me and told me about how he's sometimes attracted to certain guys one time in the locker room after football practice, and I was speechless. I'd like to think I wasn't in any way homophobic then, but I didn't know what to think or say to him."

As he proceeded to explain, I leant back when the story became really interesting. My eyes never left him as he spoke.

"I mean, we were mates, we've been mates for so long and him being into guys as well shouldn't change that. I didn't have to. He was still the same person, it wasn't like he was going to change overnight or anything, so I accepted him the way he was with a simple "okay." Because I had conservative parents, that was one of the topics I wasn't allowed to discuss, so I never brought it up again after that day. A few--"

"Is your father a pastor or something?" I interrupted, spewing the question before I could think it through. I had no idea where the question came from, it just popped into my head and escaped through my mouth.

"What? No!" He laughed, nudging me slightly. "He's not a pastor-- neither of my parents are. They're just small town people who haven't been to the big city before, and the world was pretty much white and black during their time, so," he clarified that for me.

"Okay. Phew," I chuckled nervously. "I'm sorry, please proceed."

"Moving on to a few weeks later, when he spent the night at my place and tried to get me to make out with him. Not only was I so not interested, I was scared that might actually ruin our friendship; that being ever doing something with him. And he wasn't even requesting, he was coming on to me, hard and persistent. I kind of, maybe, might have punched him in the face in the middle of the night and said some mean things to him. I couldn't help it," he said with an apologetic face.

"Nah, don't apologise for hitting him. It was adequate and well deserved," I said reassuringly, waving it off.

"Yeah, I know right," he agreed with me, a mischievous smirk on his face. "So, obviously, that ruined our friendship. He didn't talk to me again, and by the end of the week, I started hearing this rumour that I was gay. Turned out, he spread a stupid rumour about me, saying that I came out to him and tried to have sex with him when he slept at my place. Can you freaking imagine that, bruv?!" He said the last part with a little bit of annoyance.

"No, that's just plain wrong," I frowned, shaking my head at his supposed best friend's immaturity.

It really was. I was starting to understand Alex's bitterness towards queers now.

"Well, I confronted him about it. He denied it. I punched him. And then we fought. Then more punches were shared proportionally between us, although I really do think I won that fight," he related, attempting to convince me.

"Sure you did," I replied caustically, but he didn't seem to notice.

"At first I was sad that I'd lost a friend, but as time went by I grew angrier and angrier till I brought myself to hate him. In the process, I brought myself to hate the entire gay community or is LGBT community. Well, everyone except the girls though. I like the girls. Well, the cisgender girls, not the transgender girls," he babbled, furrowing his eyebrows at his own explanation.

When he saw the look on my face, he retraced and apologised. We just laughed over it. I was new to this community, all I knew was that I liked guys, I was fully aware I had so much to learn, so I refused to judge him any further. Albeit it was really petty that he idolised lesbians.

Now, I got the full picture of why Alex was such a dickhead to me. I realised that it wasn't my fault, it was because of past experiences. However, he was trying to change, so I made sure to show him that there was so much room for change and improvement.

"I understand you, Alex. I really do. However, I don't think you should judge the entire community by the mistakes of just one person. That's not fair. We don't judge all straight people based on the actions of one straight celebrity," I advised calmly.

"I know. I had no idea that the university was going to be this diverse, I'm trying to change the way I see a lot of things," he spoke sincerely.

"That's what the university does to you," I snickered, nodding my head. "It broadens your point of view and opens up new realities to your feeble mind. You just have to be ready for these revelations."

"I suppose it does," he sighed and ran his hand through his hair again. "I'm just tired," he groaned, falling back into the chair.

"You should be," I confessed, seeing mental fatigue written all over him. "I'll try my best for you, with Jess, with chris-- with everyone, I promise. Now I'm making promises. I've noticed that your roommate is the only friend you've in Lighthouse and it makes me sad for you," I said calmly. "And it's funny because you're such a good cook yet you've no friends."

"Well, I'm Alex SpongeBob, after all," he joked. "Thank you," he let out a wholesome appreciation after staring out silently for some time and his entire face lit up with a brilliant smile.

That ugly, bored resting expression was completely wiped off from his face by the smile, and I was happy I got to see the real Alex. It was beautiful talking with him.

It really was.

* * *

Another week had gone by and we had just one more week before the end of semester exams commenced. Some people were happy, some were tense, some were scared-- I was all of them at once.

Really upping my studying game, I had less time for interactions and frivolities. I had less time to run around and frolic with my mates at Lighthouse. But I still made sure to text Mason every single day. Thankfully, he'd started replying with a little bit of enthusiasm once again. The lack of time just made it difficult to have longer conversations than the usual basic stuff we'd been talking about these few days.

After much persuasion, I got Kevin to stay with me until our exams were over so we could study together. That way, it would be very effective and double our productivity. Due to Kevin's presence and our fast approaching exams, Khalid hadn't been spending the night in my room anymore but we saw and spent some time with each other every single day.

To be honest, I wasn't even sure I could go a day without hugging him or talking at length with him. Our clique in Lighthouse thought we were dating but we hadn't even made anything official yet, we just went with the flow. I wasn't bothered because I wasn't in a hurry to proclaim anything. If we were meant to be, we will be.

The previous day, which was Saturday, Kevin suggested that we both go to church and I got the biggest idea ever. We were all going to go to church together, everyone in Lighthouse, including Khalid and Chris who weren't Christians. Of course, I'd run it by them and triple checked just to be sure I wasn't forcing them to do things they didn't want to. It appeared, the idea was totally fine by them.

Mako had been around for a while now because he too was studying for our upcoming examinations, so he was going to church with the rest of us. Alex was too.

Everything was finalised in the common area on Saturday night; we were all going to church. Since Kevin was staying with me and Shirley had pretty much moved in with Chris, we were all leaving from Lighthouse together, just like the last time we went shopping at the boutique. Only this time, Kevin was coming with us. Actually Kevin was the brain behind all this.

There was only one Christian church in the whole of Denberg, it was a non-denominational Christian church. There was also a mosque and other various places of worship on campus because Denberg was really diverse. There were denominational Christian students' clubs, though. I wasn't particularly interested in those, so I hadn't known until Kevin told me.

It was Sunday morning now and we were all set to leave. As usual, the girls were taking their time to prepare, and Kevin kept whining about how he didn't want to be late to the service.

"You'll meet me down at the garage, Olly," he announced, walking out of the room and greeting Khalid, who just stepped in, on his way out.

"Sure. We'll be down in a minute!" I called out, fixing my hair in front of the mirror.

"That boy really loves his church. That's one good Christian boy right there," Khalid chuckled, walking up to me.

He wrapped his arms around me from behind and placed kisses on my neck, sniffing harshly and taking my scent all in.

"Oh, hello Khalid," I greeted, shivering under his touch and at the feel of his warm breath searing through my skin.

This wasn't the first time he was doing this, we'd been particularly intimate this past week. Still no kissing, or making out, but we cuddled... a lot. I loved the smell of his hair, and his breath, and his skin-- just everything about him. I still couldn't completely believe that the chiseled jaw and firm chest I'd been fantasising over were all mine to touch, to have, and to caress now.

"Sabah el kheir, habiby, (Good morning, darling)," he murmured, freeing me and leaning against my table to watch me prepare.

"Are you ready?" I asked, hastening up.

"Of course. I'm waiting for you, you know," he answered, gesturing at himself.

He was dressed in a smart formal attire, so was everyone else. We were all going to a church service, anyway. There was no need to be overly flamboyant.

"I've a feeling Kevin is the only reason you're going to church today. This is your first time since you came to Denberg, right?" Khalid snickered in a slightly taunting tone.

Refusing to give him the satisfaction of making me feel guilty, I replied casually. "That's not true, I'm also going to church because I want to pray for success in my forthcoming exams. And yes, this is my first time."

"Oh, so it's because of Kevin, and because you want to ask God for success?" He listed with stifled laughter.

Grabbing my wooden brush from my cupboard beside the mirror, I lifted it up in the air. "What's in my hand?" I asked.

"A brush?"

"Exactly, I've a wooden brush. Don't tempt me," I threatened jokingly, putting it back in the cupboard. "Moreover, Kevin is waiting for us at the garage. We don't want to keep him waiting."

"Okay," he laughed. "I'm just surprised that even Alex is going to church. I wonder how you got to persuade him to come with us."

"I didn't have to persuade him. I just told him personally, and he quickly agreed to come with us. He actually loves being involved, although he tries not to show it," I smiled, replaying how much Alex and I had bonded the past week in my head. "I don't know, ever since we had that talk we've been really chill. You should try to see him differently."

"I don't have anything at all against him, he's my mate. He's always been... even when he was a shitface. You should tell that to Jess," he pointed out, playing with one of my combs.

"I know, right. I've been doing that, but you know Jess. Always so hard headed. He really likes her, you know," I mentioned, walking over to my shoe rack to pick out a shoe.

"I know. I just hope things work out for them," he replied with a dreamy sigh. "I still can't believe he apologised to you. There really is good in everyone."

"Not everyone," I scoffed, sitting on my bed to put on the shiny black shoe I'd picked out. "Casper probably doesn't have a good bone in his body."

"Where even is this Casper guy you and Chris told me about? The way Chris describes him, I swear my fist wants to meet him," he huffed, annoyed.

During our casual car ride conversations, Chris had asked me about Casper and Khalid had picked interest in this certain Casper guy. Mostly because he was jealous at first, but after I fully explained who he was to him, he felt nothing but anger and irritation towards him.

"Hopefully, your fist will never get to meet him because I don't know where he is. Haven't seen him in school, and he can't come here anymore because he's been banned, I think," I revealed hastily.

Slipping my other foot into the right pair of shoes, I sprung up from my bed and rushed for my phone and keys.

"Let's go!" I said in between the searching-for-my-things frenzy.

"Hey, hey, hey," Khalid called and swiftly caught me by my arm.

Spinning me around, he pulled me into him and placed both of his hands on my lower back. Our bodies were now pressed against each other as he stared down, deep into my eyes with those beautiful brown stars that graced his eye sockets with their presence.

"There's no time for this Khalid." My mind was speaking but my body wasn't reacting at all. I just remained still and let him hold me.

"I know. I just want to ask about our date. I'm worried I might not get to take you out on a proper date this semester," he purred, gently rocking our bodies from side to side.

"Hold that thought for now. There'll be plenty of time for countless dates after our exams," I assured, smiling at his ever radiant face. "Let's just get through with our first university exams, okay?"

"Okay, sure. I was so bothered, I didn't even think about that," he giggled, visibly relieved.

"Good. Now that's settled, let's go before Kevin commits murder on a Sunday," I said and this time freed myself.

Placing my hand on my keys and grabbing every other thing that I needed, we left my room and I locked the door behind us. We then went straight down to the garage, I didn't bother to check on the girls since they knew we were all going to meet at the garage.

Everyone except my two best friends were already waiting at the garage. I just knew it, they never failed to disappoint me. Kevin seemed restless and impatient, always checking his wrist watch.

A few minutes later, Jess and Yadiri joined us.

"So sorry guys, Jess just couldn't pick a gown," Yadiri apologised when they got to where we all stood making small talk.

"You were the one saying "hmm" and "mhmm" whenever I showed you every gown I tried on," Jess argued.

"That's because we're going to church, Jess. Most of those gowns were just... How do I put this, too much for church," Yadiri countered, motioning with her hands to create emphasis.

"Fashion is never too much," Jess stated dismissively and flipped her hair in Yadiri's face, making us all laugh. She turned to us, "So sorry for keeping you lambs waiting," she sang and flounced to her car with quick steps.

Yadiri simply sighed and shook her head at her roommate who was just too extra.

"She's not wrong, though. Fashion is never too much," Shirley supported.

"Thanks, babe. You get me," Jess approved and opened her car door. "So, how are we going?"

"Alex, you go with Khalid and Chris. Kevin and I will drive with you and Yadiri," I announced, releasing my fingers which were intertwined with Khalid's and walking over to Jess.

"I'm driving with my girls!" Shirley yelled, placing a quick peck on Chris's cheek before rushing over to Jess's car.

"And Shirley, sorry," I added, groaning at her overly energetic personality.

"Since when do you want Alex to drive with Khalid?" Jess asked, audibly displeased. She didn't care that Alex-- and everyone else in the garage-- could hear her, she just spoke her mind because that was her nature.

"Jessica!" I chided, frowning at her.

"It's whatever. Sorry," she shrugged indifferently and entered her car.

Turning to Alex, I flashed him a deeply apologetic smile, but he only managed a quick, sad smile before walking over to Khalid's car. He truly felt something for Jess, and she couldn't care less about him at this point. I felt genuinely sad for him. Even with all my efforts, Jess hadn't even considered changing her mind.

"Mako, you'll go with Justin and Patrick, yeah?" I turned to Mako who still stood at the spot even though everyone had already started heading to their various rides.

"Oh, no. I'm going with Damian," he answered, looking up from his phone. "He's on his way here to pick me up."

"Damian is coming?!" I chirped, excited that almost all of my friends were in on this.

Yes, I'm fully aware that it's just church, but still.

"Yeah, you told me to tell him, didn't you?" He giggled, equally as excited as I was.

"Yeah, I did. I just didn't think he was going to come," I confessed.

"Pfft, like he has a choice?" Mako bragged, slightly flipping his long, shiny, black curls. "So, you're not the only one who is going with Bae," he stated.

"I'm not going with Bae," I frowned, confused by his statement.

"Khalid is right over there," he pointed in the direction of Khalid's car and raised an eyebrow at me.

"Wha- Wait you- He's not... He's not Bae," I sputtered, slowly turning red in the face.

"Yeah, that's definitely true," he replied sarcastically. I opened my mouth to defend myself again but he stopped me by holding out his index finger in the air. "Just go. I'll meet you guys in church," he laughed, waving me off.

"Okay then. Bye, honey," I waved and rushed to Jess's car. Kevin was sending me death glares from the window already.

"Bye, cutie," he beamed back at me.

* * *

Church was successful. Not going to lie, I really did miss going to church. This particular Sunday was awesome just because of this. I'd sat beside Khalid in church. Thanks to his persistent and persuasive nature, we had to hold hands throughout service. He didn't even care if people were looking, although I don't think that many people were.

Mako had sat with Damian. Kevin and Alex sat in the front rows; the exact same rows that were very much empty when we entered the church, but we refused to sit there. Alex wasn't Kevin's best person, however, Alex had tried to get close to him by starting a conversation with him. Their conversation eventually led to them sitting together in front.

After service, Damian drove back to Lighthouse with us. Mako and I gave him a little tour of the dorm, I even showed him to my room. He kept claiming that Lighthouse was better than his dorm but Mako and I strongly refused.

As it was nearing evening, we saw him off to the gate and he drove back to his dorm. I hadn't studied a single page today, I couldn't. With Damian being around and us going to church together, there was no time for me to sit and study. I didn't even know it had gotten so late.

"This is probably the last time we're going to be together like this until after exams," Alex thought out loud.

After Mako and I returned from seeing Damian off, we joined everyone else in the common area. We were all just hanging here now, making small talk and taking a break from the past week's intense studying.

"Maybe," Patrick agreed. "I wonder how our exams are going to be."

"I heard that Denberg exams are most times very strict with heavy invigilation," Kevin mentioned, sounding completely unperturbed by this piece of information he'd heard from wherever.

But then, it was Kevin. The kid didn't need any sort of leniency from the school to excel in our forthcoming exams.

"Who the hell told you that?!" Jess screeched, sitting upright to get a good look at Kevin.

"I just heard," Kevin replied, giggling softly.

"Oh, babe, I hope you heard wrong," Jess wished, relaxing back onto the sofa.

"He definitely heard wrong," Shirley seconded. "Even if he didn't, that won't stop me copying off him," she finished, winking at the both of us.

Scoffing at her, I looked away. "You wish."

"Don't even give me that crap!" She scolded, pointing her index finger at me.

"He wouldn't dare," Chris narrowed his eyes at me. "I'll end him if he does."

"We all just need to study hard. There'll be no need to end anyone if we do," Khalid chipped in, talking over everyone else like he always did whenever he wanted to get to us to keep quiet.

Just then, my phone started ringing and I zoned out of their conversation. I had a little string of hope for it to be Mason calling. I'd told him I was going to church today and he seemed really excited about it. He had also said we would talk later, and I've since been waiting for that 'later' to come.

Retrieving my phone from my pocket, I checked the caller ID and I was hit with double disappointment. Firstly, it wasn't Mason calling. Secondly, it was a number that wasn't saved in my phone; it appeared to be a landline.

Khalid seemed to have noticed my displeasure because he leant forward to take a look at my phone.

"It's a landline," I said, showing it to him.

"Oh, that's the Lighthouse security landline. That's how they communicate with us student tenants. You should pick it up. Maybe someone is here to see you," he informed me.

"They have a landline? How am I just now finding out?" I frowned at the number written on my phone screen.

"You input your personal number when you were filling out the Lighthouse residency form, didn't you?" He asked.

"Yeah, I did. I never thought they will actually use it."

"So, this is your first time receiving a call from them," he noted to himself. "Pick it. They only call twice and there might actually be someone here to see you."

"Of course they do," I sighed and accepted the call.

Holding it up to ear, I heard a beep sound before the person at the other end started talking.

"Good evening. Is this Mr. Wilburn? Student resident at Lighthouse Dormitory?" The person spoke with an accent.

"Yes, it is," I replied. It then occurred to me that it was our favourite Dutch slash German security guard on the phone whose name we found out to be Thijs some time ago. His accent was tangible all the way from here.

"Okay. Are you currently in the dorm, sir?"

"Yes, Thijs. And it's Oliver to you," I corrected him for the hundredth time. I'd been trying my very best to make him talk to me less formally since he was everyone's favourite, and being called "sir" by someone older than me was a bit cringy.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wilburn," he apologised with a slight giggle which still managed to sound professional, then continued. "You've a visitor at the gate, Oliver. I need you to come verify their entrance."

"A visitor?" I repeated, sounding a bit shocked. I wasn't expecting anyone, Mason hadn't told me that he was coming over. Moreover, it was a little too late for a visit from him now.

"I told you," Khalid mouthed to me, but I didn't pay much attention to him.

"Ja," he answered "yes" in Dutch. "So, are you coming to see them or should I tell them to leave?"

"No, God no. I'm coming," I replied hastily, standing up from the sofa. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay, sir." With that he dropped the call.

I muffled a groan because he just couldn't stop calling me sir no matter how hard he tried.

"Someone is here to see you?" Khalid asked, standing up and following me out of the common area.

"So it seems."

"Did he say who?" He asked again.

"No, he just used the pronouns 'they' and 'them' and 'their'. He didn't even say if it was a boy or a girl. He wasn't gender specific, just as professional as ever," I griped, taking fast steps with Khalid skipping behind me.

"Let me guess, it was the security guard, Thijs?" He chuckled.

"Perfect guess," I commented.

By this time, we'd gotten to the guard house and Thijs let us in. He pushed on the intercom and spoke into it.

"Are you still there?" He asked the person outside the gate.

"Oh, yes, yes, I am," the person replied instantly with a shivering voice. The night was freezing anyway.

For a moment, the voice sounded really familiar but I refused to let myself overthink things.

Thijs motioned for me to come closer and speak to the person so I did. Clicking on the intercom, I spoke.

"Hey, it's Oliver. You're here to see me?" I asked, turning to the computer to find out just who was here to see me so late. The image I was met with made my breath hitch and my jaw drop.

Hell, no. There was absolutely no way--

"Hello, Jimmy, it's Casper. Casper Stenchrow. Can I please spend the night at your place and be fast about it, it's freezing out here and I'm not properly dressed for this kind of cold." That should've been a request, but instead it sounded more like a command, even though his voice was breaking and shivering.

Staring at the computer, thoroughly bemused, I didn't know how to respond. There were not that many reactions in my head and I definitely was not prepared for this.

"What the hell is Casper doing here?" I mumbled to myself.

"What?!" The second Khalid heard the name he rushed to look at the computer screen with me.

* * *

AN: are there any kind readers? 👀 Is there any kindness left in the world? Has anyone forgiven Alex yet or should we give it some time? I really want to hear your thoughts.

Well then, on to the next chapter! Or should I leave you guys on this cliffhanger? 💅🏾🗿

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