Oliver was in the kitchen. Aiden practically ran towards him, a weird stinging in his eyes that made him think he was going to cry. He didn't want to cry however, he wanted to be angry. He wanted to be furious about what he had just seen, and the anger was there, mixed in with the hurt and confusion that threatened to overwhelm him. His hands were balled at his sides, his nails pressing into his skin.

"Oliver!" he called out. It was the only word he could muster from his foggy mind.

Oliver turned with a smile on his face. His smile was so genuine and happy. His blue eyes were bright and wide. He must have seen Aiden's expression, however, because that smile was gone after less than a second. "What?" he asked innocently. His expression contorted into a look of confusion.

Aiden's mind cleared. He felt the anger clear and strong. It was itching at the edge of his tongue, wanting to pick a fight. "Don't play dumb," Aiden replied. He stopped a few steps from Oliver.

"What on earth are you talking about, Aiden?" he asked. Oliver looked so confused and innocent. Aiden hated it.

"Why are there twenty of my photos sitting upstairs?" He practically screamed the question at Oliver. Aiden's voice broke on the last word. That gut-wrenching hurt was still there, pushing at the edges of his anger.

The light in Oliver's eyes suddenly faded and his confusion slowly morphed into one of extreme guilt. The expression was so different from normal that Aiden felt like he didn't even recognise the person standing in front of him. "Oh no," Oliver whispered out.

Aiden shook his head at his boyfriend. "Why did you do this?" The question was asked in anger, but hurt lingered at the edge of his tone.

"You, you weren't-" Oliver stuttered. His fingers ran through his short hair quickly and his hand lingered on his forehead for a second in frustration. "You weren't supposed to find those photos."

"It's my fault?" Aiden yelled out. He felt himself getting more and more upset. Oliver didn't' seem upset about what he had done, just that Aiden had found out. He felt so stupid. He felt like he should have known this would happen. Oliver's entire life was a secret, why was he so surprised that Oliver's secrets included him?

"No! I'm not saying that!" Oliver told him. He seemed lost for words. Oliver huffed under his breath. "I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have, I know that."

"Do you?" Aiden asked. "You gave me that whole spiel today about not wanting to use money to control people and yet you had a whole room of lies upstairs that you didn't think to mention?" Oliver's eyes looked wet. Aiden tried to ignore that. He didn't feel sorry for Oliver.

"I didn't think that you would find them. I didn't want to create more problems with us."

"You had the perfect opportunity to tell me what you did and you said nothing."

"I'm so stupid. I'm so sorry, Aiden."

"Are you?" Aiden asked suddenly. He didn't know if he could trust what Oliver was saying. Oliver had secrets, Aiden knew that, and maybe this was just the tip of the iceberg. He wondered what else Oliver had hidden from him to avoid problems between them. "Why did you buy them? To give me some false sense of accomplishment?"

Saying the words out loud sent a pang of hurt straight through Aiden's chest. He thought back to all those lovely things that Oliver had said about his photography. Oliver had sounded so sure of him. He had so much belief that Aiden was good at what he did and in those moments, Aiden had felt like finally someone understood what he had been working so hard for all of these years. Yet, Oliver had bought his photos and Aiden wondered whether it was out of pity. He didn't want pity, especially from Oliver.

Oliver shook his head fast. "No it wasn't like that. I had just come home after you kicked me out and I just wanted to help you and give you some hope and some cash to help you out."

Aiden felt tears sting at his eyes but he blinked them back. "You did give me hope. It was false hope, it was all pretend. I really thought that this was a new beginning for me, that maybe I wasn't deluding myself with this whole photography thing. How could you bring me up like that, knowing that I'd just fall?"

"I didn't think it would matter in the moment. I was so worked up after our fight. I wasn't thinking." Oliver put his hand on the counter to steady himself. He looked like he might throw up.

"You could have told me then. You could have explained it all and I would have understood and given you the money back."

"I should have."

"So why didn't you?"

Oliver took a step towards him. "I don't know. I was scared, I guess. I'm so sorry."

Aiden shook his head. "I don't believe you." He turned grabbed all of his things.

He heard Oliver curse under his breath. "Stay Aiden. Please don't go."

Aiden turned so that he could just see Oliver out of the corner of his eye. "What were you going to do with my photos?"

Oliver was silent for a few, heavy moments. "I hadn't thought that far."

"Throw them out. I don't want them back now."

"I would never throw your photos out."

"Do it, Oliver." Aiden turned away from him.

"Don't go. We need to sort this out."

Aiden pretended that he didn't hear him and walked towards the front door. He heard Oliver calling his name but he didn't turn around. He didn't want Oliver to see the tears that were falling from his eyes.

Aiden had finally stopped crying by the time he made it to the gym. He parked his car around the back and used the few seconds it took to walk around the building to calm himself. He took a few breaths and tried to tell himself that it was okay. He wasn't sure if it would though, and the fear of that knowledge was enough to make his eyes sting. He didn't want to lose Oliver, but he didn't trust him. If he couldn't trust his boyfriend, then what kind of relationship did they have?

He found himself practically running by the time he got to the front door and he almost ran straight into someone who was leaving. He apologised and kept going. He pulled his gym card out of his pocket and swiped himself past the little metal gate that stopped people from entering the gym without their membership card. He had been to the gym a handful of times and this was the first time he was thankful that Chase had signed him up. His eyes searched the gym for Chase but he couldn't find his friend. He knew that there was a staff room to the side, so he made sure that none of the trainers were looking and he opened the door.

Aiden was disappointed to see that Chase wasn't in the room. There was however, a girl sitting at the staff table in the centre of the room, the kitchen behind her. He recognised her as one of the girls that Chase worked with.

"Aiden? Is that you?" she asked in surprise.

She was another personal trainer. He had met her at a party a few months back but the two hadn't talked very much. She was nice, with kind eyes and dark hair that was pulled up into a very tight bun on her head. She was in a loose grey shirt, but her muscular figure was clear even under her clothes.

Aiden tried to avoid eye contact with her. "Yeah. Is Chase still here?"

She nodded. "He just finished up with a client, I think I saw him go into the bathroom." Aiden wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't exactly hunt down Chase at that moment. "Come sit with me," she said.

Aiden looked around the room. There was no one else in the staff room and it was definitely a more attractive place to wait for Chase than out with all the people on the gym floor. He sat down next to her. The badge clipped to her shirt said that her name was Emerson. It was an interesting name and he wondered why he hadn't remembered it from the party.

"You look sad," Emerson said. She reached over into a bag and handed him something.

Aiden looked over and smiled. "Chocolate?"

"Yeah?"

"You are a personal trainer and you carry chocolate around?"

She shrugged but the smile on her lips was more convincing. "I just keep an extra one for sad boys who need a little pick me up."

Aiden shrugged back. "Valid reason."

Emerson smiled over at Aiden with kind eyes. "Is this a problem that chocolate can fix?" she asked.

Aiden bit into the chocolate bar. "Not really, but it does help."

"What's going on?" she asked and then stopped herself. "Sorry," she apologised quickly, "you don't have to tell me. I'm just some weird girl your friend works with." Emerson laughed softly.

"Nah I don't mind that, it's just a complicated story," Aiden admitted. In fact, he wanted to be able to talk to someone. He was hoping that someone would be Chase, but his best friend was nowhere to be seen as of yet.

Emerson nodded. "Girl problems?" she asked.

Aiden shook his head. "Boy problems," he explained.

"Oh," Emerson replied. She didn't seem surprised, if she was, she didn't show it. "You might need more than one chocolate bar to fix those kinds of problems."

"I think you may be right about that," Aiden told her.

"Whoever this boy is, he isn't worth your tears."

"You can tell I've been crying?" Aiden asked. He tried to wipe any evidence from his cheeks.

Emerson nodded. "Your eyes are pretty red. Its either tears or you had a big drug hit a few minutes ago."

"I don't take drugs," Aiden laughed out.

"Thought so, that's why I guessed crying." Aiden liked this girl. She had somehow made him smile after the horrific afternoon he had.

The door to the staff room opened. "Aiden?"

Aiden looked up at Chase and spoke around the chocolate in his mouth. "Hi."

"What are you doing here?" Chase asked. "Why are your eyes all red?"

"Long story. Do you have a minute to talk?" he asked.

Chase looked worried. "Let's go outside."

"You two stay," Emerson told them. She stood from her seat. "I should head back to work anyway." She patted Aiden on the back as she walked out. He smiled up at her.

Chase came and sat down next to Aiden. He had his big brother expression on. "What happened?" he asked bluntly.

"A lot."

"When we were on the phone you said that everything was going well," Chase said. His eyebrows furrowed. "What happened when we got off the phone?"

Aiden didn't know where to start. He felt embarrassed for a second and wondered whether he should tell Chase the truth or not. He felt so stupid.

"Go on." Chase motioned for him to start talking.

Aiden told himself to man up, Chase was his best friend and he wasn't going to judge him now. "It was going great at first. I felt like we were finally getting somewhere, but then I found the photos."

"Photos?"

"My photos. Twenty of my photos in his storage room." The memory hurt Aiden as he said the words.

Chase gasped. "There was no hotel."

Aiden bit at his lip. "Nope."

Chase looked confused. "Why did he buy your photos?"

Aiden shrugged. "He wanted to help me financially and I wouldn't let him, and so he did it another way. He also wanted to give me hope that I wasn't a complete failure. Which now I know that I am."

"You are not a failure!" Chase told him. He repeated the words like a mantra. He had said them so many times. "Don't say that."

Aiden was starting to doubt what his friend was saying. "My own boyfriend had to buy twenty of my photos to make me feel better!" Aiden looked down at the table. "Does that scream success to you?"

Aiden felt Chase's hand on his back. "Oliver is an idiot who thought he was helping you. That doesn't say anything about your talent! I promise you."

"I don't know if you are right." There was a long silence after he said that.

Suddenly, Chase turned in his chair so that he was closer to Aiden. "What happened with Oliver after you confronted him?"

"He apologised, but I don't believe it. He thinks he was right. He would have told me about the photos before if he really felt sorry."

"Maybe he was trying to protect you?" Chase asked. "Showing you the photos would only hurt you, no matter what the situation."

"Well, I got hurt anyway."

"I'm so sorry, Aiden. I really am."

"Can we just go home please?" Aiden asked.

"I can't go home."

Aiden looked over at Chase. He really needed him right now. "Why?"

Chase's eyes were sad. "I'm so sorry, Aiden, I have dinner with Mary and her parents tonight. It's the first time that I'm going to meet them. I really can't miss it."

"It's okay," Aiden told him, even though it really wasn't.

Chase's eyes widened. "No, I'm being stupid. I should come home with you."

"No don't do that." Aiden knew how much dinner with her parents would mean to Mary. He didn't want to be the reason that Chase and Mary had problems. "Just go with Mary and then I'll meet you at home and we can talk more."

"I can call Mary and cancel," Chase told him. "You need me."

"I'll be fine," Aiden explained. "You go."

Chase patted him on the back again. "I'll see you tonight. Call me if you need me."

Aiden nodded. He left the gym feeling a little bit better than when he had entered. He still felt like he needed to talk to someone though. He walked over to his car. He wanted to call Oliver. That's who he wanted to talk to. He was upset and the person he wanted to call was the exact person who had caused his pain. Yet, he thought about Oliver's voice and sweet smile and he wanted to pick up the phone. Instead, as he got into the car he called Brian.

He answered the phone on the second ring. "Brian here."

"It's Aiden. What are you doing right now?"

"I'm just leaving the office," Brian told him. "Are you okay?"

"Can we get a coffee in the city?" Aiden asked. "I really need to talk to someone right now."

Brian was silent for a few seconds. "I'll call Hayley and let her know that I'll be late for dinner. I'll meet you at that cafe we went to last time."

Aiden sighed into the phone. He was glad that he had Brian. "I'll be there in thirty minutes."

Aiden walked into the cafe and instantly caught Brian's eye. He was sitting in a booth with a short glass with ice cubes in front of him. He waved Aiden over.

Aiden slid into the booth seat opposite Brian. "You ordered alcohol," he said after pointing to the glass on the table.

"Just one," Brian replied. "This place is licenced and you did take half an hour to get here."

Aiden heard his phone go off. He looked down at it. Are you okay? The text was from Chase. He replied that he was alright and told Chase where he and Brian were. There was a missed call on his phone from Oliver. He put his phone back in his pocket. Aiden looked up at Brian, realising that he had completely ignored his friend. Aiden noticed that Brian looked tired. His expensive tie was pulled away from his neck and the top button of his black business shirt was undone. "Are you okay?"

Brian shrugged. "I thought we were here to talk about you?"

Aiden's gaze focussed in on Brian. "What's going on?"

Brian picked up his drink as if to take a sip before realising that his glass was empty. He put it back down on the table with a thump. "My boss is crazy. I thought my old boss was a nightmare, but this one makes him look like a martyr."

"I thought you were the big boss now?" Aiden asked.

"Even big bosses have bigger bosses."

Aiden bit at his lip. "I had no idea you were under so much stress. Why haven't you called me?"

"I've been so busy I haven't had time to do anything."

The waiter came over and interrupted them. "Can I get you guys anything?" the man asked.

"One more of whatever he was drinking and a coffee for me please," Aiden told the waiter after pointing to Brian's empty glass. The waiter nodded and walked away.

"Anyway," Brian said, "that's enough of me whinging. What's going on with you?"

Aiden sighed. He told Brian the whole story. They ended up talking for hours while the light faded from outside and the café got busier with the dinner crowd. Aiden started sipping at his third cup of coffee of the afternoon. He heard his name being called and he thought that it was in his head for a few seconds, until Brian said, "Chase?"

Aiden looked up and Chase was standing next to their table. His eyes were red. "Hi, Brian."

"Chase? What are you doing here?" Aiden asked.

Chase slid into the booth next to Aiden. "Mary broke up with me," he said. His voice sounded husky and sad.

"What happened?" Aiden asked. His eyes were wide, he was so confused.

"We got into this huge argument after dinner," Chase explained. "She spent the entire night with her parents planning out our entire future. They spoke about our wedding, where our kids would go to school, what kind of house we would buy. I felt so uncomfortable the entire time."

"That's pretty crazy," Brian said. "Are you even engaged to this girl?"

Chase shook his head. "We haven't even been dating that long!"

"What happened after dinner?" Aiden asked.

"We got into the car and I told her how uncomfortable I had been the whole night." Chase took a deep breath. "She started yelling at me and telling me that I needed to show more commitment to her. In the end, she told me that I needed to leave her alone if I wasn't ready to plan my future with her."

"I'm so sorry," Aiden told him. He pushed his coffee towards Chase. "You need this more than me."

Chase took a gulp of the coffee. "The worst part is, I really liked this girl, and maybe one day I would have wanted to marry her."

Aiden didn't know what to say. He looked over at Brian who looked dejected, and then back at Chase who seemed utterly defeated. He didn't know what to do, so he said nothing. He just sat with his two best friends and hoped that they understood that he was there for them, just like they were there for him.

Aiden wondered how he had ended up at this café. The day had started so well, and ended so horribly.

What do you think about what Oliver did? Did Aiden overreact?

(Next Sunday is Christmas Day - so the next chapter might be a day early or late)