Hearing that, Ivan almost peed his pants and resisted Michaelâs tug. âThereâs no need for that, really.
Sir⦠I-I just said that out of annoyance. You donât have to do this⦠You know what? Iâll do it! Iâll do a sexy dance in front of you! You just have to sit down to watch it!â
Michael continued to drag him as he said politely, âCome here. Donât be shy! Iâve already practised all the dance moves. Come take a seat!â
Ivan replied, âNo, no, no. Sir, you should take a seat. Iâll stand.â
Michaelâs smile was too cunning and terrifying. It made Ivanâs heartbeat speed up.
After continuous rejections from Ivan, Michaelâs patience was slowly running out. In an instant, his face darkened.
After all, he was a professional actor.
Taking back his old vigor while training first-years, he asked firmly, âSo what do you want? Do you still want to watch the sexy dance? Are you going to work for my wife and sign the contract?â
Stammering, Ivan answered, âS-S-Sir, I-Iâll sign itâ¦â
With that, Michael pushed the contract to him, along with the stamp and a pen. Ivan didnât even dare to look at the contract as he signed it with trembling fingers.
After that, he slumped to the ground in a daze.
Meanwhile, Sophia took the contract away happily. âGive me a moment to stamp on it. Iâll send your copy to you later.â
After Sophia walked over, Michael sat down with Ivan while Sarah quickly prepared tea for them.
Patting Ivanâs shoulders, Harry felt sorry for him.
âHow did you become like this? Youâve fallen from grace! Back then, you were a famous talent at Bayside University. At least in our batch, everyone knew your name. How did you reach such a low point to watch men perform sexy dance? What a disgusting hobby!â
To be honest, Ivan didnât have any intentions to watch any sexy dances. He was just annoyed by Sophia, so he wanted to scare her off so that she would know it wasnât going to be easy. Unexpectedly, Sophia actually managed to invite Taylor Murray.
Ivanâs cheeks flushed red immediately. Taking this opportunity, Michael quickly treated him to a meal and some beer. After all, it would be better to talk to him about this if he was drunk.
Michael was quite devoted to his beloved wifeâs business. Right after he returned, she asked him to perform a sexy dance, and he even practised it. At the final juncture, if Ivan really wanted to see it, he was already prepared to dance.
Of course, it would be the best if he didnât have to do that.
Finally, he understood how Nathan felt when he forced him to dance to âThree Little Bearsâ the other time.
Nate must have been cursing in his heart the entire time.
Soon enough, Ivan was drunk after being served some beers by them. Then, Michael and Harry dragged him to a secluded rooftop to continue drinking.
After so long of not seeing his old friends, Ivan couldnât help remembering his younger days, crying as he drank on.
He probably cried out all the contents that he drank.
Sobbing, he began to tell them his experience for the past few years.
âBack then, I went abroad before I could even finish studying at Bayside University. I had no choiceâmy house was cheated away by my relatives who only gave my sister and I some money. Taking the money, I went abroad because I might be tricked by my relatives more if I had stayed. They were even thinking of marrying my sister off to get some money as dowry. After I went abroad, I studied design while working part time to support my sister. My career had been doing well, so she came to work with me after graduating. The first time I met Lavender was at a cinema. She loved your movies, Commander. I even promised to bring her to meet you after we came back here. However, everything was so unpredictable⦠After my sister came back here to continue her career, I didnât know that she was already so fragile⦠When I was busy with her funeral, I forgot to care for my cat, Raindrops, which ate my sisterâs hamsters. When I found out, it was already too late. My hamster, my sister, Raindrops, Lav, and the babyâthey were all dead. But I still had Tiger. After I came back here, I started an office and lived together with Tiger. When I was drawing, it would always lay by my side. With it around, I thought, At least Tigerâs still here with me. However, one fateful day, after I had a meeting with some clients, I found out that thieves had broken into my house and left the door open. Because of that, Tiger ran outside. After searching around for it, I found out that it had been picked up by others. When I asked for it back, they disagreed and threw it out of the tenth floor in front of me. I-Iâ¦â
Sobbing, he couldnât continue anymore as tears streamed down his face.
Michael had already known about his story from others, but it was completely different from hearing him telling it himself.
Who would have expected that heâs living such a miserable life? His parents, sister, wife, and child are all dead. Even his pets are dead. I wonder how he has lived through all these yearsâ¦
Harry brought an unwilling Judge over and threw it into Ivanâs arms.
âTonight, it belongs to you! Be more gentle to it! Itâs your Tiger for the night. You can tell it anything you want.â
Hugging Judge, Ivan completely broke down, talking to it about his misfortunes throughout these years.
Michael consoled him, âThere, there. Buck up. Those who are dead canât come back to live. You just have to work hard. In the future, you will have your own wife and kids, and your dogs and cats. This is a good job. Since we know each other way back, I wonât lie to you. Do your job well, alright? We wouldnât want your talents to be hidden. The pets luxury brands industry in Cethos needs you to save it. After Judge and Sunset mate next year, weâll send their puppy to you. I will also give you Garfieldâs kittens!â
â¦
When it was midnight, Sophia went to the third floor to take a peek at them, only to find three drunk men and a dog.
Being hugged tightly by Ivan, Judge looked sorry for itself.
Sophia brought her husband away and left the others there. After a while, Sarah also came to bring Harry away.
However, Ivan was a big shot they had finally convinced to sign on, so he couldnât be left sleeping alone on the rooftop as well. Hence, Sophia quickly sent him to the guest room and even put Judge and Chrysanthemum in his room to accompany him.
After she finished settling them down and went back to her room, she saw that Michael had woken up, even though he was still drunk. He just lay in his bed and looked at her with his eyes wide open.
Probably because he was happy to see his old friends, he had drunk a lot tonight.
Back then, they were still a bunch of young men. In the blink of an eye, they had all become bald middle-
aged men.
Michael still remembered the group of students back thenâIvan, Harry, Quintonâ¦
Back then, Ivan was still a bespectacled nerd who scored well in exams, and Harry was a brat who only knew how to fight, while Joel was the drilling instructor of another company. Both companies secretly competed with each other, while Quinton was still a quiet sissy who was slightly ladylike.
â¦â¦
Ten years of time was like a sculpting knife, moulding the similar people back then into different shapes and structures.
The nerd had become a lunatic; the sissy became a notorious assassin, Phantom Wolf; Harry became the lord of the underworld; while Michael was still competing with Joel.
Sophia lay down on Michaelâs arm after seeing that he was lying on the bed spread eagle, slightly drunk.
He had gained some weight at the film set, so it was soft and comfortable to sleep on him.
Taking his arm as a pillow, Sophia looked at his slightly plump face with his double chin showing.
He looks pretty cute this way too!
A middle-aged man should look like how they should look. With his age, it was about time for him to gain some weight.
Sophia stretched her hands into his shirt to gently rub on his belly fat.
Michael was indeed drunk tonight. He turned around to hug Sophia and murmured drunkenly, âChica, do you want to see a sexy danceâ¦â