Chapter 72 - What's happening right now?

POV: 3rd Person

The need to die and disappear from the face of the earth had never been stronger till now for Aiden. Bradley ended up following through and brought his other brothers with their respective dates in tow (the word date should die was what Aiden was also thinking). Ever since their arrival a couple of minutes back, all they had said was good evening then every single one of them observed Aiden like he was some zoo animal (minus Alex's date, who was on Instagram, writing out a caption for some post).

Aiden wanted to scream, run, jump, fly and punch them but he opted to look for his grandpa and avoid their piercing gazes. The tension created in mere seconds was so suffocating, that he felt he'll drown any second.

"Looking for someone Aidy?" said Alex in his deep, musky voice that was coated in amusement.

Aiden cringed at the name and prevented snapping at his brother for it. "Yeah. Gramps. I'm here for his birthday and I can't find the birthday boy himself."

"Shouldn't you be looking for your date instead?" This was from Marcel and unlike the other, his cool tone gave away no sort of emotion. Typical for a detailed guy like him.

"And why is that?" Aiden said absently due to his full concentration on finding his gramps to use as a method of escape.

"Because," Marcel said dispassionately, "vi är alla här för att se datumet (we are all here to see the date) and precious time was being wasted."

The words ticked off Aiden and once again, he internally thanked himself for drinking a shit ton earlier for the liquid courage. "Jag sa inte att du ska vara här (I did not tell you to be here)," Aiden sniped back, "it was all the third youngest's idea. If you want to go socialise with the other pretentious fuckheads, by all means, do so. I ain't stopping ya."

Small gasps from the ladies echoed through and Aiden's brother shifted from being condescending to ice cold. Aiden trembled at the change but hid it. They stared at him longer in silence before their expressions turned to normal/playful.

"We could keep chattering with the other guests," Alex pointed out, "but we're more interested in your date and who they are. Marcel is just being the usual uptight bastard."

Aiden kept his emotions at bay as he refuted back. "I don't see why, especially since you guys weren't interested in anything that has me in it. Plus, whoever said I was bringing someone well known. For all we know, they could be my average co-worker."

"Are they your average co-worker?" asked Bradley.

"No comment," I responded.

"Regardless of status or not, we want to meet them and get to know them. Our little brother is known for keeping many secrets from us and so the fact he brought someone from his mysterious life is worth checking up on," Marcels said in an informative tone.

Aiden was quickly running out of ideas and excuses to get out of the situation and the sweating wasn't helping. "But wouldn't that be suspicious," Aiden added with an undertone of panic, "why would the hosts of the party be interested in a mere date of an average guest. It might give way to the relationship we have with one another and I'm sure that's the last thing either of us wants."

Marcel opened his mouth to say something but was quickly interrupted by Bradley's smug questions. "Why Aiden, how come you sound so panicked? Is it because you're nervous to introduce your friend, or something more, to your big bros? Or is it some other reason? Like how you lied about having a date at all and now you're trying to save yourself?"

The allegation got the group to look at Aiden with even more interest and in a more doubtful manner. I should just come clean he thought, I'll survive the blasted punishment, it won't kill me... but it might want me to kill myself in the process as well as lose all my dignity. Never mind, it's not worth it.

Hence why Aiden immediately blurted out, "you're just out to get me, Bradley. I told you I have my date arriving late."

"When?" Marcel demanded in a stern voice.

"I told you soon."

"How soon and why don't you know the time?" Alex pushed.

"W-Well that's because–"

"Hey sorry I'm later than the time I gave you. I'm here now, Denny." That deep, sexy voice from behind Aiden definitely didn't come from one of the Troph members or their significant others. But Aiden knew who it was. He knew very well who that was. And it seemed his body knew who that was because his muscles shuddered unconsciously, his heart sped up, his eyes dilated and his mind replayed the night at the club (again).

Aiden was still looking forward at his brothers, whose, reactions were absolutely priceless. Bradley's jaw was touching the floor (basically), Alex's mouth was also gaping open and Marcel's face was neutral, with only his widened eyes giving away his state of shock. The females on the other hand let a small gasp and all shamelessly eye rape him.

The not-so-mysterious man came up from behind the blue-haired folk and placed his hand on Aiden's hip, ever so slightly dragging him closer so half his back connected with his chest. The contact brought Aiden out of his stupefaction and he looked up at the man's jaw to confirm his suspicions.

What in the ever-loving fuck... "Erwin?" Aiden exclaimed in a very confused tone (not very ideal right now). It didn't even register that Erwin used that vexing nickname and Aiden was meant to lash back.

He was not the only one on the same wavelength as both Bradley and Alex said, Erwin and Mr. Fonzo respectively, in equal puzzlement.

Erwin found the reactions mildly amusing, especially his employee's but he didn't outwardly express it, in favour of keeping up the act. He pinched Aiden softly, which jolted him a little and he expressed his disbelief with larger eyes and a slightly pissed off frown. It took Erwin's all to not burst out laughing.

"Did you really think I would ditch you? Is that why you sound so shocked to see me here?" Erwin said smoothly, with his eyes trying to send a non-verbal message to Aiden to play along.

Aiden blinked a couple of times before he unsurely said, "I– uh what– I mean, yes? Yes, I definitely did not expect you to come because you were this late. Like really didn't think you would come." It came out all awkward and robotic but Aiden was too busy processing what the fuck was going on to cringe at it.

Erwin on the other hand had to fake cough twice to cover up his laughter. He indeed arrived late to the party and as he was busy drinking Champaign and drinking with some nameless owner, he couldn't help but overhear the conversation from his neighbours. One, in particular, caught his attention and which was Aiden's.

He didn't expect to see the electro user anywhere near here (considering his reaction a while back), so you'd know the surprise and delight he was feeling when he found out. After all, the most interesting person in his life was at one of the dullest gatherings of the year.

He overheard when Bradley began talking to Aiden and immediately, Erwin was alarmed and ready to pull him off. His employee once again surprised him by not only not breaking down, but sniping back. Erwin guessed that it was the alcohol that was doing the talking but he couldn't be any prouder.

The CEO became interested in the conversation (he moved closer and solely focussed on listening in) when the topic of dates came along and how they were talking about some sort of cryptic punishment (or was it a reward). Aiden's face paled, letting anyone watching know that he feared that thing. Furthermore, it told Erwin that the man didn't actually bring a date, which made his obvious lies even more blatant and as a whole, made him sound desperate and stupid.

Erwin was enjoying the predicament, until Aiden's other brothers joined in and it was at that point where he wanted to be charitable and help the man out.

Erwin internally shook his head at the absurdity of this entire thing and continued putting on a show.

"Well, I guess this should be a pleasant surprise for you."

Aiden couldn't help but snort and played along. "Pleasant my ass. It was you who was begging to go with you and you're the one who turns up late. Hardly the way to treat your date."

Erwin looked down at his "date" with a frown but his eyes showed that he wasn't mad. "I was begging you to go with me? It was you who was doing a bad job trying to ask me out in a subtle way. I felt bad for you and asked you to come to save you from your misery. You should be grateful."

This motherfucker... I'D RATHER GROVEL AT MY DAD'S FEET THAN BE YOUR CHARITY CASE! Stop making up bullshit, it's my thing. Play along with my thing. With no other option, Aiden turned this around by making himself the victim. With a fake sad face and a whimpering voice, he asked, "So all of a sudden I'm a charity case? You asked me out because of pity?"

Erwin didn't anticipate that and there was panic written all over his face but his voice remained steady and smooth. "Of course not, I asked you out because I wanted to and you know that. I almost go to all these events solo. You're special." He winked flirtatiously at his date and Aiden's blood rushed to his cheeks.

The audacity of this motherfucker. Aiden had zero clue how to reply, so he said the first thing that came to mind. "Oh... ok cool. I also wanted to uh, go with you because I'm uh interested."

This time Aiden cringed but it was soon forgotten when he got lost in his boss's eyes. Erwin was also swimming in Aiden's eyes and he couldn't help but send him an unguarded smile, not his usual business one. Aiden's breath hitched at the smile and he was reminded of how fucking good he looked. His hair was tied back into a purposeful messy bun and he was wearing a simple grey suit, that accentuates all the right places. Unfortunately, the ogling caused Aiden a certain issue down below.

"Ahem."

The couple snapped out of it and they whipped their head to the source of the noise. It was from Marcel, whose emotions could not be read. The two had forgotten their audience and promptly faced them, mainly to avoid showing the other their red faces.

Alex looked at the entire exchange in curiosity and Bradley was looking at them with fury. The girls on the other hand were looking at Aiden with daggers and jealousy. He couldn't help but grab at Erwin's hand on his hip and bring them forward, interlacing their fingers in the process.

Aiden was now fully slotted to Erwin's side as his arm wrapped around his lower torso. He couldn't help but feel that he was meant to be there. I could let go of the interlaced arm but he tightened it instead, for the full effect of course. Definitely just for the act and nothing more.

He didn't look back to see Erwin's reaction but he hoped it was a look of surprise, good surprise, not the uncomfortable kind.

The ladies' eyes turned darker and the gold digger was now full-on scowling at me.

"Sorry for interrupting your... banter," Marcel stated, not sounding apologetic at all, "but I just can't help and question... this."

Erwin raised his left eyebrow and avoided answering his scepticism. "Nice to see you again too, Marcel. Last time we saw each other was at the MegCorp anniversary ball."

My brother was at Leo's party? Aiden thought to himself, God he's a lot closer than I thought.

Marcel shined his business smile. "Ah yes, apologies for not greeting you. It was quite disrespectful of me but I was in a state of confusion and shock to realise."

"Shock? What's so surprising?" Erwin asked with fake ignorance.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT'S SO SURPRISING?" Bradley burst out suddenly. The outburst startled his fiancé and nearby loiterers, who all return glares toward the group. Aiden looked around and mouthed an apology.

Before Erwin could lash back, Marcel cut in with his chilling tone. "Bradley, you will shut the fuck up. You are making us look bad and barbarian. I'm warning you for the last time."

The words had an immediate effect and he backed off, quietly standing by Violet's side but looking at the unexpected couple with a scowl.

"Thank you," Erwin said with an appreciative tone, "but to answer your question, I do not understand what is shocking?"

"You really gonna play ignorant with them?" I asked with a deadpan face.

Erwin stared at me blankly for a bit before a playful smile morphed on his lips. "But it's so fun to mess with them." If any of the Trophs and their dates had water in their mouths, they'd be spitting it out because the last thing they expected to see tonight was Mr. Cold-hearted smiling a mischievous smile. They all agreed mentally that the smile should be kept to a minimum if he didn't want society to have a heart attack.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't think they're amused."

Yeah, they didn't look amused.

Erwin cleared his throat and became serious. "Right, well I know what you're talking about but I still don't understand why it's shocking?"

"Maybe because he's your employee, and not in some high-ranking position," Alex said.

"How the fuck do you know my position?" Aiden quickly asked.

"We did our research before you came here."

"Right. That should've been expected."

Marcel interrupted. "What Alex is trying to get at is that we're quite... clueless as to how you guys have come to know each other so well, to the point of being each other's date."

"Is it to do it out of spite?" Bradley butted in.

"Huh?" Both Aiden and Erwin said simultaneously.

"Are you both here together to spite me?" Bradley growled out this time.

The couple looked at each other in bemusement before looking back at Bradley. "I have zero bloody clue how us being together spited you."

"Because of what happened a couple of weeks back," the third youngest spat out, "where we met at Leo's company."

The memory brought back the negative emotions for Aiden and his mind was about to go down in a spiral but the tightening of the grasped hand grounded him back to earth and he looked up at Erwin with a grateful smile.

"What are you talking about Bradley?" The oldest asked in a questioning tone, coated with his signature frost.

Bradley realised what he said and paled, immediately clamming up. The reaction didn't go unnoticed and Aiden pointed it out to screw him over even more. "You're clamming up... you didn't tell him about it, did you?"

By the shaky inhale of oxygen, it seemed Aiden was right on the mark.

Alex added to the electro user's question with mirth in his words. "Oh no, you just broke one of the big rules of the Troph family. You're a dead man."

Marcel said absolutely nothing but his cool gaze and unimpressed frown were enough for Bradley to scamper around with his words and attempt to explain himself.

"I-I-I didn't mean to keep it from you. It's just happened to slip my mind since a lot happened that day and I didn't deem it important to..."

Aiden stopped paying attention to his excuse when he felt the spatial user bringing his head down next to his ear. The shorter man stiffened in anticipation and soon, there was an alluring whispering passing through Aiden's eardrums. "Just what is your brother talking about? What rule?" Aiden involuntarily closed his eyes to appreciate the vocals. His pants also became a lot stuffier, so he cursed the man in his head.

Erwin leaned back a bit but Aiden quickly brought a hand up to his neck to bring him back down and whispered back into his ear, "It's another unwritten rule but we were required to inform Marcel of any major events that happened in our lives. He liked being informed. Failure to do so means you face his wrath. It's in a different form each time since it's dependent on how he's feeling that day."

"vi pratar om detta senare (we'll talk about this later)," Marcel declared and Bradley gulped, nodding in resignation.

The oldest turned back to Erwin and brought back his full attention. "Well, I'm glad I've waited to meet Aiden's date. I've wanted to talk to you about many things so," his eyes move to Aiden and the latter was on alert. "You can go now. I want to discuss some matters with your... date. Alex and Bradley should also go entertain the other guests." Marcel still seemed dubious about the whole date thing but didn't question it any further.

Aiden blinked a couple of times before disbelievingly asked, "are you... dismissing me from my date?"

"Yes. I'll return him later. You should go look for George." And that was that. There was no room for argument.

Aiden looked at his (fake) date but returned a small shrug with a look of I-don't-want-to-be-here-but-it's-easier-if-I-listen-to-him. So the former just sighed and went along with it. "Yeah, ok. I'll look for gramps. Just don't keep him for too long. I'd like to have time with my own partner, especially considering how he came late."

Marcel said nothing nor does he nod or shake his head, so Aiden assumed that he'd been dismissed already and moved away from the group to look for his original target.

And some hard alcohol because what the fuck was going on today.