Chapter 152: Lied To The Two Of Them.

Dinner should have been awkward, but Eli seemed determined not to let it become so.

Dave, however, knew him too well to be fooled. He could see that Eli was nowhere near as at ease as he pretended to be.

They sat around the dining table, talking about one thing after another, until Eli’s attention settled on a particular dish.

"I can’t believe you still remember that I liked this weird combination of fried chicken and jam." He looked at Dave, his happiness unmistakable.

Dave stiffened, going still for a moment.

"I didn’t buy it. Vincent bought everything here," he replied, even though he knew exactly why Vincent might have included it.

Eli’s expression fell almost immediately. Across the table, Vincent and Bryce exchanged a brief, startled glance before turning toward Dave, their faces reflecting the same surprise and unspoken question.

"I bought it because you like it," Vincent said without hesitation.

Dave was left speechless.

"You like it?" Eli asked, his excitement returning. "I used to practically beg you to have just one bite, and you’d refuse until I promised you something in return. You’ve actually started liking it?"

Dave didn’t know what to say.

After Eli disappeared, Dave had found himself holding on to the little things that reminded him of their time together.

He began eating the food because it was something Eli had liked, and eventually, he grew accustomed to the taste. In time, he had come to enjoy it himself. By now, he simply liked it. It no longer felt like an attempt to keep a part of Eli with him.

The problem was that, shortly before Bryce and Vincent had left for the Wolf World, they had asked him about it, and he had told them that he had started eating the combination as a baby.

He hadn’t wanted to mention Eli, knowing it might invite questions about whether he still had feelings for him.

Now that the truth was sitting right there between them, Dave wished he had simply been honest.

What had once seemed like an insignificant omission now felt like a lie, as though he had deliberately kept something from them.

"Yeah. I started liking it for no particular reason," he finally answered Eli.

Bryce and Vincent grew unusually quiet. Dave could feel the change in their demeanour, and he knew he had put himself in a difficult position.

Bryce and Vincent fell into an unusual silence, and Dave knew he had landed himself in a mess he could hardly explain.

"I see," Eli murmured.

The conversation gradually died, leaving an uncomfortable silence around the table. The very awkwardness Eli had seemed determined to prevent had finally taken hold.

"Is everything okay? I didn’t mean to ruin the mood around here," Eli said after noticing the change.

"Everything is fine. Why would you think there’s a problem?" Bryce asked.

"That’s a relief." Eli seemed satisfied with the answer, but only for a short while. "So, I hear Dave approached you because you look so much like me."

Everyone stopped chewing.

"Eli, we’re not talking about that." Dave interrupted him as soon as the words left his mouth.

Frustration was already evident in his voice. He knew how sensitive Bryce could be about that part of their history, and he couldn’t understand why Eli had chosen to bring it up.

"Why? I’m just curious. I want to know how the two of you met. Is that a problem?"

"I already told you everything. There’s no reason for you to bring it up again," Dave cut in, his frustration growing.

Bryce stared at Eli, his expression blank, still not chewing. A moment later, something seemed to settle in his mind, and he finally spoke.

"Yeah," he began. "Actually..."

"Bryce..." Dave and Vincent said simultaneously.

They both looked tense, as though they already knew where the conversation could lead and what it could do to Bryce, and the baby.

"That’s enough. Stop, Eli. We all know what you’re trying to do," Vincent said, his voice edged with coldness.

"Sorry. I’m not trying to do anything. I was only asking out of curiosity," Eli replied. For some reason, he sounded genuinely sincere.

"Curiosity? I already told you everything." Dave replied immediately.

"You don’t have to apologise for asking," Bryce interjected.

He turned his attention to Eli, answering him without any apparent reluctance.

"And to answer your question, yes, Dave approached me because I looked so much like you. If it weren’t for that resemblance, he and I might never have met. So, I suppose I have our similar appearances to thank for that."

He offered a small smile before continuing.

"Everything between Dave and me, in the beginning, was based on you. He even had me dress in certain ways, according to your style. He wanted me to wear perfume that matched yours, and he asked me to do things that were clearly things you used to do."

He spoke calmly.

"But that stopped a long time ago. I think it was about two months after we got together. After that, things changed, and everything became about the two of us. We’ve been together for about nine years now."

Bryce smiled again at the end of his explanation, though there was a heaviness beneath his calm voice.

"Any other questions?" he added.

"No," Eli answered.

"Then that’s it. We should go to bed," Vincent said to Bryce, as though he wanted to get him away from anything that might cause him any stress. He turned to Dave. "After you show Eli to his room, come over."

Dave nodded. Vincent rose from his seat, but Bryce remained where he was.

"Eli wanted us to play an identity game after dinner, so let’s do it. Why not?"

Vincent hesitated.

"Come on, Eli. If we’re going to confuse them, we’ll need to wear something that actually confuses them," Bryce said, getting to his feet.

Eli followed him without hesitation.

The tension thickened as Bryce and Eli left the dining room, leaving Dave and Vincent alone.

Vincent gathered the dishes and carried them towards the kitchen without saying a word to Dave. Dave collected the remaining boxes of food and followed him.

"Vincent," he called when he reached the kitchen.

"You know what Eli is trying to do, right?" Vincent asked, turning to face him. "And you know what it’ll do to Bryce."

"I didn’t know he would do something like that. I’ll talk to him, and if he still insists on doing it, I’ll ask him to go back to my house."

Vincent gave no response. He simply turned and walked towards the door.

Dave reached out and caught his hand.

"You’re mad at me again," he said.

"You lied." Vincent’s voice was thick with accusation.

"I didn’t want you to think I was still holding on to him," Dave explained.

"Isn’t that exactly what it is?" Vincent asked.

"No," Dave replied, sincerely.

"I’m not doing this now," Vincent said, pulling away and walking off.