The Bad Boy's Dirty Little Secret BL Chapter 25: An Incomprehensible Reality

Night’s P.O.V

Breakfast on a Sunday morning was exactly how I thought it was going to be…

My mother immersed with her PA as they went on to discuss their next charity event. My father on his phone with his secretary about what recent mayhem he thinks is going on with his company. And me at the opposite end of the table, wanting nothing more than to finish my breakfast and get the fuck out of here as soon as I could.

I didn’t particularly show up at my house on a Sunday, but today, I had been summoned here for some reason. My parents had both been away on business trips for the last couple months and had finally returned home.

And even though my mother had called to see me at home because she ‘missed’ me; nothing about this scenario told me that I had been missed in the slightest.

So I stashed my bacons and eggs between the two buttered toasts I had on my plate, and ate it as a sandwich, so I could get breakfast over with as quickly as possible. However, it seemed that luck was not by my side.

“Night, dear.” My mother finally handed her tab to her PA, who left the room quietly as she focused her entire attention on me. “How have you been? How’s college treating you?”

“It’s been good, ma.” I smiled for her sake. “I got selected to be one of the contestants for this year’s Campus Hotshot contest.”

“Oh, that’s lovely!” She smiled sweetly at me, her wavy brunette hair sliding over her shoulders gracefully. “Of course you were selected! You’re my beautiful boy, after all.”

“A beauty pageant,” I heard my father mutter under his breath with a disappointed sigh. “Great.”

“Oh! Hush!” Mom gave my father a glare. “He just got into college. Don’t start now!”

She then turned to me with her jolly smile. “Don’t worry. I know you’ll win this for sure!”

“Thank you, ma.” This time, I gave her a genuine smile, trying to ignore my father’s disappointment. “But I’m not so sure. Someone won two years in a row already.”

“Oh?” She blinked in surprise. “Can they still enter the competition if they have already won?”

“There’s a space for selecting someone based on the campus votes and he got selected this year as well.” I told her with a smile. “I don’t know if I can beat him. He’s really handsome.”

“Oh! Do you like him?” Mom’s smile was sweet, but even I saw her glance at my father’s face as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

“Sure.” I swallowed, reaching for my coffee to swallow the lump forming in my throat.

My gaze darted to my father and back down to my plate once again. I didn’t want this to happen in front of him, but now that the cat was out of the bag…it couldn’t be helped.

So I stayed quiet to avoid any more conversations regarding this topic and I think mom got the memo too as she began to butter her own toast to avoid meeting my father’s gaze.

“It’s alright, Night, I understand.” My father finally looked up from his tab to fix me with a stare. “You’re young and adventurous; you want to try new things. When I was your age, I used to date women left, right, and centre. There’s no shame in it. I get that you’re from the newer generation…support ‘equality’…LGBT…and what not. It’s part of the trend.”

I grit my teeth, fisting my hands on my lap as I broke eye contact with him to look down at my untouched plate.

“That’s fine too…adventure…thrill…” he nodded his head like actually believed in everything he was saying…and he did.

He thought his way of thinking was right and that I was merely going through a teenage rebellious ‘phase’. “But don’t forget that all fun and games must come to an end. After you graduate University, you’ll start helping me with my business and marry my partner’s daughter…in case you’ve forgotten, let me remind you, you already have a fiancé.”

My heart sank into the pit of my stomach.

How could I forget…

It was an incomprehensible reality that I could never run away from.

No one had ever asked me if I wanted to have any part in this…they had just…decided.

“Oh…that’s a great reminder!” My mother gasped in shock, placing her hand in front of her mouth. “I almost forgot to tell you that Rosalie will be returning for Semester break next month! She’ll be staying for the next two months!”

I felt my heart thrash against my ribcage as the anxiety set in, making my palms sweat. I hand to clench them together to stop them from trembling.

Rosalie Clearwater…the girl that my parents had arranged my marriage to, ever since I was seven.

“Good, then we must celebrate her return.” My father nodded before going back to work on his tab. “I’ll inform Neil that I’ll host a party and finally announce the engagement publicly.”

The shrill noise of the chair scraping against the marbled floor made my parents cringe and look up at me in disdain.

“Excuse me.”

I turned around and all but ran up the stairs to my room, feeling relief wash over me only when I was able to slam the door shut behind me and lean my back on it. But even that relief was short lived as my father’s words kept reverberating inside my head.

I get that you’re from the newer generation…support ‘equality’…LGBT…and what not. It’s part of the trend. But don’t forget that all fun and games must come to an end.

Kai thought I was brave…brave that I could accept myself for who I was and be who I was openly, without fear.

He didn’t know exactly what I had to deal with inside my own house. He didn’t know that my parent never truly understood that being gay or liking men wasn’t a ‘phase’ or a momentary distraction…it was who I was! Right down to my core.

Sometimes…I envied him so much. He was lucky that the only thing he had to worry about right now was getting better grades so no one compared him to his sister and he could still do that while trying to figure himself out…

He didn’t have an arranged marriage set up by his parents or have to hide his true identity from the people around him…the people that really mattered.

I had to keep a clean profile when I attended my parent’s parties or attended their guests…and worst of all…I had to pretend that I liked my fiancé, Rosalie Clearwater, the daughter of my father’s business partner, just so he could benefit from the relationship.

I had tried to tell Rosalie about me last year, right after my break up with my ex and when I had been at my lowest. I hadn't been able to pretend that everything was fine, so I had decided to tell her that I liked men, so she would break off the engagement herself. But my mother had caught onto me before I could do it…and I had been grounded for two months, not being allowed to use my phone or my computer and not being allowed outside my house either. I had just turned eighteen but I hadn't had the strength or power to go against my parents.

My mother…even though she thought she understood, but even she held onto the backward thinking that once I was married to Rosalie, everything would be fine. That I’d go back to being ‘normal’ once again.

How do I escape from this reality? How do I get out of an arranged marriage that I want no part of?

And on top of everything, I have to deal with Kai and his ridiculous conditions.

I’m not mad at him, honestly. I understand that he needs to figure this out and he’s not alone. I’ve been through this myself.

But the biggest question is…if Kai eventually does come to terms with his feelings about me…how am I supposed to return them with the way my life is…?

How do I tell him that I’m already in an arrangement that I can never get out of?