The Code of Aries ?

(24) Overnight

"You're being mean," I repeated, remembering the look he had on his face. He looked like a kid whose lollipop got stolen by a bully, and the thought of it made me chuckle. Now I understand why guys sometimes like to pick on the people they like, and that realization made me hate myself even more.

"I should really go to bed. I'm turning into a real asshole little by little," I say to myself, standing from the floor and hanging the towel on the side before finally getting to bed.

I could hear the shower inside the bathroom and used it to imagine rain falling outside. It worked like a relaxing ambiance because my eyes eventually felt heavy, and then I finally got to sleep.

I don't exactly know how long I've been out, but when I opened my eyes back, it was already morning. Bright lights peeked through the curtains, and I instantly got hit by what we all call...hangover.

My head ached like crazy, and my body felt hot. I slowly got up from the bed, and lo and behold, Aries was no longer in his bed. I was honestly suspecting to see another note like the last time we went to a motel, but there weren't any.

"Wow, I just slept at a hotel with the guy I like and didn't think of doing anything crazy. Congratulations, Dom, you just did the bare minimum," I sarcastically tell myself before brushing my hair back with my fingers.

I continued to look around the room to check if Aries was there, but the guy was nowhere to be found.

"Wait, did he seriously leave me?" I ask before heading to the bathroom to put my clean underwear and uniform back on. When I got out of the bathroom, I suddenly heard people talking in the garage, so I went out to check what it was. And there I saw Aries talking to the mechanic.

"You're all set, sir," the mechanic tells Aries as I approach them.

"Thanks. I really appreciate it," Aries then answers before handing him the money. The mechanic smiles and thanks him before grabbing his toolbox. He then looks at me and smiles at me too, before finally taking his leave.

"You slept well?" Aries asks, now turning to look at me.

"Yeah. And you?" I ask, which was supposed to be a pretty normal question, but Aries somehow decides to ignore it, almost like I had just invaded his personal space.

"Anyway, I already paid for the room, so we can head out now. I'll drive you to your house," Aries suddenly tells me as he walks his way to the car door. He opened it and got ready to head inside, but I immediately stopped him.

"No, it's fine. There are jeeps and buses outside at this hour, so I think I can go home myself," I say, but Aries looked at me with that annoyed expression of his, so I just gave up and went inside the car with him.

The two of us got in, and then Aries turned the car on and started driving off, leaving the motel that should have left me with so many memories, but it didn't. In fact, I had more memories at that rice porridge store than I did here, and I don't hate that one bit.

"Mama didn't reply," I whisper as I check my phone again. I sent her another text saying that I'm heading home, and then I hid it back inside my pocket before glancing at Aries, who was concentrating on driving me back home.

"You know, my head is clearer now compared to yesterday, so I want to apologize for being rude last night. I know I crossed the line by mentioning your ex out of nowhere, so—"

"It's fine," Aries suddenly says, making me stop midsentence. "It's not really important. Diane...she's just...she deserves better. She deserves a guy who doesn't like..." Aries pauses and clenches the steering wheel.

I look at him and suddenly end up pitying him, even though that's the last thing he wants from me.

"Last night, you told me that I was mean to her. Believe me, Dom, if I were mean to her, I wouldn't have broken up with her. For a time, I liked her, and I believed I liked her, but...it's just complicated," Aries continues to explain, which surprised me because he didn't have to share this with me at all. But then again, I'm not going to stop him either. This might be the only time he's going to open up about this with anyone. I should be able to be here and listen.

"I loved the idea of liking a woman, so I got lured by her. The idea of being normal and falling in love like everyone else. It was so easy for me to hold her hand in public and introduce her to my friends. And god, my parents loved her. I loved that life, the idea of having that life. It was painfully easy," Aries says with a much more serious expression.

"But you didn't love...her. And that was supposed to be the easiest part, but it wasn't," I say back, and Aries sighs and nods his head.

"I didn't love her, and that was supposed to be the easiest part," Aries repeats with a sad expression.

"Why are you explaining this to me all of a sudden?" I then ask him.

Aries continues to stare at the road, and without looking back at me, he answers, "It's because you didn't like it when I'm mean to you."

The moment Aries said that I immediately turned my head away from him so he wouldn't be able to see the stupid smile I had on me. I didn't want him to know that that single sentence made me feel special, even just a little.

I guess this overnight stay was worth it after all.

...

"Here you are," Aries says when he gets to my street.

"You can drop me off here. A lot of cars are parked in our street at this hour, so you might get a hard time getting out," I tell him, and Aries nods his head and parks on the side.

"Thank you for driving me all the way here, as well as the food you treated me last night," I say as grab my bag and I got off the car. Aries doesn't say anything and just nods his head in reply.

"By the way, maybe you want some coffee? I can—"

"It's fine, you better get home. Your mother might be worried by now," he says instead, making me smile again. I didn't say anything anymore and got ready to close the door. But just as I was about to do so, one of my neighbors suddenly spotted me and started running in my direction.

"Dom! You're finally here!" My neighbor shouts, making me furrow my brows in confusion. Even Aries was looking at him.

"What's going on? Did something happen?" I asked, and the answer I got was an answer that I wasn't ready to hear at all.

"Y-Your mother...she collapsed again. Just this morning, Gelo found her. Thankfully he was able to bring her to the hospital in time," my neighbor explains, instantly making me drop my bag on the floor.

"What did you just say?"

end.