The sunlight was seeping through the room in between the slightly opened curtains. Satoshi blinked and squinted at the bedside clock. He rose and stretched a little bit. As usual, he would be doing his morning rounds with Aiba. His lips were already curled up in smile at the thought of Aiba. His eyes automatically went to the space beside him and his smile dimmed a little when he saw that there was no sign that his new friend was ever here last night. He had gotten used to Aiba hogging his bed most of the night so his nights didn’t seem to be lonely anymore, even though Aiba had his bed to sleep. He asked himself why? Did Aiba not liking sharing the bed with him anymore? Then, after a minute he shook his head thinking that Aiba might be sleeping in his own room last night. He didn’t have to accompany him every night. It was selfish of him to demand Aiba to accompany him to sleep. They weren’t children either, he thought, wondering later what the small heat that was forming on his cheeks had meant.

For the past couple of weeks, they had so much fun together. Even though they only spent their time at the mansion, Aiba was able to make each day entertaining to him, especially when they had their movie and karaoke night when Aiba was available, even if they had to wait until Satoshi’s lesson with Rei-chan finished. Sometimes, he appeared at his back suddenly during the tutor session to say ‘Hi’ to the girl.

For most of the day, and sometimes when it was required on certain nights, Aiba was gone to do his acting job, leaving Satoshi alone. Satoshi didn’t want to pry too much into Aiba’s life but he did wonder sometimes what plays or movies or acting job Aiba was in since he never seen, nor Aiba had shown any of his work to him before. He wanted to ask further, but if Aiba didn’t want to show him any of it, he had no right to push Aiba. Aiba would show him if he wanted to. He believed in that.

Satoshi went to check Aiba’s room for a while and came out when the room also had seen no sign of Aiba occupying it the previous night. Satoshi shrugged, thinking perhaps Aiba wasn’t home yet. It was rare that he didn’t come home at all but it had happened once or twice before.

He went out of the house from the back door, carrying a big pair of scissors with him towards the decorated plant in front of the house. He had seen that the plant required a much-needed trimming otherwise they could turn into uncontrollable bushes. Aiba had claimed that it was such a troublesome job to trim all those leaves but Satoshi loved it since it brought him joy. He felt a sense of accomplishment for doing such meticulous job. It was the closest to art that he could indulge himself into.

Time seemed lost to him as he worked on the plant. When he started to sweat a lot under the sun, he went inside. Wiping the beads of sweat from his face, he opened the front door to find a figure on the floor of the genkan.

“Aiba-san! Aiba-san!” he screamed in panic. Aiba was sprawled on the floor covered in sweat. “Are you all right?” Satoshi squatted beside him, tapping his face a little forcefully to wake him up. He was so scared looking at Aiba’s condition. When Aiba gave a small groan in response, Satoshi let out a breath that he was holding. At least Aiba was still alive.  He touched Aiba’s forehead. Aiba’s skin was really hot, he probably caught a fever.

With all his might, Satoshi pulled him up and put Aiba’s arm around his shoulder. He dragged the sick man to the nearest couch. Surprisingly, even though Aiba was a few inches taller and his body was built bigger than him, his body felt light. Perhaps, it was due to his fever?

Immediately, Satoshi ran to the kitchen to grab a towel and a basin of cold water. Carefully, he wiped Aiba’s head and face to cool him down. Aiba was shivering.

“Aiba-san, can you hear me? Let’s take some medicine?” Satoshi tried waking him up. He already prepared a pill that he found in a cabinet with a glass of water for Aiba to take. Aiba shook his head, refusing to take it.

“Maybe we should go to the doctor…” Satoshi decided.

He rushed to his room to grab his phone. He groaned when he realized he didn’t have the taxi number saved inside his phone. So, he opened his browser to search. After he found it, he waited for the taxi company to pick up his call. He jumped out of his skin when Aiba’s phone rang instead, startling him.

He was a little hesitant to answer at first but seeing that whoever was calling Aiba was a little desperate to reach the man, he couldn’t help to pick up the phone. He could tell the person that Aiba was sick.

“Aiba! Where are you?! The film--”

 Satoshi didn’t hear the rest when he put the phone as far away from his ear.  Even from that far, he could still hear the person’s voice scolding Aiba. Satoshi stared at the phone. The caller ID was named Nino. Just Nino. Who was this Nino that was openly scolding Aiba so freely? He turned his head towards Aiba and he noticed that Aiba had turned a lot paler than before. Feeling the hot skin, Satoshi turned towards the phone in his hand again. He wanted to tell this Nino to stop screaming since he didn’t want Aiba to hear it when he was sick. He put the phone back to his ear in hesitation. Thankfully this Nino had toned his voice down.

“Aiba--“

“… This… isn’t Aiba…” Satoshi said tentatively.

“Who are you? Where’s Aiba?!” ‘Nino’ screamed again.

“…He’s sick. I’m his friend, Ohno…”

“He’s sick?! Where is he now?!” Even though this Nino was still using his high pitch tone, Satoshi could hear the concern lacing his voice when Satoshi told him that Aiba was unwell.

“At the hou--“ Satoshi couldn’t finish his word when this Nino cut him.

“Just stay there, I’ll come right now.” Satoshi stared at the phone. This Nino had hung up abruptly and he didn’t even mention the address yet. Perhaps, this person might already know this place. Satoshi resumed wiping Aiba with the wet towel around his head and neck as he waited for ‘Nino’ to arrive.

It wasn’t long before he heard a car approaching the house. Satoshi was already opening the main gate to let the Honda car inside the house compound. A small, good-looking man, similar in size to him came out from the metallic silver car in a casual suit, paired with jeans. There was a look of concern on his face as he rushed alongside Satoshi inside the house.

“We need to bring him to the hospital.” Ninomiya decided as he touched Aiba’s hot and sweaty forehead. Nino had introduced himself as Ninomiya Kazunari, Aiba’s manager. It was the first time for Satoshi to know that Aiba had a manager. Aiba never told him that. In fact, Aiba never told him about his acquaintances or his other friends’ names. He couldn't blame Aiba for that because he didn’t ask either.

“Let’s carry him together,” Ninomiya said. They tried but it was really hard to maneuverer Aiba with the two of them trying to figure out where to hold Aiba.

“I’ll carry him on my back,” Satoshi proposed as it was more effective if he carried him alone. Ninomiya agreed readily.
It was easy for Satoshi to carry him inside the car as he noticed before that Aiba was lighter than he thought. Ninomiya drove the car in the speed that was borderline the speeding limit. Halfway, Aiba had woken up.

“Where are we going?” he asked weakly, trying to figure out his surroundings. Satoshi helped him to adjust his body to his seat since they were both in the back.

“To the hospital,” Ninomiya told him simply. And it appeared that the word, ‘hospital,’ didn’t agree with Aiba as he started screaming for Ninomiya to stop the car.

“Aiba-san, you’re sick. You need to see a doctor,” Satoshi said to calm Aiba down but Aiba was struggling more forcefully. Satoshi was beginning to worry that the fever had made Aiba delirious and his fear of seeing the doctor compound to that.

“No, get me to work! I don’t want to see a doctor. I’m not sick!” Aiba screamed, not convincing anyone.

“Aiba, you’re sick. I’ve called the crew that we’re cancelling the shooting today,” Ninomiya told him. From his tone, Satoshi could hear – even when he couldn’t see it – that Ninomiya was trying to be comforting to Aiba.

“No, no, don’t cancel it! I’ll come. I’ll come. Just bring me there!” Aiba pushed forward, his hands grabbed Ninomiya’s shoulders and shook them hard. Satoshi grabbed his hands to prevent Aiba from further strangling his manager.

“Aiba-san, you can’t--“ Satoshi tried to tell him.

“I want to work!” Aiba’s scream was startling Satoshi. He became afraid seeing this Aiba who looked scary. When he realized that Ninomiya had kept on driving, Aiba attempted to open the door. When Satoshi failed to keep him in his seat, Aiba nearly flew out. Ninomiya had to stop the car on the side of the road. The car stopped with a screech. Aiba crawled outside and dropped to the ground.

With hands on his hips, Ninomiya grumbled in a rage he barely contained. “You’re impossibly stubborn!” Ninomiya yelled. Aiba was breathing harder as he kept his body down, not looking at anyone. But then in a matter of minute Ninomiya’s hard stance loosen as he watched his client staying sick on the ground. It was apparent that Ninomiya was unable to stay mad at him. Ninomiya’s voice turned comforting, giving in to Aiba’s demand. “Alright, alright. I’ll bring you to work. No more hospital.”

Aiba turned his head at Nino when Satoshi managed to make him sit. He stared at Ninomiya like he was hesitating to believe him at first. But when Ninomiya reassured him again, he went inside the car by himself.

Satoshi was watching the whole scene quietly, wondering why Aiba was so stubborn to work before Ninomiya told him to come inside the car fast. He didn’t agree with both Aiba and Ninomiya but he was losing the fight when Aiba told him again firmly that he refused to get  treatment. He never thought that someone like Aiba who had shown great and cheerful personality could be so uncharacteristically stubborn. He wondered what made the work so important that Aiba couldn’t miss it even when he was sick? It was really absurd, thought Satoshi. Ninomiya should have stopped him but he didn’t. And he was disappointed to himself too for not insisting to Aiba that he should skip work today.

Ninomiya wasn’t lying when he made a U-turn and went in the other direction. Satoshi stayed on his seat quietly, just looking at Aiba, who was now leaning back and face turned outside the window. Satoshi told himself, maybe this time they needed to let Aiba do as he wished.

Somewhere on the road, Ninomiya made a call telling whoever was on the other line to prepare. When they stopped, Aiba’s sweaty hand opened the door and a few people already rushed towards him to help him and bringing him inside the building.

“Prepare his makeup. We’ll need to do this fast,” Ninomiya instructed like a boss.

Satoshi was looking at the little chaos dumfounded. Two vans arrived and he saw a few guys come out carrying props. Some of them were carrying more equipment in boxes towards the building. Ninomiya pulled him towards his car before he could see any more. Ohno was quiet the whole way when Ninomiya drove him back.

Satoshi was waiting for Aiba to come home with baited breath. He was nervous the whole day, he couldn’t do any work besides sitting on the couch and staring at nothing or pacing around the house.

It was already ten in the evening when Satoshi heard a car coming in. He rushed toward the car and fetched Aiba who was looking exhausted. Ninomiya helped him carry Aiba inside. When they dropped Aiba on the couch, Ninomiya sighed, looking at Aiba with a mixture of affection and resignation. He turned to Satoshi.

“He had a successful shooting today, despite everything. Ah, this idiot, still giving everything even when he’s sick. So Ohno-san, please take care of him for me, yeah?”

Perhaps, the question had shown on Satoshi’s face when Ninomiya smiled at him, squatting beside him to touch Aiba’s face.

“He was filming a threesome today,” Ninomiya stated casually, staring at Aiba fondly.

Satoshi stared at Ninomiya and then Aiba before going back to Ninomiya again. A threesome? What kind of –

“Oh.” Satoshi widened his eyes when he realized what Nino meant. Ninomiya was looking at him with the expression that sought for Satoshi’s understanding.

“He’s a porn actor, if you didn’t know yet. In fact, quite a successful one. It’s been eight years, but the demand for him never stopped. Just look at how dedicated he is. Sometimes I think he works too much. But he doesn’t want to stop, so who am I to stop him, right?”

Satoshi went quiet. He was still processing the information. Aiba was indeed an actor but it just never occurred to him that he was in the AV industry. Satoshi didn’t know what to think.

“Don’t look down on him…” Ninomiya said, staring at Satoshi intensely like he would fight Satoshi if he made fun of Aiba and his job. Satoshi had wondered why Ninomiya had suddenly become protective of Aiba. Then he assumed, perhaps, he’d seen Satoshi’s change of expression on his face.

“I’m not--I’ll never--” Satoshi found himself saying. And truthfully, he found that Aiba’s job didn’t bother him that much. Aiba was a porn actor, so what? It was his choice, right?

“Aiba has found a good person in you, then,” Ninomiya remarked after he was convinced that Satoshi didn’t feel disgusted towards them. Somehow it made Satoshi flush. His hand went to brush Aiba’s hair that was stuck on his face. His breathing was still laboured, but the fever was down considerably compared to his situation in the afternoon.

“I’ll leave him in your care. He has two days off. Here’s his medicine. He had taken some this evening already,” Ninomiya said while handing over the medicine inside a plastic bag. He stared at Satoshi before he looked around the house for a second.

“I can’t believe at first that he’s renting this place. I told him that he was just wasting his money. But I guess it’s makes him happy. I could see it on his face for the past few weeks. Turns out that he’s got a friend that care for him in this house. So goodnight, Ohno-san.” Ninomiya bid him goodbye but his comment made Satoshi frowned instead because Ninomiya had revealed something shocking to him.

“Oh, before I forget, don’t mention to him that I’m telling you all these.” Ninomiya waved at him and gave him a wink before he disappeared.

Satoshi was still staring at the door a good five minutes after Ninomiya was gone.

Aiba is renting this house? Which means that Aiba is the current owner?

But why did he say that he’s being hired too?

Why is he lying to him?

Satoshi stared at Aiba. Too many questions but no answer as long as Aiba was still sick. He didn’t know what Aiba’s purpose of lying was. What did he get from this? But then he found that he couldn’t get mad at Aiba. He told himself that Aiba might have his own reasons. Until he heard from Aiba himself, he would reserve his judgement. He was indeed a little bitter that he had been lied to, but Aiba was the only one who had been with him these past few weeks, and from his general attitude, he could gather that Aiba was a genuinely good person. He was someone who had little to no amount of badness inside of him. He knew fully well that Aiba would never harm him.

He kneeled beside Aiba. His hand wiped away the little beads of sweat that was forming on Aiba’s forehead. As he stared at his face, he came up with a conclusion; he needed to put aside his bitter feelings that Aiba was withholding information from him. He was also convinced that he didn’t care whether Aiba was an AV star or just a simple actor. He would never scoff at Aiba for having that kind of job. Despite the feelings for Aiba that had been growing inside him, he genuinely believed that Aiba was his friend. His only friend. And he didn’t know what he would do if he couldn’t see Aiba again. Finding a wet towel and patting it on Aiba’s forehead, Satoshi prayed deeply that Aiba would get well again.

He also found that he couldn’t leave Aiba alone on the couch. What if Aiba needed anything? After making sure that Aiba was comfortable in his blanket, Satoshi laid on the carpet beside him and closed his eyes. It took time for him to sleep but eventually sleep caught him.

It was around ten o’clock in the morning when Satoshi stirred. Immediately, he turned around to find Aiba was lying on his side, still on the couch staring at him.

“Good morning!” he greeted in a rather rough, yet cheerful voice.

“Good morning…” Satoshi answered. He frowned, trying to detect whether Aiba was just faking his cheerfulness. He was sure that Aiba was still looking rather pale. So, he got up and reached for Aiba’s face to feel his forehead. Aiba was grinning at him, eyes dancing in amusement but he let Satoshi do whatever he wanted.

“I’m well now, Oh-chan.”

Satoshi had to agree that the fever had subsided but he wasn’t sure whether Aiba had fully healed. When Aiba wanted to rise from his lying position, Satoshi stopped him. Aiba let out a little protest but he complied when Satoshi was still looking unconvinced to let Aiba run around the house.

Aiba was the master of the house. Satoshi couldn’t let Aiba do the job that he was supposed to be doing alone. Aiba needed to be cared for. He had failed to keep Aiba healthy before, and he didn’t want to repeat his mistake.

Within half an hour, Satoshi had already prepared Aiba a bowl of porridge and miso soup. Satoshi didn’t really know whether they were alright, his cooking skill was still much left to be desired. But Aiba seemed to be liking them. He finished them within five minutes!

When Aiba finished his bath, Satoshi was already preparing him his pyjamas. Aiba was looking at him weirdly but he wore it without question. Satoshi forced him to just stay in bed.

“Ninomiya-san told me you got two days off,” he told Aiba, making Aiba shut up.

After making sure Aiba took his medicine, he walked towards the door.

“Where’re you going Oh-chan?” Satoshi stopped on his feet. He looked at Aiba who had patted the space beside him, wanting Satoshi to stay and accompany him. He wanted to say that perhaps it wasn’t appropriate for them to be that close when he was just an employee to Aiba. And perhaps he shouldn’t call him Oh-chan, but he didn’t want to reveal that he already knew about the truth yet. Not now, he said. He would confront Aiba later, when he was well enough.
Satoshi cleared his throat. “Umm… I’m going to do some work…”

He closed the door as fast as he could and leaned against it, sighing a little. As much as he wanted to set aside his current feelings of the situation, he found it rather hard not to think about it. It would get so awkward after this.



Part Five