Chapter 115 - 112
[A FEW DAYS AGO.]
"Your relationship with Justin isn\'t really progressing much, huh?" Daryl said after taking a sip from his wine glass.
"Yeah... I don\'t really know what else I should do to make him love me back again," Tristan said as he stared at the wine, slowly moving his glass to get a whiff of its scent.
"I\'ve known Justin for years, Tristan. I\'m not saying this because you\'re my cousin, but I\'m sure he has feelings for you. He just needs a little push," Daryl said as he looked at Tristan who was busy playing with his wine.
"I doubt that," Tristan said, starting to become negative about it. "Ugh, I wanna hit you so bad.. I\'m telling you that\'s what\'s happening right now, okay? The problem with you is that you\'re showing him that you\'ll always be there no matter what," Daryl said as he rolled his eyes at his hard-headed cousin who wouldn\'t believe what he said.
"Isn\'t that how it\'s supposed to be? That\'s how I was before. I\'ve always been next to..." Before Tristan could finish what he wanted to say, Daryl cut him off.
"That\'s exactly the problem. I already said that earlier. Let me explain it to you, hmm?" Daryl said as he placed his glass on top of the bar counter.
They\'re currently at a bar Daryl frequents, talking about Tristan\'s love problems. He often talks to Daryl about it because it involves Justin, and no one knows Justin better than Daryl does.
"You see, when you do that, you\'re giving him the assurance that you\'re there and you wouldn\'t look at anyone else but him," Daryl started. "Of course, Justin is my best friend, but I\'m going to be blunt this time," he continued.
"Justin is the type of person who would keep testing the waters even though he already knows it\'s safe. He\'s scared of confronting things head-on, and that\'s probably one of the reasons why you started dating quite late before since he couldn\'t really confess his feelings to you," Daryl said and pursed his lips as he sighed.
"Also, don\'t forget that when you dated before, you were always the one who was taking an initiative. If Justin isn\'t in a situation where his place isn\'t threatened, he\'ll never make a move no matter what you do," he continued.
"What are you trying to imply?" Tristan asked as his forehead creased, squinting his eyes a bit as he looked at Daryl. "This is really one of the worst methods to get someone to admit that they have feelings for you, but you should probably keep a distance from him. By doing that, he\'d start overthinking it and his mind would be filled by you during that time. It\'s like pushing and then pulling. You were pushing before since you\'re pursuing him, and now, it\'s time for you to pull," Daryl said as he took the wine glass and took a sip from it.
"That would mean I\'d be manipulating him," Tristan said with a disapproving voice. "That\'s why I said it\'s one of the worst methods," Daryl shrugged.
Tristan sighed.
"What if it doesn\'t work?" the alpha asked. "I doubt that," Daryl said with a half-smile plastered on his face. "I\'m a hundred percent sure it\'ll work, but in case it doesn\'t, then you can start pushing again until he realizes his feelings for you," he continued.
Tristan paused for a while, thinking about what he should say and do.
He didn\'t really want to do what Daryl suggested, but he also didn\'t want to lose Justin again.
He started becoming threatened when he kept seeing Mark fawning over Justin, making him realize that he wasn\'t the only one who wanted to have Justin as a lover.
Torn between doing and not doing it, Tristan let out a long and heavy sigh.
"Hey, don\'t think much about it. I was just suggesting things. Besides, at the end of the day, you\'re the one who gets to decide what course of action you\'re going to go for," Daryl said as he raised his brows at Tristan. "If you want to do what I suggested, just call me and I\'ll set things up for you. I\'ll make sure the two of you will get the happy ending that was taken away from you before," he continued and smiled.
"Thanks."
[BACK TO PRESENT.]
Tristan didn\'t think that his decision to trust Daryl with it would actually work. He expected it to fail because he thought that he didn\'t have that much effect on Justin. In contrary to what he thought, he was kind of shocked when Justin gave into him that night.
And right now, he\'s even more shocked about how things turned out for him.
He\'s currently in the living room at Justin\'s apartment while the twins stared at him with judging eyes.
It has been a day since the twins saw their mommy and Tristan together, and this is the first time they\'re meeting each other.
Justin honestly told the kids that the man he was hugging that morning wasn\'t just a friend, but the twins\' father.
Of course, just as how any child their age would react, they were happy that they actually have a dad.
They were deprived of having both parents growing up, so it wasn\'t an undeniable fact that they\'re delighted to have a father.
However, upon remembering what they saw last time, Chester has concluded that Tristan is a rich man and that his mommy would get hurt, just like those scenarios that he has seen on TV.
"Why are you rich? You should be normal," Chester said as he pointed at Tristan. "Sweetie, it\'s not good to point at people," Justin said as he held his son\'s arm and pushed it down.
"A... Are rich people not n... normal?" Tristan stuttered as he spoke.
He was sweating cold beads of sweat and his entire body has turned cold from nervousness.
He wanted to meet them so bad the other day, but now that it\'s already happening, he\'s actually very nervous and scared that his children might not like him.
Based on how they were looking at him, he could already tell that they weren\'t very fond of him.
\'What did I do for things to end up this way?\' Tristan thought as he swallowed hard.
"I saw it on TV with Auntie Miemie! Rich people throw water at people\'s faces," Chesca said.
The things they have seen on TV have affected them a lot, and it made Justin come to a conclusion that they should watch less, as he listened to them talk.
\'They might pick up something bad from watching TV,\' Justin thought as he watched the twins bully Tristan.
Chesca was squinting her eyes while puffing her cheeks, showing that she was judging Tristan and that she didn\'t like him.
However, instead of feeling scared of her and getting more nervous, it had the opposite effect on Tristan.
A smile formed on his lips, and Chesca was taken aback because of it.
A thought popped into her head as she watched him smile.
\'I really want him to be my daddy. He looks very handsome,\' she thought as she hid behind Chester\'s back, suddenly feeling shy.
"I\'m not a bad person, Chesca. Daddy loves mommy so much. I won\'t hurt your mommy," Tristan said with a gentle smile on his face as his eyes slowly turned into a crescent while smiling.
"You\'re not my daddy!" Chester said as he frowned while still glaring at Tristan.
He expected Chesca to side with him, but the little girl ran towards Tristan and sat next to him on the sofa.
"Chesca, why are you there?" Chester asked with an expression that says that he\'s on the verge of crying. He felt betrayed that his twin who was supposed to side with him was on his enemy\'s side.
"He loves mommy, so he\'s my daddy now," Chesca said as she hugged Tristan\'s arm, making the alpha\'s heart melt. He was smiling from ear to ear as he felt his daughter\'s fragile and short arms around his torso.
Chester looked at his mommy, wanting him to scold Chesca.
From the way the twins acted, Justin couldn\'t help but try his hardest not to giggle or laugh at them. They looked so adorable that he can\'t help but smile. Another thing that made him smile so happily was because it seemed like Tristan and Chesca would become close to each other sooner or later.
When Chester saw that his mommy had a bright smile on his face, he felt kind of bad for treating their \'daddy\' like that.
He didn\'t speak for a while and just lowered his head while thinking about what he should do next.
He thought that his mommy looks so happy that their daddy is here, yet he still doesn\'t approve of him.
He felt bad for acting up like that.
Between the twins, Chesca seemed to be the type who would do that. This time, surprisingly, Chester was the one who was acting up.
He slowly stood up and Justin just watched and waited for what Chester is planning to do.
The little boy slowly walked towards Tristan and placed his hands over Tristan\'s knee. "I\'m sorry," he said as he pouted.
"... Daddy."