Chapter 43: Another dinner date [2]
"What happened?" Rikard’s thoughtful voice echoed in Knox’s ears, temporarily drowning the sounds of his drumming heart. He faked a smile and slightly turned his body away from the couple’s direction as if it would erase his presence and make Azrael forget seeing him.
He pushed Rikard’s hands away and replied shakily, "I’m fine. The food just...just went down the wrong pipe."
Rikard went back to his seat and said, "If you don’t like it, we can order something different."
Knox shook his head hastily, "No, no. This is good. This is fine."
Rikard furrowed his brows from witnessing Knox fiddling with his food and seemingly uncomfortable. He couldn’t help but think, ’He looked fine just earlier. I wonder what happened?’
He cleared his throat and opened another conversation, "I hope you won’t mind me asking, but I heard that you already had a child. Is that right?"
For a moment, Knox forgot his nervousness from Azrael’s presence because of that question. His hands stopped fumbling and they clenched. It seemed that he already knew where the conversation would go.
"Yes. A three-year-old boy," Knox answered without averting his eyes.
Perhaps, the man discerned his wariness, so he waved his hand and cleared the misunderstanding, "Oh, please don’t think otherwise, Mr. Arden. I asked because I, too, already had a child. So, I was thinking that we can talk about our children to make you comfortable at least."
Knox’s eyes widened in surprise, "You already has one too? I didn’t know! Here I was thinking how am I going to bring it up to you, hah..."
Rikard chuckled. He fondly gazed at Knox and responded, "It seems that you’re not interested in me enough to learn something about me before coming here. I’m kind of hurt," a goofy grin formed on his lips after witnessing Knox panicked and tried to refute him, but he added, "I asked about you around, so you can say I already know plenty of things about you. That’s why you don’t have to feel uncomfortable towards me. I’m hoping we can be friends if you don’t like moving fast. But I do hope that you know I like you, Mr. Arden."