(BL) Mafia Love; He who falls the hardest loses-Chapter 76: Cake

"Thank you," he looked into Haruki’s eyes and appreciated.

The warmth in those eyes was overflowing, making Haruki look away as he took a step backwards. Haruki responded to his appreciation with a slight nod. He walked to the cake and, pulling out his lighter, he leaned down to the cake and lit the candle.

To make the atmosphere fit properly, Hiroshi turned off the lights and walked to Haruki, who had begun singing the usual birthday song to him.

He wouldn’t call Haruki a very good singer, but his voice was more than pleasant to listen to. Hiroshi joined Haruki by clapping to the song.

"Happy birthday," Haruki said when he was done singing. He brought the cake higher as he added, "Make a wish."

Not just a wish, but so many wishes. There were so many things he wanted, so he closed his eyes and made those wishes. He was not certain it would have any effect or if they would come through, but he made those wishes, all the wishes, with his eyes closed.

Haruki looked at the man whose eyes were closed and continued to remain close as though the man was asleep peacefully, but while standing.

Haruki held the cake up even until his hands began to hurt. He looked at the man’s handsome features as he began counting. He had not expected the man to take so much time, or he would have begun counting as soon as the man closed his eyes.

He did not interrupt the man as he allowed him to wish all he wanted to wish, even as the candle began to melt and roll down. Just before the candle could melt to the cake, Hiroshi opened his eyes and blew the candles out.

Haruki tried to remember what number he stopped at, but he could not remember as he had lost count sometime staring at the man whose face was illuminated by the warm glow of the candle, reminding Haruki of the warmth of the man’s brown eyes.

The room was dark before Haruki snapped the lights on, and he was faced with the man standing so close to him. He reached towards the cake. Haruki thought he wanted to take the cake from him, but he fetched a bit of the cake icing from the cake and rubbed it on Haruki’s nose.

Haruki had been taken aback by that sudden movement as he tilted his head backwards, but the doctor was faster, considering that Haruki did not necessarily have his guard up against the doctor.

He moved his gaze to the doctor’s face. Hiroshi was smiling delightfully at him, his eyes brightened, and his dimple further beautifying the man’s already handsome face.

"You look so cute, shocked," Hiroshi commented, reaching to touch Haruki’s face with the remnant of the icing on his finger.

Hiroshi moved away from the man faster this time, but the doctor persisted until he rubbed the icing on Haruki’s cheek.

Haruki pushed the cake towards the man as he fought back the urge to smile. "Take it," he ordered calmly.

Hiroshi took the cake from him and placed it on the table. "I love the smell of birthday candles. What’s the flavour of the cake?"

"Vanilla," Haruki responded. "I asked for the most basic flavour, considering I didn’t know what you like," he added when he noticed a questioning look in the man’s eyes.

"I like vanilla, thanks," Hiroshi said as he reached for a fork on the table. He took a piece of the cake and chewed slowly as Haruki watched him. "It tastes divine. I like it, but I like this better." Hiroshi pointed at the icing on Haruki’s face as Haruki picked up a napkin to clean it.

He leaned forward, resting his hand on the table as he got closer to Haruki. Haruki leaned back, but he stopped his movement with a gentle but firm grip on the back of Haruki’s neck and pulled him closer.

He pressed his lips against Haruki’s nose and licked off the icing on his nose. Haruki tried to escape his grip, but he held on as his grip tightened a bit.

Haruki had no idea how to react under the man’s strong yet gentle control before the man licked the icing off his cheeks and released him.

"You see, I was right about it tasting better," Hiroshi smiled and said.

Haruki met the playful gaze of the doctor with a heated gaze as he bit his lower lip. This man was interesting, different from all his past lovers; he was beautiful and fun to be with. He would love more than anything else to keep the man by his side forever.

Something’s changed between them. Haruki was not sure exactly what it was, but he could feel a shift in the dynamics. He knew the argument they had as much as he had chosen to ignore and act as though it never happened, had changed something between them.

This, too, he could not confirm or pinpoint exactly what had changed, but it was there, he felt i,t, and he knew that something had changed.

He was not sure if he wanted a significant change between them, but he was okay with the way things were, even though it wasn’t certain that it would last long before the effect of the change became obvious.

All the man’s response to the surprise, including kissing the icing off his face, reminded him of his childhood.

When his parents were alive, and he got to celebrate his birthday as something to be celebrated, not just a day to bring together the second and third generation rich young men and women just like him together for some drinking, dancing and simple fun, he never got the chance to be a true part of it.

Putting the cake on his face, causing him to pout, was something his mother loved doing. She would laugh when he pouts and reach to clean it if he doesn’t do it himself. She would clean it off his face with her finger after taking a picture of his cute, angry face and lick it before saying, ’Why pout so much? Isn’t it just a bit of icing?’

Even despite his pouting look, every time she did it, she never skipped that tradition throughout all his birthdays he could remember, and Hiroshi did the same act, although the atmosphere was very different, and his actions and words were sensual.

Haruki smiled slightly, unable to hold it back, but Hiroshi, who was amazed to see the man smile sincerely, stopped his heart from rejoicing when he noticed that the man’s eyes were sad, as though his lips were lifted to form a smile.

He thought of a way to lighten the mood since it seemed the man was deep in thought, and whatever he was remembering did not look like they were happy memories.

"This can’t be all, right?" He leaned forward to take another mouthful of the vanilla cake before asking Haruki to disrupt Haruki’s thoughts.

Haruki moved his gaze back to Hiroshi, the memories getting forced to the back of his mind as he looked around the room for the gift box that would hold the man’s wristwatch.

"Wow, I was right. I just knew my birthday gifts would be more than a birthday cake," Hiroshi said with a carefree attitude, although that was far from how he truly felt.

He would have loved to tell the man blatantly that there was nothing else that could hold the value of what the man had given him, and even if he did not get anything more, he would be more than grateful and would cherish the memories forever.

However, there were words he could never say as long as they would make the atmosphere between them ambiguous.

He could not make Haruki suspect that he had feelings for him, and words like that would most definitely make Haruki suspicious.

He decided to be the materialistic lover who wanted more for his birthday, despite the obvious effort that had been put into setting this up for his birthday by someone as important as Haruki.

He knew well enough that Haruki did not decorate everything himself, but Haruki had read his message, responded in the way he did and showed no effort whatsoever towards joining him to celebrate. There was nothing he could do about it, but Haruki did, and he loves the fact that Haruki did.

He wanted to be a lover who loved to enjoy the things he was given by the man, and he would take it all to play that role very well; after all, it was part of the contract he signed. He was not the only one with obligations and rules to follow in the contract.

Haruki had to, and since it was an agreement between them that Haruki had set up, Haruki was doing what he promised to do in the contract, and that was spending lavishly on Hiroshi and responding to his request for help in any aspect of his life where Haruki could help him.

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