Other Side of the Coin

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"Tell me again, why do I have to pay for these when according to Mei-chan you are rich as fuck?"

He was complaining but he already gave his credit card to the store clerk to pay for everything Laurie bought at the store.

"Well, this is what I am telling you. I will still use you in every way possible way I could as a punishment for what you did in the past."

"I thought you already forgive me about it?" he asked, flabbergasted at how she could change her mind in a snap.

"Forgiveness and atonement are two different things," she answered, writing the instruction for the store attendant on how she wanted them to send everything she shopped back to their hotel.

Andrei didn't say anything more. He would never win an argument with Laurie anyway. She has answers to everything. Something that would just end up annoying him.

"So, where to next?" he sighed in surrender.

"Did Bella send you a message? I'm already hungry so we should eat now."

Andrei pulled his phone from his jeans pocket to check if Bella sent a message but saw none. He shoved back his phone and shook his head to Laurie.

"Just tell her that we are in Matsugen in their main branch in Shibuya," she said, walking out of the store with the store attendant, lining both sides of the door, bowing in ninety-degree, wishing them a good day.

"Matsugen? But we need a reservation for that restaurant right? I had to book a reservation four months in advance in their store in New York." he shuddered at the thought of calling the said restaurant and asking if he can have a table for two.

"Who do you think I am?" she smirked smugly at Andrei.

He stared at her, and cocked his head to the right, "To be honest, I no longer know. The Laurie in the past … was quite different from the you now."

"Of course! What do you expect? People change, Andrei. Some for the best while others are —" she raised her hand to flag down an oncoming taxi.

He was mulling what Laurie said as they sat down at the backseat of the taxi that would take them to Matsugen, the world-famous Japanese restaurant.

He cast his eyes outside the window of the speeding taxi and recalled why he was here in Tokyo. He can seem to remember the reason why he chose to have a layover here before going home.

Was it just because he wanted to catch up with Laurie? Or was it because he wanted to see if Laurie was as affected as he is with the lies they spun many years ago.

He stole a glance over his shoulder to see Laurie bent over her phone. He sighed and returned his attention to the buildings outside. They were all towering them as they sped to their destination. He felt like those cold cemented buildings were mocking him.

He can clearly see that Laurie, despite still doing a lot of crazy things in her life, is no longer bound with the guilt of the past. It was just him who couldn't walk away from it.

And that realization is breaking his heart.

He was still caught with the ghost of the past. He went home to his mother but they still tip-toed around each other.

Gone were those days when his mother would call him her best friend because they used to tell each other secrets, except for the fact that he is gay and he has a partner since his university days. He never told his mother about it until he had to elope with Eric and ran away to Barcelona.

He eloped with Eric the same day Laurie was in Hong Kong having a bachelorette party with her friends, hence, the scandal went out of hand.

He was planning to leave the country quietly. He was expecting that her mother with her connection would do something to hide his eloping.

However, because Laurie having a bachelorette party while he ran away with a guy, was too much of a scandal, it was all over the place. It was messy and everyone wants to know the story.

His mother did nothing to cover up the story. Laurie went home to face the crazy paparazzi and come to think of it, Laurie laughed off but he wondered if she was really okay with what happened.

"Hey, Laurie. I know it is too late, but I just want to apologize that I left you on your own to face all those piranhas to attack you."

"I didn't have a hard time as much as your family did. Particularly with your parents. I mean, I was seen as a victim."

"But still, I know but your mother probably…"

"My mother was actually relieved. She never likes you to be my husband --"

"Excuse me?"

"What? She said you are too much of a Mama's boy to be a good husband." She scoffed at him. "It was one of the few times my mother and I agreed on something."

"You --you —"

"You are a Mama's boy Andrei. Everyone knows that. It was even assumed that you became gay because your mother smothered you too much."

"What the fuck?"

"You were surprised about it? You ran too far away; it didn't reach your ears how the public castigated your parents. They had to endure all the mockery and criticism but they didn't blame you for that, did they?

Andrei's stunned expression made her scowl.

"You thought being gay was your biggest mistake? Andrei, you got it wrong. When I told your father the truth that I knew you were gay, and we had lied to protect your secret, he was sad. He was never angry."

"I-I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't know. When did you come back home after that incident?"

"When my father was ambushed and was in a coma for two days," he muttered under his breath.

"And that was after what? A year? Two years?"

"Eighteen months and twenty-three days." His voice was pure agony and regret.

Laurie patted his thigh. "You know you are lucky. You still can apologize to your parents anytime. I would give anything in this world for an opportunity like that."

Andrei looked at Laurie being teary-eyed, and he remembered that the summer they were caught sleeping together in the living room of their summer house— that time Laurie was crying because she was full of guilt that she wasn't able to apologize before her father died.

He was indeed a good-for-nothing son and a terrible friend.

He pulled Laurie and his arms and whispered the sincerest apology he could muster.