Later that day, Ren met up with two of his best friends, Rhea and Zeke at the abandoned park near their campus — their usual spot under a sun-bleached tree near the wornout, paint-peeling benches. They were mid-way through sodas and gossip when Zeke suddenly tilted his head at Ren.
"Okay," he said. "We need to talk."
Ren blinked. His eyes narrowed. "Sounds ominous."
"You've been weird, dude," Rhea told him. "Like... off. Distracted. Moody. More than usual."
Ren scoffed. "Wow, thanks."
Zeke leaned forward. "Seriously, bro. You've been dating Violet for months now, and the last time I checked, you're gay."
"She'll kill you if she ever hears you calling her Violet," Ren told Zeke who groaned.
"Ren." Rhea warned. "No matter how hard you try, you aren't getting out of this without giving us an answer."
Ren looked away. "Why are you talking about this now?"
"Because we thought it wasn't serious at first." Rhea's voice softened. "Wait. Is it… some sort of cover-up thing?"
"No."
"Then what is it?" they chorused in perfect sync, like they'd rehearsed the question beforehand. Fuckers.
Ren didn't answer.
They waited.
He swallowed tightly, nervous. For a moment, he almost told them everything — how Jeff, the man who is his everything was Vi's father, how Vi was just a bridge to get to him, how he would go to any lengths to punish Jeff, and finally, how he knew what he was doing was fucked up but needed to be done as it was the only way.
But instead, he chuckled — brittle and empty. Fake. "I like her. She's… different."
"You? Like a girl?" Rhea asked carefully.
Ren shrugged. "Yeah."
"Dude, that's not what you said when you came out to us in high school," Zeke said gently.
"You were sure, Ren," Rhea added just as gently as Zeke. "You said– you said you couldn't even fake it."
Ren stood up, brushing his jeans. "People change."
"Yeah, maybe people do change, Ren," Rhea muttered. "But not like this."
He looked at her. Then– "Did your brother come back yesterday?"
He changed the subject entirely, and they didn't push after that. The subject died the quick death it probably deserved.
Zeke's head snapped to Rhea so fast his neck almost snapped. "Your brother is back? Your brother as in... Solo?"
"Yeah," replied Rhea softly, so un-Rhea-like.
"Goddammit, why didn't you tell me, Rhea? Did he do something to you again?" His anger abruptly switched to concern as he surveyed her face, hands, body. "Are you okay? Were you hurt?"
"I'm fine, Zeke. Ren handled him for me."
Relief washed over his features. "Oh, thank fuck! Okay. But why didn't you call me?"
"You had an exam today, didn't you?"
"She didn't want to burden you the day before your exam," Ren told Zeke. "Chill, man."
Ren's phone suddenly rang, and when he dug it out of his pocket, he made an annoyed face – one that didn't go unnoticed by his friends. They looked at each other questioningly.
He walked a few steps away from them, cleared his throat, and answered, "Hey, babe."
While he talked on the phone, Zeke had Rhea tell him everything that had happened the previous day from beginning to end.
Then after a minute and a half of talking on the phone with Vi, Ren returned to his friends, still on the phone, and gestured to them that he was leaving, going to Vi.
They nodded, fist bumped, and turned to leave, but not before he caught the concerned look painting both their faces.
As he jogged away, Ren knew he was slipping, getting agitated easily. He was moody, like Rhea had said. The reason for that was because the line between who he was and what he was doing had blurred.
And he knew... one wrong move would expose everything.