In the end, Kai called his mother back on Wednesday. Talking to her always put him in a bad mood. The only thing he could do was getting over it as soon a possible.

"Elaine is getting married next month. As you know, of course. I don't understand why you haven't confirmed your invitation yet. I assumed that you must be busy, so I did it for you. You don't have to stay for the party, but you should be present at the ceremony." Elaine was his cousin and a nightmare, who Kai had to handle all his childhood. She was a bully and a person who happily outed him to everyone in his family at their Christmas dinner when he was only fifteen. She also became a good friend of Nolan with the time. They grew close when he occasionally visited Kai's family.

"I'll think about that. I have no reason to be there. It's not like we've ever been close to each other." Kai sat on the sofa in the living room, holding a cup of tea, staring at the silly TV show and hoping to end this topic as soon as possible.

"She is your family, and you should respect that and be there on such an important day for her. There is no harm in that, and there will be many other people who would love to see you."

"Who?" No one ever called him to ask how was he. Only his siblings would send him an occasional message.

"For example, your grandparents also don't forget about twins. They haven't seen you in ages. Do you want them to forget that they have a brother? You never come to visit, or maybe you don't care about that?" Kai put the glass on the table. He stayed silent, trying to even out his breath.

They should be somewhere in the last years of high school, judging by the age gap between them.

"I may come home then, but I can't promise I will attend the wedding." He sighed.

They hung up, and Kai went to take a nap feeling mentally exhausted.

Kai grew up in a family where you couldn't show your feelings, and no one showed them to him either. His nanny was the closest person to him before he and Noah were old enough to look after each other. Without the support of his family, Kai learned to take care of everything for himself. This annoyed Noah, who wanted Kai to rely more on him. The twins were different. They always had each other. It was the reason he didn't think so much about them. He felt that they didn't need him.

In the afternoon, Kai was rambling around his workroom, sorting out the items and works. Putting canvas in order, drawings in the black boxes, notebooks and small assignments separately. He went through all those forgotten pieces of art, which Kai could tell were good. He started to feel tired as he spent there a good couple of hours. Occasionally, staring at the beautiful watercolour landscapes, oil modern abstractions or cute animal drawings they left for eachother on their notes with Nolan. He wondered if Nolan kept them or threw them away. The cleaning process had a healing touch on his mind but also brought memories full of nostalgia. Kai looked at his dirty tracksuit and decided to take a shower and finish cleaning the following day.

The moment Kai got up from the floor, the doorbell rang. He walked out of the workroom heading to the main door.

"Hi! Can I come in?" Blond head picked out of the door.

"Sure." Kai let Noah in and started walking to the living room.

"I had to hand over my work to the professor, so I decided to come by. Hope you don't mind?" Noah followed him and collapsed on the sofa.

"I don't mind, and you are already here." Kai chuckled, shaking his head while he noticed that Noah completely ignored him. 

"Doing that assignment about poetry was such a pain. I'm not good at that, like at all. I like to write actual stories, you know. I'm so glad it's finally over." He sighed loudly, and Kai noticed how tired Noah looked when he rested his head on the sofas' backrest.

"Good, now you can celebrate. I need to take a shower. Just wait here. Help yourself if you want anything to drink." Kai started heading to the bathroom, stopping by his bedroom to grab some loose sweatpants and a plain t-shirt.

"Sure, should we order some food?!" Noah, bend over the sofa arm and shouted so Kai could hear him.

"Yeah, that would be great. Choose something for both of us, and I'll be back soon." Kai came to the living room, Holding his clothes, and soon after he answered Noah, he was gone. He picked some of Kai's favourites from a Chinese restaurant, and later on, they heard the doorbell rang.

"Finally! I'm starving." Noah quickly jumped from the seat and run over to the door to pick up the order. Kai brought plates, and they divided portions between eachother.

"Are you planning on starting to paint again? I was wondering since you mentioned cleaning your workroom." Noah nervously stared at Kai, waiting for the response.

"I don't know yet. I've tried a few times, but I can't paint. My mind is going blank, and I don't know what to do. I was hoping that reorganizing and going through my stuff will trigger something and... and maybe." He sighed. "I don't know, but I want to try." Noah gently smiled at him and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"I know. It is hard to start again after such a long time. Keep trying, and one day it will come naturally." Kai smiled at these words, hoping it will happen sooner than later.

They ate in silence when Noah received a message. After exchanging a few texts, he grinned widely at Kai, who put the dishes into the dishwasher.

"What?" Confused as he was, Kai looked at him, holding a plate and trying to guess what is on his mind.

"Maybe we can celebrate after all. Leo is at the University, and he can come over. We can ask him to get some beers, or we can go out if you want." They didn't talk with Leo for a couple of days as he was busy with the assignments.

"I don't mind if he wants to come. I prefer to stay at home instead of going out. I'm too tired for that." Kai finished cleaning after dinner, and in the meantime, Noah called to Leo with directions to the flat. A half an hour later, Noah got up to open the door when he heard the bell rang.

"Hi! I hope it wasn't too complicated to get here?" Noah opened the door to let Leo in. Kai was sitting on the sofa, staring at the TV. He flipped his head to the side to look at Leo, followed by Noah and waved at him.

"No, no. It's quite easy. I didn't get lost, don't worry." Leo sat on the sofa while putting beer cans on the coffee table. "What are you watching?" He looked at Kai, handing him over a beer.

"Nothing really, we started a new mini-series on Netflix. Thanks." He grabbed a can and got up to get some glasses.

"Do you want one? Leo motion the cans on the table to Noah, who was putting some frozen pizza in the oven. Mainly for Leo, as he just came from Uni, starving.

"Sure, I will get one in a second. Should I put it on ten or fifteen minutes?" He looked confused at the two of them sitting on the sofa.

"Just put on fifteen. I'm not sure if ten is enough," Kai said. "It's written on the box.." Leo added, looking from behind of Kai's shoulder.

"Just shut up, Leo. Otherwise, I'll put on twenty, and you will eat charcoal. I'm not any good at cooking." He sat on the armchair on Kai's side and opened his beer.

"That's why we do take away," Kai murmured, focused on Tv series.

"You can cook, but you don't like it." Noah shook his head, drinking his beer. "I suck at it."

"You can cook?" Leo asked Kai, more stating the fact he just overheard. "Yeah, not too well, but still better than Noah."

"I got a feeling anyone is better than Noah." Leo smiled playfully and shifted in his seat, moving closer as he reached for another can. The sofa wasn't big, but the glass table where beer was on his left forced them to sit next to each other, and Leo took advantage of that. Kai laid slightly to his left, happy that the man on his right side felt comfortable being this close with him, but he didn't want to make things in between them awkward.

"I shouldn't drink a lot today. I still have one more article to write." Leo mentioned taking a sip from the glass. "It's fine. I am not a drinker myself," Kai said.

"I'm glad that my assignments are finished for now." he turned to look at Kai. "Can I stay overnight? I don't want to leave my car to come back to get it tomorrow." Noah more stated than asked.

"Sure," Kai said, changing TV for some radio station.

"Oh! I just remembered that you are the artist. Do you mind showing me your works? I am curious about them from the day you have mentioned it." Leo turned his head from the TV to look at Kai with his green eyes, now sparkling with excitement.

"I'm not sure..." Showing your work to someone comes together with exposing yourself to possible criticism, and Kai wasn't sure if he was ready for that. Deep down, he knew Noah wouldn't let Leo say anything too harsh to him, but that doesn't change the fact that Kai wanted Leo's opinion. Leo was one of the few people Kai desired to impress. The eventual rejection of his work, into which he has put some part of himself, will hurt as the rejection of himself.

"I'm sure I will like it. Noah told me how brilliant you are, and some of your works are still in the art department hanging." Leo smiled warmly, trying to be as much convincing as he could.

"Really?! I didn't know about that," A warm feeling began to burn in his chest. He took part in some competitions at the University, sometimes taking decent places. Some he won, some he received a distinction and his professor decided to hang these paintings at the faculty exhibition. Kai thought they had removed them after his graduation.

"Yes, I have seen them, and I like your style. I would love to see even more. If you don't mind, of course." Kai thought for a while, and Noah just stared at him, a small smile climbing on his lips from time to time. He waited in silence for Kai's decision.

"Okay." Kai got up from the bed leading the two to his workroom. "I'm not sure if looking at the art after two beers is a good idea." He opened the door and let them in. He moved the chair from the desk and sat comfortably, looking at both of his friends' reactions. It wasn't the first time people had seen his work at his place. However, it was the first time he had shown it to someone else after Nolan had moved out. It felt as if he had shown his proud and shameful side at the same time.

"If you are worried I will damage anything, I can reassure you that I am not drunk." Leo looked around and reached out to the first canvas from the table.

"Two beers is like lemonade for a grown-up man." Noah leaned on the door frame and looked at Leo, who started shuffling through the canvas.