Falling | Mxm (Completed) Chapter 20

Edited✔️

Edwin was currently watching Aiden’s performance in one of the awards shows that was broadcasted live.

In fact, they were all watching it while eating dinner in the dining room. It had been around 10 days since Aiden had left. The other had kept his promise and called him three-four times, texting when he had the time, but mostly he had been busy to death. The very day he got discharged, Luis picked him up to go to the recording studio. He hadn’t visited yet, but he had an appointment in 2 days and they would test his blood and everything to see if he had stayed clean. Edwin wished dearly that he had, but he had his doubts.

The performance was over and Aiden had killed it, the whole stadium singing along whether they were his fans or not. By the end of the night, he won 5 awards. He was smiling one of his genuine gummy smiles while receiving them and Edwin couldn’t help but feel happy about the rare, real smile on the singer’s face.

“Yas! He deserves those awards so bad. He’s a killer!” Lili screamed next to him. She was somehow overexcited today.

Edwin looked at her with amusement and laughed. “Yeah. He does.”

“I can’t believe that fucker didn’t sing even one sentence for us while he was here.” Lucas said in an irritated tone.

“Sometimes I wonder how you got this job with that tongue of your, Lucas.” Chad teased him. And the nurse just shrugged before breaking into a smile. Vincent smiled too, looking at the nurse. “I think I should give him the last song I made. I really want someone to sing it.” He said suddenly, shocking everyone around cos not many people knew what he did before.

“You should talk about it with him when he visits, Vin! I’m sure he’ll love it.” Lili told him. Vincent nodded.

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Edwin had gotten home an hour ago and was now lying on the bed after taking a shower. He unlocked his phone and went through his messages. There weren’t many, but he replied to them quickly and switched to his Instagram feed. Rolling down, he saw Aiden had uploaded a new post. The caption was ‘Thank you for these beautiful awards. I love you all, you know that, right? p.s.: who’s ready for a new album?’

Edwin commented a quick ‘Congrats!’ and rolled through the rest of his feed. Getting bored and deciding to sleep, he put his phone on the stand. As soon as he closed his eyes, a notification sound buzzed. Taking his phone, he saw an unknown number.

“how was I? Did you enjoy it?”

‘Ah… who is this?’

“Oh shit sorry. It’s Aiden. This is my other number.”

‘Oh hey Aiden. You were amazing. We all watched it.’

“Yeah? Lili too? Wow she really came out of her room?”

‘Yes Lili too.’

“Thanks for the comment btw. Sorry I can’t follow you back!”

‘Nah it’s fine. I forgive you :D’

“Can’t you just use the damn emoji instead of a : and D ?!”

‘No -_- Gotta keep history alive :p’

“Stubborn! Listen I gotta go now. Sweet dreams Bluewin.”

‘Night night Aiden.’

The next morning Edwin woke up to videos of last night’s after-party of the award show and his heart sank after watching this specific one: Aiden and this other guy having a beer contest.

Edwin didn’t know how he was supposed to feel, but he knew he felt angry. He had told him to not take anything and here he was inhaling an inhumane amount of beer as soon as he set foot out of the hospital. Well, now he knew how his blood test was going to be like!

Today was the day Aiden was supposed to come to the hospital, but it was already 4 PM and he was supposed to be there at 2, so they all assumed he just wouldn’t come. But when the clock showed 4:01, two men entered the hospital. One of them an old man and the other Aiden with sunglasses on. They went straight to Chad’s office. The head doctor paged Edwin and when he entered the room, the atmosphere was so heavy it could be cut with a knife.

Aiden was just sinking in one of the farthest armchairs at the corner of the room, with no emotions on his face, wearing a pair of very dark glasses.

“Hi, Mr. Evans. Long time no see!” He greeted Aiden’s father.

The old man smiled and shook his hand. “I apologize. I’ve been too busy with work. Plus, it’s not like this boy would let me come here often.”

Edwin looked at Aiden, but the guy was just looking out of the window. Something felt terribly wrong.

Chad was the one to break the silence. “So how have you been, Aiden?”

The singer didn’t move or react at all. Just let out a simple ‘good’ while staring at something outside.

“Have you experienced any breakdown or severe sadness?”

“No.”

“Have you taken anything?”

“No.”

Edwin’s blood started boiling upon remembering that video and the fact that Aiden was lying right now.

Chad was about to ask something more when Mr. Evans interrupted him. “Why did you discharge him so soon, doctor? He hasn’t been treated fully yet.”

“His treatment period was up and he wanted to be discharged. His mental health has improved greatly.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t see any difference. To me and his mother, he is just the same as before.”

Aiden chuckled and shifted in his seat, fiddling with his fingers. Edwin walked over to him and sat on the arm of the chair, putting his palm on Aiden’s shoulder. It’d maybe help him relax a little.

“Can you tell me why you think he’s the same?” Chad asked gently.

“Well… he is as ignorant as he was, and he still has his short temper. His brother had to make him visit last night after almost 12 days of being discharged and he started a fight after only being there for 20 minutes.”

“Can you stop talking about me like I’m not there? If you have anything to say, just say it to me. These people are not here to listen to your complaints.” Aiden spoke fast but in a deep voice, looking at his father.

“Didn’t you run out of the house last night when I tried to talk to you, though? This is the only place I can talk because you can’t escape from here.”

Aiden chuckled sarcastically. “These people have a rule stick up their asses. They know they can’t stop me if I walk out of this door right this instant.”

“Thank you for referring to us like that, Aiden, but why don’t you wanna talk with your father?” Chad asked in a soft voice.

Aiden inhaled harshly and looked outside again. “Because all they ever do is complain.”

“Why is it so much to ask for you to come home every once in a while and not act like a completely ignorant individual 24/7? You always run away and as your father, I want you to be there.”

“You’re not my father.” Aiden said in a low but firm tone and stood up, walking to the door. “Do you want that blood test or not? Come on, Edwin.” He left the room, and with Chad’s permission, he followed suit.

He walked silently behind Aiden until they reached his office and the older sat on the couch. Edwin was looking at him while getting the stuff he needed for the blood test ready.

“Why the glasses?”

“I’m hungover. Lights hurt.”

“Huh.”

Aiden raised his head from the backrest and looked at him. “What’s ‘huh’ supposed to mean?”

“It means you started drinking the minute you were out. So, huh.” Edwin said, walking and sitting next to him.

Aiden followed him with his eyes. “I haven’t taken any drugs. But I couldn’t help the alcohol. Sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“For disappointing you.” After this, Aiden hung his head low, looking at his thighs silently. Edwin was taken aback by the reply, so he just stared at the other for a couple of seconds before getting to his job. He took the blood without any problem, labeled it, and put it in its place on the small desk next to the couch.

“You shouldn’t be sorry for disappointing others, Aiden. You should be sorry for not treating yourself well. Why did you even feel the need to drink? What was the trigger?”

“Oh please don’t go all doctor-ish on me, Edwin. What was the trigger? Life outside was the fucking trigger. You don’t know cos you’ve locked yourself in this place and can only talk heavenly quotes of a perfect world that doesn’t exist.” Aiden paused as if surprised by his own sudden outburst and loud tone.

“Sorry. Fuck, I’m sorry.” He said, taking Edwin’s hand and squeezing it. He took off his glasses and frowned upon the lights hurting his eyes, but looked at Edwin intently. “I didn’t mean to say that. I’m really sorry.”

“You didn’t mean what you said to your father as well, or did you? Do you see what the alcohol is doing to you already? You weren’t like this while being clean, no matter how angry you were.”

“That’s… that’s a totally different story. I meant what I said, but maybe not in that much of a hostile tone. He is a good person but-”

“He’s not your father.” Edwin completed his sentence.

Aiden stared at him and nodded shortly, still holding on to his hand tightly.

“Wanna talk about it?” He asked carefully. The other looked around the office, searching for a distraction and finding nothing.

“There’s nothing to talk about. He’s not my father, and that’s that.” He stood up, letting go of the doctor’s hand. Before leaving the room, he turned around. “Tell him to wait while I visit Vin and Lili, please.”

It’d been an hour since Aiden had gone to the second floor and Chad told Edwin to go get him down. Edwin went to Lili’s room first, but it was empty, so he headed to the singer’s old room. When he entered, the first thing he did was to take his phone out and take a picture cos it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. Aiden was in the middle of the other two, Lili on his right and Vincent on his left. They were asleep, but a movie was playing on the laptop at the bottom of the bed. Aiden was sitting with his back against the headrest. Lili had her head on his shoulder and his right hand in hers and Vincent had his head on Aiden’s lap while Aiden’s left hand was in the boy’s hair. Edwin wanted to just look at them forever like that cos the three of them had the most peaceful expressions when being asleep. None of the usual sadness was on their visuals and it was a beautiful sight to see. But he had to wake him up cos Aiden had to go back. He called the older’s name quietly since he knew the other two weren’t light sleepers, and with enough hope, Aiden could get out of bed without waking them up. As he expected, Aiden opened his eyes after a small shake of his leg and looked at the doctor in question. Edwin mouthed ‘time to go’ to him. The singer tried to move but was caged by two limbs around his body. Edwin noticed how Aiden laughed quietly, seeing how he had two koalas attached to him. With much effort and Edwin’s help, the older was free. Making the two sleep properly on the bed and turning off the laptop, Aiden placed a kiss on each of their foreheads and gestured for Edwin to leave.

“What a lovely love triangle. I even have it on tape!” He showed his phone screen to Aiden shortly.

The other’s eyes widened before a mischievous smirk appeared on his face. “You were missing, though. We could have been a love square.”

“Ugh, that was as bad as a dad joke, Aiden!” Edwin teased him. “Did Vincent tell you about his song?”

“Yeah, I transferred the file to my phone. Gonna listen to it tonight. He is a genius. Such a waste.”

“Yeah… well, the time has come for us to part again. Be gone.” Edwin teased him again and placed his arm on Aiden’s shoulder, who was now standing in front of him with a pouty face.

“Your lips say one thing and your body says another, though.” He pointed at the arm that was heavily holding onto his shoulder.

“Lips are a part of the body, though!” Edwin said and noticed how Aiden’s eyes focused on his lips after he mentioned them. Looking away after a short moment and blinking a few times, the other cleared his throat and looked at him again. “So, guess I’ll see you around then.” He took Edwin’s arm down from his shoulder, taking the hand in his, squeezing shortly before letting go and heading outside to where he spotted his father/ not father’s car with the old man standing next to it.

Edwin was feeling strange. Did Aiden just stare at his lips and panic afterward? But why!?