Falling | Mxm (Completed) Chapter 70

Edited

Weeks passed, and the promotion for the single finally finished. The three artists went on an Asia and Australia tour, and that resulted in all three of them being more known than they were before, meaning more fans, more places to be, and less free time. Currently, it had been almost three months since the last time Aiden had been home.

Edwin was sitting on the floor in the practice room, waiting for his students to come. He had been teaching a class since last month. To say that he missed Aiden was an understatement. Now, he kind of knew why Ian was having such a hard time, and he went with this for so many years while they had been together for about 11 months now. His boyfriend was doing all he could, calling every day and texting in every little break he had, but it wasn’t enough. He even bought him tickets the times Edwin had a day or two off when Aiden himself was in a nearby state or country, and they would spend the little time they had in each other’s arms. The last time they had made love to each other at their home was the time they had sex by the window, which got Edwin mocked by Aiden later on. The older had laughed so hard at him the next day when he nagged about the possibility of someone having had seen them. After minutes of laughing, Aiden had told him that the glass was not see-through. Edwin had felt like such an idiot.

He found himself smiling, although it faded soon, and decided to check his phone to see if he had any new notifications from his lover. There wasn’t any. It was truly odd cos he hadn’t received a single message from Aiden during the last 23 hours, not that he was counting, but yeah, he kind of was. He was feeling uneasy about it, so he decided to call the ex to see if something like this was normal.

“Eddieeee, what’s up? Why didn’t you come to our place on Sunday?”

“Hey, Ian. Sorry, I had something to do and by the time I was done, it was already pretty late. Did you guys have fun?”

“Yeah… I mean, Sunday Funday, right?” He giggled. “Hold on a sec.”

This usually happened when they were talking over the phone. Ian would be interrupted by his employee all the time. After around 40 seconds of listening to their conversation about something Ian didn’t want to sign, and the other man insisting on it, he heard the happy pill of their group semi-shout and that was the end of that discussion.

“Ugh, some people really can’t handle being treated well. Anyway, why did you call?”

“Um… this might sound stupid, but Aiden hasn’t messaged me for like 24 hours now and I’m starting to get worried. He never does this.”

There was a short silence before the other man spoke again. “He might’ve just blacked out. You know, like the times he over-works himself and then his body shuts itself down so he sleeps for many hours. I just hope his stomach flu case isn’t on again.”

“Yeah, I thought about it at first too, but… I don’t know. I have this feeling. Ugh, ignore me, I’m being a spoiled cat nagging cos his boyfriend hasn’t given him attention.”

“Heeey, you ARE a kitten so… and if you’re a spoiled cat, then Den is your owner, not your boyfriend. Do you have a slave kink, Eddie?” There went the teasing again.

“How the fuck did our conversation turn this way?” He sighed, feeling defeated. He was shy when it came to talking about sexual things. It took him a great amount of time being okay around Aiden, showering together, and walking around naked and everything.

Ian laughed like the devil he was. “I’m sure he’s fine, baby. Don’t think too much about it. Oh! Look at the time. Don’t you have a class to teach, kitten?”

“One, don’t call me that. You know Aiden doesn’t like it. Two, yes I do. I hope it helps get my mind off of this horrible feeling.”

“Look at you being concerned about upsetting your boyfie. I do what I want though. He didn’t like being called bunny either, but he’s used to it now. Go and teach those kids some dope moves. Oh, and we’re gathering at Brad’s place tomorrow night. Don’t ditch us again.”

“Hmm, I know. Brad has threatened me in case of ditching already.” He chuckled at the memory of the guy telling him he should go or he would throw him at a wall.

It had been a long day. Teaching hadn’t made him feel better. Dancing or talking to Brad and other colleagues hadn’t helped, either. It had been around 36 hours now. He was going insane.

Edwin undressed completely, letting every piece of clothing fall on the ground, making a path as he made his way to the shower. He thought maybe taking a bath would help him feel better. Taking the glass of wine he had poured himself and placing it next to the bathtub, he turned the water on and waited until the tub was full. Glancing at the cabinet where the bombs were, he took a sky blue one that Aiden loved so much, although he himself preferred the ocean blue ones better.

After his body adjusted to the water temperature, he held his breath and went underwater. Being underwater, the feeling of floating and being unable to breathe somehow always made him calm down and think better. It had been maybe around 2 minutes already when a thought crossed his mind and his eyes opened wide. Feeling stupid as to why he hadn’t thought of it till now, he raised his body up and leaned back, taking his phone from the towel. The thought was: Check social media. The fans always knew everything. He hadn’t checked his social media the whole day yet. Maybe Aiden was busy doing something.

Twitter, Instagram, etc. No one knew anything. No one had seen him or posted any news about him. Then, when he was about to give up and lock his phone, he saw a tweet.

‘In last night’s concert, Aiden suddenly went backstage in the middle of the song. Patrick ran after him while Hyo continued singing his part. I don’t know why no one’s talking about this, but when he came back a song later, he had a band aid on his arm. I think they injected him with something to help him come back on the stage? I was in the front row and he came close to us, so I saw it. But you could tell he meant to hide it by his sleeve.’

The tweet had no hashtags, and it only had two likes, and maybe that was why no one really knew about it. But that was it for Edwin. This was enough for him to finally lose his mind.

Hurrying out of the bathtub, making a huge amount of water splash all over, he dialed Luis’s number and waited for him to pick up, chewing harshly on the inside of his cheek. The manager didn’t pick up. He called again, but nothing. After four times, he gave up. Tapping his foot on the ground, he remembered Joe was a good friend of Patrick’s, so he called him.

“Joe, could you send me Patrick’s number real quick?” He said as soon as Joe picked up.

“Woahwoah! What’s wrong?”

“Joe!” He realized that he had actually shouted, “I’m sorry, just send it. I’ll explain later.”

“O..kay…” He hung up, and not a second later, he received a message with the contact info.

Patrick picked up the second time.

“Hello?” His voice was tired and raspy

“Hi, this is Edwin. Aiden’s boyfriend. Do you know where he is?”

“Uhhh, why don’t you ask him that?!”

“Cos he hasn’t picked up since yesterday!” He was feeling really irritated. If he had no reason to dislike Patrick till today other than pure occasional jealousy, he had one now.

“Hmm, he didn’t feel well yesterday. Maybe he’s just resting or something. Do you want me to check up on him? No, don’t answer that. Now I’m worried as well. Let me just put something on.” He heard shuffling and seconds later, the sound of the door opening and then knocking.

“He’s not answering the door. Let me check on Luis.” And then knocking again.

“Edwin, Luis’s not answering either. Have you called him?”

“Yes. When was the last time you saw Aiden?” He tugged at the towel he had wrapped around himself.

“I haven’t seen him ever since the concert. I mean, we came back in different cars, so that was the last time…”

None of them spoke for long seconds. Edwin was losing his mind. He wanted to cry and slap himself and fly there right now. He felt so helpless like this.

“I’m gonna-” Patrick spoke again. “I’m gonna go ask my manager and the staff. I’ll call you if I find anything.”

“Okay. Thank you, Patrick.”

Thirty minutes passed, but the rapper didn’t call. Edwin had put on clothes and was going back and forth in the whole apartment. He had bitten on his lip so many times, he could taste the blood. Hearing his ringtone, he answered without looking at the name.

“Did you find anything?” He asked quickly.

“What?! Was I supposed to?” The other was confused.

“Oh, Joe…” Hearing Joe’s voice, he felt his whole self-control shatter into pieces. He had held himself together to be strong, but now that he was hearing one of their friend’s voice, it seemed like he could no longer stay composed. He felt his eyes getting teary and his heartbeat going faster.

“Joe, something’s wrong.” He sobbed into the phone.

“Ed, what’s wrong? Talk to me.” Joe’s voice went from confused to terrified in less than a second.

“It’s Aiden… He’s not in the hotel. He’s not answering his phone. Nor is Luis.”

“Is that why you asked for Patrick’s number?”

“Yes, he went to check on Aiden and Luis, but they’re not at the hotel. I’m losing my mind.” He swallowed hard, trying not to cry cos he had to stay strong. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe they were just exploring the city. Maybe they were sleeping in their hotel rooms, tired enough not to be awakened by the sound of knocking. But Aiden was a light sleeper.

“We’ll be there in a bit, Edwin, okay?”

“Okay,” He threw his phone on the kitchen counter and let himself fall on the chair nearby, his head hidden in the palms of his hands. He really wanted to just buy a ticket right now and fly to his lover.