Chapter 60 - 59

Gideon woke up in cold sweat from that horrible nightmare. He just had a dark twisted expression because he could not tell why he kept dreaming of that parallel universe. And the fact that even his underwear was soiled got him to feel even more disgusting with himself.

He quickly got out of bed and began to change his clothes. He even changed the sheets because he just felt really dirty right now. But even then, he still had uneasiness in his heart.

"It's just a dream, Gideon... it's just a dream" he chanted to himself multiple times.

It was just only a dream but what terrifies him is the concept and the possibility of it becoming a reality. He knew that the original Gideon Lemery did have his ending omitted into a few words of "They made use of his succubus side". It was expected but still having it experienced first hand was something else.

He couldn't stay in this house today. Kaiden might visit today as well and he really wishes that he doesn't see him.

"Ugh the real person isn't even at fault" he says out of frustration.

He left the house and went into the shopping district. Perhaps being around more people will help him clear up his head. Since it was still winter, there weren't many people who are excited to go out. You would see a few kids playing in the streets building snowmen and having a snowball fight. While you see adults flocking to cafes and bars to warm themselves up.

He decided to check out a cafe instead of a bar. The idea of drinking during broad daylight can alone make Gideon utterly disappointed in himself. Upon entering the Cafe, there was a line to the register and the cafe seemed to be packed. Maybe he will just grab a coffee to go and drink it someplace else. When it was his turn to order, the barista told him to wait for a moment and yelled out a name.

"I'll just have a latte to go" He orders and the customer whose name got called earlier suddenly spoke.

"You can share a table with me if you want"

Upon looking to see who spoke, Gideon recognized this person instantly. It was the guy who gave him water after his first nightmare. It was Eliam.

'But it was a different name that was called earlier...'

"If you don't mind then I'll take up that offer"

Eliam smiled and pointed to one of the booths by the window. It was the comfortable chairs and Gideon thought inwardly that he must be lucky because those seats are always occupied.

"I'll just bring your order to you sir" the barista tells Gideon which was strange since he had been calling the customers to go to him instead but now he'll be the one to hand it to him?

"Alright thank you" Gideon followed Eliam to his table and sat down.

Eliam seems to have ordered coffee as well. As he sipped his beverage, Gideon just observed him quietly. Somehow Eliam protrude some kind of aura around him and yet everyone around him treated him as if he was just a random bystander.

"It's been a while since I last saw you in the Palace" Eliam puts down his macchiato and smiled at Gideon.

"yeah, I have cleared already so I can freely roam around again" Gideon smiled back to Eliam.

"But you still don't look well though? Did something happen?"

"Ah? Oh no, it's nothing. I was just thinking of something" Gideon lied that it was nothing. Everything that happened yesterday, as well as his dream last night, bothered him.

"If it can help, I can listen to you. I was told that I gave good advice"

Could Gideon confide in this person? After all, he was still a stranger nonetheless. But it feels like this turmoil inside of him would just worsen if he doesn't.

"Well, I have a friend who kind of fought with his other friend. This friend of his was rumored to have liked this girl but that girl unfortunately passed. So my friend commented that it was a shame since they did look good together. Then his friend suddenly got upset and when my friend tried to explain that he was only exploring the what-if scenarios. His friend suddenly walked out on him without explaining why he was upset to begin with."

Gideon ultimately decided to lay it out to Eliam under the guise of it happening to his friend and not him. He still continued to debate if he should ask about the nightmare but Eliam suddenly responded after trying to process what Gideon had told him.

"Well, I think the other friend had his valid reason as to why he got upset. A lot of people get upset when people assume how they feel" Eliam traced the rim of the coffee cup that he had been drinking from.

"It's just a misunderstanding between the two of you so I believe that if you apologized- Oh I'm sorry. If your friend apologizes then things would go back to how they were" Eliam continued and Gideon sighed since the guy still figured out he was talking about himself.

"You're right, I'll just tell my friend to do that" Gideon lowers his head.

"Clearly that's not all of your problems right?" Eliam asks him and Gideon looked to the side to observe the people. Should he talk about it?

"I just don't know how to word it"

"You don't have to tell me the contents of it. Just how you feel towards that problem of yours."

With that being said, Gideon finally decided to tell Eliam about his nightmare. But clearly, he will omit what happened in this nightmare.

"So my friend- Ah screw it..." Gideon muttered and gave up the whole "my friend" thing he's trying to do when Eliam clearly knows it's his own problem.

"So yeah I kind of had this nightmare of me and my friend. He did something" Gideon recalled it a little bit and went silent before continuing "terrible to me. And I don't know... I know it's not real but it felt true and I hated it" He clenched his fists and his eyes started to water a bit. "It feels disgusting and the worse part is that I'm blaming it onto him when he didn't do anything"

He did do something but he never had done it in reality. But his dream was too vivid that it felt real. No matter how Gideon tries to chant that it's just a dream, his feelings say it's not. Eliam grabbed the tissues on the table and handed them to Gideon for him to use.

"I know we had a misunderstanding yesterday but still this is too much" He cried. He was pretty sure that the people around him were staring at him. Probably making gossip at how this pathetic guy was crying in a cafe as if it looked like he was breaking up with his boyfriend or something. Eliam covered his mouth and lowered his gaze to the side.

"-overdid it..." Eliam mumbled to himself

"huh?" Gideon didn't hear the entire thing.

"I said that you might have stressed yourself too much about your other problem that it manifested into this nightmare as if you're trying to look for a reason to get back at him for suddenly getting upset with you"

"I don't think so... I would have just spoken to him about the other issue but this thing happened and I feel sick thinking that he'd visit me anytime he wants to and I can't do anything about it. It's kind of reminding me of that nightmare constantly and I don't want anything to do with him anymore" Gideon continued to cry and then out of nowhere Eliam holds out both of his hands.

"I seriously don't know how to comfort people but I do this to the kids that cry in front of me" he explains and Gideon was still sniffling.

"d-do what?"

"A magic trick. I can guarantee that it'll make you forget that you were crying"

He clapped his hand and when he opened it, there was a gem on his palm. He overlapped his hands and the gem was suddenly disappeared. He leaned in and it seems like he was about to grab something behind Gideon's ear. His hand touched Gideon's temple instead and he snapped his other fingers in his free hand.

"huh?" Gideon suddenly felt like he was in a daze.

"Hmm?" Eliam going along with this trick of his continued "You suddenly stopped speaking, what were you about to say?"

"What was I about to say?" Gideon seems to have forgotten a portion of their conversation.

"You were crying telling me about how the prince suddenly lashed out on you and walked out."

"I was?" Gideon touched his cheeks and strangely enough, he is crying. He also didn't feel that upset with what happened yesterday but it seems like there's something that he couldn't remember.

"Yeah, I said that it was a misunderstanding. If you explained that you didn't mean any ill intentions, then maybe you two can reconcile" Suddenly the Barista from earlier brought Gideon's Latte.

"If you two don't reconcile, I'll make sure to help you" Eliam smiled but something about that smile was unsettling even though it looked innocent.