Charles and Richard Chapter 16

His parents looked at Charles and fell silent for a moment. It was brief, but they exchanged a glance with each other. Then they greeted Charles as if nothing was wrong and prepared lunch. Charles had a hunch that something suspicious was going on. He didn’t press them about it. After all, his parents weren’t particularly good at keeping secrets. They’d definitely spill it within a week, at most. Charles spent a peaceful lunchtime picking the peas out of his salad.

His parents’ suspicious behavior continued. The two of them kept watching Charles’s every move all throughout. They kept trying to gauge whether Charles was in a good mood or a bad one, and if good, how good, and if bad, how bad. Charles, who hadn’t really been thinking much about it, gradually grew curious about his parents’ behavior. It was rare for them to act this suspiciously. Surely, it couldn’t be anything serious, right? Like an illness?! Charles told himself that couldn’t be it, but still felt a brief pang of anxiety over one faint possibility. And after the weekend passed, he realized that anxiety had truly been pointless worry.

Since he’d forgotten his promise to pick up his mother on Friday evening, Charles gave up his Monday fishing plans. On the other hand, he was curious about how sexy the new mechanic might be.

Of course, not all mechanics are sexy. For instance, Mechanic Harry found his life’s joy in a beer after work, and he had a generous belly. Another mechanic, Frank, had a physique that was impeccably well-built, but unfortunately, he was ugly. As for Jerry, who was soon leaving the job—his arm muscles were good enough to appear in a bodybuilding magazine, but instead of abs, he had a potbelly that stuck out like a tadpole’s.

Charles liked and respected all the mechanics at the shop, but he’d thought for a long time that not all of them necessarily needed to be sexy. The sexy mechanics were Mr. Henry, Mr. Eddie, and Mr. Craig—the middleman who supplied the shop with goods, though he used to be a mechanic himself. Charles really liked those three. He just hoped the new mechanic would be as great as those three.

With that expectation in mind, Charles went to the repair shop after school, and the new mechanic happened to be there. Charles could only see his feet in sneakers and his lower body. The mechanic was wearing a blue one-piece jumpsuit, with the upper half tied around his waist and the torso part tucked under a car, so Charles couldn’t get a good look. But judging from the slender waist where the sleeves were tied tightly and the flat stomach, it was clear he wasn’t the type with abdominal obesity like Harriet or Jerry. Charles glanced casually at the new mechanic’s waist and went into the office to find his mother.

His mother seemed to have stepped out for a moment, as the office was empty. Since his mother primarily used the office for computer work, and all the mechanics were busy with their jobs, Charles was left alone, half-sprawled on the office sofa. He listened to music on his iPod, waiting for his mother to return, and dozed off.

He woke up when he felt someone watching him. Even lying down, he felt a tickling sensation at the back of his head and a chill run down his spine. Charles lifted his sleepy eyes. Someone was sitting on the glass table in front of the sofa, backlit by the afternoon sun streaming through the window, looking down at him. Charles blinked and looked at the man. He realized the man was the new mechanic. It was because of the work sleeves tied tightly around his waist.

R: —, —-.

In the next moment, Charles realized that the new mechanic was someone he knew. Not just someone he knew, but someone who had completely turned his life upside down.

Charles couldn’t even think to pull out the earbuds blocking his ears. Then Richard reached out and removed the earbuds from Charles’s ears. Richard, holding the earbud cord in both hands, spoke again.

R: Hi, Charles.

He couldn’t believe his eyes, but at the same time, Charles recognized reality with an almost irrational speed. Richard was back.

Why?

One question bounced around in his head like a frantic ping-pong ball. He wanted to ask. He just didn’t know what to ask, or how to ask it. To be honest, at that moment, Charles seemed to have forgotten even how to speak. So instead of opening his mouth, Charles just stared at Richard.

Richard was stunning. His honey-colored hair caught the sunlight pouring through the window behind him, shimmering softly, and his smooth, sun-tanned skin was smeared with oil and sweat, which was just… how could that face, with oil stains smudged on his cheeks and temples, be so handsome? His elongated eyes, half-lidded blue eyes brimming with a hint of laughter, gazed steadily at Charles, and that damned nose was so handsome he didn’t know what praise to offer. His wide, smiling, healthy reddish lips were impossibly playful and beautiful. His white sleeveless shirt, clinging to his upper body, was also stained with black oil marks. He had the lean, slender, muscular build Charles remembered.

Richard, still holding Charles’s earbud cord with his work gloves on, grinned, then suddenly noticed that his gloves had dirtied the white cord and hurriedly took them off. Charles just quietly watched the whole sequence.

R: Sorry, will this come off? It got black… Charles?

Richard apologized, lifting the earbud cord with his sweat-dampened hand. The white hand that emerged from the glove was clean and unstained on its own, and even damp with sweat, which made it all the more difficult for Charles to stay seated.

Charles left his iPod and earbuds right there, and sprang up from the sofa. Without a single word, he grabbed his bag and bolted out of the office. He had no thoughts. He was driven only by the compulsion to get out of there. Charles got on his bike and sped away from the repair shop in an instant.

After a while, he was able to think: he was breathing very heavily now, he’d long since passed his house, and he needed to stop his bike and rest right away. Charles practically threw his bike down and lay flat on the cobblestone pavement. His back was damp with sweat. It was only then that Charles realized his legs were trembling.

Unfortunately, Richard came to the house that evening. Charles belatedly realized over the weekend that the secret his parents had been hiding was Richard. When Charles, too exhausted to even ride his bike anymore, dragged it home and shuffled back, Richard was already there. He knew it the moment he opened the front door, because the house was filled with the smell of spaghetti and meatballs.

Charles quietly opened the front door and slipped in, still undetected by anyone. He immediately turned to leave again. But just then, he came face to face with Cherry, who was coming in through the dog door.

C: Shh, Cherry….

Cherry: Woof! Woof!

C: Cherry, quiet….

Father: Charlie, is that you?

Mother: Charlie, what took you so long?

R: Charles, hi!

Cherry: Woof! Woof!

C: ….

Charles heard the greetings from three people in succession from behind him and gave up on running away. Instead, he gave Cherry a light thump on the head and turned toward the dinner table, where the meal was laid out.