Henry was not to the only one to make an effort. His partner for this ill-fated meeting also had no intention in ruining things. Joshua had long given up on his silver of hope that this cliché meeting could end with anything more than a new friend, if even that. However, he would never be like Archer and not put in effort because he would gain nothing from it. He was sensible enough to know that this meeting was far bigger than him. In his eyes, his family was certifiably insane for thinking this was the immediate way to go, and the fact they came immediately to him, not even asking the heir of the company. It was the one thing Joshua could not make sense of, surely it would make more sense if it was the heir of Lore Inc. to cause a merger with a relationship, but for some reason they asked him. It just did not fit in the logic of things.

Instead of dwelling on this, however, he had presented himself well – coming to a similar conclusion as Henry and dressing in more casual attire – wearing a black, boxy jumper over flimsy cotton shirt which stuck out at the bottom. With his lightly distressed, blue jeans and combat boots, he looked younger than he usually did. This did not mean he looked like he was in his late teens, Joshua still had a rather adult aura around him, that was undeniable as well as impossible to mask. It was just that in his usual settings, he was wearing formal attire, exercising his responsibilities as a senior manager of the financial department or presenting proposals for further development in various projects; he still had the authoritative, mature feel to him, one that would be impossible to separate from him.

Joshua decided to take this day he had free for the marriage meeting as a chance to have a proper day off, something he rarely got within months of entering the family business. Just as there were perks to quickly rising to high positions, there were also setbacks. Of course he had time where he would meet friends from his school days, but it rarely happened considering he had studied abroad since the age of 16. Most of Joshua's friends were scattered around the world. Due to this, he had made his schedule too tight for even regular free time, it was mostly restricted to the couple hours between returning from the office and dinner.

In fact, it was the main reason he had decided to live at home despite his age, he would have gone insane trying to juggle housework and making time for his family on top of his other responsibilities. It wasn't a fact he liked to admit to himself, but he was not the sort of person who could live on their own, Joshua had no sense of priority when it came to himself. However, he was also not as shameless as his older brother, who still lived at home purely to laze about more, still having their household staff do everything for them. Until Joshua could find someone to live with or earn enough money for staff of his own, moving was out of the question.

In this sense of independence, Henry was quite the opposite. Once he had returned to the country after graduating, he quickly had come to the decision that, after three years alone, he would lose his head having everything handed to him, quickly moving out. His principles were also different from Joshua, when he first moved, he accepted a flat his parents would pay the rent for, and their extra spending money as well as a bi-weekly cleaner. Until the young man knew he could stand on his own feet, he happily took advantage of the assistance offered.

As of a year ago, however, he had become accustomed to the life of a working adult, now paying for and doing everything himself – although he still accepts money that his parent's give him, otherwise he would have no money to spend on his clothes. Henry had fallen into a routine where he now spends a night or two a week at his family home, the rest of his free time put to socialising with various groups of friends and colleagues.

As it approached two o'clock, the Reyes' car pulled up some distance away from the agreed café. Ramy finally looked up from his phone, finding the timing quite tremendous. "It is the café with the yellow peonies all over it," he informed the second son. Henry just nodded, easily finding the quaint but modern looking café.

"Well, I will head out then. You can go back to my parents."

"I was told to make sure you meet you partner."

"You mean my mother wants to hear my reaction? As if, that would have been a personal request. Just go." Henry was not usually so rude but the PA could see through his unnatural behaviour. The idea of his parents snooping embarrassed him, especially considering this was a marriage meeting.

Humouring his embarrassment, once Henry had exited the vehicle, he instructed the driver to leave without waiting. While the temptation to tease Henry existed, he was far too professional for that, he would never jeopardise a project for his own amusement, especially something as big as this merger. Of course that didn't stop a slight laugh dance on his lips.

Almost simultaneously, Joshua was dismissing Haerin, far more blunt about how he did not want her watching over him like he was some incapable child. She just nodded, smiling, more when she saw a glimpse of Ramy's most recent text regarding the Reyes family's second son. With a shallow bow, she left her position at Joshua's side, leaving him to approach the café himself.

He had taken out the photo he had been shown when his parents had first proposed the idea to him in order to identify the girl in the picture.

Henry had done the same as Joshua as he walked, finding himself absorbed into the beauty in the picture. He still thought she was a little too flat, but captivating no less – well, perhaps a little less.

Joshua was also too focused on the picture.

So focused he didn't realise his increased pace until he bumped into someone right outside the café.

Henry fell forward at the sudden mass going much faster than his slow, dazed walk.

Both pictures fell to the ground as they came to terms with the collision.

Joshua immediately widened his eyes, an apology flying out of his mouth. "Sorry, this is my fault. I should have looked where I was going. Are you hurt?" Henry shook his head, looked down at his lightly scraped hands and hoping his knee hadn't been grazed – he had a surprisingly delicate body. "No, I was at fault too, walking while distracted. We'll just take equal blame." Scratching the back of his neck, he finally stood up and turned to look at who the voice belonged too, almost surprised to see such a pretty man having acted so clumsily. Joshua was yet to pay attention since the fallen photos had caught his eye just as Henry turned. "Ah, your photo." He crouched down and picked them both up, dusting them clean before holding out the other party's his.

That is when both of them realised that one of the two photos were of themselves.

Henry's mind immediately went a thousand miles an hour. Was the man tailing him? Press? Enemy of the company? Someone hired by the Q Group? Was the marriage meeting exposed? Perhaps someone heard, or was made to talk, you couldn't put that past the Q Group.

But the man didn't look like he was front he media, nor like someone who the Q Group would hire to watch or chase him, he stood out far too much with his superior looks. In fact, looking at the clothes, he looked to be extremely rich.

It was then he realised the similarities between the picture he had previously been holding and the one holding it now.

Joshua had a completely different train of thought, somewhat due to his near-photographic memory however mostly down to his romantic heart and all the novels he had read. He immediately recognised Henry as the subject of the other picture, making his brain go haywire.

This was clearly a man, of course he can't be the real partner for this marriage meeting. Did the Reyes send the wrong picture? Or perhaps the family member looked much like him and couldn't come today. Or maybe he had been turned down and this good-looking man who just happened to look alike with the picture was here to send the message.

It was only once they both looked at each other properly did they realise that there had been no mistake nor foul play.

The two men were both here to meet each other.

Their parents had set up two very beautiful, even more so straight men with another man.