Nick beamed. “Great. Speaking of plans, Marrion and I want to invite you over for dinner tonight.” 

Grayson lifted an eyebrow. Suspicion clouded his features. “Is this another setup? Because the last time I gave in to your annoying pleas, your wife surprised the shit out of me with some weird-ass guy.”

“No, no.” Chuckling, Nick hid a mischievous twinkle in his green eyes. “I swear there’s no other guest this time. And come on, that weird-ass guy was hot. I saw you checking out his ass.”

Grayson’s lips thinned into a line, refusing to admit that Nick was right about that. He shook his head. “Hotness doesn’t imply romantic attraction. You know I don’t subscribe to the whole love at first sight crap.”

“Yeah, I know.” A deep rumble shook Nick’s chest. “You disliked my guts at first sight in grad school after all.”

“Totally.” Snickering, Grayson’s lips curled up into a nostalgic smile. As his blue eyes met Nick’s, his heart did a nostalgic little flip. Years of shared memories flooded his mind, inducing a burning warmth in the nether parts of his body.

“Right.” Grayson hurriedly broke eye contact and shot out of his seat. “If there’s nothing else, I need to get back to work. And please tell Marrion that I’m sorry but I have to decline the invitation.”

Nick’s voice was softer than before, tinged with a little hurt. “She’ll demand a reason, you know.”

“Tell her that her husband is up my ass about the new proposal.”

“That’s a good one.” Nick’s chuckle held a mixture of humor, reminiscence, and longing. A flicker of emotion passed in his eyes before he said in good nature, “Hang in there, Grayson. There’s someone out there meant for you.”

“If I were the type to roll my eyes, I would,” Grayson shot back as he opened the glass door. When the door swung closed, he could hear Nick’s muffled laughter behind him. 

Grayson let out a resigned sigh. Nick was the only one he had thought was meant for him. And look where they were now. Those idiots who said marriage was based on love between two people obviously had their heads stuck in the sand. Practicality ruled the world. Not love. Never love.

He stopped walking. Looking up, he found himself near the pantry rather than his office. His legs must have brought him here subconsciously. He rubbed a palm over his eyes. Might as well dig into his favorite ice cream while he was here.

Turning down the fork in the path, he entered the dimly lit pantry. The sun had set on him while he was in the meeting with Nick. As he moved to the fridge, the occupancy sensor triggered the lights to brighten. Weariness dug its talons into his eyes and he winced.

It only hit him when he opened the fridge door that his ice cream had been eaten by Mr. Idiot yesterday. But by then, he was too late to stop the avalanche of ice cream tubs that spilled out of the fridge and onto the floor.

“What the fu-” Cut off by a few tubs falling right onto his foot, he bit down on his bottom lip as pain coursed up his leg. 

Staggering back, he hissed and cursed in a repetitive cycle that only stopped when the last tub clattered to the floor. His eyes swept over the ice cream disaster. All the tubs were his favorite brand of blueberry-flavored ice cream.

Then, he noticed the blue stick-it note at the corner of the fridge door. It had not been there this afternoon. Grunting, he tore it off and read the neat handwriting.

Grayson gritted his teeth. His fingers curled around the note, scrunching it into a ball in his fist. So Mr. Idiot was behind this fiasco and his aching foot. Why was he not surprised?

He swore he would teach that blustering fool a lesson in practicality if he had a chance. Mounting frustration made a vein pop in his forehead. He ran a hand across his forehead, muttering curses under his breath. All this stress was making him crave ice cream.

He grabbed at one of the insolent ice cream tubs that hurt his toes and slammed the fridge door shut on the remaining well-behaved ones. Stalking back down the corridor to his office, he made a note to remember Mr. Idiot’s name. Yu Junming, was it? He was going to write a very, very pleasant note to Mr. Yu and tell him that buying five tubs of ice cream would have been sufficient.

For now, he would concentrate on his blueberry ice cream. To hell with the rest of the world and its fucking idiots.

Author's Note: If you're enjoying Romance Uncliched! so far, do check out The Assassin's Captive by Jack Brightside as well! Rated 18+, it is a steamy romantic comedy! Link to the novel is in the description below.