Once Javier made sure that the two of them were out of sight, he let out a long, heavy sigh. He clutched the photo of Iñigo and Kenji with a steady, troubled hand, staring at the smiles captured from over twenty years ago.

Javier remembered watching from the sidelines Iñigo’s and Kenji’s relationship blossoming before it crashed down and settled into dust. He remembered when Kenji and Iñigo were tenants in his apartment, and while he couldn't pinpoint exactly when this hatred started, he had seen, time and again, how the way Kenji acted during their relationship drained Iñigo.

To Javier, Kenji was a foil to Iñigo’s earnest character, a chaotic force that sought to ruin Iñigo’s steady determination. Iñigo lunged head on into life’s challenges; he moved across the ocean to become an accomplished baker, and had loved freely in a time and place that punished it. 

As someone whose own life had been dictated by the expectations of his affluent family in Divinagracia, Javier had always found Iñigo’s spirit deeply honourable. It pained him to see it diminished by a relationship that, in Javier’s eyes, only seemed to demand more than it ever gave.

He remembered the day they broke the news of their relationship at his little sister’s going away party. While Iñigo had been overtaken by a feeling of unadulterated bliss, Javier remembered Kenji’s expression. It didn’t look like the face of a partner who cherished Iñigo. It looked like the face of someone who saw Iñigo as a possession to be won. It was a memory that had always troubled Javier, a warning sign he had hoped Iñigo would eventually see for himself.

Though the more Javier dwelled on these thoughts of Kenji from the past until now, the more Kenji’s return to the peaceful lives of the Alcantaras began to disturb him. Their lives were now full of peace, their family a sanctuary for Iñigo and Alexander that Javier felt it was his duty to defend. It was a life of stability that Kenji could throw into disarray in an instant.

He turned back upstairs to return to his office. On the way up, he spotted a tall, broad figure, dressed in a dark overcoat, walking down the stairs. Iñigo had just changed out of his baker’s uniform. Javier quickly slipped the wallet into his back pocket before Iñigo could notice.

“Did you need anything, Kuya Javier?” Iñigo asked, stopping in the middle of the staircase, and an uneasiness grew in Javier’s chest. 

“Nothing at all,” Javier answered, his voice steadying. “I just left something in the office that I need to attend to.”

“Alright, I’ll wait for you by the back door!” Iñigo said as he continued to walk down the stairs, and Javier gave him a curt nod. Suddenly, Iñigo called out to him once more.

“Don’t forget, it’s Esther’s birthday today,” Iñigo said with a soft smile, his voice trailing off in sadness. Javier watched him, his own heart aching for Inigo’s quiet grief. “Don’t you think she would have loved to celebrate it with everyone: you, me, and Kenji?”

Javier could see the dejection behind Iñigo’s eyes; a flicker of nostalgia, the dangerous pull of the past. He knew, with absolute certainty, that reopening those old wounds would only cause Iñigo further suffering.

“Perhaps,” Javier said, a heavy feeling overtaking his chest. He turned away, his resolve hardening. He could not allow Iñigo to be held back by someone who had caused him so much turmoil in the past.

When he arrived back at his office, Javier shut the door. He fished Kenji’s wallet out and looked at the photograph once more. He thought of what would happen if Iñigo saw it, the cycle of old anxieties and emotional exhaustion that would surely follow. For fear of Iñigo unravelling, the photo had to go. Javier tossed it into the dustbin.

Once that was done, Javier took a deep breath, gathered his composure, and left the office.

Downstairs, he found Iñigo standing by the back door. The closer Javier got, the more he noticed the reddened eyes and the traces of tears. Though Iñigo was a tall, sturdy man, at that moment, he seemed fragile.

Realizing that Javier had arrived, Iñigo tried to put a smile on his face. Javier felt a slight painful squeeze in his heart, finding himself unable to move as Iñigo approached him. All of a sudden, Iñigo bent down and pulled Javier into a tight embrace, and Javier felt himself flinch under Iñigo’s frame. Javier felt the pace of his heartbeat quicken as Iñigo’s tears began to fall onto his shoulder, soaking through his shirt as his shuddering breath warmed his neck.

“Thank you for being here for me,” Iñigo whispered, his voice soft as if barely a breath. Though as Iñigo latched onto Javier’s body, Javier felt a sense of warmth grow in his cheeks.

But as much as he would like to hope, Javier knew his place; he was the brother-in-law. No matter how many times he drove Alexander to school, no matter how many nights he comforted Iñigo and Alexander as he grieved his own sister’s death, no matter how many days they spent together running the café, nothing would change that. He was a fixture, but never a future. No matter how much he hoped, Iñigo would never truly look his way.

But Javier knew what was at stake now that Kenji had come back into their lives. He had a way of life to protect at all costs, a way of life where Javier could stay by Iñigo’s side. And knowing that, Javier did not want, under any circumstance, for Iñigo’s and Kenji’s paths to ever cross again.