Chapter 96 – Warm Hugs and Missed Friendships

"Hey, get up. It's already 8 in the morning and you're still sleeping," Emily said as she kissed Alex's cheek.

"I don't want to wake up," Alex replied, pulling Emily into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder from behind.

"Let me go. I have to get ready. I have to go see Nelson."

Hearing Nelson's name, Alex's eyes shot open. It had been more than two months since he had last seen him. He also wanted to meet him. But he felt jealous that his girl was saying some other man's name early in the morning.

"Why do you want to go see him?" Alex asked as he nuzzled his nose into Emily's neck and placed kisses on it.

"Ha-ha. What are you doing? You're tickling me." Emily laughed.

"First, tell me why you want to go so early. Just stay here. Let's sleep a little more," Alex said, hugging Emily again.

"Ouch, you're hugging me so tightly," Emily said, trying to release herself from Alex's hug.

Alex loosened the hug but didn't let Emily go.

"Let's go together. I haven't seen him in a long time, and I have to thank him for bringing us together."

Emily nodded. "I also haven't met him since going to mom's house. But why are you so nice to him? Just when you two became such good friends."

"When you were away." Alex nuzzled his nose into Emily's cheek.

Emily laughed and said, "Okay, let's go together then."

***

"Where are you two going?" Sarah asked as she saw Alex and Emily dressed up, ready to go somewhere.

"Just going to meet our friends, Nelson and Shelly," Emily replied with a smile.

"Alright, come at lunchtime. I want to have lunch together with you two."

"We can't guarantee that we'll be able to have lunch together, but we'll definitely be back before dinner. It's been two months since we last met them, so catching up may take a little while." Alex replied.

"Alright, then call me if you two get late," Sarah said, heading towards the kitchen.

"Bye, dad," Alex said to his father, who was sitting on the couch working on his laptop.

"Bye," John said with a smile before turning his attention back to his work.

***

"Do you think they would already be there?" Emily asked Alex as they entered the restaurant where they were meeting Nelson and Shelly today.

But to her relief, Nelson and Shelly were already there, sitting at a corner table and talking.

"Hey, Emily," Shelly said as she saw Emily and Alex coming towards them. She got up from her chair as Emily approached her, and they hugged each other.

"How are you?" Shelly smiled. "I missed you a lot."

"I missed you too." Emily smiled and patted Shelly on the back.

Shelly let go of Emily and greeted Alex.

"Hello, boss," she said with a nervous smile.

"I'm not your boss anymore, so maybe we can be friends," Alex said as he extended his hand towards Shelly.

Shelly smiled and hesitantly shook hands with Alex. She had heard from their new boss, John, that Alex was on vacation and wouldn't be back for a few months, but from Emily, she learned the real story. Even though she knew that Alex wasn't her boss anymore and seemed friendly now, she was still a bit nervous around him.

"Nice to meet you," Alex said as he shook hands with Shelly, and then he turned to Nelson.

"How are you doing?" Alex gently punched Nelson's chest in a friendly manner.

Nelson smiled and hugged Alex.

"I'm doing much better. But the whole office misses you a lot," Nelson grinned as he took a step back from Alex.

"Really?" Alex was surprised. He thought that everybody would be happy that he left.

"Why? Is their new boss giving them a hard time?" Alex joked.

"Yes. A lot." Nelson joked back.

"After making new friends, you forget about me." Emily pouted as she saw Nelson talking to Alex, but he didn't even greet her.

"Aww, don't be sad, my lovely girl," Nelson said, taking a step towards Emily to give her a hug.

Emily also raised her arms, but before they could hug, Alex pulled Emily back to him.

"What? You hugged him. Let me hug him too," Emily said to Alex as she looked up.

"You hugged Shelly; I hugged Nelson. It's equal now."

Hearing what Alex said, Emily, Shelly, and Nelson all started laughing.

"Don't be jealous. He's just my friend," Emily said, sitting down on the chair.

"When I say he isn't?" Alex also took a seat beside Emily.

Nelson went back to sit with Shelly, and they all started talking.

"Let's order something first. I'm hungry," Emily said, interrupting the conversation.

Alex nodded and ordered a few dishes before they all started talking and eating.

"It's delicious," Emily said as she savored Pad Thai.

"Yeah, it's really good." Shelly nodded in agreement.

"After the meal, what's your plan?" Alex asked Nelson and Shelly.

"We're going home and having a party," Nelson said.

"Party? What's the reason?" Alex immediately asked Nelson, and Shelly looked at Nelson with a confused face. She wondered why Nelson didn't tell her anything about it.

"just kidding. I'm going home and sleep. You might forget, but today is Sunday, a holiday for office workers like us. So I'm going to get a good two hours of sleep. Then I'm going to play some video games. I haven't played in a few days now. After that, I'll think about what I want to do next," Nelson replied.

"I thought you would come to my house. You said we would watch a new romantic comedy movie together." Shelly made Nelson remember the promise he made to her.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot. Let's go to your house to watch the movie." Nelson elbowed Shelly lightly and smiled at her.

Shelly knew what he was thinking. She wanted to say, "Stop thinking that. I'm not calling you to my house for that." but then she was afraid Alex and Emily would hear it too. So she stayed silent.

Emily, who was looking at Nelson and Shelly, grinned to herself. Though they didn't say anything, their blushing red faces said everything.

After having a meal and paying the bill, all four of them came out of the restaurant.

"Let's meet again when we come back next time," Alex said.

"Okay," Nelson said as he shook hands with Alex.

Emily also hugged Shelly, and then they went their separate ways.

"Now where do you want to go? Should we head home, or do you have any plans?" Alex looked at Emily.

Emily shook her head. "Let's just go home. Mom told us to come back by lunch. Maybe we can reach home before lunch." Emily said.

"But we already ate. We won't be able to eat with them, even if we go home. So why don't we go watch a movie?" Alex suggested.

Emily immediately agreed with Alex. "Okay," Emily smiled.

Within fifteen minutes, they had reached the movie theatre. A new romance movie was playing in the theatre.

Alex bought the tickets, popcorn, and drinks before they both headed inside the theatre.

They sat down in the corner seats and started enjoying the movie.

The movie was funny and full of romantic scenes. And this time, Emily didn't tease Alex by talking about the hero. They both silently enjoyed the movie and ate popcorn.

After the movie was over, Alex took her to a claw machine, where he grabbed many stuffed toys for Emily. Emily was happy to get so many cute stuffed toys.

With a big smile, they both headed home.

It was 5 in the evening, so there was still a lot of time before dinner. Emily was grateful that they didn't miss dinner with Alex's parents.

As Emily spotted Sarah sitting at the dining table drinking coffee, she went to her and gave her a cute stuffed teddy bear.

"This is for you, Mom," she said, giving Sarah the pink-colored teddy bear.

"It's so cute," Sarah said, looking at the teddy bear.

"Do you like it?" Emily asked, smiling.

"I love it," Sarah smiled back.

"You brought many. Did Alex grabbed all of them for you?" Sarah asked, looking at Alex.

Alex scratched the back of his head and looked away. He had never done something like this before, and his mother knew this very well.

"Is this one grabbed by him too?" Sarah asked, looking at the teddy bear in her hand.

"No, I grabbed it for you. I saw it, and it looked like you—cute." Emily said with a smile as she sat down on the chair next to Sarah.

Sarah smiled. "You are so cute when you talk like this," Sarah said as she pinched Emily's cheek.

"Yeah, right?" Alex said, walking over to Sarah and Emily.

He sat down on the chair and joined in the conversation.

***

At night, when John came from the office, they all sat down at the dining table to eat.

They laughed and talked as they ate. Sarah told John about Emily bringing her a gift, and John asked Emily where his gift was.

Emily laughed and said she would buy him a gift next time.

After everybody finished eating and was ready to go to their rooms, Sarah started the conversation again.

"Have you thought about coming back to your company? You can't just let it go, and your dad is already taking care of a company. I don't think he can work at both for too long." Sarah expressed her worry.

Alex, who got up from the chair, sat down on it again. He looked at Emily, then at his dad, and then at his mom.

He put his head in his hands and thought about what to do.

After a minute, he raised his head and said, "I don't know what to do about it. I want to do it, but at the same time...I don't know... I'm confused."