  &quot;I ll do my best to talk to David, Mom. I know he won t mind doing you this favor.&quot;
  &quot;Thank you. That will be a dream come true.&quot;
  &quot;You re welcome. Anyway, back to my friends.&quot;
  His father took a small gulp of Thai iced tea while nodding. &quot;Right. What s going on with the rest of them?&quot;
  &quot;Vincent is dating Anthony Lim, the owner of The Torpedough, which is—&quot;
  &quot;—the bakery with some of the most delicious pastries ever,&quot; his mother cut him off midsentence. &quot;Oh, yet another benefit of knowing the right people.&quot;
  Joshua guffawed when his mother waggled her eyebrows at him. &quot;Fine, Mom. I ll introduce you to Anthony. You re an opportunist.&quot;
  His mother chuckled. &quot;It s called being smart.&quot;
  &quot;Whatever. Anyway, Keenan is now dating Pablo Cotilla, the owner of a bar called The Overrated Llama.&q

  &quot;Is he here yet?&quot;
  James jumped a little, ignoring his mother s knowing smirk and his own embarrassment at being caught. &quot;Nope. Josh sent me a text message about fifteen minutes ago. Or maybe twenty minutes. I m not sure now. I ve been busy showing the guests where they re supposed to be seated. The older generation can t occupy the same tables as the younger one. They don t have anything much in common, and they will end up acting awkward and weird throughout dinner.&quot;
  His mother nodded. &quot;I know. I m thankful you remember to put our older or closer relatives nearer to the table where your father and I will be seated. They may take offence if they have to sit far away from us. You know what the old people in our family are like. They re traditional and obstinate.&quot;
  &quot;You aren t exactly a spring chicken yourself, Mom,&quot; James teased. &quot;Your s

  Joshua wished he could be with James as often as possible, but he didn t want to be clingy. He disliked that particular trait in all of his previous ex-boyfriends or ex-lovers, and he definitely didn t want to start acting the same way no matter how much he yearned to be spend time with James every single second of every day.
  The added tasks on his to-do list were great. Most of the time, he was able to put thoughts of James to the back of his mind. His friends were as fun and hilarious as ever, so he didn t have time to feel down during lunch with them. Before he knew it, it was time to return to his apartment. It had been a productive workday. He managed to complete everything on his list and logged out from the office exactly on time. He would have more than ample time to shower at home before dinner with his parents.
  In fact, he was about ten minutes early when he reached the T

&quot;I ll do my best to talk to David, Mom. I know he won t mind doing you this favor.&quot;
  &quot;Thank you. That will be a dream come true.&quot;
  &quot;You re welcome. Anyway, back to my friends.&quot;
  His father took a small gulp of Thai iced tea while nodding. &quot;Right. What s going on with the rest of them?&quot;
  &quot;Vincent is dating Anthony Lim, the owner of The Torpedough, which is—&quot;
  &quot;—the bakery with some of the most delicious pastries ever,&quot; his mother cut him off midsentence. &quot;Oh, yet another benefit of knowing the right people.&quot;
  Joshua guffawed when his mother waggled her eyebrows at him. &quot;Fine, Mom. I ll introduce you to Anthony. You re an opportunist.&quot;
  His mother chuckled. &quot;It s called being smart.&quot;
  &quot;Whatever. Anyway, Keenan is now dating Pablo Cotilla, the owner of a bar called The Overrated Llama.&quot;
  His father snickered. &quot;Finally. Your mother and I were at the bar a couple of mon

Chapter 28