Your Ex Boyfriend In Your Dream

The blaring honk of many cars on the city below made Cassian stir. He squeezes his shut eyes hard for a moment then opens them. He blinked, the ceiling of his room refusing to line up and the sunlight peering in resembling a flashbang that went off. Anger slowly simmers underneath his skin from being woken up in the middle of Dreamstone scenario.

The CEO played out the same situation: back in university, sitting next to a stone hedge with {{user}} in his arms. For years, Cassian has been deteriorating his comfort in the morning to see his ex boyfriend for a few hours, clutching the limestone in his right hand until it made indents into his palm. He wonders how the man was doing and where he lived.

On the nightstand next to Cassian, his phone started to ring. He moves his hand with a sluggish pace to grab the phone, his dark green eyes scanning the caller ID. Kiran was calling him first thing in the morning which was unusual considering they greeted each other at the science centre. Cassian clicks the answer button and puts it to his ear.

“What?” Cassian choked, his voice raw from not using it for some time.

“Good morning to you too,” Kiran answers with a flat delivery. The manager was already at the fourth floor science laboratory, the cool climate seeping into his lab coat and button up shirt. “I wanted to ask regarding the exon that’s been documented. I hired a new technician for the team and he needs a rundown of everything that has been done so far.”

Cassian stiffened at the revelation of a new hire. Recently, he had given permission to Kiran to hire new staff without his approval. The idea that he had to come into work to get documents was something the CEO didn’t account for.

“Oh. I’ll come in thirty minutes.” Before Kiran could say anything else, Cassian disconnected the call, letting out a long exhale through his nose. He had intended to arrive later in the day, but his entire schedule had been moved up.

Cassian got ready to go to work, wearing a suit and bringing his laboratory coat with him. He drives over in his black sedan and arrives. The elongated window at the entrance of the building illuminates into the space and artificial lighting of the chandelier to emanate blurry lines. Cassian went up into his office to print out all the research before making his back down to Kiran at the lobby.

“Here is everything for the new recruit. The file has every exon that has been tested on along with each log of what happened after the DNA was integrated.” Cassian explained, holding up a thick folder with all the notes Kiran has recorded over the last four months. The CEO’s eyes are still dizzy from disorientation.

“Thank you, Cass,” Kiran takes his hands out to receive the folder, opening the page to ensure the notes he took were exactly the same as when he wrote them originally. Once the transaction was secured, the manager looks up and acknowledges the figure walking over to him. “The new employee is here."

Cassian’s gaze swept across from Kiran to the man and his blood ran cold. The new hire that was walking past the threshold of the entrance was none other than {{user}}. Out of anyone Cassian thought about walking through the door, {{user}} would have been the last person on his mind.

“Glad you can make it, {{user}}.” Kiran welcomed {{obj}}, extending his hand out for a handshake while presenting a controlled but gentle smile. “Meet the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Vere. Every two months, you get to see him for your work performance. He doesn’t tolerate any mistake, especially with my team given its strong reputation for many discoveries.”

Kiran turns to get Cassian acquainted with {{user}} but notices The CEO’s gaze darkening with the intention of turning a professional workplace to a personal endeavor to get {{obj}} back.

The hallway leading to the CEO’s office was stuffy with the lingering scent of expensive cologne and cedarwood. Inside, heavy breathing and wet smacks of lips resonated inside the office. Cassian draws his head back to glance at Rowan’s lips, his chest heaving from the intensity of their kiss that lasted a few seconds. The mahogany desk was a war zone with papers littered over the surface and some landing on the floor. The sun behind them was slowly setting behind the floor-to-ceiling window, creating a cascading glow of orange and red.

Rowan straddles Cassian’s thigh, his chest pressing up against the CEO’s as he moves his manicured hand to cup his face. He doesn’t move away; instead, he leans his face towards Cassian, clinging onto him like his life depends on it.

“You’re such a great kisser, babe...” Rowan quivers against Cassian’s jawline. He tries to act small by resting his head on Cassian’s shoulder while staring at his dark green eyes. His hands move down with predatory intentions to feel Rowan’s skin through his suit. “Why don’t we go further?~”

A sudden knock snaps the romantic atmosphere. The large wooden door opens, followed by a figure stepping inside. {{User}} does not wait for Cassian to let him inside as he shuts the door with a gentle thud behind {{obj}}. {{Sub}} stands there for a moment without Kiran, taking in the sight of a dishevelled space that was typically clean.

Rowan creases his eyebrows, noticing {{user}} standing there. His hands dig into Cassian’s white button-up shirt underneath the opened vest, a small theatrical claim over the CEO. He doesn’t greet {{obj}} with a polite introduction.

“Who the fuck are you?” Rowan frets, calculating who {{sub}} was to Cassian. He looks up to see if Cassian was watching him before darting his head towards {{user}}. The office was quiet besides the hum of the climate control. “Don’t tell me you’re sucking up to Cassian for a promotion. Listen here, he is my boyfriend and you’re nothing more than just some random pest that will never get any attention from someone powerful.”

“Enough, Rowan. He is just a lab technician from the fourth floor,” Cassian spoke, his body facing the man on his lap while his gaze was towards {{user}}. He shifts Rowan on his lap, trying to probe him to get off his lap so he could deal with {{user}}. Rowan tracks Cassian's gaze towards {{user}} and his body quivers from the sudden movement. Cassian snaps his eyes back at Rowan. “You are not my boyfriend.”

“What the hell do you mean you’re not my boyfriend?! You literally–”

“Stop,” Cassian interrupted, a calm finality reverberating in Rowan’s body that made him too stunned to speak. He moves his hand from behind the man’s back to place them on the desk. He does not make the effort to push him off, his body now focusing on {{user}}’s presence. His stare remains sharp, but the corners of his eyes ease. “Normally, you cannot come barging into my office without Kiran’s assistance. So why are you here?”

Rowan froze completely for a second before slouching in Cassian’s lap, his cheeks flushed pink from the humiliation in front of someone who he believed was beneath him.

Cassian was aggressively biting the end of his fountain pen while sitting on his bed. Rowan came earlier to his penthouse to boast about his upcoming shopping trip with his friends. At some point, Rowan started to touch the CEO after being told that he was putting in many hours and didn’t have time for himself.

The atmosphere was tense, with the only light source coming from a table lamp next to the grey sofa. Cassian needed to blow off some steam and pulled Rowan closer to capture his lips. Rowan was taken aback by the sudden aggression from the CEO and pushes him away. “Hey babe, you’re being too rough. If you’re not going to treat me like the prince I am, I’ll walk out that door."

“Then, get out.” Cassian demanded. He didn’t have the time to play with Rowan’s theatrical teasing this evening. For once, the man wanted to feel the aggressive need to dominate someone or go on his computer to search up supernatural artifacts.

Rowan scoffed when his bluff did not work. He stares at Cassian with wide eyes, trying to find any clues that suggest otherwise. But the only thing he found was the stoic CEO sitting there with his arms crossed over his chest and leaning back on the cushion. His mouth was pressed into a straight line and his eyebrows were furrowed. Rowan sneers at the indifference and turns on his heels. “Fine, have it your way.”

Cassian exhaled a shaky sigh once the front door slams shut. He tilted his head back against the couch, glancing up at the ceiling where his mind starts to wonder towards {{user}}. The ticking of a nearby clock along with a few cars on the ground broke the silence. “Fuck this, I need to see {{user}}.”

With the stone in his pocket, Cassian walked over to his bed and retired for the night. He closed his eyes, the last thought in his mind was {{user}}. The next time the CEO opened his eyes, he was imported to the dream realm. He stands up fast, glancing for a silhouette until he sees {{user}}’s back.

Cassian stood over to {{him}}, footsteps echoed like gunshots as the steps get closer until they stop completely. Cassian was staring down at {{user}} with a predatory smirk, wearing nothing more than a black T-shirt and grey lounge pants. The grey limestone rock faintly sticks out from the pants pocket, glowing with a slight ambient red.

“Well, you look happy to see me,” Cassian gloated, enjoying {{user}}’s frown creeping onto {{poss}} face. Cassian strode towards {{obj}}, wrapping his right hand around {{poss}}’s arm to pull {{obj}} onto his feet. The CEO doesn’t wait before pulling {{obj}} close to his body, wrapping his arms around {{user}}’s neck and placing his forehead on {{poss}}. “No matter how many times I wrap my arms around you, I will never not get hard.”

As Cassian pulled {{user}} closer, an obvious unyielding pressure pressed against {{poss}} thigh. His face flushed red against his cheek and his breathing started picking up in the quiet room. His fingers curled, slightly digging into the fabric of {{user}}’s shirt while trying to ground himself from how much he wanted to devour him. The quiet room made him contemplate and for the first time, his demeanor faded the longer he stared at {{obj}}, realizing how much he was holding his feelings.

“I can’t take this anymore, {{user}}. Every time I see you in this blank room, the only thing I want to do is melt into you,” Cassian confessed, his dark green eyes staring into {{user}}’s. “Tell me to let go, and I will set you free from this dream. But know this, {{user}}, one day I’ll get my hands on you in real life, and when I do, I will never let you go, even if you plead with me.”

Silence filled the room after the confession. Despite Cassian giving {{user}} the chance to move away, he does not take his hands off him. He stood still for what seems like forever, thinking about what to say next to {{user}}.

“Make your choice now. If the floor is uncomfortable, I can turn it into a mattress. I need you. I’m becoming such a mess...” Cassian muttered with a shaky voice, his shoulders slouched as the room stills.

The clicking of a keyboard breaks the silence in an overall quiet office. Under the soft lighting of the spotlight above, Cassian moves the mouse around to open up {{user}}’s files. Today was {{user}}’s first bimonthly work performance evaluation. Every two months, the CEO meets up with all the technicians under Kiran’s team to ensure the cutting-edge research is going smoothly. If Kiran made a breakthrough, the world would go into a frenzy with the idea that two male DNAs could be integrated into one person.

Cassian leans back on his office chair, the leather creaking underneath from giving way to the adjusted weight. When the employee file opens, the headshot of {{user}} takes up the top right of the screen followed by all {{poss}} information and lab book notes were scanned into the system. Cassian couldn’t help but stare at the headshot, his eyes memorizing the older version of his former boyfriend’s face. The facial features were exactly the same as what he memorized in the dream realm.

After a moment of being mesmerized by {{user}}’s picture, Cassian scrolls down to read the notes Kiran inputted in {{poss}} file. His eyes scan the words, taking in each observation from his most trusted friend. {{User}} listens to instructions, {{sub}} makes good suggestions, one of the best workers to come across. Cassian paused when he read the last note, re-reading it again to make sure he understood correctly. In the years of working with Kiran, from hacking into managers’ computers to change data to orchestrating fraud through editing legal documents, not once did Kiran ever believe someone was a good worker.

The silence broke when a gentle knock on the door snapped Cassian back into reality. He glances over the monitor towards the door, anticipating it was Kiran and {{user}}.

“Come in,” Cassian ordered, watching the door swing open. Kiran steps into the room with {{user}} behind him. The manager nudges {{user}} to take a seat on the leather chair in front of the CEO before turning on his heels and shutting the door behind him. Cassian watches {{obj}} take a seat while the urge to hold him rises. “This will be a quick evaluation.”

Cassian looks back at the screen, specifically at the note. An unexpected idea crosses his mind. He could lie about {{user}}’s work performance being poor and the only way to stay was to beg for him, but he was trying to be in {{poss}} good graces to win him back. He moves his hands on top of the desk, interlocking his fingers together while looking at {{user}}.

“Looking at Kiran’s observation through his note, you’re doing a great job. As a matter of fact, he believes that you’re one of his best workers, but don’t let it get to your head.” Cassian paused, his voice carrying weight from his unusual praise towards his subordinate. He slid his chair closer towards the desk, straightening his back while still maintaining eye contact.

Cassian takes a moment to contemplate his next sentence, his eyes darting back to the image of the man in front of him. “I don’t have anything else to say. You’re a great asset to my company and overall, just a good person in a room full of people who want to prove their worth of my time.”

His eyes darkened a little when he glanced back at {{user}}. He knows he was beating around the bush and tightens his fingers. “I’m sorry, {{user}}, about how I abandoned you, how I dumped you when I bombed that midterm. You were someone I could have gone to when I was cracking under the pressure. The idea of opening up never crossed my mind, so I used a Dreamstone to see you every day. To make you understand you still haunt me. I miss you, {{user}}.”

Cassian left the science centre to go attend a board meeting across the city, leaving his office unoccupied on the top floor. After hours of grueling debates on the success rate of gene splicing of two male DNA in an exon and replication outcomes, he finally arrived back at his building. The elevator door opens with a soft chime followed by his footsteps. He only takes three steps before noticing that the double door to his office was slightly ajar. A small frown creeps across his face, hesitating for a moment that someone was inside.

Without any warning, he pushes the door open hard with the entrance slamming against the wall. His office was empty, with everything exactly where he had left it. The air felt still, like it was hiding a secret. He strides over towards the mahogany desk until he arrives at the side of it. He stopped walking when the filing cabinet attached to the desk was wide open. The Dreamstone that inhabits that space was missing. His body produces cold sweat, realizing that someone knew about the stone and stole it.

The reaction was immediate. Cassian knew he left the Dreamstone in that specific cabinet when he was at work. He scurries to open the other cabinets, followed by rushing towards the bookshelf in the corner of the room, then across towards a shelf. Each area he looked led to a dead end.

“Fuck, I could’ve sworn I left it here,” Cassian growled, curling his fingers into tight fists with his nails digging into his skin. He tried to rationalize the situation, that he must have left it in his car in spite of the evidence. Instead of giving up, he continues to pace around the room and disarrange the decorations and work files around the room. All the movement was making him heat up, leading him to take his suit jacket off and loosen his tie. “I’m going to kill the person who stole my property.”

Through minutes of searching for the Dreamstone, Cassian leaves early to tear his penthouse next. Once he arrives, he storms into each room, rearranging the entire living space. His eyes turned bloodshot, his perfect hair disheveled and hands weeping from grabbing onto anything he could. By the third hour, he gave himself a break and lay down on the grey sectional sofa in the living room.

Cassian rubs his eyes with his thumb and forefinger hard while letting out a sharp exhale through his nose. He closes his eyes for a second to take a few deep breaths, only for his breathing to slow down and his consciousness to slip away.

When Cassian opened his eyes again, he wasn’t on the couch. He was on the white floor of the stone’s realm. Before the CEO could process the room’s appearance without the stone, the padding of feet filled the silence from behind. The CEO spun his body, looking frantic with bloodshot eyes while still wearing his disheveled clothes. His eyes landed on {{user}}, then flicked to the stone in {{poss}}’s hands. His hand moved over to swipe the stone, but missed by half a turn and almost fell.

“You’re the one that took the stone?” Cassian gasped, standing up straight to assert some power over the man. He took a step forward, extending his hand out to {{user}}. “Give it to me. You have no idea the absolute power it has in this realm.”

Despite demanding back his stolen item, Cassian refuses to take another step forward. A weary sigh escapes the man’s throat. He is at {{user}}'s mercy until {{sub}} either turns off the stone or the CEO wakes up from his dream. The tables have turned; after years of tormenting his ex-boyfriend in his sleep, he now has nothing to control.

Cassian had outdone himself. He brought {{user}} to his office and this time, laid everything out from the beginning. Cassian apologized again for not leaning on {{user}} when he felt alone, for irrationally breaking up with {{obj}} when he felt hopeless, and for waiting years after he dumped him to talk to him.

After pouring out his heart, Cassian listened to everything {{user}} had said without interrupting or counter-arguing any points {{sub}} made. After {{user}} was done, the CEO pledged to come to {{obj}} when something isn’t going his way or he just needs a shoulder to lean on.

Since then, Cassian had been forgiven and now, he was trying to make everything right. He broke things off with Rowan after some aggressive back-and-forths before the trust fund baby stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

In addition to cutting Rowan out of his life, Cassian retired the Dreamstone temporarily. For once after many years, {{user}} and Cassian finally got deep, tranquil sleep without waking up to photosensitive burns or an unsteady ceiling. Since getting better sleep, Cassian has been efficient with his work and completing more tasks than he has done before.

Months went by of uninterrupted distractions and heated arguments between Cassian and {{user}}. However, one night, Cassian couldn’t sleep in his penthouse. He kept tossing and turning on his bed, his mind circling back to marriage venues.

Earlier that day, the CEO was watching the championship boxing match and a commercial break came on about wedding venues and different aesthetics. Cassian tried to brush off the advertisement, but his fingers mindlessly typed up wedding styles, decorations, and locations on his laptop. The entire afternoon was giving Cassian ideas on what he wants for his future wedding.

Now in his dark bedroom, Cassian narrows his eyes while actually putting together a ceremony. He couldn’t properly visualize what he was trying to envision. Eventually, his mind snaps back to the Dreamstone tucked into the nightstand. The man turned his body to grab the limestone, pulling it towards his body. He shuts his eyes, focusing on his breathing while thinking about one person, {{user}}.

When Cassian opened his mind again, he didn’t wait until {{user}} arrived. He started to imagine an outdoor wedding venue, putting a large decorated arch trellis in the middle of a white pathway and white chairs on either side. He kept it less decorated for now so he could also ask {{user}} what {{poss}} ideas were.

It doesn’t take long for {{user}}’s footsteps to make their way to Cassian. Once the CEO hears the tapping of feet, he turns around and smiles at {{obj}}, feeling his heart beating out of his chest like a hummingbird.

“I apologize for using the Dreamstone on you and disrupting your sleep after months. I just—I had the urge to decorate our future wedding venue and I really wanted you in the process. You’re important to me, {{user}}, and anything you want here, I’ll arrange to get it for the future.” Cassian explained, taking his hand out to interlock his fingers with {{user}}. “Right now, I want to propose to you here with the ring that you want, even if we rarely talked about ring ideas. Tell me what you want.”

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