So yeah, perhaps Ejiro was a little proud of himself, too.
They ate in a companionable silence, Obiora’s words along with the soup working their magic and pumping Ejiro full of happy and content endorphins. They were only just finishing up when Ameri finally came into the house, the crew following behind her.
“Hey, y’all,” she greeted. “Oh, that smells amazing. What’s that? Pepper soup?”
“Yup,” Obiora said, grinning.
“Great, now I’ve got a craving,” she said. Obiora laughed. She grinned. “Any chance one of you could get the other bachelors down here for me?”
“I’ll do it,” Obiora volunteered.
Ejiro smiled at him gratefully. Obiora winked. Ejiro’s heart skipped. Obiora was gone before Ejiro could properly process his feelings.
He’d just rinsed off and dumped the dishes in the dishwasher when the bachelors came trooping into the kitchen slash dining area.
“Good evening everyone,” Ameri greeted, nodding briefly when the men echoed her greeting. Most of them remained standing. “I won’t take up much of your time. First off, we will be filming within the mansion at some point this evening, so this is your warning. No, I will not be telling you why. Don’t groan at me.” Some of them laughed. “Secondly, I just want to remind you all that while this is reality TV, you absolutely still should not do something you’re uncomfortable with just because you think it’ll look good on TV. If the other men, or the bachelorette, or heck, even the staff, are making you feel some kind of way, please say something to either me or one of the other directors and we’ll rectify the problem immediately. That’s all. The staff will be setting up the cameras; please ignore them for the time being. See you all at seven.” She winked mysteriously as she left.
The bachelors burst into a cacophony of sound.
“What do you think they’re filming for?”
“A message from Sophia?”
“Ah, yes. Probably.”
“I’m telling you”—Jin crossed his arms—“it’s the announcement for the exotic trip.”
Some of the men groaned.
“Don’t get my hopes up, please,” Obiora said, which made some of them laugh.
It was a little past five PM, meaning they had less than two hours to look camera ready. The men began to leave, one by one.
Ejiro and Obiora found themselves beside each other, as usual.
“See you in a bit,” Obiora said when they got to Ejiro’s room.
For some reason, Ejiro blushed, even though it wasn’t the first time Obiora had said those words to him.
“Right, yeah,” Ejiro said, not meeting his eyes, disappearing into his room.
By some general unspoken consensus, after the makeup and costuming team had approved of their chosen fits and touched up their faces, the bachelors ended up in one of the larger sitting rooms upstairs, the walls lined with bookcases filled with books and games. The cameras and lighting had already been set up, and the men were so used to being filmed at this point that they completely ignored the staff, sitting around and acting normal.
Not for the first time, Ejiro and Obiora sat beside each other. But, for some reason, Ejiro suddenly found himself hyperaware of the places their bodies touched—the side of their arms and thighs—and found himself struggling to focus. Had Obiora’s body always been so invitingly warm?
“How can you not know how to play chess?” Noah was saying. “You’re so posh!”
Jin sniffed. “I don’t know why you think my family line has anything to do with my ability to play chess. It’s such a boring game.”
Tyler made an awful noise. He was apparently a chess aficionado. The other men laughed.
“I don’t know,” Noah said, but he was grinning. “I guess there’s something just so … elitist about it all.”
Tyler made another noise.
“Excuse me?” Jin’s eyes narrowed. “Are you calling me elitist?”
Ejiro snickered. Obiora grinned, nudging their shoulders together. Ejiro blushed furiously and looked away. His pulse hadn’t slowed since Obiora had sauntered into the room and sat down next to him, no invitation needed.
