He was brought out of his reverie when a plate and glass was placed on his table
"Enjoy, sir."
"Thanks."
He ate the food in a hurry as he had a lot of things to do before midnight.
Finishing up, he asked for the bill and paid , leaving the waiter a huge tip.
He was feeling rather generous today.
He walked back to the shopping centre, looking for a flower shop.
He found one and bought white roses, which Rob used to love.
He then looked for a knife antique store.
Adam was obsessed with collecting them though Eric never saw the point of it.
Adam had been talking about a rare vintage knife made on Germany that he had seen but couldn't afford.
That was what Eric asked, bought and paid for.
He also had to go visit his brother in the cemetery as he had done for the last twenty two years on their birthday.
Going to see Rob was the hardest and most painful thing he experienced every year. It broke him when he thought that under the tombstone was just bones of his brother.
As he approached him, he felt his footsteps getting heavier and breathing becoming a tiresome task.
When he reached there , he sat down next to the tombstone and placed the flowers on top.
"Hey Rob. Hope you're good wherever you are. I brought you the white roses. I know how much you love them. Today was supposed to be a happy day. I was supposed to get married to the love of my life but I messed up. Just like how I messed up everything with Lauren. I bet if you were here things would be better. I would be a better person. Mum and Allison would still love me. You were the one holding me up, making me a better version of myself. You were my perfect entity and no one can replace you. I miss you so much. Happy birthday Rob. Love you."
He stayed there a bit longer, tears flowing down as he recalled all the few memories they had shared.
Saying he loved him one last time, Eric got up and went home.
He went straight to his home office.
There was a safe where he kept important documents and sentimental things.
He put the knife on his desk and went to open it.
He punched in the combination and when it opened he took out a small black box.
He set it on his desk next to the knife he had bought, closed the safe, pulled out a chair and sat down.
He opened the box, a wave of nostalgia hitting him once he saw the contents.
There was a yoyo that Rob used to play with when he was stressed or deep in thought.
There were pictures of him and Rob when they were at the bottom of Mt Kilimanjaro when they were nine years old, one of him and Philip when they went to Madagascar three years ago, him and Lauren on a yacht on their honeymoon, him and Adam at the fair the previous year and one of him, Allison, Rob and their mother in the Bahamas when he was eight years old.
He put them all back, including the knife.
He had everything he wanted for tonight.
He just hoped that after what he would do , Adam would forgive him for being an idiot.
He felt the familiar pang in his chest when he recalled how he broke Adam's heart.
