BLUE KISS CHAPTER 5

 

5

An Only Son

Pete's house

Pete was driving into the front area of his big house. There was a quiz tomorrow, and, of course, he knew he couldn't study and prepare for it by himself. And since he was already close to Kao, he'd forced him to bring clothes from his house and to sleep over with him tonight so that Kao could be his personal tutor. Kao who had gotten no choice could only scratch his head, but finally… he'd agreed to sleep over at Pete's place.

"Since when did you take these school things seriously?" Kao said, feeling annoyed and wanting to insult this self-centered person. How could Pete force him to sleep over like this?"

"For years."

"You called that 'serious'."

"It doesn't mean I'm good at it."

He sighed when Kao indirectly insulted him as stupid again. What could he do when his brain only worked this much? Ain't it enough to prove that he was quite 'hard-working' by taking Kao to teach him at his place?

"You hated me before."
"Why do you have to bring up the past? We're close now, and that's it."

"Alright, I won't talk about it. But I'm curious who taught you before we were close."

"Sandee, of course, but now she passed on her burden to you." Pete gazed at Kao's reaction and saw that he made a bored face. "Can you be so cruel and refuse to teach me? Are you really my friend?"

"Will I come here with you if I refuse to teach you?"

"That's great, my dear buddy."

"I'm gonna charge you next time."

"As much as you want. My dad's rich. I can afford that."

Kao rolled his eyes, extremely annoyed. At that moment, Pete parked his car in front of the house, then they stepped out of it. Pete gave his car key to his servant to drive the car into the garage. Then, they walked inside Pete's magnificent and large house which reflected his family's prosperity.

Kao was unfamiliar with this situation as he rarely slept over at his friends' houses. And if he slept over at Pete's house, the other guys would be there too. This was the first time he slept over at Pete's house 'alone'.

No, no, no, no. Don't panic. Don't show him any signs that your heart is beating fast, Kao!

He told himself to calm down.

"My dad is already home, I guess. Let's meet him first."

"Okay," Kao said with a straight face while his heart was pounding. He somehow felt nervous when Pete grabbed his arm and dragged him to see Pon in the living room.

Pon was watching the news on the TV. When he saw Pete and Kao coming in, his gaze looked like it was asking what the matter was.

"Kao will sleepover tonight. I force him to help me study for a quiz tomorrow,' Pete told his father.

"Hello." Kao joined his palms together at his chest to pay respect to Pete's father.

Kao had met Pete's father before. He seemed to be strict and his face was handsome and sharp. He had this powerful vibe because he was a senior executive who needed to take care of many employees, but Kao knew he was actually a kind person.

"What about the others?" Pon asked.

"They passed on their burden to me," Kao joked.

"Well, great. I'll leave him to you. He might be stupid, but he learns fast."

"Are you complimenting me or insulting me?" Pete roared.

"Both," said Pon in a stern voice. "Now that he's in college, it's such a relief to see him having good friends to help lift him up. Pete was a real mess when he was in high school. Made trouble. Got into fights."

"Dad! Stop roasting me."

"I heard you're smart, Kao. You're also good-looking. l guess you're popular with girls."

Pon said and looked at Kao with kindness in his eyes… Kao was a good student, well-mannered and well-behaved. All adults praised him and also his parents for raising him so well.

"Kao only cares about studying. He isn't interested in girls."

"That's great. Don't be like Pete. He's only crazy about girls, but when it comes to studying, he sucks." Pon shook his head as if he was absolutely tired of his son. "Anyway, Kao, please take care of him. Think of it as an act of charity. I've only got him. I want him to have a bright future, marry a nice woman, and have a child to continue our family line."

"Okay," Kao promised, forcing a smile.

At Pon's last words, Kao, for a moment, felt a twinge in his heart.

"Kao, let's go upstairs. If we stay here any longer, Dad's gonna roast me 'til I'm burned."

Pete quickly pushed Kao's back out of the living room because he noticed that Kao had become quiet. He guessed Kao was bored of listening to his father's nagging. But Kao, in fact, was stunned by what Pon had said

But… Kao tried to bury this feeling deep inside and act like he felt nothing.

"Don't take his words too seriously. He was just talking, he didn't mean anything."

"He didn't say anything bad. He only said all of that because he cares about you."

"Yeah, know. Don't nag me more."

"But I'm also curious…"

"About what?"

"How could you pass the entrance exam? We all know that we need to get a very high score to apply to our faculty. Even my friend couldn't make it."

Pete thought about it for a moment as they stepped inside his room. He closed the door and turned on his laptop as he always did.

Pete's room was large, clean, and beautifully decorated. But it wasn't Pete's doing. He was the one who always made his room dirty, and the housekeeper was the one who made it clean again.

"It was a fluke."

"Which temple did you go to pray? You must've prayed a lot of money."

"I'm a man with luck. My lucky points are fricking high."

Pete pushed Kao's head softly and jokingly when his phone rang. He grabbed it and looked at the screen, then smiled brightly when he saw that it was the girl he was currently dating.

The first stage of this relationship still made him crazy about her, so it was normal that he got excited when she called him.

"Your girl?" asked Kao.

"You're right! It's Fongbeer."

"So annoying."

"Don't be jealous, dude."

Pete raised his eyebrows and walked away to talk to Fongbeer while Kao kept his eyes on Pete's back, thinking Pete had many girls to 'talk' with. Ever since freshman year, there hadn't been a time Pete wouldn't be dating someone.

"Don't whine, babe. I can't meet you today because I've got to study. I have a quiz tomorrow." Pete's voice reached Kao's ears, "Trust me. I'm not talking to anyone else but you."

I'm not jealous of your love life. I'm jealous of Fongbeer for having you.

Kao scrolled through the newsfeed on his smartphone, but every word Pete had said still echoed in his mind. It felt like a needle pricking his heart. Even though he'd tried to tell himself to stop overthinking about it, because he knew Pete was into girls and wouldn't change his taste, Kao couldn't stop falling for him. If he'd been able to… his feelings wouldn't have gone this far.

June's dorm

While King was getting ready to go out, June was sitting on the sofa, pretending to watch TV like he didn't care. But in fact… June was quietly observing if he acted weird or if he had an appointment with anyone because King was being suspicious more and more every day.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm heading out."

King told his friend on the phone and was about to rush out of the room.

"Where are you going?" June asked instantly,

"I'm gonna go hang out," King answered inattentively.

"You've been hanging out every single day recently. How did you get so much money?"

"My friends treated me. I didn't pay every night."

After saying it, King opened the door and left immediately, as if he was afraid June would ask something else. June who was left alone in the room thought for a while, then decided to follow his friend.

Tonight, June promised to himself that he must find out where King was going to be and what he was going to do. If it turned out that King was doing something illegal, June still had a chance to warn him and bring him back to his own self in time. June still believed that King wasn't a bad or terrible person.

If he really did something bad, he must've just done it on impulse.

Why is he in such a hurry?

June thought while following King quietly. King was in a rush and kept looking around as if he was hiding from something. But June was careful not to get caught.

When he'd followed King to the main street, he somehow disappeared.

"Where has he gone? How can he be fast?!"

June muttered in frustration while looking around the street, but there was no sign of King. He must have seen it if King got in a car. This was like King knew he was being followed, so he quickly hid somewhere. Suddenly, June's phone rang. He frowned as he was surprised to see the one calling him was… King.

Maybe he knows I'm following him.

"What's up?" June answered the call, trying his best to keep his voice even.

"Where are you?" asked King.

"At the room, of course."

"Really?"

"Why the hell are you asking?"

"Nothing… I just thought you're at the main street."

June froze and gritted his teeth, getting pissed for being caught.

"Stop following me. If you still want us to be friends, get your nose out of my business."

"King! I've done this because I'm worried about you."

"I know, but you'd better stay out of it this time."

King immediately hung up like he didn't want June to have a chance to ask him any more questions, but it only made June get more curious about what King was up to. Considering King's behavior, it was definitely something terrible!

The next day, after classes

The Faculty Of Engineering, N University

"It's the first time in my life that I think I'm gonna get a good score after I've taken a quiz."

Pete was boasting while they all were walking out of the classroom as the last class had finished. Sandee and Thada looked bored. They were glad that Pete studied harder and became smarter, but they were tired of listening to him boasting, no matter if Pete did it as a joke or to hide his embarrassment.

"You should bring a garland to pay respect to Kao on Teachers' Day," Thada didn't speak much, but when he did, it was savage. Pete glared at him while Kao wag laughing hard without trying to defend Pete.

"You gotta bring one for Sandee as well."

Pete struck back and smacked Thada's head. Thada wasn't smarter than him. He might've died in the classroom if Sandee, hadn't helped him study.

"Stop arguing. Just bring us garlands on Teacher's Day, both of you," said Sandee.

"I'm looking forward to it." Kao smiled cheekily.

The four of them enjoyed chatting until they noticed that something was off — June was completely quiet when, normally, he was the cheerful one and never stopped talking. They all exchanged glances, then looked at June. He looked very serious as if he was thinking about something.

"Why are you quiet? The quiz was too hard?" Thada put his arm around June's neck, trying to cheer him up. "Don't worry. It's worth only a few percent. Kao can teach you next time. If he's good enough to make Pete get a high score… everybody can get it too."

"You mean I'm the most stupid person in the world?" Pete suddenly asked.

"I didn't say that," answered Thada.

But June was still quiet. Normally, he would already say something to piss Pete and Thada off for fun.

"What's the matter, June? You've been looking kinda stressed lately. Is it about King again?" asked Kao. They started to feel worried when June remained silent. "You better tell us what's on your mind rather than taking it all alone."

"I guessed it's about King," said Sandee.

"Yeah, he's been acting really weird… but whatever. It's probably nothing." Although June wants to spool it all out, he still wasn't sure about what King was up to, so he didn't want to smear his friend.

"What about our party tonight?" asked Pete.

"Again?" Sandee looked so fed up.

"We need to party since I'm gonna get a good score." Pete tried to get everyone in the mood.

"You sure you're gonna get it?" Kao tried to annoy Pete.

"Don't look down on your teaching skills."

"I'm not looking down on myself. I'm looking down on you."

"Kao!" Pete almost shook Kao's neck because he implied that Pete was stupid again.

"You guys go. I've got a headache. Gonna take some rest tonight." The moment June refused to go, they all exchanged glances again. This was totally strange because June rarely said no to parties.

"You go rest. Since our team's not complete tonight, let's call it a day." Sandee said.

"Very well! Next time, then." Pete gave up.

Then they split up and went home. June was left alone with a serious look on his face. He was thinking about his plan tonight. This morning, he'd heard that King was going to meet his friends somewhere. If he followed King to that place, he would know the truth - with whom had King been with for the past few days, and had he done something bad?

Finally, June had decided that he would follow King. He must find out what King was up to!

In front of June's dorm

King might be afraid that June would follow him, so he didn't come back to the dorm today. He didn't know June had already known the location he'd go to meet his friends. When June had arrived at his dorm, he studied the route to the destination and calculated how long it would take to go there, then he got out of the dorm to take a taxi at the main street.

But… June was surprised when he saw Pete's car parking in front of the dorm, waiting for him.

"Get in the car." Kao opened the car window and shouted to June who was standing still. He wasn't sure whether he should tell them about his plan tonight. He didn't want to get his friends in trouble. "You're going out, right? Hop in. We'll go with you. You'll waste our time if you stay frozen like a wax figure in Madame Tussauds like that."

"How did you know I'm going out?"

"Just get in the car. We're faster than a taxi," said Pete.

June thought about it for a second, then he got in the car.

"What brings you guys here?"

"Tell me where we're going first. Talk later."

"We're going to…" June told them the destination Pete frowned, wondering why June wanted to go there. It wasn't a place they usually hung out, far near the suburbs. June now thought he should tell everyone. "I'm following King. He's going to meet his friends there. I want to know what he is up to."

"So that's why you didn't want to party with us - you gotta follow King."

Pete said as he quickly started the car.

"Can you tell me now why you guys suddenly waited for me here?"

"It's not like we suddenly came here," Kao explained. "Pete wanted to party, and he saw that you were stressed out, so he asked all of us to go out again, then we came to pick you up. We were about to drive into the alley when we saw you walking out already, so we parked here."

"What do you think King's going to do?" asked Thada.

"I don't know." June didn't want to say what he was thinking since he didn't want to defame King. He only wanted to see with his own eyes if what he was thinking was right. "Anyway… Should we take Sandee back home first?"

"Why do I have to go back?" Sandee shouted immediately. She knew June cared about her, but she wasn't the kind of girl who'd be a burden for anyone. "I'm your friend too, June."

"Let her go with us. A bold girl like her is sure not a burden, and I'll take care of her," said Thada.

"That's the power of this ship. Your shippers aren't here, though. No need to give fan service."

"Shut up, Kao!" Thada glared at him.

He had come to the conclusion that they all would go to the destination together. June hoped that… no matter what was going to happen tonight, he'd get to know the truth, or else he wouldn't definitely be able to focus on anything else.