Chapter 33: 2.12 Keith Luther
Quinn wound his arms around Su Lin in a protective manner and glared heatedly at Keith. Over the years, Quinn noticed how Keith kept looking at his dad in a strange way but disregarded it thinking that Keith was looking after his dad. But recently, Quinn noticed how ambiguous Keith was being. Like how he hugs his dad longer than needed and keeps putting his hands in places that their not supposed to be in.
"What are you doing here?" Quinn asked him with a clear frown on his face.
Keith completely ignored him and walked up to Su Lin with a grin stretching across his face. The aura that surrounded him was soft and happy, making it evident that he was in a good mood.
"Luca, can you come with me for a moment?" Keith asked but he didn't wait for Su Lin's answer before he wrestled Quinn's hold from Su Lin's waist and pulled Su Lin to the balcony outside.
"What do you want?" Su Lin asked with one eyebrow raised as he watched in amusement at Keith fidgeting.
Keith took a deep breath and reached into his coat pocket. He took out a small, red-velvet box. He stepped back and got on one knee as he looked deep into Su Lin's eyes.
Su Lin couldn't help but to feel a bit of familiarity with those eyes as if he had seen them before but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. He snapped out of his thoughts when Keith began speaking.
"Luca, we've known each other for 10 years now. Those 10 years were the greatest years I've ever lived. When you weren't in my life, my soul felt empty. It was as if I were lacking something but when I met you, that feeling disappeared. Luca, I can't imagine spending the rest of my life without you by my side. I want to be the best man you could ever want and the best father Quinn could ever dream to have. Luca, will you marry me?" Keith said all in one breath with his eyes staring fervently into Su Lin's.
When he opened the ring box, Su Lin's heart stagnated. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the ring. In the red-velvet box was an intricately designed blue diamond ring. But that was not what caught Su Lin's attention, it was the words engraved into the ring. All in all.
A part deep in Su Lin's heart stung when he read that. No, it's not possible. He said to himself to calm down.
"Host, there has been a malfunction with my program. I won't be able to help you for a while." System said.
"What happened?" Su Lin asked.
"I don't know, some type of bug got inside when I wasn't watching." System replied.
"Okay, deal with it quickly." Su Lin ordered.
"Yes Host." System said before it went quiet.
Su Lin reverted his attention back to Keith whose back was sweating due to his nervousness. Su Lin closed his eyes for a moment to calm his jumbled up nerves before he reopened them.
"Keith, in these 10 years, you have helped Quinn and I in ways that I always feel thankful to you." Su Lin started to say.
"So you-"
"But I can't return your feelings." Su Lin finished.
When Keith heard that, his expression deflated like a balloon.
"Why, is it because of your ex-husband. I can take care of him." Keith stood up from the ground and reached out to Su Lin with a desperate expression on his face.
"No, it's not because of him." Su Lin said while he swatted away Keith's hands before they reached him and bypassed Keith to go back inside. Keith hurriedly followed him back inside.
"Then why-"
"Do I need a reason why? I just don't." Su Lin steeled his heart to say. In fact, Su Lin rally liked Keith and didn't find it bad to tie the knot with him but a gut feeling was telling him that something was about to happen.
Quinn was lazing on the couch when he heard the commotion and ran over to his dad to see what's up.
"Dad, what's going on? Is Uncle Keith bothering you?" Quinn asked as he eyed Keith with hostility.
As if daring him to do something to his dad.
Both men ignored him. Keith made his way to the front door and opened it, but turned back before he left.
"Please, think about it. Please." Keith quietly begged Su Lin before he departed.
"Think about what? Dad, what is he talking about?" Quinn asked curiously.
Su Lin patted him on the head, "Nothing." He said.
The next morning, Su Lin dropped off Quinn at school before he drove off. He arrived to the café that Keith and him first met at and got out of the car. Then everything seemed to go in slow motion.
A figure walked out of know where and walked up to Su Lin while taking out a knife.
Su Lin didn't notice the person until the last moment and moved to avoid the weapon but it was too late. The person lunged the knife and embedded it into Su Lin's chest before he released his hand and ran away from the scene.
"What's with these stabbings." Su Lin muttered to himself as he quickly lost the strength of his legs.
Su Lin fell to the ground with a thud and coughed up blood when he impacted with the ground. All he could hear were screams coming out of the people around him who saw the scene and his own gradually fading heartbeat. Su Lin was losing blood quickly from the wound and he wouldn't last much longer. The last things he could remember were Keith's and Quinn's faces. Su Lin took his last breath before the light in his eyes faded, never to be full of life again.
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Elsewhere, Keith was sitting on his couch in front of the TV playing around with the engagement ring.
"Breaking news. A horrendous murder was witnessed at Free Café. One of the most popular cafe's in the city."
Keith's interest was piqued when he heard that because that was the same café that Luca and him met at.
"The victim is described to be a male in his mid to late twenties with..."
When Keith heard the description of the person, something in his heart seemed to have been squeezed. He keeled over onto the floor and stayed there while staring at the screen with a disbelieving expression.
He hurriedly stood up and ran out of his house to his car and speeded off. When he reached the crime scene he saw people crowding around. Keith pushed and shoved people out of the way to reached the middle of the encirclement. There, he saw a body covered in a white blanket. A police officer tried to get him to back off but Keith pushed him away and ran to the bloodied body.
He removed the blanket and was met with the dead eyes of his beloved. Keith started shaking as a blood curdling scream sounded out from inside him. He started breathing heavily as tears cascaded down his face.
"WHY, WHY. WHY HIM!" Keith screamed in anguish.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone