Chapter 31: Chapter Fifteen.1: He's Not the Favorite Child Anymore
Kiara slowly walked and gently knocked on Keith's room, but he wasn't there. When she asked her father who was suffering worse than her, she learned that Keith was inside their parents' study with their mother.
"Keith, ma… do you want coffee?" she asked, almost whispering to them, seeing how busy the two were.
"Oh, sure, Kiara! Also, prepare some snacks!" their mother quickly requested while in a video call with the Physics teacher, a fellow club adviser. Keith was checking the worksheets of the other students while the teachers were working on their budget planning. They also want Keith to do mentoring for his fellow students who will also participate in the contest. And Keith had no choice but to agree.
When the coffee arrived, Kiara sat on the side couch, waiting for Keith to finish checking the papers. After sipping a little coffee, he sat beside his mother and opened his father's laptop. Keith worked on their budget plans with the two teachers and discussed the following club activities and the funding for a few promising proposed research by the third-year students. Keith drafted the meeting agenda he will hold on Friday and occasionally shared his opinion.
Then, after the first batch of coffee, Kiara made another mug of coffee. Compared to their father, who was making another draft for the math exam, Kiara was doing better.
"I pity your students, pa," she commented after sipping her coffee and skimming through the questions written on the document file displayed on the computer screen.
"I taught them all these." Rowan defended his exam.
"You taught the simple equations, not math Olympiad problems!"
"Why? Is Keith dumb to do easy questions?" Kiara gasped at his father's doting affection for Keith.
"Pa, did you forget that Keith isn't your student?"
Kiara left her stubborn father in the living room. She peacefully went to her room and talked about how Keith was causing the students misery in their school with his younger boyfriend.
The following days at school were spent on club activities and school work. Keith started working on the Drama club's finances which was more problematic than he thought because the club had no proper equipment such as cameras or microphones. The ones they used last year were owned by a senior who just graduated, and now, unfortunately, only Darryl can lend a camera. If it won't suffice, some suggested using phones instead. But Keith won't opt for a sloppy choice. With the club adviser, Keith made a budget proposal and sent them to the student council and the admin since he has well-established connections with them.
On the other hand, Drake started familiarizing the character's role and memorizing lines. Drake stayed with him even when Keith had to remain in school, going back and forth to his mother, then Teacher Tan's office, then the Physics teacher in Science Building, and then to his boyfriend, who felt exhausted just watching Keith run with different papers on hand.
It was exhausting, but the busyness made them feel that they became devout high school students after all the slacking. They missed having dinner together, so they sat in the little restaurant near their school. They ate meat pies and did not talk about their tasks.
"I'm taking a leave tomorrow. Sister Jenny got me a gig for another clothing line." Drake informed him.
"Congratulations. How long will you be out of town?" Keith smiled after a long day of frowning, and then he checked his phone for another errand to run in one hand and shoved the meat pie in his mouth with the other.
"I'll be back on Saturday evening or Sunday morning." Drake suddenly held his hand and took it under the table. Technically, they were holding on to a meat pie, but it was enough to get Keith's attention. "Can you spend the Sunday with me again?"
"Where will you take me?" Keith blushed. "Oh wait, I think I still need to complete the budget and review for the physics quiz bowl on Sunday."
"You can do that at my place. It's fine. So you can take a break, and maybe I can show you a good time." The tilt in Drake's lips tempted Keith to think about the subtleties of the open-endedness in the suggestion his boyfriend made.
"Okay. Sure. Let's rest and have a good time after doing a lot of work."
…
The next day, Drake skipped class and went out of town for his part-time job. On the other hand, Keith spent his lunch break conducting the meeting in the Science Program building. Among all the clubs, the Natural Science Society was the biggest, so they had to do their engagement in the vastest lecture hall at school. His mother, the Physics teacher, And three Biology teachers also went to their meeting. Keith handled it excellently and was accepted by everyone as the president despite being not a Science Program student.
After school, he returned to the Science Program building again and went to the Physics lecture room to explain how he solved the problems in the worksheets given. Aside from the two contest participants, the other club members also filled the classroom to catch up. There was a rumor that the exams would be more challenging, so they had to cram and study more, and a free lecture from Keith was a bonus to them.
They all felt excited when they heard that Keith would be giving free mentoring once a week. His parents are the best at teaching, but because students feel so much pressure whenever they sit in their class, some have difficulty catching up with their fast-paced teaching method. Keith was the same age as them, so his pace was a little slower, and he wasn't as scary as his parents despite looking like a delinquent. Hearing the lesson for the second time became easier for them to understand the lessons too.
Nick carpooled with them on the way home. He sat beside his uncle while his auntie happily chatted about the Natural Sciences Society with Keith. Then, they also fetched Kiara on the way. He thought the ride would finally be livelier, but the back seat remained cold as ice.
When they got home, Keith immediately fell asleep. He felt so tired of talking all day, and he didn't even have time to check on Drake. When Saturday came the following day, he did all his chores at home, and took care of the dogs, bathed them, and took them out with Rio and Theo to play. He watched over six dogs and two naughty little boys. They ran around the playground and scared the other kids, and they had the playground all to themselves. When they returned, Rio and Theo were forced to nap after exhausting themselves in pleading to play more.
Keith checked his phone and saw no replies or calls from Drake. So, he checked his social media accounts. He only posted one picture yesterday. He wore a beige overcoat and a slight smile over the blurry city lights. Keith wanted to tap the photo and zoom in, but it tapped the heart instead. It made him overly conscious of one 'like' of a picture. After looking at the same page for more than ten minutes, he went to his wall. He has had a surge of followers since Drake posted a photo with him. On his other SNS, he has a lot of friend requests and direct messages.
Keith did not stay on the app anymore. It felt weird to have many people who suddenly show their interest in him. It didn't feel gratifying for him. He then opened the piled-up updates of novels he was reading. Time flew by, and he did not notice that it was already time for dinner. Kylie opened his door and called him back to the world.
Kylie took his earphones off quite harshly since Keith was so unresponsive to her. "Hey! Keith!!! Let's eat… You spent the whole day reading again!"
"Whole day? I cleaned the house, walked the dogs and the twins, and spent the whole day reading AGAIN? I have been working my ass off the entire week, and now that I finally had the time to read, you say I'm spending my whole day reading again? Oh, Kylie Lim! How I wish I could spend every day reading! Please!" Keith complained after a long week of playing obedient errand boy to his mother.
"I was calling you to eat. You're overreacting."
Keith stretched his limbs and yawned loudly after getting up. He heard another set of lectures he didn't want to hear again.
"Apologize to papa and Kiara." Kylie briefly ordered him with her arms crossed over her belly.
"They wronged me. Why should I apologize to them? They did not say a single sorry to me."
"Because you keep ignoring them," Kylie explained. "Keith, you can't keep being like this. You have to be kind and understanding to them so that by the time you come out, they'll see you in a more favorable light."
Kylie whispered that to him, proving they could use a lower volume if they wanted. However, it didn't sound good to Keith. 'Why do I have to do so much, humble myself so hard, just so that I could be acceptable when I come out?' He thought and asked himself.
"Whatever. I'm afraid I have to disagree that it's my fault. Kiara almost killed Kookie with her flowers and carelessness, and pa can't accept that I'm not going to follow in their footsteps. Those things have nothing to do with my sexuality at all." Keith murmured… pouting at Kylie's demand.
"Keith, don't exaggerate. Go and apologize. I won't haggle with you when it comes to this."
Kylie dragged Keith downstairs, and they set up the table. They finally have a home-cooked meal for dinner that Drake did not prepare, and Keith's face looks crappy. He frowned until everyone sat around the table for a long, loud meal.
Keith kept silent while the others talked about the future names of Kylie's triplets.
"Name them Kathy, Kirsten, and Ken. I'm sure they'll like it." Their mom suggested.
"Ugh… I want them to be unique, ma." Kylie murmured while chewing.
"How about Neo, Leo, and Seo? So, it can rhyme with Rio and Theo. Then when you have quadruplets next, name them Deo, Geo, Mio, and Gio, and for the next quintuplets up to the nth time of your arithmetically sequenced pregnancy, just use the rest of the other characters!" Kiara sneered at her, mocking her fertility.
"Oh, really? Nice idea, Kiara, as expected from you." Kylie also gave her the attitude.
Kiara laughed, trying to save the mood. "Oh, come on, it's funny and unique, like what you wish!"
"How about you, Keith? Any suggestions?" his mom asked.
"Isn't it too early to decide about that?" Keith replied while his chopsticks were pricking and grinding the lumps of rice.
"Why are you like that? Why can't you eat properly? Did someone make you upset again?"
Rio suddenly squealed excitedly. He was holding Keith's phone instead of eating.
"It's brother Drake!!!" He screamed sharply and showed the screen to Theo.
"Aaahhhhh!!!! Brother Drake?!!!" Theo also got all enthusiastic, and he accidentally tapped the rice over.
Keith got surprised when he saw that the twin managed to video call his boyfriend in front of his whole family, and he immediately grabbed his phone back. "Why is it on you?!!!" Keith forgot to be gentle and accidentally vented his temper to Rio. The little boy's eyes watered, and the tears immediately welled down with his snots.
Theo soon followed the cry Rio started. They all rattled, and it was a jumbled mess.
"Why are you taking your anger out on the kids?" Kylie reprimanded him.
On the phone, Drake's voice got through, "Bao- Keith! Are the baby boys okay? Why're they crying?"
"Why is he calling in the middle of dinner?!!!" their father's deep, irritated voice immediately occupied the whole dining table.
"Oh. Sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry. I'll hang up now. Sorry for the disturbance." Keith didn't get the chance to talk to Drake when the call ended, and the screen turned dark.
"That Drake! What's wrong with him? Why are you two always together? You already spend all your time at school with him, and you still call each other when you're at home? Don't you get tired of his face?!!!"
'He's my type! Why would I get tired of his face?!!!'… Keith wanted to talk back to his father, but Keith couldn't. This ugly conversation just proved to him that his father was suspicious of them.
"Father, please calm down. Keith and Drake are best buddies. It's normal for best friends to call and want to hang out with each other for the whole day." Aaron tried to back up Keith while rocking two crying monsters in his arms.
Kylie also stood up and helped her younger brother. "It's just a call. Drake didn't know we were having dinner, and Rio kind of answered the call. It's not a big deal. We should go back to eating. Okay?"
"Ahh, why are you jealous of his friend? Is it because Keith's talking to him while ignoring you for the whole week now?!" Katherine criticized her husband and then looked at her son and immediately released the temper she had been holding back until now. "And you, Keith! How long are you going to act like this? You're the youngest in this house, but your pride is even bigger than anyone here. What? Are you waiting for your father to back down, bow his head to you and apologize before you stop giving this attitude? What is so wrong with what your father told you? Then, about Kiara, she's your sister, and you're younger than her. But you're holding a grudge on a single mistake and forgetting all the favors she did for you! You're turning 17 next Thursday. You're not a kid anymore, but you're still the youngest. The least you could do is respect your sisters and parents and never take out your frustrations on your nephews!!!"
Just hearing through the windows, Nick knew what exactly to report to Drake. He narrates everything he had eavesdropped on to Drake through a phone call.
"… Drake, you two need to think of better ways to hide your relationship," Nick said after the lengthy report.
Drake took off his sunglasses while lying on the budget hotel's twin bed— the bruise on his eye had already turned purple. He sighed and hummed his agreement with what Nick said.
"Don't flirt too much!" Nick jokingly called him off, and after a long string of goodbyes, the call ended.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Paracetamoore
Paracetamoore if it's tough being a teacher's pet, it's tougher when they're your parents. gosh!
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