fifty-five

Kao

"Kaooooo!!!"

I had to take my phone of my ear when I heard Rein squealed on the other line.

I was on my way to my last class that time.

"We're flying back there over the weekend!"

I smiled when I heard her.

"Really!?! That's good news! Did you finally decide to have the ceremony here?"

Last time we talked Rein and Kaleb were still indecisive about where to have the christening for their first born.

"Actually. We just had the baby blessed over the weekend. It's the celebration that we're going to hold there. I've talked to my family and they said they wanted to see the baby. My father offered to pay for the party. They even specifically told me Kaleb could attend."

I chuckled when I heard what Rein said.

Well, at least she's happy.

Things on her side seemed to fall into their proper places.

Kaleb is a good guy.

Apart from running off to Thailand and bringing Rein with him without the latter's family knowing, Kaleb is dependable and I think it's time for Rein's family to see that.

"That's great! I'm so happy for you and the family, Rein. I think it's about time. Also, I'm so excited to see you again in person. And the baby too."

Rein deserved all the happiness and blessings right now as she's a very kind hearted person.

"Thank you, Kao. I'm super excited to see you too and to come back after all these time. The thing is, my husband seemed to not like the idea. He's still anxious with the thought that he's meeting my family for the first time since he took me away."

I chuckled with what Rein said.

Of course!

Kaleb should be nervous about meeting Rein's family.

But seeing him now, with all that he had accomplished over the years and for how and who he turned out to be, I was sure he needed not to worry too much.

"It's normal for Kaleb to feel that way. If I'm your parent I wouldn't be happy with how he handled the situation too but I know Kaleb. He's a good person and often sensible so I guess you really didn't have to worry that much. Besides, there's already Kaleb Jr. who would have the heart to ignore such cute angel right?"

I heard Rein hummed her agreement on the next line before she replied.

"Yeah. That's true. Thanks Kao. I also told him that. I'm sure if they know him better, my family would love him too. Right, which brought me to the idea, have you met Pete's parents already?"

I blinked at Rein before I shook my head.

Actually, I haven't had thought about that.

Pete and I just recently celebrated our one month of being together back at his mansion of the hill about a week ago where I cooked for him and we spent the whole day just watching movies and talking about random stuff.

But we never had mentioned about his parents tho.

Sure I've met his mother before once or twice and Pete had introduced us together, me, as his boyfriend, but I never really had known his mother's true thoughts about it as I wasn't given much time with her.

Every one of those encounters were always short lived and now that I'm thinking about it, I couldn't be as confident as I wanted to be when thinking about meeting his mother and this time, his father too.

And the fact that Pete never seemed to mention them with me all these times had slowly made me apprehensive.

"I. Met his mother before. But that was long ago. I had no idea about his father that time tho."

Thinking about it now, I wonder if Pete told his parents about us before and of us getting back together now.

"Even in video calls?"

Rein inquired.

"Even that."

I quipped as I made a turn towards my classroom.

"Oh, well, I don't think you'll have problems. Tita is nice. Pete's father, well, I rarely meet him but I think he's okay too. I mean, they should be right? It's not like Pete is underage or something."

I heaved a sigh.

I really had no idea how to answer that.

"Yeah, well, can't really never tell. And now that you mentioned it, I suddenly felt anxious about meeting them."

What if they don't approve and ask me to leave Pete like one of those soap operas on tv?

What if they pay me to leave their son alone!?!

At this rate now, I don't think I would be able to do so.

And I wonder if Pete thinks the same.

I mentally shook my head with the thought.

"What? Why? Sorry, I didn't meant to make you feel that way, I just mentioned it because I suddenly Reinembered it out of the blue."

I nodded at Rein as if she could see me before I waved at my friends and classmates who were waiting for our professor to arrive as I signaled them that I was on the phone as I sat next to them.

"No, actually, I'm glad that you reminded me of it. Pete haven't mentioned them since and now that I think about it, I just thought I had to prepare myself meeting them. Specially his father."

I had an inkling about his mother in those few times I met her very quickly.

She was this strong intimidating woman with opinions who spoke her mind out.

She didn't say anything when Pete introduced me as his boyfriend back then tho.

She just nodded at me and asked if I've eaten already and that was it.

On the following meetings, she was already very causal engaging me in small talks but we really didn't have that heart to heart boyfriend and mother of the boyfriend talk.

As for Pete father, I don't have entirely no idea.

"You really don't have to worry. You and Pete are together now, what could go wrong, right?"

Actually, there's a lot of thing that could go wrong if I think about it, but I won't do so.

"I don't want to answer your question because it would feel like I'm jinxing it. But, anyhow, thank you for Reininding me. I'll be sure to talk to Pete about it soon."

Maybe later when he dropped by my place as he just texted me he's in the city for some business trip.

He's finally planning to have an actual office after months of operating at his house.

"Alright, then. So...see you when we get back?"

I smiled and nodded at her.

"See you! Take care! Bye!"

I heaved a sigh before I put my phone in my pocket almost the same time our professor arrived and our class started.

Halfway through the discussion, I felt my phone vibrated as if someone was calling.

I reached for my phone inside my pocket and canceled the call.

The discussion is at its peak and I can't not listen regardless of who was calling.

More than ever, I needed to be serious with my studies now that I'm an academic scholar.

I had grades to maintain if I wanted to get one more bill off my back.

Anyway, there are about three people who could be calling me during my class house.

Kaleb, Rein and of course, Pete—-whom I could just call back later on.

And so, I continued listening intently on the discussion when my phone rang again and I did cancel it the same.

On the third ring, I finally decided to check my phone thinking about how the call might be important.

The number was not registered and it looked as if it's not local number.

My brows furrowed in confusion as I stared the screen and wondered who might be calling.

I was torn between calling and texting back but the professor is still discussing and I didn't want to miss out on anything that I ended up deciding on putting my phone back in my pocket.

Guess I'm just going to check who the caller was when the lectures over.

A few minutes later, after declining yet another invite from Caizer as he had done almost everyday for the past months despite me telling him to stop, I was on my way home when I was finally able to get a hold of my phone.

I went back to my call log and pressed on the unknown number from earlier who called me during class.

It was just ringing and ringing but nobody's picking up.

I'm already sacrificing my regular load balance just to call this unknown number.

It this number turned out to be a pervert, I'm really gonna hit myself.

I made another call.

This time, I wore my earphone as I was on my way back to my apartment through the short cut and called the number yet again.

If no one would still pick up, I'm going to send the number a text asking about the owner's identity and maybe stop from there.

I'm just gonna call back once I reached the apartment when suddenly, the tone stopped and the call went through.

Then came a familiar voice.

"Kao?"

My eyes widened as I heard that voice that I froze on my spot at the junction.

I can't be mistaken.

It had been too long, but I could still recognize it.

"Can we talk!?!"

The person from the other line asked and I couldn't rely as my mind was busy reciting something.

It's Pete's mother and even if I didn't want to, I started panicking.