S. F. - 09

***

New.

I sneaked a peek at the man who was casually sitting in our living room whilst reading a book. I inwardly groaned before trudging back to the living area and placed the glass of water on the table in front of him.

I plopped down on the seat across him and heaved a deep sigh, making him look at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Aren't you gonna work on your studies? Midterms are just around the corner."

"I don't remember hiring a tutor," I murmured lowly but unfortunately he heard what I just said.

"I'm not tutoring you. I'm babysitting you," he replied, his eyes fixed on the book he was reading.

***

3 hours ago.

"Mom? Where are you going?" I asked Mom the moment I went down the stairs as she was carrying a suitcase. Following her was my dad who was fixing the cuff of his suit.

"Oh, good morning, son. I'm sorry we weren't able to tell you but we have a business trip for two days. And we gotta go. We're running late," she replied hastily and kissed my cheeks. Well, it didn't really bother me for I was already used to them not being around most of the time.

"By the way, Mr Tay's gonna be with you during the weekend."

"Wait, what? Who?" I furrowed my eyebrows at my mom for I was not sure if I heard her correctly. Like, why the fvck would Mr Tay be here?

"Your dad saw the invitation card for a party this weekend in your uniform. You know he's being more strict with you right now after your recent suspension," my mom whispered as my dad was just near us.

I internally cursed Pete for putting the card in my pocket and I had to mentally slap myself too for totally forgetting about it.

I jolted when my father approached us.

"D-dad. Take care on your trip."

"I asked Tay to be with you for two days since I quite don't have trust in you when it comes to staying away from trouble."

"But dad, I have no plans of attending that party. A schoolmate just placed that card in my uniform randomly."

"I've personally asked him even before seeing that card, New. And all the more that I want him to be here after seeing that."

"Dad, I'll be just fine here. P'Hom is here with me."

"And then trick her and escape afterwards? I'll still be keeping an eye on you New even if I'm not around."

"Sweetie, we gotta go. We're gonna miss our flight. Bye, honey," mom kissed me on the cheek and tousled my hair.

"Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad."

I watched as they left through the door and trudged towards the sofa.

"I love my life," I groaned before burying my face on the throw pillow.

***

"I told you I'm not at home. I have to go somewhere."

I scowled as I listened to his conversation over the phone. Well, I was not really listening. His voice was just loud enough for me to hear.

Okay, fine. I was listening.

I casually flipped my notes and mindlessly read them for 90% of my attention was on their conversation rather than on the notes that I was supposed to read.

"Kao, are we seriously fighting over this? Hello? Hello?"

I immediately grabbed my pen and pretended to write something the moment he went back to his seat.

"Tsss. Clingy boyfriend," I whispered to myself but I might have blurted it out louder than I expected because he cleared his throat.

"I,I'm sorry. Didn't mean to listen," I immediately apologized. Like heck, seriously New? You didn't mean to listen?

"We're just fuck buddies at first."

I coughed aggressively as I choked on my own saliva.

"And then things got out of hand and the next I knew he wanted to put a label on our relationship. I couldn't say no as he was the one who was there when I was at the lowest point of my life."

"So, you agreed to be his boyfriend out of pity? I mean that's pathetic. Uhm, I'm sorry," I quickly apologized after seeing the sad look on his face. "But why are you telling me this?"

"I know you're curious and seriously, you're one of the very few people who know about us."

"Well, accidentally knew is the right term for it," I went back to writing random stuff on my notebook to avoid the kind of gaze he was giving me.

I raised my eyebrow at him when he started laughing all of a sudden.

"What's so funny Mr Vihokratana?"

"Nothing. I just remembered the look on your face while you were running away from me the night you stole my phone."

I scowled at him and aggressively closed my notebook."

"I told you it was a dare. I didn't steal your phone because I was a thief."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I didn't report you to the police. "

"Huh?"

"Come on. Let's eat. I'm hungry."

And with that, he just left me in the living room, totally confused with what he just said.

***

"HOLY MOTHER FUCK!"

I quickly turned around as Mr Tay went out of the bathroom with just a towel hanging lowly on his hips.

"You do curse a lot."

He snickered and I could only imagine the look on his face even if I was not facing him.

"Do you need anything?"

"I,I, I just wanted to check if everything's fine in here. My dad told me to make sure you're comfortable with your stay here," I hastily replied without looking at him. Well, my father hadn't really told me that. I just couldn't think of any logical reason as to why I entered the room on whim.

"Tss. Aren't you supposed to look at someone when you're talking to them?"

"C-Can you get dressed first?" I swallowed the lump in my throat as I recalled the shape of his body. Like fuck, I had seen it before but why am I being conscious right now??

"Why? Don't tell me you haven't seen a naked man before?"

"I- I have! But you're, you're my professor so I don't think it's right.

"Tss. We're both guys. There's nothing wrong with that."

Yeah, except that you swing both ways.

I didn't know why but ever since I knew about him being bisexual, I became conscious around him. And the fact that I couldn't remove the scene of him thrusting and moaning out of my mind was definitely not helping especially now that he was half naked.

"I-I gotta go. Just call P'Hom if you need anything," I immediately went out of the guestroom without sparing him a single glance.

"No sneaking out, New," he shouted before I could close the door behind me.

Fuck. Why am I fucking nervous?

***

I shifted my position for the nth time and grunted when I still couldn't sleep. I looked at the clock and frowned when it was already 10:45 in the evening.

White calling...

I immediately grabbed my phone from the bedside table and answered White's call.

"Hey. What's up White? Where are you? Why is it so loud out there?"

"New."

"Huh?" I frowned as it wasn't White's voice on the other line. I immediately looked at the screen but it was definitely White's number.

"Who's this? Why do you have White's phone?" I vehemently asked, making my voice as loud as possible so he could hear me over the loud music.

"It's me, Earth."

I frowned upon hearing his response. It seemed like he went somewhere else based on the faint music in the background.

"What do you want?"

"I was looking for you. Haven't you received my invitation? I asked Pete to give it to you."

I cleared my throat before answering. In the first place, I didn't have plans of attending his party, but the guy next room was definitely making me think otherwise.

"I-I, got it. Uhm, I'm actually on my way there."

"Really?? Do you want me to fetch you? Just tell me your address."

I chuckled as I heard the excitement in his voice.

"No. I can manage. Where's the venue anyway? I, uh, I forgot."

Well, it was more of I didn't know since I hadn't read the invitation in the first place.

"It's at The Groove."

I stilled at the mention of the club. It was where Kao was working as a bartender.

"O-okay, I'll be there."

I quickly ended the call and grabbed my jacket. I made sure to change into shoes this time.

"Hell. I'd rather be there than be stuck with Mr Tay here all night."

I made a short note and pinned it on my door's room to make sure that Mr Tay wouldn't barge in, if ever he decided to check on me and he wouldn't get any response.

DO NOT DISTURB: CURRENTLY SLEEPING.

I carefully opened my room's window and flung myself outside, landing on the soft grass.

I had done this million times already so it was just a piece of cake. I glanced at the CCTV and silently prayed that my father didn't give Mr Tay access to the control room. I'd just delete the footage of me sneaking out once I get back just like what I did before.

I quickly hailed a cab the moment I got out of the subdivision whilst hoping Mr Tay was already in his room, soundly sleeping.

***

"EARTH! NEW'S HERE!"

Pete's voice hollered despite the loud music.

Earth immediately left his friends and came to me, a wide grin on his face.

"New, I'm so glad you came."

"Tss. See I told you, you'd get your birthday present," Pete tapped his back.

"Birthday? Oh, happy birthday, Earth. Sorry I came empty handed."

I smiled awkwardly as I didn't have any idea that it was actually his birthday party. I just though it was some random party he threw because he didn't have anything to do with his extra money.

"Come on. The fact that you made it is enough. Come, I prepared a seat for you."

He grabbed my wrist and led me to a couch where White and Gunsmile were already sitting.

"Hey there, New!" they both greeted as I sat down beside them.

"What about your father?" Gunsmile whispered.

"Business trip," I whispered back at him and then turned to Earth who handed me a bottle of beer.

"Cheers to our birthday boy!" White exclaimed as we clinked our bottles together.

***

I massaged my temple as my head was starting to ache and my vision was already hazy.

I had lost count of the number of bottles of beers I drank and I couldn't even recall the names of the drinks I had.

I looked at White and Gunsmile who were talking to some girls by the bar counter.

Earth was nowhere to be found and I was the only one left in the couch.

I wobbled as I stood and made my way towards the comfort room.

I was halfway there when I accidentally tripped over my own foot. I just closed my eyes preparing myself to hit the floor but it didn't happen.

"Tsss. Why are you so clumsy?"

I squinted my eyes to look at the one talking and scoffed.

"Why do you always have to appear in front of me, Peter?" I scoffed as I tried to remove his hand around my waist.

"You couldn't even walk properly. Stop being such a brat," he retorted and helped me walk towards the comfort room.

"Tsss. I'm not a brat!" I spat out and whisked his hand away but he just tightened his grip on me.

"Well, for me, you are."

I was about to argue with him even more when I felt my world turn around and the next thing I know Mr Tay was already holding me. Or was I hallucinating? I shook my head to ward off the dizziness I was feeling and get a clearer vision but ultimately failed.

"Tsss. You just can't stay at home, can you?"

I couldn't even make sure if it was really Mr Tay who was talking for the next thing I saw was darkness.

***

I groaned as the harsh sunlight hit my face. Still with my eyes closed, I tried to get up but then a jolt of pain crossed my head.

"Shit, damn hangover!" I grunted as I massaged my head.

"That's what you get for sneaking out."

I immediately opened my eyes and saw Mr Tay sitting by the bed with a book in his hands.

That was when I noticed that I was not in my room.

"What are you doing here? I-I mean what am I doing here?"

"You locked your bedroom."

He then got up and handed me a glass of water and medicine.

"Take this. It will help ease the pain."

I slowly sat up and got the water and medicine from him and all the while he was watching me.

"Ho-How did you know I was there?"

"Your house is surrounded with CCTV's and yet you have the audacity to sneak out."

SHIT. That only means my father gave him access to the control room.

"A-are you gonna tell my father about this?" I nervously asked and watched his every movement.

"No."

I heaved a sigh of relief and smiled widely at him.

"Not for now."

The smile on my face immediately vanished the moment he continued his statement.

"What do you mean?"

"Fix yourself and come down for breakfast."

He then left the room without answering my question.

"URGGH!!! You're starting to get on my nerves Tay Tawan!"

***

A/N: I was supposed to post this update tomorrow but since my family and I are going on a trip, I would probably have little time to be online so here you go. Hope you liked this one guys.

By the way, I'm thinking of writing a side chapter in Kao's POV for the next update. What do you think?

Stay safe always guys. 💙💕

-ladycrookshanks