C10

"Oh my god! Joss! Son! How come u are here? Didn't u sleep in Gawin's room?" Gracy exclaimed in surprise.

Joss was deeply asleep but woke up from the sudden noise. He rubs his eyes as he slowly gets up.

"Good morning."

"Didn't u sleep in Gawin's room yesterday? How come u are here? Wait... don't tell me he kicked u out?" Gracy said in a disbelief. "Let me teach him a lesson." Gracy walks towards the stairs but is stopped by Joss.

"He didn't. I came down here by myself." Joss said, standing up.

"But why, son? U are so big, and u are sleeping on this small couch all cramped up. Aren't ur muscles sore? Let me see."

"It's not sore, ma. Thank u for worrying about me. It's just that I snore a lot when I'm tired and I was afraid that he won't be able to sleep so that's why?" Joss explains to her.

"Oh, I see, but still, it's not good for ur body. Next time, let him sleep here instead. He's comparatively small, so it won't have much effect." Gracy smiles slightly, rubbing on Joss arms.

"Thank u for taking care of me so well. No one other than my mom has taken care of me this much." Joss smiles. In fact, after his mother went into a vegetative state, no one bothered to check on him, ask about his day, worry about him like this so seeing Gracy worried about him makes his heart slightly warm in the morning.

"No problem. U are like my son, so of course I'll treat u like one. On top of that, I have already considered u as my eldest son, so don't be afraid to treat me like ur other mom, ok dear?" Gracy smiles sweetly.

"Ok." Joss smiles brightly. He loves it when Gawin's mom, Gracy, treats him like a son. It's been so long since he got the motherly affection and the parents' affection, which he'd lost it since that accident, but now he's getting it from there. The thing he needs, wants, and craves for the most, being within the family. He feels like he found a lost treasure after so long. Saying this, it doesn't mean that he's forgetting about his own family. He loves his family more than anything in this world, he's a family oriented man with strong family ethics and morality. He never forgets where he came from, his dad, his sister, especially his mom. These three people are the ones whom he will never ever compromise over anything, not even for love. Even if he becomes slightly distant from his father after the incident, he still loves him as much.

"Good. Now go and wash up. I will prepare breakfast for u guys." She smiles.

"Kub." Joss smiles back.

"And oh used Gawin's bathroom. The downstairs one is occupied by ur dad." She said to me, walking towards the kitchen. I was walking in that direction but stopped midway and turned around, walking upstairs to G's room. I slowly open the door so that his sleep isn't disturbed. There's a little creak sound, but thankfully, he didn't wake up. I let out a breath and walked towards him. He's deeply in sleep, so I gaze for a while at his face and notice his eyelashes that are making a shadow. He looks so peaceful.

"Guess u are having a good dream." I smile and slowly graze at his lips that are forming a slight curve lightly.

Joss stared at Gawin for a while and finally went towards the bathroom. After some minutes later, he came out all fresh after completing his morning business with a shower. He smells fresh. When he came out, he saw that Gawin was still sleeping, so he decided not to wake him up as he thought he must be tired.

He walked downstairs with his damp hair as he didn't dry his hair as he didn't dare to as he's afraid it would wake Gawin up. He sits down on the table beside Pitha, who is reading the newspaper.

"Morning uncle."

"Oh, morning, son. How are u feeling?"

"I'm all energetic again with a good sleep."

"Good, good. Young man like u must have a lot of energy compared to dad. Even I don't feel that tired after a good sleep, so it's nothing for a young man like you." Pitha complement and slightly brag.

"As if. Who was the old man who complained last night that his body was all sore and asked me to apply balm all over their body?" Gracy comes from behind with two plates of omelette with sausages and avocado. Pitha looks away awkwardly from Joss, clearing his throat.

"Let me help u, mom." Joss takes the plate and puts it down. "Is there anything else I can help with?" Joss stands up.

"Thank you Ja. Help me carry out the glasses, son. It's there on the counter." Gracy points towards the direction of the counter while she takes out the juice and milk from the fridge.

Joss brings out the glass and puts it on the table one by one for each one of them. Gracy brings the juice and milk and keeps it on the table.

"Ow, and where's Gawin?" Gracy looks at Joss.

"He's still sleeping, kub. Guess he's tired from yesterday."

"How can he still sleep? It's already 11 am. already." Pitha looks at his wristwatch.

"Joss, go and wake him up, son." Gracy told Joss while he opened the juice and milk.

"Kub." Joss gets up and walks up the stairs.

"Big J! Milk or juice!?" Gracy shouts out so that Joss, who is midway upstairs, could hear her.

"Juice kub!" Joss replies back and continues walking upstairs. He opens the door once again, making less sound as much as he can. He slowly closed the door behind him and walked closer towards the man who's still sleeping peacefully.

He hesitants a bit whether he should just wake him up or let him sleep for some more minutes. He kneels down beside him and shakes him a little.

"G...G..." Joss calls in a soft voice, but there's no response, so he shakes him a little bit harder. "G..." Gawin's eyes start moving and slowly opens to see Joss in front of him.

"Good morning." Joss greets him with a smile.

" What time is it?"

"It's 11 already. U need to wake up and have breakfast. Ur stomach has been empty for so long. It might cause u gastritis."

"Haa! So u still worry about me?" Gawin turns his back to Joss.

"Of course I worry about u. Are u still mad at me for yesterday?"

"Who's mad at u? No one is mad."

"Hey, I'm so sorry ok . I was just teasing u yesterday. I didn't give them my number ok I promise. I did took their number but it was to just get out of the situation." Joss explains.

"U sure?"

"100 percent sure."

" What about u ? Did u had breakfast?"

" I haven't eaten it yet. Wake up so that we can eat it together." Joss shakes his arm.

" Ok, ok." Gawin gets up lazily and extends bith his hands. Joss smiles, takes both his hands, and pulls him up, making him stand on his feet. Gawin taps Joss on his chest twice as if he's acknowledging his strength and heads towards the bathroom.

" Then I'll ask Aunt and uncle to eat first!" Joss smiles widely and exclaims behind Gawin, who just shows a thumbs up before closing the bathroom door behind him.

After sometime, Gawin walks out the bathroom all fresh. He rubs his hair with the towel. Joss is sitting on the edge of the bed. He has already brought their breakfast and kept it on the table so that they can eat together.

"U brought it upstairs?"

" Yeah. Why? U don't want to eat here?"

" Nah. It's not like that. Just asking."

" Oh, ok."

" Let's eat."

" Wait." Joss gets up and takes the hair dryer, setting it up. " Come and sit here for a minute."

" No need for that. Let's eat first. U must be hungry. I'll dry it later." Gawin sits down in front of the breakfast.

" That won't do. Just come and sit here." Joss drags Gawin, Gawin walks lazily but lets Joss have his way. Joss turn on the dryer and started to dry Gawin's hair. "Ur hair are so soft and fluffy." They both smiles.

Slowly and slowly, the little steps they are taking make them fall for each other a little more each and every day without them realising the bond their hearts have started forming already. With the delusion of doing each and every action for the sake of friendship, both their hearts or rather their mind have ignored the reality that is being initiated by them. Behind the mask of friendship, their hearts have already started forming the bond of love that will someday become so strong that it will make their life hard living apart from each other.

《 see u on next chp 》