My spanish speakers, there is spanish in this chapter. If you see an error, please don't be afraid to correct me in the comments. I'll fix it right away. I studied spanish for 5 years, but I wouldn't call myself fluent, so any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
There was a pause of silence. A painful few seconds of absolutely nothing but the strong winter winds hitting their window in the living room. The two were too scared to say anything in worries they may add fuel to the fire.
“You don’t need to meet them. They don’t even want to see me-”
“You don’t know that, honey.”
“Of course I do,” Lance yells, slamming a fist onto the table. The smaller boy flinches at the noise and shakes in fear. Lance snaps out of his fit, noticing Keith's tense shoulders. He sighed as he gently pushed Keith off his lap and stood up from the seat. Grabbing a coat and keys, he heads out the door. “I’ll see you at dinner.”
The small boy tried to say “I love you,” but the door was already closed shut. He stands there, staring at the door for pause longer before throwing out the barely eaten breakfast and placing the dishes into the sink.
“This has happened before” Keith thinks to himself. “He’ll calm down at work, I’ll apologize when he comes home, and maybe we can actually talk about it when he is ready.” He is not actually sure if that is true. It’s only a coping mechanism when his fiance gets mad.
.
.
.
The day goes by painfully slow until dinner time. Keith checked the time on his phone for the nth time today, mentally rushing the time to have Lance come home.
.
An hour goes by, and there had been no calls or texts from Lance. After pacing around the apartment for some time, Keith stopped himself and stared at the door. He kept everything off except for the light in the living room and the ringtone of his phone. The poor boy was worried that he’ll miss the sound of keys jingling at the entrance or a buzz text from his fiance. The silence was nerve wracking. One second more, Keith was going to have a mental break down.
A storm was coming in, blast of thunder and strong winds was heard from inside. The small fiance then stares out of the window. It had gotten dark outside, he could hardly see the moon that peeked behind the clouds.
His breathing became shallow, clutching his chest. Where was Lance? Why hadn’t he come home?
Was he that angry with him?
“Does he not want to marry me anymore?”
.
.
.
Lance was working overtime for an extra hour. He begged his manager to let him go home due to personal reasons, but that asshole said he was needed to guide a group of Middle School students for one more showing. The 7th graders were as unenthusiastic about it as much as he was. They were able to connect well in that way. His group was surprisingly well behaved, he wondered why. That was until the teacher told the kids to “shut the hell up,” and there was not another peep. Who knew teachers could be so scary?
As the group were together, something catches his eye. There were two boys, one hispanic and one asian with their backs turned from Lance. They were holding pinkies in quite a secretive way, hiding their hands in front of them as they looked at the starry sky. Lance tells the group to look around and tell him if they have any questions. He approaches the two clearing his throat to let the pair know that he wanted their attention.
The couple of boys quickly unhook pinkies, sending Lance a frightful look. The Cuban frowns.
“¿Eres cubano?,” Lance asks. " Are you cuban?"
"Sí, señor," the boy answers, flashing a look of confusion. "Yes, sir."
"Te daré un consejo. NUNCA sueltes ese meñique, no importa lo que digan de ti. ¿Entender?"
The boy smiles as he grabs his partners hand, intertwining their fingers. The partner looks at the younger Cuban in panic, but doesn't retract his hand. The tan boy nods his head and asks, "Are you like us?"
Lance reaches for both of their heads and pets them. "What are your names?"
"Bembe. Bee for short. And this is Dae-jung. He prefers Jamie," Bee answers.
Jamie waves nervously, hiding behind Bembe. The taller Cuban waves back. “Well, Jamie. Do you like Bee?”
“More than anyone in world,” He happily exclaims. Jamie realizes how too happy he sounds and flushes. The small pale boy looks down and fidgets shyly. Bee's face turned red, but he tried to smile through the embarrassment.
“He makes you happy, doesn't he? That’s something you should tell the world someday when you aren’t scared anymore. I'm... actually getting married to a boy who was just like you when we were younger.”
The shy boy looks up with sparkling eyes. “Really?”
Lance nods and sits down in front of them, somehow all three had sat in the form of a triangle. “He’s shy, just like you. And, he is waiting for me at home so we can eat dinner together. We actually had an argument before I came here.”
“Hyeong, you should get him flowers and apologize. I’m sure he’ll forgive you,” Jamie explains. Bee nods in agreement.
“That’s a great idea. I’ll give it a try.”
Their conversation was interrupted by thunder. There was a loud roar from the wind, blowing the trees heavily as dark clouds were approaching.
“I think it’s time to wrap it up,” Lance tells the boys. They all get up, the couple returning to their group. The Cuban led the class to the exit, each running to the bus across the sidewalk. The last couple of students were the young couple. They both turned towards Lance, waving and saying “Thank you” before running together to the bus. They had never let go of their hands.
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After cleaning up, Lance clocked out and ran to the car parked across the street. He opened the door, jumping into the driver’s seat.
“I know Keith just wanted me to be happy. He never means any harm when it comes to me. I’m just not ready… but will I ever be ready? Will I always be afraid? Those boys stopped being scared once they found out that they have each other. I have him. I’m not alone like before. HAA, I'll apologize and we'll talk about it. Keith deserves to meet mama at least. She was never against me. God, I really need to make up with Keith.”
Before starting the engine, he gets a call.
Those ocean eyes stare at the device like he’s seen a ghost. His heart stops once he reads the caller ID. He could only hear the heavy breathing and pounding in his ears, it took him a second realize it was himself.
Dad?
One of the sentences were not translated in this chapter. I decided to put it at the end because it’s the most important sentence in this arc. “I’ll give you advice. NEVER let go of that little finger (pinkie), no matter what they say about you. Understand?”