Chapter Four: He’s in Deep Shit

At cafeteria, the four ate their lunch and planned how to get Keith talk about his controversial love affair.

Nick talked while chewing his food. "Shit. I'm dying of curiosity! I've never seen him with a girl except his family members and aunties in our neighborhood. It's too absurd!"

Jude leaned his chin on his two interlocked hands, after belching he said, "We can't get him to talk if he continue to ignore us. I mean, shouldn't it be him who should say sorry to us first? Geez… I don't get why he's being so difficult! He's moodier than girls!"

They all agreed. Rocky who also just finish eating his fill said his assumption, "I think if he's really in love… Maybe that girl is someone who also read online novels and they're getting to know each other through that."

Nick and Jude nodded. "Wow. Detective Gu. How can you be at the bottom of the student ranking when you're this smart?" Jude roasted him at the same time praised him at his contribution to the brainstorming session.

Drake clenched his chopsticks. He thought, He's in love with someone online when I can't even get close to him? When he filled his mouth with a clump of rice, he was disturbed with his previous train of thoughts. Why does it matter if he's in love? His love life is a separate matter from friendship. He can date anyone he wants to, but we still have to be close. Right?!

"A lot of girls in our class is also gunning after Keith. It's good that he's in love now. We can't let him form a monopoly while we become his wingman for free." Jude stated with utmost seriousness filled with his desperation to get a girlfriend.

Rocky glared at him, "Are you being sour at Keith because you're jealous?"

"Oh come on! Every single dogs are jealous of him! He's so carefree and chill, doing nothing but get all the girls' attention. I'm jealous of his genes… who doesn't?" Jude shamelessly answered.

"You actually have good points too you know." Rocky consoled him and Jude was flattered. "Like what?"

After a while of silence Rocky answered seemingly unsure of his answer, "You're a good friend?"

Jude glared at him. Then Nick said, "When Keith is this moody to the point of ignoring his friends, he would come around after a few days and things will be normal. I think we just need to wait until he's finally normal. But the question is, when he's finally okay… how can we get him to talk about this mysterious girl? I really want to know!!!"

…

After class, four of them hang out and stayed at school to play basketball in the court. There were girls who went to watch Drake. Taking pictures here and there. Being the center of attention, Drake put his all to show off that even the basketball club members would stop and watch him play. Rocky, a member of the basketball team neglected his club duties to play with the three. Soon, the other basketball team joined and the three on three became an official practice game. It was over seven when they decided to go home. When they passed by the open parking area, they saw Keith carrying a pile of folders with laptop bag on his shoulder. They wanted to call out to him but Keith was with his parents. They get inside and they saw Keith casually opened the driver's seat and drove away.

"Tsk. No wonder girls like him!" Jude sighed and added, "If I were a girl, I'd be over him too! Shit!"

Then Rocky casually said, "Drake, he's more popular than you now. Maybe because he got taller."

Nick sighed heavily, "When will I get my growth spurt?"

…

At home, after eating and showering, Drake lied on his bed strolling on social media. There were girls who sent him messages and he responded to them. Random flattering and then stroll again looking at pictures, videos, and stuffs his online friends posted. Then he checked his account page and read the comments on his posts. He posted a bunch of his selfies and the most recent video of him posted by Nick where he was tagged got a lot of shares, likes, and comments.

"Sooo cuuuuutttteeee!!! OMG!"

"I'm still a student but I want to be his boss now!!!"

"Oh my gosh! I called you daddy before but why are so cute? I want you to be my baby now!!!"

"Shit!!! I'm so jealous of your boss!"

"Who's your boss, baby!"

"Are you hiring for a boss? lol. I dropped out of school, no experience either, but I think the two of us will work things out! (eggplant emoji, three water droplets emoji, chili emoji x3)"

Reading it reminded him again of Keith. He was so cool when he was driving his parents. People usually make fun of Keith as mama's boy and then make jokes about Mr. and Mrs. Lim's temperaments. But even though it was a joke material, how they get along as family was not something anyone can make fun of. Drake admires how Keith treats his parents. They were so close.

Drake smiled and tried to stalk Keith's account page… And yeah, he doesn't have it. So, he can't.

Shit!

…

Meanwhile, Keith just got home. The three of them went to supermarket and ate in a family diner. They brought back their leftover for Kiara. Kiara tried to cook but her finish product was edible but not really good. So, when she learned that they ate outside, she was sulking at the thought that she's being alienated by the family and treated worse than Keith's dogs.

After feeding the dogs and hang out with them for a few minutes, Keith went to shower. He diligently answered his home works first while his phone was charging. Kookie barked and he sounded sharp and cute. Keith took a few pictures of him, pet him and then continued answering. In the middle of writing essay in English, his phone rang. It was a video call invitation from Drake. Which is very odd. They're not that close to chat privately, and here is this guy wanting to have video call with him.

It was odd but he accepted anyway. Instantly, Drake's surprised face appeared on the screen when he was the one who made the call. He was wearing black shirt, his hair was down and he has a fresh atmosphere around him. Keith found his visual really good. His face is really attractive to him ever since they met but he didn't show it. He put the phone on his table and leaned it to the mug where he put all his pens. Then pretended to continue tending to his home works.

Drake: "Hey."

Drake awkwardly greeted and smiled and chuckled exuding his natural flirty attitude.

Drake: "I didn't expect you to answer." Then he forced a flirty laugh.

Keith: "Why'd you call if you don't expect me to answer?"

He leaned on his hand causing his head to tilt as he look at the screen on his phone. Drake forced a laugh again then smiled.

Drake: "Uhm… Boss… are you still mad at me?"

Drake was so handsome with his hair down that Keith can't help but think that, how can I stay mad at you when you're being like this? Then he answered, "Nah." Drake smiled genuinely.

Drake: "Then why were you still ignoring us today?"

Keith: "People are gossiping about me. How can I act carefree? And Nick was so annoying, he obviously want to talk about that shit."

Drake bit his lower lip and his eyes were looking down. The sight was so sexy. Keith had signal warnings in his brain urging him to look away but he didn't. He gulped his saliva instead. Then, Drake finally looked at him and asked.

Drake: "About that gossip… Uhm… Is it true?"

Keith: "Do you believe it?"

Drake chuckled and then the video on screen became shaky as he walks and then the view change into him lying on a blue pillow. He then answered…

Drake: "Hmmmm? I don't know. Really. I don't know. So… is it true that you're in love?"

When Keith heard Drake asked this while looking so seductive on screen made his heart skip a beat. He faked a laugh while being bothered with his heartbeat. He looked at his paper and answered.

Keith: "My sister made that up. I was being nice to her yesterday and she assumed I'm in love. She told everyone in my family and she screamed. She basically announced fake news in the whole neighborhood. That's why no matter how much I deny, no one would believe that I'm not really in love with a girl."

The last sentence emphasizing that he's not in love with a girl was something he also said to himself. It's true. He's not in love with a girl but he feels that sooner or later… He might be having a crush on a boy.

Drake laughed making the display on screen appear more flirtatious. Half of his face was buried on the soft and fluffy pillow. His hair were scattered and his eyes looked droopy. Keith looked at the dog on the cushion sleeping with almost the same position as Drake. The view on the phone was just so cute, it made his heart clench so hard.

Drake: "Your family is really chaotic. It's hard to imagine how you grew up to be so quiet at school when your family sounds so loud."

Keith: "My parents are teachers, you know. Even my sisters act proper at school."

They both chuckled and smiled for a while. It was a very ambiguous atmosphere for Keith. Is this flirting? Is this friends just having sound conversation? The line was so unclear. But for someone like Keith who finds Drake's visuals his cup of tea, this conversation was by far the most intimate he had with another boy. Even Nick never video called or voice called him. To break the silence Keith looked at his papers again.

Keith: "Ahh… Are you done with the home works?"

Drake got up looking quite surprised.

Drake: "We have home works?"

Keith can't help but laugh in his heart.

Keith: "Hm. One in Math, one in History and then an essay in English."

Drake: "Ugh!!! I don't even know we have home works, how come we have three?"

Keith looked at him with his poker face and red ears.

Keith: "Get your ass moving and do it now."

Drake: "Yes boss!"

Drake got up and then went to get his backpack back to his bed but this time, he's sitting. Showing no sign of hanging up the call. He opened his bag and brought out his notebooks.

Drake: "I left my books at school boss. What do I do?"

Keith: "Since, you left your workbook at school, just work on it tomorrow morning. But you have to write your essay now."

Drake: "What's the essay about?"

Keith pursed his lips feeling embarrassed in advance. He answered.

Keith: "Teacher Ma gave a broad topic. The theme is about love as a central theme in literary works. The portrayal of it, how love makes things more interesting, how it affects the audience… It's really broad and the word count doesn't matter, according to her. So, you can make it short."

Drake smiled showing how much he understood what Keith told him.

Drake: "Okay. So, in short it's about love."

Keith: "Yes. In literature. Make it like a critique."

A long silence pervade between them as Drake lied down and then changed position to sitting and the he got up and put the phone on the desk leaning it on his desk lamp and the went back to his bed to get the ballpen. Keith saw a portion of Drake's bedroom. Contrary to expectation, it was clean and posh, blue and white was the motif of the wall and his bed was big. The bed sheets and pillows were white and blue too. The lightings were very posh. No unnecessary decorations. It was clear that an interior designer arranged the furniture and fixtures in his room. When Drake sat down, he began to do his essay.

Drake "Boss. After the essay, what else are you going to work on?"

He asked as if he has no plans of ending the conversation.

Keith: "Aaaah… This is the last one. I'll be watching a drama after this."

Drake: "Oh. Right! I did not see you on your phone all day? What happened?"

Keith: "I forgot to charge my phone."

Keith answered while being disturbed… 'How can I finish this if you don't hang up? Are you going to talk to me until you're done writing? How can I focus when you're unintentionally flirting with me?' He thought.

Drake chuckled when he heard that Keith can be clumsy too.

Drake: "It must be hard for you."

Drake doesn't know how flirty he is. He doesn't have any awareness since it is not his intention to flirt. But he is enjoying having this interaction with Keith. This is the first time that they talked alone. It makes him feel like he's going close to his goal to become close to Keith.

Keith on the other hand, finally went back to write because if he don't his heart would burst if he keep looking at his eye-candy.

Drake: "Boss, aside from reading novels. What else do you like?"

Drake suddenly asked after a long silence. Keith wrote the last sentence in his essay. Dropped his pen and looked at the guy who was looking at him on the screen like a dog expecting him to throw a bone or something. He answered.

Keith: "Dogs, I guess? ... I also watch drama but not as much as my sister. I like watching especially if they're adapted from novels that I like."

Drake: "I also like watching movies. Reading novels is a bit boring for me though. What about music? What kind of music, do you like?"

Keith felt so disturbed in his heart. It felt like the other party wants to get to know him better… Thus, the butterflies in his stomach began to rumble like a symptom of diarrhea or appendicitis.

Keith: "I guess, I like Ballad."

Drake: "WHAAATTT?! You don't look like someone who'd like something so dramatic though."

Drake laughed but since Keith likes reading novels, he thought perhaps, he's actually into dramatic themes, then liking ballad was just natural and it suited him.

Keith: "What's wrong with ballad? They're simpler and pleasant to ears."

Drake: "It's just that, you're cold and you're quite awesome at school. You even helped the technical team at school, electronic songs and pop rock were kinda like your jam."

Then he stopped laughing and looked at Keith eye to eye on the screen.

Drake: "Why don't you ask me about what I'm into?"

"Fuck." Keith cursed. He reached his limit. He can't deny it to himself anymore. He's having a crush on this flirty straight popular high school boy.

Drake: "Boss. Why are you cursing? Okay, okay… I'm into pop culture, K-pop, hiphop, and I'm recently into RnB too."

Keith: "You're too chatty, are you done?"

Keith asked hoping for this video call to end so he can scream internally and curse at his heart's content. Drake smiled and shook his head.

Drake: "Not yet."

Keith felt that his stomach was really aching but not to the point of wanting to poop. To add to his predicament, his heart was also beating drums making him psychologically uncomfortable. Since Drake doesn't plan to end the conversation, he thought he should get out and have some air to calm his nerves.

Keith: "Then, finish it. I have to go downstairs."