Chapter 114: Chapter 114

When I open my eyes, the sun is shining across the plush duvet covering my body. I immediately reach out for Michael but my hands brush against the cool empty sheets instead of his warm body. I lift my head and peer around the room and still no sign on him.

Rubbing my eyes, I sit up and crawl out of the bed, walking to the bathroom. He isn't there too. Where did he go ?

I walk out of the room and go to Eve's room. Her room door is open and she is still sleeping peacefully on her bed. Michael isn't there. Did he go downstairs ?? I check in the balcony too before skipping down the stairs.

There is no one in the hall but small sounds are coming from the kitchen. So, I walk towards there only to reveal to my eyes the sight of Michael and my Mom cooking together whilst talking.

" Hey guys..", I say walking inside.

" Hey you woke up.. ", Mom turns to me whilst serving the nicely cooked bacon into a dish.

" Yeah...when did he come ?", I ask her whilst eying Michael who is carefully breaking an egg into a pan on the nearby stove.

" He was here downstairs, reading newspaper when I woke up. And he accompanied me to kitchen.", Mom says smiling and averts her gaze back to Michael. " Sweet boy. He did most of the cooking today." Michael tilts his head and smiles at her before taking the spatula from the counter. Then he proceeds to flip the egg.

How come I didn't know when he woke up and left room.? And I didn't know he has a habit of reading newspapers.

" I'll do it Michael. ", I say and go to him, reaching for the spatula. But he moves his hands and shakes his head. " I'll do it. G..go away. ", he says as I try to forcefully grab it from his hands. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see my Mom smile whilst eying us.

" Oh..C'mon..", I groan as Michael pushes me away with his elbow.

" Go brush your teeth. Your b..breathe stinks.", he says causing my Mom to erupt into a small laughter as I frown at him.

" Let him do it Ethan. ", She laughs looking at me.

I finally sigh and climb up on the counter, watching Michael.

" Mom..f..four eggs are enough ??", he asks after sometime.

" Fry two more Mickey.", she replies, pouring the milk into the blender.

" Okay..", he hums going to the fridge.

" And take that chocolate bar too. Lets add some in this.", she says.

" Okay Mom.", he nods smiling.

I'm surprised at how easily he calls my Mom ' Mom'. I will never be able to call some other woman 'Mom'. And I'm surprised at how well he got along with my Mom and sister in such a short time. I actually thought he would be awkward with them and won't interact much.

"What are you thinking, Ethan ?", Mom asks whilst grabbing the chocolate bar from Michael's hands.

" Nothing Mom. Any help ?", I ask.

"No..you go brush your teeth and see whether Eve woke up. Breakfast will be ready in five minutes. ", she says. I nod and climb down the counter, walking out of the kitchen after looking at Michael once more.

I go upstairs and When I open Eve's room door, she is in front of her cupboard in just her panties, trying to pick a dress. She turns around in shock and screams loud at me to ' GET OUT'. I close the door whilst laughing before walking to my room.

When I walk out of the room after brushing my teeth, Eve is happily skipping downstairs. She starts squealing ' Bacon' as we enter the dining room. Michael and Mom had already brought the food to the table. We all sit down and starts having breakfast together whilst talking.

" Mickey, is Ethan studying anything ? Your sem exams are in less than two months, right ?", Mom asks.

Michael looks at me before replying. " We used to study together when we were r..roommates. I don't know whether he is studying now. B..but he is concentrating well in calculus and h..history. "

" Should I ask your warden to put you back together ?", She asks. I had told her that warden had changed our rooms because of the many rumours regarding us in the campus.

" No..", Michael shakes his head. " I don't think he will a..allow that even if you ask. We will study together in the s..study hall or somewhere after class. We can sit there until 9.", he replies and my Mom nods to him before averting her eyes to me.

" Ethan..it's senior year. Study well if you wanna get admission in some nice university.", she says.

" Yeah..I'm studying Mom. And after next Wednesday's Match, we will only have football practice on three days a week. I'll get up early and study hard."

She nods and turns to Michael. " Mickey, he isn't that good at studies, especially maths. He told me you are very good at Maths and all subjects. Do help him."

" Yeah..I'll.", he smiles cutting his eggs with the fork. " And he is actually bright. He is just l..lazy to sit and study."

" Yeah..I know that. And he won't concentrate to teachers. If he pay a little attention in class, I'm sure he can score above 80 percentage." , Mom says eying me.

" You see Mom, I'll score above 85 % this time. ", I say munching on my bacon.

" My eyes would be blessed seeing your report card then.", She replies.

" Mommy I got 10 out of 10 in Friday's E..English dictation.", Eve then squeals and Mom turns to her smiling, starting to praise her. Rest of the breakfast, we listen to Eve talk about her English teacher Miss Sullivan and what all big big words she gave for dictation and how she is the only person in her class who got it all correct.

After breakfast, I and Michael go upstairs in my room and starts completing our home works and assignments, with my Mom and my sister frequently visiting us. We had got a lot of works for weekend, especially in Calculus and we finish it just before Mom calls us for lunch.

After lunch Michael insist on watching a movie together and Mom agrees. We all slump down on the big couch with Michael beside Mom and Eve on his lap.

Today I decide to watch the movie instead of staring at Michael as Mom is sitting beside us, watching us. It was a nice family movie and we were enjoying it. But for some strange reason, I feel Michael tense up beside me when we are at the middle of the movie. I tilt my face and whisper ask him whether he is alright. He whisper a 'Yes' and smiles at me, causing Mom to turn her face and look at us, smiling. I don't turn to Michael after that.

It's while we are reaching the climax of the movie when Mom suddenly yelps followed by Michael uttering a series of panicked sorries.

" What happened ?", I ask.

" I'm sorry. I- I was moving Eve on my l..lap and my fingers g..got entangled in Mom's hair...and I p..pulled...", he stammers nervously.

" It's okay Michael. It's fine. Why are you getting so nervous for that ? Easy.", Mom says patting on his shoulder and smiling to him. He nods to her and she turns her attention back to the TV. A minute later, Michael leave a small relieved kind of sigh and I tilt my face to see him smiling slightly with his gaze on the TV. Isn't he acting a little bit strange ??

When the movie ends, it's almost 3 PM and I drag Michael upstairs to pack our little stuff and get ready for returning back to hostel. He is reluctant to leave and tells me we shall head a little more later. I've actually planned to take him to the beach before heading to hostel.

Yesterday Gavin and Grace went to the beach and Michael told me he also wants to go to the beach with me one day. So I thought why not today. Corpus Christi beach is just an hour away from here. But I want it to be a surprise to him that I just tell him I've an assignment to complete in Geography and I didn't bring the book home.

" Why couldn't you just bring it home ?", Michael pouts as we walk down the stairs.

" Why ? You don't want to leave my home ?", I ask chuckling. He doesn't reply anything.

Someone is talking loudly downstairs and we walk down a few more steps to see a middle aged woman sitting on the couch talking excitedly to my Mom and Eve with a wide smile on her lips. She turns her gaze towards the stairs on hearing our footsteps.

Then she suddenly shoots up from the couch and barges towards us screaming ' Oh Charley ! your Son looks so much like you ! ' I don't even know who this woman is, but she is someone close to my Mom cause she referred to her as Charley. Only her friends and family calls her that.

I skip down the stairs smiling at her but she grabs Michael by his hands from behind me and embraces him in a bone crushing hug, totally panicking him.

" Oh..hey Ava ! That's not my Son. It's his friend, Michael. This is actually Ethan.", Mom quickly says pointing at me.

The woman instantly leaves Michael. " Oh..! So this is Ethan ??", she turns and looks at me surprised before averting her gaze back to Michael. " I thought he is your Son. He looks so much like you. He is your relative ?", she asks, scrunching her eyebrows a little. I know it's because of the eye colour. I'm sure anyone who see Michael and Mom together will confuse him to be her son.

" No..he is not. He is actually Ethan's boyfriend.", Mom says.

" Oh..! Boyfriend??", The women's eyes turn a bit wide in surprise for a moment. " Sorry..I mistook. You guys are so cute.", she then says, flashing a smile at both of us. We both smile back at her, Michael a bit nervously. Mom then introduces her to us, as her old friend from college. It's almost twenty years since they are meeting. So we had to sit down for a few minutes and talk to her.

Eve is pouting and looking so sad as we finally stands up from the couch and walks to the front door. She trails behind us to the porch along with Mom and her friend.

“ Eddy, will you come n..next week ?”, she asks me with huge puppy eyes.

“ Yeah..I will Evy.”, I tell her, bending down and kissing her forehead. She hugs me and kisses my cheeks.

“ Will Mickey also c..come ?”, she asks finally pulling away from the hug, tilting her head to him. He comes to us and crouches down beside me, taking Eve's hands in his.

“ Yeah..now you are my f..friend. So I won’t be able to not s..see you for long. I'll come back soon. “, he says and kisses her cheeks. She smiles and hugs him, returning a sweet kiss on his dimpled cheeks. A see a lot of emotions swirling on his face at the moment.

“ Bye Mom..”, I tell Mom whilst bending up.

Michael also bends up and smiles at her. “ Bye Mom..”, he says.

“ Bye Mickey. Do come along with Ethan next week, If you can.”, she says smiling. He just smiles and nods to her in reply. Then we walk to my car and hop in. Michael waves his hands at Eve and Mom whilst smiling as I pulls the car out of the porch.

He turns and looks at my house once more as I drive the car out of the gates. His eyes are almost pooled, causing me to chuckle. He got so attached with my house in just two days.