✔️ Faking It (mpreg)

8

"Oh my God! He's always been this fluffy ball of cuteness, hasn't he?" San exclaimed when she saw Kao's baby picture. "Look!"

She picked the frame to show Pete who took it in his hands with a fascinated look. He smiled seeing the small baby cackling at the camera with a worm in his hand, proud at his catch.

Karn laughed. "Yeah... he wasn't just fluffy he was a real naughty ball of energy. Crazy, witty, and fearless! Those are the most troublesome kind of babies! They always keep you on your toes! Worrying about what they'd do next! And Kao... he would literally do anything" she chuckled again and they all laughed too.

"Ah... I can't even recall how many times my sister whined to me about that little food monster..." she sighed, remembering the past. "Said she gave up on peace the moment she had the monster who'd bite and claw and eat anything he found pretty and always do things that would scare the life out of her and then just laugh innocently afterward"

The three of them gaped at her.

"Your sister? Hunh?! You're not his mom?" June was the one to ask and got kicked by Sandee who shot him a glare.

Karn smiled. "Oh, yeah, he's always been my sweetest little boy. Always laughing and pranking and looking forward to what's ahead instead of what could be till his..." she trailed off, unable to complete. "He once told me I could share him with his mom dad... who knew it would come true?"

Pete blinked, trying to register what the older woman just told them. The three just stared at her. They never knew Kao was an orphan. He never corrected them when they called his aunt his mom.

Karn smiled as she ran a hand on the picture. "Tsk, he grew up too soon. His parents, and then..." She sighed. "My daughter, three of his most beloved people... all gone. It's been four years since he gave up on being a child... he stopped making friends or even doing anything remotely like his age... or what could distract him from us or his study. He still smiles and goes to study and work because he thinks he needs to be the one responsible and look after me and his sister... and his only friend for years were just... his books and his camera... it's so good he made friends..."

Pete felt his heart break as he looked down, unable to meet her smiling face and thinking of every single time he was horrible to Kao in past years. He was the one who knew Kao longest. He was the one there when Kao most probably was going through such a horrible time and he might've been the one to make it worse.

He knew what it felt like to lose a parent. Heck he easily blamed how big of a prick he was on his mother's death. But Kao here... he lost both of them...

He remembered every time he had insulted that loner boy or called him names or the times he asked him to stay away from his friends. The times he'd made their friends stay away from Kao.

And she was there thanking them for being good friends...

"He never shared his problems with anyone except Nam, my daughter. He still talks to her grave whenever he's disturbed but... I was relieved ever since he started hanging out with Thada and Pete" Karn went on. And the three of them felt even more guilty. "Oh, I'll go see the shrimp"

The three of them just sat quietly, looking down.

"You'd think she was just enjoying making us feel guilty. Or that's just me?" June asked so seriously that Sandee and Pete gave him 'are you serious' looks.

"What?" He asked. "I feel so shitty! It's Pete's fault!"

"Oh shut up!" Sandee scolded him in a hiss and then bit her lips. "Let's not... say anything to Kao"

"Yeah... he'd think we feel pity for him" Jun nodded. "Hey Pete! You heard right?"

"Huh?" Pete looked at them and nodded. "Yeah..."