Babysitting the Campus Jerk

BCJ 2 • hired

***

"Eze, I know I don't have enough time for you but can you at least behave when you're at school? Your professor called me yesterday saying that you got caught smoking inside the campus."

Pete inwardly groaned as he covered himself again with the duvet. "Daaad, why are you even here?"

He literally just woke up and the first thing that greeted him was his father's voice ranting about him getting caught by his professor.

"So I can't visit my son now? Care to explain what happened?"

It was intentional as he was expecting the professor to call his mom.

He was hoping his mom would check on him—something that she hasn't done for months.

"Dad. It was just one cigarette stick. I barely even finished half of it. And besides I was about to go home that time. He just caught me at an unexpected moment."

"So it's your professor's fault now, huh?"

He didn't answer and just pretended to sleep.

He knows his father is doing his best to take care of him, but he craves for his mom's attention.

Ever since she got a new family, she barely sees him so he does the most ridiculous ways for her to see him, and that includes crashing his car and injuring himself but his mom didn't even show up at the hospital, not even once.

And when he knew that she was busy taking care of his sick future step son, he hated her even more.

"Son, I know that you miss your mom, but she has a new family now. She's about to get married even. You're not the only one who misses her. I miss her, too."

He controlled his tears under the cover.

Over the years, he saw how his father tried to save their marriage and their family. But it was a total failure. It was a total mess.

And so they had to part ways.

From then on, he vowed to never love anyone. Not after seeing his parents marriage crumble down in front of his very eyes.

"Why would you miss her? Did you even love each other?"

"We didn't. But as time passed by, I learned to love her. That was why I tried saving our family but it was too late."

Silence then followed. No one dared to say a word. It was his father that broke the silence by delivering him a news.

"I'm gonna hire someone to accompany you here. Your place is a total mess."

"I don't need another helper, dad. Aunt Ying regularly cleans my unit anyway."

"Tss. Aunt Ying is getting older. Why would you let her go through all the trouble of travelling back and forth just to clean your dungeon?"

"It's still a no. I don't want anyone else invading my place."

"And I still have the last say. Come on. You better take a shower. You smell awful, son."

"Yeah, whatever old man."

***

Kao took a deep breath as he stared at the list of fees he has to pay by the end of the month. He is barely making money and he has also given all his savings to his mom to pay for his younger brother's hospital bills. And to top it all, he just lost his job at the convenience store.

The store manager apparently did not believe that the customer caused the commotion even after reviewing the CCTV and even went as far as making him pay for the damages.