He hates me NOT

XXVIII. Ma and the house

"Oh who's this handsome child you brought home, Por?" Forth's mother instantly asked when she saw Beam hiding behind Forth.

"The person I'm going to introduce in the future as my boyfriend." Forth said without dropping any beat.

Beam paled at the sudden announcement. He just stood there with his mouth hanging, waiting for Forth's mother to say something. He expected some scolding or lashing at the least but Forth's mother just nodded along with it, although she drop the news paper she was reading before they arrived.

"Not yet?" Forth's mother asked.

"Still trying to make it happen." Forth nonchalantly answered, leaning down to pick up the news paper his mother dropped.

"So you brought him here to impress him." she concluded.

Forth just shrugged his shoulders at that statement. He turned to Beam to check on him when he noticed the smaller man had not made any peep. The poor guy was so surprised that he hadn't said anything to Forth, he did not expect Forth to just blurt it like that like it wasn't a delicate topic.

"Ma..." Forth grabbed the man behind him so that he's in front of the woman, "...this is Beam." He proudly introduced the said man.

"Hi Beam, my name is Marla. You can call me 'mom' later if you two become official but for now, you can call me aunty." She lightly joked.

(a/n: Disclaimer: The character 'Marla' is not my original creative. I'm too lazy to think of anything so I borrowed NotJJY character.)

Marla's eyes were shining when she said that, making Forth swallow his spit.

Beam awkwardly smiled back at the woman, "Hi aunty. I'm sorry for coming unannounced."

"Nonsense, all Forth's friend are welcome in this house. Don't worry about it." She reassures Beam.

"Seriously, Ma? Friend?" Forth whined.

She flickered her son's forehead, "Don't blame me for you slowness."

Forth scrunched his nose at Marla, can't believe that his own mother is trying to embarrass him.

"Por, put your bags in your room and the two of you join me for lunch afterwards." His mother commanded, noticing that it was nearing 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

Marla head first at the kitchen to prepare their lunch, leaving Beam and Forth at the receiving area. The Jaturapoom residence is modest but not that small either, it's a two-storey Spanish colonial style house with enough space for a lawn at the front and an open space at the center of the house, making it like a spanish courtyard open to the sky. Forth pulled Beam with him upstairs, showing him the spaces leading to his room. The house interior is a Mediterranean style with extensive usage of natural materials like wood and ceramic on the walls, floors and ceiling.

"This is my room." Forth points out as they enter.

Like the rest of the house, his room is spacious with large windows, allowing the sunlight to hit Forth muted colored walls. Blue is the only color found inside and it's his bedsheets and pillows. He placed his luggage inside his closet and let Beam explore his room.

"I thought your room would look like a typical engineering student's room. Who would have thought you have chic vibe décor and white-walled room." Beam unconsciously said.

"Hell nah with that chic vibe! I can't just work in a poorly lit room." He replied.

Beam just looked at him puzzled, waiting for him to continue.