All Along, You

XIX- MY BAD

"Happy 8th months from the date of your birth, Venice!" Tankhun blows his toy trumpet a few meters away from Venice so as not to irritate the kid's ears.

Tankhun requested for Venice to be brought to the Main Family mansion. In his room, to be specific. He insists Pete should be with his son for today as he turns eight months old.

There was cake, balloons, and a lot more in Tankhun's room. Pete knows Venice would not remember any of those things, but he can't help but be grateful to his silly boss who loves his kid so much.

"Oi, why don't you just let him live here, Pete? Pa even offered!" Tankhun spat. Of course Korn offered and that scared Pete more than anything. If Korn is indeed using them for a hidden agenda, no matter where Pete hides Venice, it would be useless. There is no one the head of the Theerapanyakul family cannot find in a snap of their fingers so really, it would be a good idea to keep Venice where Pete could see him too nut then, Pete has to pretend to be naiver. He refused and said...

"It's unfair, Khun Noo. Other bodyguards have kids too. And some of them are single fathers like me. They will hate me if my child gets special treatment." He said as he tried to reach for Venice. Only for Tankhun to ruin his attempts at reaching for his son.

Tankhun and Venice both look funny, Pete suddenly notices they were wearing matching printed ensembles from that expensive brand. Tankhun looked more like Venice's father in that sense. Venice was wearing sunglasses indoors too. Seriously, aside from Venice's life and safety, Pete also must worry about Tankhun's influence on his kid's personality and preferences in clothing.

Tankhun kept running even when Pete stopped chasing him.

"Khun Noo look out!" Tankhun failed to. He was looking back at Pete while running until he ran and fell into the cake.

Pete's, Arm's, and Pol's instincts came in and ran after he slammed the table. Under all the rubble, though, Tankhun surprisingly held Venice up so he fell on his elbows. Pete grabbed Venice who was safe and looked unscathed except for his perfectly white cloth socks that are now stained by the purple icing.

"Oi, why didn't you keep me from falling?" Tankhun cried and whined while looking at his expensive shirt now full of pieces of cake and icing. His blonde hair now filled with various shades of purple and pink. Venice himself looked shocked at the impact even though he suffered none of it.

"It's okay, baby. It's okay, Venice" Pete rocked him in his arms back and forth and removed the sunglasses that now rested on his son's chubby cheeks. Pete gave him a kiss on the cheek and Venice smiled with the few teeth that he had in return. Pete rubbed his cheeks before handing him over to Arm.

"Arm, can you hold him please? I'll run a bath for Khun Noo." The last thing Pete saw before leaving for the bathroom was Venice eating cake out of a plate that wasn't dirtied and honestly, no matter how chaotic the scene is, Pete felt at ease knowing that Venice was safe at least with these three men.

Pete lets the steam of the hot water in the bathtub hit his face. He mixes it with cold water, lets himself dwell and focus on the temperature. He wishes to temporarily forget all his worries, but he still remembers everything. At the back of his mind, he wishes he only had this since the beginning, never got entangled with Vegas romantically, never got entangled with Kinn and whatever it is that's going on between them because even now that he's Vegas and him were over for almost two years, a year and 8 months at that, the man has been married and maybe even fucks a few men on the side, Pete can't feel at ease about his own safety. He's still afraid people, people he's working for may come at him and use him against Vegas. And whether he's right or not, he's better safe than sorry.

And Kinn...He's not sure whether Kinn is lying or not. He's not sure whether he will ever be sure of it but Kinn's right. It was not the Main Family's heir's style to trick or seduce people but no matter how hard Pete thinks about it, it doesn't make sense for Kinn to suddenly have feelings for him. If Kinn said he wanted to fuck Pete, that would have been more believable. Maybe he'd agree. Make sure to keep Venice, grandma, my sister, and me safe. That's what Pete would have asked for in return. And Kinn doesn't lie or go back on his words on agreements like that. Pete could have counted on that but no, he just had to reject that and say silly things.