All The Arts That We're Not

Chapter 4

Zeke

"I heard you got into a fight huh." Zeke barely had time to process his thoughts before a voice greeted him as soon as he stepped inside the house. The casual yet teasing remark made him look up. Seated comfortably on the couch, swirling a glass of liquor in his hand, was Zero.

Zeke froze for a moment, his mind scrambling to confirm if what he was seeing was real. Zero had been gone for almost a month, and his sudden appearance just surprised him as much as he was surprised he knew about what happened to him last time.

"When did you got back?" Zeke finally asked, his voice laced with disbelief.

"Just this morning." He said as he settled on a couch with glass on his hand. "Why? Aren't you glad I'm back?"

"Are you trying to start your drama now?" Zeke asked and they both laughed.

"So tell me about the fight. I wanna know what happened."

Zeke let out a long sigh, slumping onto the seat across from him. "It was just a random fight with some guy. Nothing serious." He told him instead and Zero just sniggered as he pours a liquor to his glass.

"That sounds boring."

As much as he wanted to be honest, he knew there was no point dragging Zero into his problems. It wasn't about lying—it was about protecting them from things that didn't concern them and make the situation worse. Right now, Zeke's just glad that Zero's back.

Before he could say more, his phone blared in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw his mother's name flashing on the screen.

"Hello, mum."

"Zeke..." He slowly stood from his seat the moment he heard her voice, almost like whisper.

"Are you okay?"

"No—yeah, I'm... I'm fine. I just had to be sent to the hospital." His mum was sounding as though she's trying not to make it seem serious.

"Hospital? What happened?!"

"No, honey, I'm good. I just thought of letting you know."

"I'll be there." He hang up the call just before her mum could even say another word. And without second thoughts he grab his bag and rushed outside, leaving Zero confused in his wake.

Throughout the ride to the hospital, Zeke couldn't be more settled thinking about how his mum's doing, knowing that his mum's been battling with mild leukemia for the past two years, he can't be more worried for her.