Autumn is a second spring

13. Main Family Dinner

The matriarch of the Dechaphatthanakhun family sat at the head of the table while the rest of the main family sat around it.

Kao sat to the right of the matriarch along with Art while his parents, Eric and Jane, sat on the left side.   

Next to Jane sat Ann and her husband along with their daughter, Dream. Opposite Dream, sat Boun and his elder brother Oreo with their children Bew, Leah and Lyra [1].

The large table was almost completely occupied. 

Most of the occupants were done eating but didn't dare get up as the matriarch was still eating. She was getting old and could only eat slowly.

Everyone patiently waited for her to be done, including the four children. As they often gathered for such family dinners, the children had already gotten used to it.

Mintra finished her main course and looked at her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who were gathered around the table. It is the dream of every elderly of her age to see such a sight. She felt happy and warm inside.

The servants soon brought in the desserts and the family dug in.

"Kao, next time you come for the family dinner, bring Earth along with you," Mintra said making everyone around the table.

Kao looked up in shock. He wasn't expecting Mintra to say something like that.

"Mae!" Jane protested. She hated Earth. He took her son away from her.

Mintra shot a glance at her daughter-in-law and Jane immediately shut up. "Earth is his spouse. He deserves to be part of the family dinners."

"Khrab Khun Yay! Earth will definitely be here next time!" Kao exclaimed as quickly as he could as if he was scared that Mintra would change her mind.

"Oreo, you should bring Yacht too." She said to her second eldest grandson.

"Khrab!" Oreo smiled happily. He and Yacht had been married for two years. They adopted Lyra and Leah, the twin girls left behind by his dead elder brother and started their little family of four.

"You too, Boun. Bring that kid here next time." Mintra told Boun, who was busy helping Bew with the dessert.

"I can bring Pao with me?" Boun blinked in disbelief.

Mintra nodded. 

Bew clapped his little hands upon hearing that his Dami could also join them. He had hated family dinners because his Dami couldn't tag along to eat tasty food. But now he was relieved.

"Mom, he and Boun aren't even married yet!" Jane protested. She was the biggest homophobic in the whole family. Plus the fact that Prem was Earth's friend made her hate him more.

"Is there a difference if they didn't? Aren't they living together like a married couple and even raising the grandchild of the Dechaphatthanakhun family as their own child? What else do you want them to do? Hold a ceremony for all those fake people to see?" Mintra retorted.

Ann felt extremely proud of her mother. She had long wanted Jane to stop opposing the kids and their relationships because of her orthodox thoughts. But her efforts only resulted in a damaged friendship between them.

"Ann, when is Ohm coming back?" Mintra knew that her favourite grandson had gone to South Korea to shoot a film and she was proud of him.

"It might take a few more months, Mom" Ann wasn't exactly sure about Ohm's schedule. She made a mental note to enquire about it to Yoon.

Mintra hummed. "When he gets back tell him to come meet me with that cheeky monkey of his." 

She was referring to Fluke. The little one had charmed the old lady very much earlier on so that she wouldn't oppose him taking all of her favourite grandson's attention. She loved Fluke as much as she loved Ohm.

"Kha, Mom!" Ann was eccentric. She could already imagine how her two sons would be happy to hear this news.

The dinner ended on a happy note and everyone headed to their own respective homes.

Kao had to leave Art at the main mansion as he insisted that he wanted to stay with his grandmother as she was in a bad mood and he wanted to cheer her up. Kao could only give in and agree to his request.

He headed straight back home. He was thrilled beyond words. Having Mintra's approval meant that he had a large part of the burden taken off his shoulders. Now all that was left was his parents.

In that couple, his father wouldn't go against his grandmother, so it was already taken care of. The problem was his mother. He had to find a way to convince her as well. 

When he got back home, Earth was yet to arrive. He opened the door to see the lazy Persian cats on the carpeted floor in their designated cat area.

The cats were sassy just like their owner.

One of them got up at the sight of Kao and walked up to him, rubbing against his feet. Kao knelt down and picked it up. "Looks like your mom is working overtime today as well" He massaged the cat's chin for a while, making it pur.

He placed the cat on the floor and headed to their bedroom to freshen up and change into something more comfortable.

Kao took a warm shower and changed into a pair of comfortable PJs. He plugged in his almost dead phone for charging at the nightstand.

Just as he was turning around, his knee hit a document on the nightstand and its contents spilt. 

Kao knelt down to pick those papers. His hands froze when he saw the big words ' DIVORCE AGREEMENT' written on one of the spilt papers.

He slowly reached out to pick up those papers and a pang on his chest as he went through the content of the papers.

It was the divorce agreement that Earth had Nami prepare for him. He was yet to get rid of it and left it on the nightstand as he wasn't expecting Kao to come back home.

Kao slumped to the bed, staring blankly at the paper. His gaze lingered on the inky sign Earth had put on the paper. He found it hard to digest that Earth wanted to get a divorce already.

It was true that he had actually tricked Earth into marrying him. But he had been trying his best to make things work between them. He had been working day and night so that people would stop pointing fingers at Earth for everything.

He started feeling guilty and useless. All the excitement he had from the news earlier had vanished into thin air and tears started to spill down his eyes.

He wondered if he had been so busy with work that he neglected Earth and this led the younger to want to end their marriage.

He quickly put the papers back inside the folder and placed the folder back on the nightstand just the way it was and headed to the living room.

Earth who was tired and returned home, was surprised to see his husband in the living room. "P' Kao!" He exclaimed, "Weren't you supposed to stay at the Main mansion today?"

He knew his husband and son had gone to the family dinner.

Kao didn't reply and simply hugged him tightly.