Autumn is a second spring

26. Babysit

"So, which one of you is going to babysit Art for the next weekend while I and Earth are on the trip?" Kao asked eyeing his two cousins.

The three cousins had gathered together for some drinks at Kao's vacation house. The latter owned a wide range of alcohol and wines that were stored in that house

"He!" Ohm and Boun pointed at each other.

"P' Kao it would be better for Boun to babysit him. After all, he is Art's favourite Aa" Ohm wasn't keen on taking care of his nephew. 

"But I already have Bew to take care of!" Boun refuted. One kid is more than enough to make him lose his sanity.

"That's even better. The two kids could play together!" Ohm said with a huge smile.

Boun glared at Ohm. He liked Art. But when Art meets Bew, their destructive power will be tenfold their individual powers combined. The last time he babysat the two together, he regretted every second of it.

"Okay guys, you have to help me here. Art's exams are coming up. So, he needs help when he gets back home. Or else we could have left him with a nanny for a few days." Kao said.

"Then take him along with you," Boun said.

"I just said he has an exam, you idiot!"

"Then postpone the trip to some other time" Boun suggested.

"No, I can't! I am planning to propose to Earth on this trip. I~ " Kao was interrupted mid-sentence by Boun.

"Woah! Woah! Woah! Wait a second. You are going to what?" Boun asked in surprise.

"I am going to propose to Earth for the marriage. I want to give him a proposal and a proper wedding. You know how is into all that romantic stuff. I want to do it all for him" Kao explained.

Silence.

Kao felt weird as his cousins stared wordlessly at him. "Guys?"

"Why do you have to do this to us?" Ohm complained.

"Do what to you?" A confused Kao asked in return.

"Aren't you guys already married? What's with the wedding and stuff?" Boun was almost in tears at this point.

Among the three couples, KaoEarth was the only married one and was used as an example in almost everything that was related to relationships. The more romantic KaoEarth got, the more pressure Boun and Ohm had to face to reach up the marking point in the relationship. 

"I promised Earth that I would give him a dreamy wedding. I can't back off now." Kao answered helplessly.

"You promised him a dreamy wedding even before you proposed?" Ohm questioned with a scoff.

"I promised him that in the past." Kao gritted his teeth and answered.

"Like when you were dating him?" Boun was really curious about Kao and Earth's dating era. That was even before Art was born.  Back then, Earth was a teenager who had just begun high school.

Neither Boun nor Ohm got to hear much details about it. They really wanted to know how Kao, a man almost a decade older than Earth, made him fall for him.

"No. Before we started dating." Kao said feeling a bit embarrassed. It was when he was subtly hitting on Earth. Then he was just a 'Phi' who wanted to make arrangements for his 'Nong's' wedding.

"Huh?"

"Anyway, leave it. To my current problem. Initially, our plan was to leave Art with Earth's Dad and Mom. But some emergency came up and they had to return to the states for a few days. So basically our plan fell apart."

"Does his Dad and Mom know that you are going to propose to him?" Ohm implored.

"Yes, they do. I already got their permission last week." Kao replied.

Ohm nodded, making mental notes that he had to get Fluke's parent's permission before proposing to him as well.

"Why can't you leave Art with Pa Jane for the weekend?" Boun asked.

"Really Boun? Do I have to spell it out for you?" Kao divulged unhappily.

Boun's forehead creased "I don't see a problem in that, Phi."

Kao sighed. "Well, my dear Nong, maybe you have forgotten, but let me remind you that your Pa Jane aka my mom hates my husband. As a matter of fact, if she finds out that I am going on a trip with him, leaving Art behind, she is going to throw a fit. A bigger one if she were to know about the whole proposal and marriage thing. And in the current situation that is not at all welcome." He explained imitating a British accent.

Boun stared wordlessly at his older cousin.

Kao flashed a big toothy smile at his cousin.

"Let me ask one single question" Boun stared seriously at Kao.

"Go ahead."

"Are you planning to hold this whole 'wedding' thing without your mom's knowledge?" Boun quoted the word wedding with his hands.

"No. She will surely be invited." Kao clamped his hands together. "She will surely be on the guest list. But her interference in my wedding wouldn't be encouraged. I don't plan on letting her know of any of it until the last moment." 

He wasn't actually very keen on inviting his mother to his wedding, given how much she had insulted Earth before. But he knew that Earth would like it if she attended.

Boun nodded in understanding. If his own mom treated his Pao the way Jane treated Earth, he wouldn't even consider letting her know of their wedding.

"So, which one of you is going to help me with Art?" Kao eyed his cousins alternatively.

Ohm finished his drink in one shot and slammed the glass on the counter. "I will! I will babysit him! " He declared.

Kao raised his eyebrows questioningly and made eye contact with Boun who just shrugged. "What made you change your mind?" 

"I want to practice raising kids" Ohm uttered.

"Don't tell me that Fluke is going to give birth to a baby for you!" Boun laughed out loud at his own joke.

Ohm shot him a glance before filling his glass with alcohol.

Kao sensed that there was something wrong "Ohm, is everything alright?"

Ohm sat back in his seat with the drink. "Fame is pregnant." He took a sip of the drink in his hand. His eyes had an unreadable expression.

Boun stopped laughing and looked at Ohm "Who's Fame?"

"The girl I almost got myself engaged to. Fluke's high school sweetheart." Ohm said sulkingly.

"You got her pregnant?" Boun jumped up from his seat.

"Not me, Fluke." Ohm sipped his drink again. "Hold your horses before you make a conclusion that Noo cheated on me. They apparently had some kind of agreement that he would donate his sperm for a child and he did. She got herself artificially inseminated and Vola! She is pregnant with his kid."

Boun was so surprised that his jaws almost touched the floor.

"So, did she call you?" Kao asked. He had known longer than his cousins.

"She did," Ohm smirked. "She called me even before she called Noo to tell him that she was pregnant. That bitch was bragging at me, phi." His eyes were burning in anger. "If not for Noo, I would have long fucking buried her alive" He finished the drink in one shot again.

"Easy there man" Boun squeezed Ohm's biceps in sympathy.

"Did you guys talk about this? I mean you and Fluke?" Kao asked. He could already see the damage this baby was going to cause in his cousin's relationship.

"We did. He flew down to Seoul and explained everything to me." Ohm answered honestly.

"It's good that you guys talked." Kao felt much assured that the couple were communicating the facts with each other.