Klance - Beat Drop (Complete)

Chapter 19 Mom, I'm Home

Keith's house was modern. His mother kept a small, neat garden, or tried to, but she wasn't much of a green thumb so Keith's dad did most of the work. The grass was trimmed, but not manicured. The driveway led into a one-car garage, and the house was painted an off-white, verging on eggnog-colored. It looked like a pancake, wide with white shutters, and a door the color of maple syrup.

Keith smiled when he saw the olive-green mailbox and he thrummed his fingers on the faux-leather seats of the taxi as the driver pulled up. Keith threw some cash through the window then raced to the truck, heavily out Lance's and his bags onto the driveway before bouncing impatiently for Lance, "Cmon, cmon, cmon!"

Lance laughed and they walked up to the front door together, Keith not hesitating velvet knocking. There was a loud, muffled shriek from inside the house and Keith felt his heart jump happily as the thin shape of his mother rushed to the door through the stained-glass window.

Flinging open the oak barrier, the middle-aged women flew into Keith's arms, strong and fragile at the same time.

"Keith!" Axca cried loudly, and Keith pinched his eyes shut, his mother's arms around his neck, the fabric of her headscarf on his cheek.

"You're a bad son for not visiting in so long! I have to get cancer for you to come!" She exclaimed, and Keith's heart crumpled a bit, reminding him of the awful situation his mother was actually in.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry." Acxa pulled away to look at Keith top-to-bottom.

"I mean, you don't even have a busy social life or anything," Acxa teased, and Keith groaned, but he was smiling.

Acxa Kogane was an average-height (but not taller than Keith), strongly-built, thin woman with the legs of a runner and a sharp jawline with blazing blue eyes. Her head was wrapped in a thin, colorful scarf, but Keith knew that the cancer wasn't the cause of its appearance.

Acxa was kind but strict. She basically spoiled Keith when he was younger sometimes, but was also the source of his mental strength (even though, for the past few months, he'd been a total wreck). She was a rock, an anchor, and totally badass when she wanted to. Modest, she kept her hair in a headscarf, hiding her bleached, then dyed 50 times over roots, which were too damaged for her to stand. They were from her 2o's when she was a fearless punk rebel who ran away from home. Over the years, she had mended the relationship with her parents, but Keith wasn't too fond of his extended family either.

Keith knew the stories from her rocker friends about how she went 'soft' when she met Nate, Keith's dad. Apparently, she had shaved her head and started wearing scarves instead of her weekly bleaches and color-swaps, throwing away her dark eyeshadow and switching to neutral tones. Her friends said she switched from "badass, bitchin' chic" to "badass but calm mom-style".

Keith had seen pictures of his mom her 20's and, frankly, he would be pretty intimidated by her. She came from Korean descent, the source of the family-of-three's last name. Keith had gotten his face from her, but his hair was more like his dads...

Previously to meeting Acxa, Nate had been an office worker, bland and bored. The thick scar across his eyebrow was the result of a hunting accident with his friends in Maine, and it made him look cool and rustic. Nate was actually really sweet dad, though, with a thick, deep southern accent that sounded warm and calm. He had gone to law school to become a lawyer and now worked in Property, dealing with disputes and such, but also an intense environmental advocate. When Nate had brought Acxa and four-year-old Keith to see Yellowstone, he had been nearly speechless for the first three days.

Keith's parents had married early and had Keith when Acxa was 28, Nate 31. Their wedding photos were filled with sunflowers and Acxa's unique dress and Nate in a blue bow tie. Keith thought Acxa and Nate Kogane were possibly the best parents in the world.