distance // klance internet friends au

Chapter 39

Keith's pov

After Lance left the next morning, Shiro pulled me aside.

"Keith. Please, give Mom a chance to explain herself. She may have a reason for doing what she did."

I rolled my eyes. "She abandoned us, Shiro. You can't pretend that didn't happen."

"I know, but can you at least give her a chance to redeem herself. Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?"

I gritted my teeth. "No. I'm sorry, but I really can't. I can't forget what she did."

"I'm not asking you to forget. I'm asking you to give her one more chance. That's it. Or at least talk to her. She really wants to reconnect, be apart of our lives again."

I sighed. "Fine. Whatever. But it's not going to be right now. And don't expect me to have high expectations or anything."

He put his hands up. "I'm not expecting all that. I just want you to talk to her."

I sighed and turned to leave. I had no intentions of speaking to her. She had no right to just show up out of the blue and request to be forgiven and let back into my life.

I went back to my room and fell onto my bed. I stared at the ceiling for a few moments, trying to wrap my head around the events that had happened in the last few hours. It just didn't seem real.

Krolia...Mom...had left us over 3 years ago. She didn't even bother to say goodbye. Why should I forgive her? Why did I need to talk to her? If she wanted to be apart of our lives, then she should have thought of that before she left.

I jumped when my phone started ringing. It was Lance. "Hey, what's up?"

I heard him sigh. "I just wanted to make sure you're alright. I figured Shiro would try to talk to you after I left."

I smiled, getting up from my bed and starting to pace my room. "Yeah, he did. He wants me to at least talk to her. I told him I would, but I don't have any intention of doing that. I know you might agree with him, and that I should talk to her, but I can't. I know I can't avoid her forever, at least, not if I want to pass her class. But I have no intention of letting her back into my life. She just left. I don't think I can ever forgive her for that."

"I know...and I'm completely on your side. Whatever you decide, I'll support you."

I heard some shouting come from downstairs. "Hey, I'll call you back, ok? Something's going on downstairs. I'm going to make sure everything's ok."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later. Love you!"

I chuckled. "Love you too. Bye."

I hung up, and rushed downstairs. It had gone quiet, and as I neared the bottom of the stairs, I could hear heavy breathing.

"I'm trying to give you a chance. Really, I am." It was Shiro. It sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

I decided to wait to enter. I could see what was going on without going into the living room.

"But you can't just...show up. You can't just show up after 3 years and just demand to be apart of our lives. You can't demand to speak to your children after being gone for so long, without telling us why, or where you've been. Keith doesn't want to talk to you right now. He needs time. To process. To think about what's happened. You need to respect that. When he's ready, he'll talk to you. But you can't demand to speak to him because 'you're his mother.' You lost the ability to do that the moment you walked out that door when you left."

A heavy sigh came from the room. It was Mom.

"I know...but I want to make it right. I know what I did wasn't right. But it was all I could think of. But I want to make it right."

I peeked around the corner, hoping they wouldn't see me and stop their conversation. Thankfully, they were too caught up in their argument to notice me.

They were both stood in the middle of the room, facing one another. Shiro's fists were clenched, and Mom had her arms crossed.

"I get that, but you have to go on our pace. You can't just show up after no contact and expect everything to be the same as it was before. You don't know anything about us. We've all been through a lot...especially Keith."

She sat down on one the chairs. "I never wanted to leave you guys. Believe me, I wanted to stay. It killed me leaving you guys. And I know the timing...wasn't the best."

Shiro's back was to me, but I imagine that he rolled his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"My job...they wanted me to move. But I knew I couldn't bring you all with me. I can't explain the details, it was a confidential thing. You know I wasn't always a teacher. I worked with the government, and I can't tell you everything because I swore not to. But I knew it would be dangerous to bring you guys with me, so I didn't. I had no intention of abandoning you."

I felt tears start to sting my eyes. I didn't want to believe her. I wanted to shout at her, call her a liar, throw things at her, yell at her to get out.

But something inside of me told me it was the truth. Maybe it was the tears that shone in her eyes. Maybe it was the way her voice cracked when she was talking. Maybe it was my gut instinct, telling me to believe my mother. Maybe it was me wanted so desperately for her to be telling the truth.

Shiro sighed, his fists unclenching. I could tell he believed her too. "Fine. But it's still going to take some time. Especially for Keith. It really hit him hard. I don't know if he's going to believe you."

I stood up from my hiding spot. "I believe her."

It was all I could think to say. It wasn't much, but it seemed to do the trick. A few tears made their way down her face, and she rushed forward, wrapping me in a hug.

"Keith, I-"

I pushed her off of me. "It's still going to take a lot of work, and time. Things aren't going to get better right away. But I'm willing to give you a chance to make it right. But this is the last chance I'm going to give you. If you mess this up, that's it."

She nodded. "Alright. I promise, I'll do my best."

I smiled, and held out my arms for her. She smiled and wrapped her arms around me. The hug was short lived, however, because Shiro got a phone call.

"Hello?" His face grew dark with concern as he listened to what whoever was on the phone said.

After they were done, he thanked them, and hung up. Tears glistened in his eyes. He began to sink to the ground, and I rushed forward to catch him.

"Shiro! What's wrong? What happened?"

Tears started to make their way down his face. "It's Adam...he's...he's in the hospital. He was in a car crash..."

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im back! sorry i was gone for so long. a lot of shit happened like,,all at once. but im back! and im gonna post the rest of the story hopefully tonight! i dont know if i'll through all the last minute editing stuff tonight tho, but i'll do my best :)