A family (MingxPhanaxForth)

Back to school

Sunday evening

Ming, Phana and Forth sat together on the couch in the living room. The leader in Forth took over "Let's make a planning, who does what, when. We will rotate the evening and night shift. Ming, you take Monday and Thursday. Pha, you take Wednesday and Sunday. I will take Tuesday and Saturday. We will rotate Friday so that the others can go out with our friends."

"You guys don't have to give up your sleep. I can look after Aim" Ming said. "No" Forth interrupted him "you need to think about your studies. If you want to give Aim a good future, you will need a good education and to do that you need time to study and sleep. No discussion! Next... who will bring and collect Aim from daycare. I suggest that the person who's class starts the latest brings him and the person who finishes first collects him."

"Perfect for me, let's compare our school rosters" Phana said "and I will take care of our meals and laundry. If there is anything you don't eat, just let me know. I put baskets in all the rooms. Just put your laundry in there, I will do it twice a week."

"Okay, that is arranged and I have hired a cleaning lady to come once a week during our schooltime" Forth replied. The three of them gave each other their school rosters and Phana took the first evening and nightshift.

Monday morning

The three of them brought Aim to daycare and introduced themselves so that they would know who could pick up Aim and left their phone number in case of an emergency. After that they all went to class.

Ming friends August and Sek stormed up to him, asking him all kind of questions. Why they hadn't seen him in two weeks. "I had a family emergency, but everything is taken care of" he explained but he wouldn't give any further information. He was glad to be back at school but couldn't help worry about Aim. During their lunchbreak he left his friends with an excuse.

"How is he?" Phana startled by a voice looked up at Ming. A blush appeared on his face as he was caught using his lunchbreak to come and feed Aim. "He seems to be doing well, do you want to take over?" he asked Ming. "No, it is fine, I just wanted to check on him" Ming replied as he sat next to Phana. After Phana fed Aim, he gave him to Ming to hold for a while before they left for their afternoon classes.

After class Ming and his friends started walking towards the schoolyard for sotus. "Ming, we need to talk" Forth grabbed Ming arm and pulled him into an empty classroom. "You have missed one week of sotus and since you didn't let us know about your absence I am expected as the head hazer to punish you. If the other hazers knew about your situation they would agree to let you off the hook but since you want to keep it a secret I don't have much choice" "I understand P'Forth just punish me" Ming reassured Forth.

"What did P'Forth want? Are you in trouble?" Sek looked worried at Ming as they sat together on the grass. "He just wanted to know where I was and why I missed sotus" Ming answered vaguely. "Ssstt... the hazers have arrived" August whispered. The entire field became quiet as their head hazer Forth and his generals Tul, Max, Lam and Park entered the stage. The first years both admired and feared their scary seniors. After his opening speech Forth yelled "student 0058 stand up". Ming stood up. "Since you didn't grace us with your presence this past week you can start by running 30 laps around the field." "Shit... poor Ming" Sek whispered to August as Ming started running. "Any comment student 0401?" Forth yelled at Sek. "Sorry P' .... I'm sorry" Sek answered nervous and scared. He and August kept glancing at Ming during sotus but didn't dare to help him, scared of their seniors.

After sotus ended they helped an exhausted Ming to his car and offered to drive him to his dorm, but Ming refused and send them away. Trying to catch his breath and the energy to drive home Ming laid himself on the backseat. "Give me your keys, I will drive us home" Forth entered Ming's car. "Are you okay?" he asked. "I'm fine P', just give me a minute and I can drive" Ming tried to act strong. "Don't be stupid" Forth took Ming's keys and started to drive home. "What about your car?" Ming asked. "I will take a taxi tomorrow morning and collect my car in the evening" Forth replied.

Forth supported Ming as they entered their home. Phana was already finishing up dinner with Aim sleeping in the babybox in the living room. "What happened?" Phana rushed over to Ming as Forth laid Ming on the couch. He immediately started checking for wounds. "He's fine, just exhausted from running 30 laps" Forth explained to Phana. "And why was he running 30 laps?" Phana asked Forth with his hand on his waist looking mad. "I am fine. P'Forth had no choice but to punish me for missing sotus. I was be as good as new tomorrow" Ming tried to calm Phana down. "You punished him! How could you" Phana yelled at Forth. "Ssst... you will wake up the baby" Forth said to Phana. Phana looked mad at Forth but quieted down "Because you punished Ming, I will punish you. I made steak today since you both like it, but you will not get yours. You will eat instant noodles." Phana marched into the kitchen to finish dinner and make the noodles. Ming giggled as he saw the pout on Forth's face.

Phana put the food on a plate and brought it to Ming on the couch. He and Forth took place at the table and no matter how much Forth pouted, Phana wouldn't give in. Ming enjoying Phana's delicious cooking almost gave in and offered Forth a piece but Phana's stubborn eyes stopped him. He was kind of flattered that Phana took that much offence to his punishment.

After dinner Phana took some ointment and massaged Ming's legs. The next morning Ming was completely healed and Forth was forgiven by Phana.