Twelve

The party was over and everybody went home at 6 in the morning. Some passed out on the couch and in the living room but manage to wake up and fix themselves to go to their homes. Nicaise was sleeping peacefully in his bed in his room, Chris and Blaire shared a room while Caleb slept in the guest room where Xysto vomits last night.

The ray of sun hits the bareback of Nicaise which leads him to wake up. He opens half of his eyes and checks his alarm clock at the nightstand. It's only 8 in the morning. But he decided to jump out of his bed and did his morning routine. He slowly opens the door where he saw Chris hugging Blaire in his deep sleep and he just thought 'Why these two isn't a couple yet. They look good at each other tho.'

He went to another room and found out the heavy sleeping Caleb. But where is his brother? Did he went home last night without telling me or us? Or maybe he told us but he didn't pay attention since we're too drunk? Nah.

Nicaise went downstairs while tying his gray silk bathrobe on his waist and went directly to the kitchen, revealing that the boy he was looking at was at the kitchen counter waiting for the coffee to brew. He cleared his throat when Xysto didn't notice his presence.

"Oh! Hi. Good morning." Xysto greeted him with a smile,

"Hi. Uh, Where did you sleep last night?" he asked wondering where since his penthouse has only 3 rooms.

"I just took a nap on the couch since the rooms are all occupied," he explains. Nicaise nodded but somehow he felt pity for his brother.

"You know, you could have knocked on my door. I will let you sleep beside me." he said in nowhere which makes the latter widens his eyes in disbelief at what he is hearing, "Come on. It's not like we haven't slept together with Chris between us." he added and let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, I remember those times." silence captured them and Xysto almost forgot about his coffee, "Ah, do you want some coffee?" he asked and Nicaise nods in agreement.

Xysto handed him his coffee and both of them were enjoying the aroma and scent of freshly brewed coffee. Not that long, Chris's footsteps can be heard by them. He walked to the kitchen and witnessed that Xysto and Nicaise were having a brother bonding. "What's up?" he greets them. The latter didn't bother to ask but he handed Chris a cup of coffee.

"Thank, bro." he murmured.

Chris sat next to Nicaise and the trio are talking and laughing just like the old days. Nicaise stared at Xysto while talking about what happened to him these past few days while Chris is laughing at him as he claps his hands and wipes his tears. He looked at both of his friends and think that he missed them. He missed hanging out with them. It's just sad that he changed his attitude towards them when their dad was being unfair to him.

Soon then, Caleb went downstairs to meet them while rubbing his eyes to gain full vision, "Looks like someone is in the mood today." he smirked,

"When will you stop being a jerk?" Chris glared at him,

"I am. But not for you." Caleb sassed at him and Chris gave him a middle finger. Caleb opens the fridge and gets some breakfast that his stomach was craving and sat beside Xysto.

●—●

It was a lazy morning and they were all heading back to their normal life as college students. It's been 2 days since Nicaise's party and yes, his party is still the talk of the whole city. #NicaiseLegal and #ChenParty are still a trend online and it has over 700k tweets and tags.

Nicaise drove to his school being late since he didn't wake up early plus why does he even care? The International School is under his name now so why bother going this early? He walked up to class and sat next to Chris when he notices that Xysto isn't around. The boy never missed a school so where is he? He asked Chris but the latter responded with a shrugged only.

Lunch break and Xysto's shadow were nowhere to be found. Where is he? Did he know that we had a quiz earlier? Nicaise thought to himself as he played with his food. Chris watched him in confusion and snapped his fingers in front of him, "Hey! Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah yeah. I'm fine. I feel sick." he lied but the truth is, he is worried sick about his brother.

Neither did they know, Xysto is in their father's company- sitting in front of his dad's office while being yelled at. An anonymous sender sent the photo of Xysto and Jake kissing each other at the party on their father's private email. Mr. Chen is furious when he received it and instantly called the younger.

"Tell me, what is this?!" he yelled again, and he hands it over the laptop to him,

"I-I don't know dad. Someone took the photo of us." the boy stuttered while looking down.

"You know that with this one picture of you and Jake can ruin the entire Chen, right? And yet you didn't think about it! What the hell is wrong with you? It can ruin my reputation! That what? My son is gay?! The Chen's family gem is a freaking gay?!" he scowled again and close the laptop forcefully, Xysto didn't bother to respond instead he wiped his tears that sliding on his cheeks.

"Dad believe me. Jake pulled me to him because he's drunk and... and I don't know that someone took a photo of us!" he defended while looking at the older hoping that he will take his side.

"Just get out of my sight. I can't deal with you right now." he sighed and sat on his swivel chair.

"Please listen to me," he begged.

"I said, get out. We will deal with this soon," he repeats and Xysto did what his father said. He immediately walked out of the office and close the door behind him. After he leaves the building, he took a cab and headed to his penthouse since he doesn't want to go back to attend his classes.