After only short minutes, I hear him leave his bedroom and see him walk down the stairs. Wearing the tight pair of jeans and black long sleeved t-shirt I picked for him, he passes by the living room to head up to me.

"Why did you take the tightest pants I own?" he sits down in front of me and grabs his fork, and I do so. "Well, I didn't know they were the tightest, but what? Don't you like them?"

"They're too tight," he shakes his head and shoves some scrambled eggs in his mouth. "Why do you own them then?"

"Cause I like them tight sometimes," he smirks, shamefully and raises his eyes up to mine. I smile, no matter the innuendo behind those words, and I do not even comment on it. "What did you do for four hours here?" he changes of subject.

"Cleaned, tidied up, and cooked," I recall my own actions to tell him the truth, but watch him make a mess with his toasted bread, eggs, and ketchup while eating.

"Are you good? You need my help to eat?" I chuckle and make fun of him, playfully. "Shut up," he smiles and licks the sauce off his fingers, before grabbing a tissue. "Did you warn your parents at least?"

"They're too busy to care," I take another tissue out the box to place it next to his dish, and I take another bite of my food. "Glad to see they're the reflection of my mother, that's insane," he raises his eyebrows, leaving some sarcasm out of his mouth.

"Well, at least you have your own house now. I don't," I point out what differs, and he looks into my eyes with his big ones. "What do you mean? You're home here."

His sweet words make me feel bashful, and I glance down at my food. "I know you take care of me more than I take care of you, but still, it's your home here," he does not help me show less emotions, always making me feel loved. "I like taking care of you."

"Yeah. I feel like you just enjoy babying me," he states, but quickly continues. "But in a good way. Like, I see it when I call you mommy. There's this little expression of satisfaction drawn on your face whenever–"

"That is absolutely not true," I defend myself, understanding what he is implying by that. "I just like making you feel good and pampered, there's no other reason behind it."

"Mhmh," he bites in the toast, grinning and not believing my honest words at all. "Making me feel good. You're right."

I laugh out of nervousness and avoid making eye contact. "Stop always twisting my words. You know what I mean."

"I know, I just like teasing you," he stops doing it, letting me breathe and have a break.

20 minutes later...

"Leave it in the sink, I'll rinse them for the dishwasher later," he tells me to do, but I do not listen, knowing he will not do it. I quickly do it myself and pass the three dishes under the water to put them in the dishwasher.

"Ugh, y/n..." he moans my name and makes some noise, so I turn around after turning the dishwasher on and see him get up from the chair. "I'm gonna spank you," he scoffs and walks up to the living room.

However, I do no follow yet. I look in one of the cabinets and take some Arnica and healing ointment out. I do not put the small basket back where it was, I wash my hands and head towards him with the products. I sit down next to him on the sofa but receive a confused look. "What are you doing?"

"You know it," I gently take his tattooed hand in mine and put it down on my thigh to apply some ointment on his knuckles. "I just punched a wall because I was drunk."

"And the wall punched you back in the ribs?" I glance up at him. "Uh?" I force him to be honest after hearing another lie, and he cannot even hold back from smiling and averting his eyes from me. "Next time I don't answer your texts, don't come to my house."

"I get too worried for that. I'm always scared you could be dying, and since you're always alone, I have to come and check up on you," I rub the ointment in as kindly as I can to not hurt him, but he moves his thumb and grazes my thigh with it, releasing some nervousness I did not even know I felt.

For some reason, he does not say anything, he remains silent, so I take this opportunity to broach the risky topic. "What did you do yesterday?"

"Nothing," he tells me another falsehood, never letting me know about what happens to him to end in such states. "Okay," I do not get upset, do not show him how hurt I am whenever he does this.

I take hold of the ointment tube, and without moving his hand away from my thigh, I inch closer and apply some over his bottom lip. His big brown eyes already staring and never glancing away from me, he rubs his thumb over my jeans again. "I just don't want to talk about it, so don't get mad," he gets the meaning of my short and cold answer, and I stop. "I know," I close the tube and grab the other one, but before using it, I wipe my hand with a tissue.

"How's it going at school?" he asks me, not staying quiet. "Fine. I'm kinda failing in Sciences, but I'll try my best to pass this last year," I open this new tube, but he takes it out of my hands. "The teacher is a bitch, no wonder it's difficult for you."

"Hey, I was gonna do it," I complain about the rude move, but he ignores me and lifts his top up to apply the Arnica himself. "Not there."

"Why? I'm gentle," I look without doing anything more, and he chuckles. "Yeah, but you won't touch me before your eighteenth birthday."

"I'm literally three months away from it, are you kidding me?" I do not take this excuse seriously, glaring at him. "And for your information, your hand was on my thigh just a minute ago."

"You're the one who put it there," he carefully rubs the Arnica in, making sure he does not miss a spot of the bruised area, which must be awfully painful. "Yeah, but you left it there when you didn't have to."

"Whatever," he puts an end to the argument to not admit he is wrong, and he puts his clothing back properly. "What about your job? Is it going well?" I do not grumble like a child but talk about something else, and he puts the tube on the coffee table before us. "Yeah, it's fine. There's just this new intern that is pretty irritating."

"Why? Are they bothering you?" I show some curiosity, hoping for them to not be a big problem. "Not me, but she's like, you know, a valley girl. I don't know how else to describe her, but I can't stand her at all."

I laugh at this description, understanding what he means by that. "Just ignore her. If she's too irritating, the boss will probably not keep her."

"Unless she sucks his dick to get hired, he's the type to accept a deal like that," he does not mince his words, surely having something against her. "Is he attractive enough for her to do that?"

"I guess, and she's totally the type of girl to use her body for anything she wants, so I'd be surprised if the opposite happens," he raises his eyebrows, but instead of agreeing with him, I joke to test him. "Oh, she's probably gonna try it with you then."

"She better not because I'd shame her in front of everyone, and if she ever has sex with one of my  colleagues and starts some drama, I'll make her life a living hell at work," he lets some negatives thoughts invade his mind, so I lean forth and hug him. "No, don't say that. You wouldn't. Just ignore her and do your job to earn money."

"Hm," he puts one arm around me and drops a kiss on my head. "What are you going to do for your birthday by the way?" I ask him, hoping for him to have some plans this year since he has been ignoring it for the past twenty years. "Nothing. You know I don't celebrate it."

"Fine, I'll celebrate it myself and bake a cake. I just need to practice, but I have two months, so I'll be a pro by then," I state with confidence, but he scoffs. "I don't need anything."

"I'll still do it, so no need to argue," I do not change my mind, but he drifts his hand up to my mouth and covers it. "Shut up."

I do not fight him, I only smile and press a kiss against his skin.

•••

4:30 pm.

"When are you going to be exhausted?" I watch him run on the treadmill without ever taking a break, feeling like the effect this has on his body and brain is a drug for him. "Soon, you can go and take a shower if you want," he does not mind being left alone to workout, but I refuse. "No. I'm going to walk a little more," I join him and get on the other treadmill right by his side. I turn it on at the lowest speed, and I try to keep going.

He was not really a fan of workout before, so it seems like this helps him to feel better, but I feel like this is not very healthy given how fast he has been losing weight these last weeks.

"For how long do you think you can still go?" I swing my arms, attempting to focus on something other than the pain in my legs. "Ten minutes," he pants, sharply. "Okay," I suffer for a bit longer so that I can stay with him.

"Why are you not stopping?" he slows down the pace to look at me and grabs the handrails, panting pretty hard. "I want to be with you," I smile and drop my eyes on the digital screen. "Fine..." he ends it but struggles to breathe, so I stop as well and keep my eyes fixed on him. "Are you okay? You shouldn't go so hard."

"I'm used to it, don't worry. It feels good," he goes off the conveyor belt, profusely sweating and gasping for air. I follow him and look at him take his damp shirt off while walking out of the room. "You can use my shower," he turns around and opens the door of his bedroom. "I just gotta take my clothes."

"Okay," I head to his wardrobe as well. Since I got used to leaving some clothes here in case, I get a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, and new underwear.

"By the way, when I said it feels good, I should have specified that it doesn't make me feel as good as you do," he says those words out of the blue to bring back what I should never have let out of my mout earlier, and without thinking twice, I slap his arm. "Do not dare talk about that again."

"What? Mommy makes me feel much—"

"Leave," I cut him off. "You're stinky," I push him away and run to his bathroom while he is just laughing.

•••

9:40 pm.

"You should go home now. It's getting late," he softly puts his hand down on my calf, my legs resting on his thighs as we were watching a movie that ended a few minutes ago. "Why? Can't I sleep here like last time?"

"No," he wraps his hand around my ankle, but out of fear, I go forth and sit on his lap to hug him and rest my head on his shoulder. "I want to stay with you. You're always alone here."

"Your parents hate me enough, you know. Don't give them another reason to hate me more," he encircles my body with his arms, nonetheless. "They hate you for no good reason, so it doesn't matter, and they don't know when I'm with you anyway."

"But if they ever get to know about it, you'll be in trouble, and I don't want that," he moves forward to slide to the edge of the sofa. " I don't care."

"Get off my lap, little brat," he gives a soft tap on the sides of my thighs to make me go away, but I only move my head back to set my eyes on his pretty ones. "Promise me that you're gonna take care of yourself while I'm away," I lower my arms between our bodies, and he maintains eye contact, sounding and seeming peaceful. "I'll try. I promise," he gives me his words while staring into my eyes. I hope he will not break this one.

"You have go to your house now," he repeats what I do not like to hear, what makes me unhappy. "Okay," I obey to not upset him and be a bother, but I press my lips against his cheek before getting off his lap. "You should stop working out so hard, by the way, or at least wait for me to be around."

"I know my limit, don't worry," he grabs hold of his car keys and puts his shoes on, so I do the same but see him peek down at my chest. "You don't have a jacket, do you?"

"No, but I'm fine. I'm going to be in your car," I do not mind staying in my tank top, but as expected, he does. He takes his black hoodie off. "I'm gonna get another one, wear this," he hands it to me, and since it has his smell and cologne, I do not complain. I put it on while he is hurrying upstairs, and I press the fabric against my nose to smell it. I love this scent so much. This is the only one that I love and can recognize.

Hearing him come back, I look at him, and he walks up to me in his shorts, and a white hoodie this time. "Let's go," he slides his phone in his pocket and opens the door, and we both go out.

30 minutes later...

"Here, I'm not parking right in front of it," he turns the ignition off as we got to my house. "Okay. Don't forget to eat the food I cooked for tomorrow, alright?" I place my bag on my lap, hugging it and staring into his eyes. "I will. I promise."

"Good," I smile out of relief, not doubting him. "Be careful on the way back home and text me when you're home," I ask him to do so that I do not get worried, and he nods to me. "I won't forget. Sleep tight tonight, hm?"

"You do too," I express the delight I feel through my expression and lean towards him. I press a kiss on his cheek and retreat to grab the handle of the door. "See you next week," I get out of his car and once I give him one last look, he softly smiles at me, so I return it and close the door. I walk up towards my house but wave at him to say goodbye for the last time, and he honks to respond.

Every time I tell him goodbye, every time I have to leave him, I fear that it might be the last time, and I cannot help but need to kiss him, hold him, and make sure he knows how much he means to me, how important he is.

Now that he is gone, I open the front door of my house and enter it. I take my shoes off, and unsurprisingly, the house feels and sounds empty, so I make my way up to my room without seeing any of my parents.

I am used to this, so I do not feel any type of way about it anymore. This has been a habit since I turned fourteen. I am alone, and I take care of myself.

— Next day —

Friday, April 30th, 2021.

5:40 pm.

< I'm heading home and you? ]

[ I'm eating at a restaurant with Eve and Matt. What are you gonna eat today? I hope you're not too tired >

< Enjoy your time with them. Idk yet, probably some pizza bcs I'm kinda tired ]

[ Oh:( get a lot of sleep tonight then. I'll be there in the morning tomorrow to cook you some good meals<3 >

< I can't wait mommy<3 ]

[ I might change my mind actually >

< lmaoo I'm jk. You should spend time with your friends instead ]

[ and what do you think you are to me? >

< a burden:) ]

[ wrong and dumb answer. You're the best one >

< <3 ]

I send the same heart back and erase the smile that was on my face this whole time, and I look up at my two friends, who finally ordered some food.

"Did you watch Minako yesterday? He played a new horror game," Eve asks me, knowing I mostly follow the same streamers as she does. "I did, but he's always the one making me jump and not the game."

"Same, I hate it," she smiles and takes a sip of her iced tea. "I wanted to ask you something," Matthew, who does not talk much when Evelyn is here, addresses me. "Hm. Tell me."

"Will you be free next weekend? Eve and I are planning on going to an Aquarium," he invites me, but knowing this is on the weekend, I cannot promise to be there. "I don't know...I'll probably be with Jungkook for the whole weekend."

"Jungkook?" Eve grimaces, still not feeling the same way I do about him. "Y/n, come on. You shouldn't be close to him."