Jay POV
Then I kissed him hard, but we broke apart when someone knocked on the door.
Keifer opened it, and Keiren was there. He looked surprised to see me, but then he said that their cousin Clyde was here.
Keifer went to meet Clyde and asked me to stay with Keiren.
I was sitting there in silence with Keiren. I didn't want to talk to him because whenever I did, he would just scold me and show his grumpy attitude. Besides, I didn't want to say anything inappropriate to a kid, so I stayed quiet.
To my surprise, he spoke.
"Thank you," he said.
I was confused.
Why was he thanking me? I stayed silent, then he spoke again.
"Thank you… for that day, when you saved me from my dad," he said.
Then my confusion cleared.
"Huh… it's okay. You don't have to thank me," I said.
"Oh… okay. But I also wanted to say sorry for my behavior with you earlier," he said.
"It's okay. It's good that you realized it," I said, trying not to sound savage.
"Can I ask you one thing?" he said.
"Yeah."
"Why did you save me that day from my father?" he asked.
I didn't even know the exact reason… maybe because I knew his father is a bad person, and who knows what he would have done to Keiren—he tortured Keigan too.
"Maybe… because I knew you didn't want to go with him," I said.
Suddenly, he broke into tears. I didn't understand at first, then—
"He is our father… but he always hurts us. He always makes things harder for Kuya Keifer. I don't want to be with him… I'm scared of him," he said while crying.
I hugged him. I really felt bad for them. Their life is worse than mine.
"I don't even remember my mom clearly. I've only seen her in pictures. And I have a father who always scares us… I feel very unlucky," he said.
I couldn't stop my tears.
"No, Keiren… you are not unlucky," I said.
"When I see my friends with their parents, I want to have parents too. I want to know how it feels to have a mom. Kuya is like my father… but I don't have a mother," he said, crying harder.
I kissed his forehead.
"Keiren… you can think of me like your mom. I can't replace her, but I'll try my best. You're like my child. You can ask me anything and call me anytime. I'll never turn my back on you," I said, kissing his head.
He hugged me tightly.
Slowly, he stopped crying. I wiped his tears and kissed his forehead.
"I'm always here for you. Your kuya is always with you too. You're not alone… do you hear me?" I said.
He nodded and hugged me again. I hugged him back and smiled. He smiled.