BCJ 6 • broken

***

"What are you so afraid of? It's just a shot of tequila."

Kao grimaced as Pete pushed a shot glass towards his chest, slightly spilling its contents on his shirt.

It was a Friday night so he wasn't expecting to see Pete that day. He was just peacefully doing his job as a waiter at the bar he just got into when Pete and his circle of friends came rushing in. Ever since that night at Pete's unit, he tried his best not to cross paths with him outside of his babysitting job. But there he was standing in front of Pete who had a wide grin on his face.

"I'm at work, Pete. I can't drink," he immediately pushed back the shot glass and attempted to move away from the group but Pete harshly grabbed his arm.

"You're drinking this or I'm gonna tell the owner to remove you from your post," Pete threatened.

"So you're resorting to dirty tricks now, huh? What a way to prove that you're indeed a jerk," Kao spat out as he removed Pete's grip from his arm, earning a stifled laugh from Khai who was just watching them.

That might have offended Pete as he harshly pushed Kao away and headed to the dance floor.

"You really have the guts to talk back to The Ezekiel Pete Ramirez, the Campus Prince, huh?" Khai commented.

"Campus Prince, my ass," he grumbled and went back to his post.

It was a good thing, Pete didn't bother him anymore but Pete would casually glance at him once in a while. He was obviously drunk as he started dirty dancing with the ladies on the dance floor.

Kao just decided to ignore him as what he wanna do with his life was definitely none of his concerns and concentrated on his job so he could leave on time.

"Oh, Kao. Are you clocking out now?" his co-worker Steve asked as he started grabbing his things.

"Yeah. I'll go ahead, then."

He had not seen Pete so he figured that he might have gone home already, but as he was making his way out of the bar, he heard a loud smashing sound followed by a loud laughter.

"You think you can beat me?? I'm Ezekiel Pete Ramirez! No one dares to go against me!"

That was enough to make Kao run to where the voice was coming from. There he saw Pete being surrounded by a group of men who were twice as large as he was. On the ground were shards of broken bottles Pete had smashed earlier.

"Holy shit! Pete, what happened?!"

Kao heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing Khai's voice.

"Owh! Hi, Khai! I thought you went home already?" Pete said in a slurred voice as he was already drunk.

"I just went to the restroom, you idiot."

"Okay, so much for your reunion. Now, just pay for the damages your friend has done to my car and we're good."

We all turned to look at the man before us. Beside him was a car with a broken side mirror and a scratched hood.

"Who are you? And how can I make sure that my friend did that to your car?" Khai vehemently asked. Pete on the other hand sat on the hood of his car and lit a cigarette stick. Kao immediately went to him and grabbed the stick before Pete could even puff a smoke.

"What the hell are you doing? Give it back to me!!"

"Okay, we don't want any trouble here. Just pay for the damages and we're good," the guy insisted again.

Khai might have sensed the danger they would be in if he remained stubborn so he grabbed his wallet to get some cash but Pete spurted out words that turned the series of events for all of them.

"Tss! Oh come on. Don't you have money so you go around begging for some. Huh! What a lowly beggar."

"What the fuck did you say?"

"I said you're a beggar for as-"

Kao tried stopping Pete by covering his mouth but it was already too late. The guy had already landed a punch on Pete's face. Khai tried stopping him but given the size of the guy, he just easily pushed Khai aside so Kao took matters to his own hands and covered Pete from another punch the guy was about to give.

He could feel his chest constricting as the guy's fist landed on his back causing him to gasp for air. And the next thing he saw was darkness.

***

The white walls of the room and the strong scent of the medicine greeted Kao as he opened his eyes.

"Glad you're awake," a familiar voice startled him.

It was when he noticed Pete on the bed next to him.

"Where are we?"

"The morgue," Pete casually replied before lying on his back.

"Jerk."

He just ignored Pete and tried to process everything that happened.

"Oh, so you're awake now, you troublemaker," Pete's father said as he went inside the room, but instead of going to his son to check on him, he went straight to Kao and held his hands.

"I'm so sorry for what my son did to you, Kao. Don't worry, I'll compensate you for what happened."

"Uh, no need, Sir. And besides, I did that on my own will."

"Still, if he didn't cause such ruckus, you wouldn't have been hurt."

"Oh, come on, dad! I'm hurt as well. Can you at least check on your son as well?"

"Why? Did I tell you to get drunk and break someone's car?"

"Hey, I did not break that moron's car. His car was blocking my way so I just did what I had to do!"

"By what? By smashing beer bottles on it? Jeez, Eze! Can you act your age? You're not a child anymore. Why? Is this about your mom? Come on! You're old enough to understand things."

Pete didn't say a thing, and neither did Kao. He felt like he just witnessed something that he shouldn't have.

"I'm out of here," Pete announced before getting out the bed.

"Where are you going? You are attending the wedding tomorrow. Your mother wants to see you."

"But I don't wanna see her," Pete replied in a low voice before totally disappearing out of the room.

***

"Get out," Pete's low voice reverberated in the taxi cab but Kao just neglected him and buckled up. Right after being discharged the next day, he immediately followed Pete as he could sense that he was about to do something unpleasant.

"I don't have money with me so you have to take me with you," he immediately reasoned out and told the driver to start driving.

"Destination?" the driver asked. Pete then showed him something on his phone and then nodded.

"Don't even complain for something you've put yourself into."

There was something in Pete's voice that made him shiver, especially after accidentally hearing his conversation with his father earlier.

"Pete, just show up for a while to show your support to your mom, okay? She really wants you to be there."

"What difference would it make, dad? Will it change the fact that she left us to be with her first love? Will it change the fact that she left her son to take care of a stranger? If you're fine with her leaving us, then I'm not, dad! I will never be!"

"Pete, you need to accept the fact that your mom is about to have a new family. Come on, just be there at her wedding today. I already brought your suit with me."

"If you wanna suffer, dad, don't drag me with you."

Judging on the road that they were traversing, Kao could sense that they were on the way to the church and seeing the grim look on Pete's face strengthens his suspicion of Pete ruining his mom's wedding.

The cab then stopped in front of the church. It seemed that the wedding had already started but Pete didn't even budge and just stayed inside.

But after a couple of minutes, he then handed the driver the fare and went outside.

Fearing that Pete might do something outrageous, he immediately followed him. He was expecting him to barge inside the church and ruin the ceremony but he just stayed rooted in front of the door. Pete's face was void of emotion but Kao could sense him holding back as his fists were tightly clenched. He wanted to hold him but he was afraid that the gesture would only make things worse so he just decided to give Pete a light tap on the shoulder.

"There are some things that we can't control," he said as he stood beside Pete and stared at the couple who was already sharing a kiss inside the church. "They look happy together."

"And that makes me loathe her even more. Don't follow me. I want to be alone."

Pete then started walking away from him but being the hard headed babysitter that he was, he did the opposite.

"I said don't follow me!" Pete snapped at him and slightly pushed him away.

"I'm sorry but I'm on my babysitting job right now so there's nothing you can do."

"Whatever. Do what you want, just don't say a thing," Pete surrendered before walking again.

Pete's pace was a bit slower than he usually did and his shoulders were hanging low.

It took a lot of guts for Kao to wrap an arm on Pete's shoulder and made him walk faster.

"I'm hungry and I don't have money with me so you better walk faster and treat me some food." And I won't take no for an answer."

***