Zayvier King declines to answer questions about his distraction during his last match.
We're getting another Herald vs. Yaruban trial!
Zay sat with Pandi at the prosecution's table at the front of the courtroom, eying the media filling in the audience. "Was your divorce hearing this bad?" he whispered to Pandi.
Pandi glanced over his shoulder, and the action was met with several bright flashes from the cameras. "Maybe. I don't really remember. I was kind of dissociating at the time. I just wanted it to be over."
Zay frowned as the photographers kept snapping photos even when Pandi was no longer looking at them. "I hope you don't mind that the entire world now knows that we're together because it's gonna be everywhere after this."
Pandi shook his head. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not ashamed of you? I want everyone to know that I bagged a baddie like you."
Zay felt a traitorous flush creep into his cheeks and up to his ears. "We're in public, darling."
"I'll happily tell everyone how great you are anytime," Pandi replied, unbothered. Ever since Zay had given him a firm push into therapy, he had been weirdly confident, both in public and private. The consistency of the confidence was what was really throwing Zay off. Pandi had been a different person in his work and home lives, but now he seemed to be evening out his personality. He still had a professional version of himself, but it was much closer to his real self. And his real self was constantly surprising Zay.
The press started snapping photos as the bitch herself walked in, strutting down the aisle like it was a red carpet and pausing to pose for the photographers. She stepped into the front area of the courtroom and promptly sneered at Zay. "The bitchy little boyfriend finally makes an appearance."
Zay got up, but just to it on the edge of the table. "I prefer the term 'partner' to 'boyfriend' since I'm genderfluid, but I'm glad you know who I am."
Aimee dropped her purse down on the defense's table. "You realize you're just in a pity relationship, right?"
"The only one who warrants any pity is you because of all the jail time you're about to get," Zay replied, rather satisfied with the reddening of Aimee's face. "Not that I pity you. You're one of the worst people in the world, and you kindly gave the world the evidence." He blew her a mocking kiss. "Thanks, bitch." He slid off the table as the judge came in, grinning to himself when Aimee had to slam her mouth shut to respect the judge's entrance.
The trial was a long affair, but not as long as it could have been. The judge was clearly on Pandi's side, and it was not hard for Pandi's lawyer to prove that Aimee had both assaulted and defamed Pandi, not with all the pictures and videos Aimee herself had posted. It also helped that Aimee's lawyer was well aware that he was going to lose.
Aimee got the fine and sentence she deserved, which would permanently tank her career, and Zay gave her double middle fingers as she was escorted out.
"Bye, bitch," he called after her, deliberately putting a fake sweetness into his voice.
Pandi gently pushed his hands down. "That's enough," he said. "It's over, and she's not going to bother us again."
Zay checked to make sure Aimee was still watching and then kissed Pandi full on the mouth. "I want her last memories of you to be with me. Pardon me for staking my claim in front of your prison-bound ex."
Pandi chuckled and kissed Zay back. "I love you, meri jaan. I'm happy that you want everyone to know I'm yours." He got up, shook his lawyer's hand, and then took Zay's hand. "Let's go home."
Zay let Pandi lead him outside, but as they reached Pandi's car he spoke up. "I want to go see Kiel. Make sure he's doing alright. I haven't seen him since before…" His voice trailed off at the idea of saying the horrible event he had missed. He had not been there for his brother because he had put his career at the top of his priorities. He had spent so much time without family that he had forgotten that family was not simply watching his brother's suitor suspiciously. It was also showing up when his brother was scared and hurting and wanted nothing to do with anyone.
"Didn't Jimin just text us this morning to say that Kiel isn't talking? That he hasn't talked for the past two days?" Pandi had started calling Ezekiel by his nickname, and it felt like it had pulled him closer to Zay overnight.
"I still want to talk to him. He doesn't have to talk back. He just needs to know that I care about him." Zay slid into the passenger seat, knowing that argument was enough to win Pandi to his side.
Sure enough, Pandi got into the driver's seat and drove them to a now-familiar apartment building. He rode with Zay up the elevator and even followed him into the penthouse when Alex opened the door for them, but he stopped in the kitchen and sat down with Alex, likely for an impromptu therapy session with the teenager.
Zay shed his shoes at the door and headed down the hallway on socked tiptoes. He carefully twisted the knob and opened the door to the master bedroom. He was not surprised to find Jimin in there, slumped in a chair beside Kiel's side of the bed in a wrinkled dress shirt that had a loose tie hanging limply from its open collar and suit pants that looked like he had worn them for the past week. He set his hand lightly on Jimin's arm.
Jimin looked up, eyes bleary and bloodshot. "Hi," he mumbled, trying to straighten out his hopelessly wrinkled clothes. "Sorry, I haven't been really looking at my phone."
"We didn't give you much notice," Zay replied. "I just wanted to come and see Kiel for a couple minutes."
Jimin nodded and got up. "If you don't mind, can you stay long enough for me to take a quick shower and maybe a tiny nap?" His smile was bitter. "I just need a little time to get myself together?"
Zay nodded quickly and took Jimin's seat beside Kiel. "Of course. Take all the time you need. I can stay for as long as I'm needed." After the door shut behind Jimin, Zay gently swept his fingers through Kiel's limp hair.
His brother did not move a muscle, though his unsteady breaths revealed that he was awake.
"It's Zay, Kiel. I know you probably don't want to talk to me or even see me. But you should. You can't stay in this bedroom forever."
Kiel mumbled something into the covers.
Zay leaned his head down. "What was that?"
Kiel opened his eyes in narrow slits. "I said try me, asshole."
Zay snorted. "I guess if you have some attitude things aren't as bad as they could be." He brushed some stray strands of blond hair out of Kiel's face. "Jimin said you weren't talking at all."
"I didn't want to talk with him." Kiel immediately yanked the blankets up over his face to hide. "I'm a horrible person, I know."
With another laugh, Zay slowly pulled the blankets off Kiel's face. "Hey," he said once he and his brother were looking at each other again. "You're going through something horrible, but that doesn't make you a horrible person. You know that, right?"
Kiel blinked those wide, innocent-looking blue eyes at him like a guilty kid trying to get out of the consequences. "I guess."
"You guess? This is life, Kiel. If you spend all your time guessing, you're going to miss the things you could have had by being decisive. Life is too short to waste your time in indecision." Zay tugged the blanket down a little more so Kiel could not continue using it as a shield. "For example, as much as I don't exactly get along with Jimin, he's a very good thing in your life. I don't think he's left your side once since you came home. He's only gone now because I'm here. It's clear he loves you, Kiel."
Kiel looked like he would rather let the bed swallow him than respond, but he said, "I've treated him so rudely these past few days. I'm mean enough to kill anyone's love."
Zay cupped Kiel's face. "No, you're not. Especially not his love. He's been obsessed with you since high school. Do you really think a few days of you giving him the silent treatment because you're mourning your baby is going to discourage him?"
Kiel's hands seemed to move by instinct to rest on his now flat stomach the instant Zay said baby. His eyes grew slightly unfocused, and he sniffled once before tears leaked down his face. "It hurts," he sobbed out. One hand stayed on his stomach and the other crept up to clutch at the left side of his chest. "Here. And here. I'm so broken and empty and I can't be what anyone needs me to be. Not Liam, Adelynn, Alex, or Jimin. And there was another little girl, Cassie, who I was supposed to pick up."
Zay moved to sit on the bed next to Kiel and hugged him gently, hoping the action would not hurt Kiel. "Jimin probably called and told them you couldn't make it yet. It's okay. She'll be okay." The idea of another niece was a little overwhelming, but then again there were six others beside this Cassie. "This doesn't make you a bad father. You're a great father. I'm sure Liam, Adelynn, and Alex would all agree." He stayed there for a long while, his arms wrapped around his brother as tightly as he dared.
Finally, Kiel grabbed Zay's shirt and used it to wipe his tears.
Zay laughed and used his thumbs to clear the remainder of the wet streaks off Kiel's face. "Do you feel a little better now that you've cried it out?"
Kiel sniffed and nodded, looking more miserable than when their conversation had started. But once he sat up, fixed his hair, and washed his face with a damp washcloth Zay had texted Pandi to bring, he looked a lot better, a lot lighter. "I should get up," he muttered, sounding like he would rather do anything but that. "These sheets have got to be so nasty."
Zay helped Kiel move to the chair beside the bed and changed the sheets. He dumped the dirty ones in the corner by the door since he was not sure where the laundry room was. "You should lay back down and rest."
Kiel frowned, probably feeling lazy for getting back into bed, but he let Zay help him back onto the mattress. He stayed sitting up though, his back against the headboard. "I don't feel like sleeping."
The door opened, and Jimin appeared in the doorway, dressed in a plain white T-shirt and grey sweatpants with his damp black hair falling into his eyes. He looked less like a senator and more like a college student who was late to class. His eyes softened behind his glasses when he saw Kiel was up, but he did not attempt to start a conversation. He was probably hurting too much to take another cold shoulder to his efforts.
But Kiel, who Zay had never known to make the first move, beckoned Jimin over. When the man knelt by the bed, Kiel cupped his face with pale hands. "You look so tired," he said softly.
Jimin tried for a reassuring smile that just came out sad. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I'm okay." Kiel tugged on him. "Come sleep next to me. I won't feel all the way better until you're well rested. Zay can watch over me, and Pandi's with the kids. You can take a break."
Jimin obeyed Kiel's wishes, getting up and crawling into the other side of the bed. He laid down in the middle of his side, clearly concerned how close he was allowed to be.
Kiel tugged on him again, telling him to come closer. Only when Jimin's head was right beside his leg did Kiel stop pulling on him. He glanced at Zay with a flush rising up into his cheeks.
Grinning, Zay gave him a thumbs up that made him blush worse and Jimin laugh tiredly. "You two lovebirds don't mind me. I'll just be here, looking so very respectfully."
Kiel rolled his eyes in that older brother style, but Jimin settled down and passed out so quickly Zay was genuinely worried about how long that man had been awake. Kiel's hand came down on Jimin's head and petted his hair, a contented smile on his face that Zay would give everything in the world to make permanent.