Pitbabe S2, Chapter 24 pg 1

 Pitbabe S2, Chapter 24 pg 1

   KENTA:

   Our dinner went on with barely any conversation. I’m not great at small talk to begin slutet, and I was still irritated that someone had crashed the first meal of the day I’d been looking forward to, so my desire to start a conversation was even lower. Babe, meanwhile, seemed quieter than usual, his face indifferent as he scooped food into his mouth and chewed mechanically, silent as if he’d been starved for days. Guess he wasn’t kidding when he said he came to mooch a meal.

   “So, when’s Jeff getting out of the hospital?” Nearly all the conversation was sparked by Kim. He took a small bite of fried rice and chewed slowly. I’ve never met anyone who chews as thoroughly as Kim. He spends over half a minute on a single bite, explaining that his mom trained him to chew each bite thirty times since he was a kid—unlike me, who was raised to eat fast like a soldier from as far back as I can remember.

   “No idea,” Babe said, shaking his head while still chewing his food. “Probably another three or four days. The doctor wants to monitor him first.”

   “Is Phii Alan looking after him alone?” 

   “Yeah, I told him we could take turns watching Jeff, but he refused. Said he’d do it himself.”

   “Typical. He’s just worried about his boyfriend.”

   “But it’s over the top. Worried to the point he doesn’t even trust Jeff’s brother to take a shift?”

   “What’s weird about that? If Charlie was sick, wouldn’t you want to look after him yourself?”

   “Don’t say his name,” Babe snapped, shooting Kim a sideways glare. It made me want to knock the spoon out of his hand. Who does that? Coming to eat someone else’s food and still acting all high and mighty. Honestly, I don’t get why Kim admires a guy like him so much. “Hearing it makes me lose my appetite.”

   “Honestly, it’s nice to lose your appetite sometimes,” I muttered while picking up a piece of fried chicken with my chopsticks, as if talking to myself, though I was pretty sure the person I was referring to heard me loud and clear.

   “What’s your deal with me, huh, Ken?” Babe turned and snapped at me, his sour expression and provocative tone not bothering me much. I was used to it—numb, even. Every time we met, we clashed without fail. At first, I thought Babe had a special grudge against me because I was the subordinate of his former godfather, but Kim said Babe bickered with everyone—it was just his thing. I wasn’t the first or the only one. So now, arguing with Babe felt no different from casual small talk. “Always biting at me. Can’t you just eat your food like a normal person? Gonna die or something?”

   “Yep, die.”

   I replied flatly, scooping some vegetables Kim had pushed to the edge of his plate onto my own. Normally, Kim wouldn’t touch vegetables of any kind, but since Babe was here today, he’d added stir-fried veggies to the meal and even tried eating some. Probably because he didn’t want Babe to figure out he’d made the dish specifically for him, not because he wanted it himself. In the end, though, he couldn’t handle the “green stench” and pushed them aside, as expected.

   “If it’s such torture, go eat at your own place.”

   “This is my place.”

   “Bold words. This is Kim’s place,” the unwelcome guest sneered. “You’re no different from me, acting like you own the joint.”

   “Well, I live here.”

   “In what capacity?”

   I went quiet. That question was a bit risky, so I had to think hard about how to answer. At the same time, I stole a glance at the person sitting quietly beside me. Kim didn’t seem fazed by my bickering with Babe, and now he was staring at me with wide, curious eyes, like he was eager to hear how I’d respond to Babe.

   “As Kim’s friend,” I finally said. Babe let out a high-pitched laugh, clearly amused, while Kim went back to focusing on chewing his rice exactly thirty times, as if my answer held no further interest.

   “Ugh, I thought you’d have more guts.”

   “Guts for what, you idiot?”

   “Can I say it?” Babe made a mocking face, probably thinking he had me beat by miles. “I’m basically the keeper of your secrets, you know.”

   “What?” The moment the word “secrets” came up, the guy who’d seemed totally uninterested suddenly turned to me with big eyes. “You’ve got secrets?”

   Secrets, huh? I wouldn’t even call it that. All this time, I’d never made “that matter” a secret. I’d been upfront about it, in both actions and words. But the person closest to me, who should’ve noticed it most, kept overlooking it time and time again. And now he had the nerve to act all curious. This guy, honestly.

   “Wanna know?” I asked.

   And Kim answered with a nod so eager it nearly blew me away.

   “Will you freak out if I tell you?” I asked, and this time Kim furrowed his brow, confused about why I’d ask something so random. He didn’t even know what I was going to say, so how could he answer whether he’d be shocked or not? “If you’re too shocked, will you kick me out of the house?”

   “Did you go and kill someone or what?” Kim’s eyes widened, his mouth agape, pointing at me accusingly even though I hadn’t said a word. “But you promised you wouldn’t do it again! Didn’t you say you didn’t like being a hitman?”

   Here we go.

   “Why would I go killing anyone? Stop dreaming up nonsense!” I flicked the forehead of the daydreamer to snap him back to reality before he could spiral further into his made-up drama.

   “You sounded like you did something bad!”

   “Oh, come on… Ken wouldn’t do something like that,” Babe said, propping his chin up with a mischievous grin, clearly enjoying how his little spark had ignited such an entertaining conversation. “Lately, he’s only been doing good stuff.”

   “How about you try shutting up for once?” I said calmly, hoping a friendly signal might get the loudmouth racer to zip it.

   “Nah, tried being quiet already. Not much fun.”

   Looks like I was expecting too much from someone like Pitbabe.

   “So, what’s your secret already?” Kim kept pressing, refusing to let go of the topic. I couldn’t believe how easily he fell into Babe’s trap. “Why do you need to keep secrets from me?”

   “It’s not really a secret,” I sighed, resigned. “I could tell you anytime.”

   “Then tell me now!”

   “Yeah, tell us now! What’re you waiting for?” Babe chimed in enthusiastically, his gleeful expression so annoying that I felt it wouldn’t be fair to let him float above it all like that.

   “I’m getting to it, but before we hear my secret, how about we hear Babe’s first?”

   “Hah, I don’t have any secrets,” Babe declared confidently, head held high. But as I stared at him without breaking eye contact, the loudmouth started to sense his doom. He glared at me, gritting his teeth and growling, “You shut your mouth.”

   “Why? Can’t even share that much?”

   “What, you’ve got secrets from me too, Babe?” Kim easily shifted his focus to Babe’s business. Of course he did. Even though they used to fight like cats and dogs, the truth is Kim likes Babe a lot. Now that they’re on the same team and closer than they ever imagined, Kim seems to adore him even more—sometimes so much that I get a little jealous.

   “Nothing,” Babe tried to keep a straight face, but his acting was so bad it was laughable. “No secrets at all. Don’t listen to this guy; he’s just spouting crazy nonsense.”

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