LOGINLiam's POVThe side of ‘adrenaline rush’ that helps with ideas in a tight corner like this came up with one real quick. Knowing at least I was meant to give my mum a response or whatever she wanted to confirm, which would seem to her like it was the truth.Honestly, at that moment…my brain ran through about three different options in the space of one second and landed on the only one that made any sense right now. At the same time, there was no room for hesitation here. Because every second I spent not answering was another second my mum stood on the other side of that space drawing her own conclusions and I could not afford whatever conclusion she was currently building in her head."Tutoring is over, so he went home already." I said out loud enough for her to hear me clearly through the space, keeping my voice as steady as I could manage considering everything happening on my end right now — and I mean everything. Because there was absolutely no version of this evening where I was l
Liam's POVAt this point, it felt like I was losing control of myself and couldn't even help the thoughts going through my head.Ken wasn't helping matters either. He even brought his lips closer to mine. ‘What's with this vibe? Is he going to kiss me?’Because the way Ken had his eyes fixed on my lips was not casual and it was not accidental either. It was the kind of look that had a direction and knew exactly where it was going and I was standing right there in the path of it with absolutely nothing to say.Is this going to be my first kiss? For real? From a guy this hot?I didn't even get to finish that thought when the bathroom door creaked open.My heart stopped before my mum's voice even came through. "Hey, sweetie. Why are you showering all of a sudden?"Oh shit.I knew she couldn't see through the curtain. That part I was sure about, but then my eyes dropped to the bottom of it — the three quarter length that stopped just above the floor… and the gap underneath it was not some
Author's POVKen stood under the shower with his head slightly tilted back, water kept running from the top of his head and trailing down every line of his body like it had somewhere important to be. His dark hair was soaked through and curling slightly at the ends from the heat, dripping in thin streams down his neck and over his shoulders.At this point, the bathroom was already filled with steam, the kind that fogs up mirrors and makes the air heavy and warm. His chest was broad and defined in a way that came from actual training and not just good genetics…but with a light scatter of hair across it that tapered down his stomach and disappeared below the waistline. The water caught every detail of him on its way down. His jaw was sharp, his neck long, and when he tilted his head up slightly, his Adam's apple rolled slowly down, then back up while he absentmindedly licked his lips like he had not a single care in the world.It was safe to say that he looked like similar images Liam
Liam's POV"Liam, you are so talented."I moved to my mum's side slightly, bracing myself because I could vouch my mum and I knew exactly where her head went with anything that leaned even slightly in that direction. But as I got closer, I realized she was looking at the still life drawings I still drew from behind the sketchbook. I guess the side Ken had been smart enough to present it from. My chest slowly came back down from my throat."Why didn't you tell me about this?" She turned to look at me with this genuinely proud expression and I almost laughed out of sheer relief.‘You have no idea how close that was.’"Yeah, it's… just for fun." I said, keeping my voice as relaxed as I could manage.Ken nodded beside me in a clear picture of innocence that he just portrayed. "Fun? I see." Then he glanced at me sideways. "But I think you got so lucky today, though."I shot him a look that I hoped communicated everything I couldn't say out loud right now. He held my gaze and smiled like he
Liam's POV"Oh! I didn't know that you two were so close." My mum smiled at us, holding the two glasses of orange soda she had brought for us.I exhaled so quietly that nobody heard it. From her response, it was clear that she hadn't read anything negative into whatever she walked in on. I mean, nothing like what I had been bracing myself for. The story my brain had already started writing in those few seconds of silence had been completely wrong and I was more than happy to let it die there.I quickly took the two glasses of orange soda from her and set them on the table beside me. Ken and I both faked a smile at the same time, which was honestly the most in sync we had ever been since the moment we met."We are just friends." I said, then turned to Ken with the most natural expression I could pull together on a short notice. "Really good friends at school, right?" I nodded slowly while I said it — the kind of nod that was really a signal and Ken, to his credit, picked it up without
Liam's POVAnd to the shock that went down to my bone marrow, he brought out a sketchbook that I had been keeping to myself for a while. The same one I used to pour my fantasies into — the ones I hoped someday, somehow, I would get to make real. He raised it up and there it was… the last particular drawing I had done of two gay partners. Drawn straight from my imagination, from a place I had never shown anyone.My chest caved in.This was my private thing and not meant for anyone else's eyes.I couldn't think straight and so I just moved. "Give that back!" Instantly, I rushed him without even processing it because that sketchbook was the one thing in this room, in this whole house, that was entirely mine. My mum didn't know it existed and nobody did. I had always kept it tucked under my pillow like it was something fragile that the wrong pair of eyes could permanently damage.And now Ken had it in his hands, flipping through it with that same casual energy he brought to everything — l







