AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sigh, but a part of me feels better for our talk. I’m still conflicted. But she’s right. I’d never,everwant my boys to think I was ashamed or embarrassed by them.
I know it’s very early days. We’ve already established that.
But I think I might love them the way they love each other.
They really are my everything.
CHAPTER21
Colby
Isthis what a family is supposed to be like?
I’m genuinely not sure. I used to see families on TV and wonder, but that doesn’t seem to do justice to the cacophony going on around me right now. There have to be two dozen people in this house, and they’re all eating and laughing and singing and talking.
They’re talking to me.
Andreas’s relatives want to know who I know him and what I do for a living and how it is living in Sydney and…not in a judgy way. They’re just sincerely curious. They listen when I speak and ask follow-up questions. I’ve had more than one middle-aged lady tell me I’m adorable, and several people have commented that they love my accent.
The thing that really gets me, though, is that these people aren’t simply talking to me because I’m next to Jalen and they feel obliged. I lost him some time after we had our proper Christmas dinner, when we were all spread across three large tables. I have no idea how Yuen managed to feed us all, but I think he enlisted the help of some of his and Tianna’s siblings to help.
I’d found myself seated between Jalen and Andreas, which was a relief, but we were also lucky enough to have Andreas’s grandma, Zhen, opposite us. The more gin she had, the funnier she became.
“You boyfriends!” she yelled more than once, cackling with her paper party hat askew as she pointed across the table at us. I was afraid of what the people around us might think, but they just chuckled along with her, and Andreas didn’t deny it.
That in itself was kind of incredible.
I understand that he probably doesn’t want to tell his family that we’re an official thing as of last night. It’s a bit complicated. But the fact that he didn’t correct her was somehow good enough for me.
It certainly wasn’t a rejection, so I’ll take the win for now.
After we’d been stuffed with food, several board games appeared, along with more drinks. There’s music being played in every room though some sort of speaker system. Now it’s been turned up, and the conversations have gotten louder to match.
River, the dog, has mostly stayed by the fire, lifting her head and wagging her tail when people come to greet her. She’s also been acting as a jungle gym for Donna, the English sheepdog puppy that Yuen surprised Tianna with this morning as her Christmas present. Donna has enough energy for five dogs, I’m sure. But River seems to be tolerating her presence well enough.
Zhen has appointed herself as my unofficial protector by looping her arm through mine instead of using her walking cane, then dragging me from table to table to introduce me to relative after relative. Donna follows us, winding around our feet and doing her best to trip us up.
“This Colby! He a writer!” Zhen keeps announcing. I think she got the idea from Jalen. After the third time, I stop trying to correct her. When people ask what kind of books, I tell them it’s romance. For a little while, I can make believe that what I’m saying is real.
It feels amazing.
What would it be like to live in a world where I was dating both Jalen and Andreas and instead of dragging myself to a miserable retail job, I spent my days writing fanfiction? Or…maybe evenoriginal books.That would be so incredible I can’t even really picture it. But after a couple of mimosas, my worries fade away, and I decide that it’s okay to pretend just for a little while. It’s not hurting anyone, after all.
“You a good boy,” Zhen says as we take a break and sit on a sofa in the conservatory, where it’s a little quieter.
I look over at her as she smiles at me, thinking of my own grandparents back home. My mum’s mum is the biggest zealot of the lot and has hit me with her Bible more times than she’s ever hugged me. I lost count of how many times she told me I was a sinner.
I’m pretty sure she never called me ‘good.’
“Thank you, Zhen,” I say thickly.
She shakes her head. “You call me Nai Nai. You a good boy. You good for my Andy.”
Tears sting my eyes, but I smile back at her. “He’s very good for me as well.”
She jabs her elbow into my ribs. “Handsome, too, no?”
I drop my head back and laugh. It feelssogood. I’m not walking on eggshells or afraid that I’ll be screamed at once everyone’s gone home. I feel free. Accepted. Authentic.
