《Keeping The Balance》Chapter Seven - The CEO Reborn Step Brother - Task World One (7)
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Hol was dragged by his mother into a big living room area. Hol tried not to look around amazed by it since Karson technically lived his whole life in this house so he couldn’t be surprised at how everything was in the house. His mother finally let go of his hand causing him to feel cold in his hand.
His mother went over to a couch that was only showing it back to the entrance to the living room. She leaned down and made a loud kissing sound causing the person on the couch to sit up quickly. The man who was lying on the couch had crooked glasses on his fair skin that he fixed on his face with a flustered look. He had closely shaved dark brown hair that looked rather maintained.
He got up from the couch due to the ushering from Karson’s mother who kept on pulling at him. Once he got up from the couch Hol noticed how tall he was compared to him and his mother. He noticed that he was wearing a suit but without a jacket on with the suit. The suit looked rather messy on him, probably due to the fact he was napping in the suit on the couch. Even though the man was taller then Hol he gave off a meek feel compared to his mother who gave off a confident feel.
“Jeez, I told you not to take a nap but here you were napping on the couch! How could you forget about our son? He came all this way to see us! He must be so lonely after we were gone for so long.” She was shaking her finger in front of him causing the man to lower his head embarrassed. Feeling satisfied with saying what she had to say she grabbed Hol’s hand again and the man who was Karson’s father hand too.
She started to pull them towards the dining room and Hol could smell food coming from the said the dining hall. As Hol was walking he tried to use Karson’s memories to learn more about his rather normal parents. He ended up learning from Karson's memories that his parents' names were Eileen Wallace and Noel Wallace.
His mother, Eileen, was an architect who usually traveled the world to check out different buildings to see how they managed. She is pretty well-liked in the business due to how she always makes sure everything is okay before she even thinks about having anyone buy her buildings or her building designs.
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His father, Noel, was a rather famous biologist who always takes his job seriously. He is well known for all of his detailed research notes that make things easier for other people in his field. Hol couldn’t see how these two people with different jobs and interests got married but from Karson’s memories, they are always happy to be with each other never having any serious type of fights.
Once Hol, his mother, and his father were at the dining room his mother led them to their seat before she sat down herself. She looked rather proud of herself as we looked at the food in front of us. Hol assumed that she made it herself, from Karson memories whenever she traveled she would always learn new recipes so that she could cook it for them.
“While I was in Finland I ended up falling in love with their peas soup! It is really good and rather simple to make, I mean if you can cook. Isn’t that right honey?” Eileen gave her husband a smug look before taking a sip of her soup but quickly took it out of her mouth once she realized it was still hot. Noel pushed the water near her closer to her so that it could cool her mouth down.
“How long are you going to bring up the fact I end up completely burning popcorn. It was by mistake. I didn’t know that there was a button for popcorn on the microwave. . .” Noel toward a sip from his soup with an embarrassed look on his face as he ate. Eileen just rolled her eyes at him, not bothering to annoy him with it anymore.
Hol was drinking the soup, his heart feeling rather warm as he listened to them talk to each other. Hol never had a family in his previous life. He was always alone getting passed along in the foster system until he was eighteen. He liked how warm the Karson family felt to him. He wondered if it was okay for someone who wasn’t Karson to be allowed to have this.
“So Karson, while we were away did anything interesting happen? Anything interesting concerning Terrance.” Hearing Eileen teasing tone, Hol almost shoved his spoon in his mouth. Quickly saving himself, he looked at his mother who was giving him a look that he didn’t really like at all.
“N-Nothing interesting happened. . . We were the same as always. Close friends we are.” Hol felt his voice crack as he tried to lie to Eileen but from her laughing, he knew he failed. So Hol just decided not to lift his head from his bowl as he continued to eat.
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“Something did happen? What was it? Did you accidentally see him coming out of a shower? Did he fall asleep in your bed again? Or did you confess your dying love for him because you couldn’t hold it in anymore?” Hol felt like becoming one with the seat he was currently in if it meant he could escape this talk with his mother. ‘Are all mothers like this or is it just Karson’s mother? She is so direct. Maybe that's why Karson was so honest with people.’
“H. . ss. . .e” Hol mumbled out the words quickly not wanting to say it too loud but his mother just gave him a look that told him to speak up. Hol could feel his ears growing warm as he grips his spoon tightly in embarrassment.
“He. . . kissed me.” Hol forced himself to say that out loud and he could hear a spoon hit the table. Looking up from his bowl, Hol saw his father looking at him, eyes filled with shock. While his father was looking at him in shock, his mother was practically beaming from her seat as she looked at Hol excitedly.
“I have to give Karson away now. . . I thought I had a few more years. I am not ready yet. . .” Noel's eyes grew distant as he mumbled to himself, realizing his son would be dating someone and finally married them. He didn’t hate Terrance but he couldn’t accept the fact there would be someone else in his son's life.
“Quit overreacting!” Eileen slaps Noel over his head with a frown on her face. She then turns and looks at Hol with a bright smile on her face. “So, you two are finally going out. That is great! I thought I would have to deal with your pining for the rest of my old life!” Hol awkwardly averted his eyes at what his mother just said not knowing how to tell her the news.
“Actually. . . We aren’t dating. It's not because he rejected me! It is because I didn’t think it would be okay if we started to date while he is at an important moment in his life.” Hol was looking at his bowl of soup nervously, wondering how his parents would react. ‘I have never been this nervous in my life. I never had parents to talk to about this stuff so now I am nervous. . .’
“Oh, have you talked to Terrance and asked about his input? Did he tell you that or are you just assuming? It's nice if you are thinking about him but don’t just assume the person in question would be okay with it. Communication is key in a relationship.” When Eileen said that to Hol he felt his heart clenched tightly as if someone told him this before. . .
“But I am not you so how you do it, in the end, will be your choice, not mine. Just make sure you get Terrance's opinion first before you make a choice, okay?” Eileen got up from the table and got all the bowls up from the table.
“Also, I made homemade blueberry pie! I am pretty proud of it! I even did that fancy cross thingy on top of it.” Eileen kissed Hol’s head before she went into the kitchen humming happily. There was only Hol and Noel left at the table sitting quietly.
“I get how you feel Karson. When I first fell in love with your mother I was kind of a nervous wreck with low self-esteem. I mean she was confident with what she was doing and I was always questioning myself. When I told her about all my doubts about dating her she didn’t get mad at me. She was understanding but wanted me to know that no matter how much doubt I had, I shouldn’t doubt her feelings for me. Now I feel like Terrance would like to have this conversation with you so that you can get past all of the doubts you have right now.” Getting up from his seat, Noel went to the kitchen where Eileen was but quickly kissed Hol on the forehead too before he went in there.
Hol was left at the table silently, his head was hurting as he kept getting a feeling of déjà vu. He felt like he wanted to cry but at the same time laugh. He couldn’t understand where this was coming from. This never happened before. . . He was sure of that. At least he thinks he is.
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