CHAPTER 458: HEIREN’S THOUGHTS

"What’s this?" Zaque asked as soon as he stepped inside the house, his eyes landing on the television perched on top of the coffee table that Coco pushed against the wall.

"Coco bought it." Heiren said, catching Zaque’s attention as the second husband walked out of the kitchen. "We don’t have anywhere where we can put the telebox so she said that she’ll use the coffee table for now."

"When?" The red haired mediator blinked, tilting his head.

"What do you mean?" Heiren raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"When did she buy the telebox?" Zaque repeated his question, clearer this time.

"Two hours ago." Heiren answered and nudged his head towards the living room. "Keep your voice down though, she’s sleeping.. She took a nap as soon as we got back from the store."

"You two went out today?" Zaque ignored the other details and focused on the important part.

"She wanted to." Heiren stated with a defensive tone due to the accusatory tone Zaque used on him, making him retort with a bite. "I advised her not to, but she insisted.. I didn’t want to make her upset so I just agreed."

Zaque kept staring at him, doubting his words a little, but knowing Coco, Heiren’s words are probably true.

"Okay.. I believe you, but it’s not like I didn’t." The mediator let out a sigh. "Anyway, I’m guessing that Coco didn’t want to use the telebox until everyone was home, did she?"

"Yes." Heiren answered with a smile.

"I knew it." Zaque mumbled, the words falling past his lips with a chuckle. "That’s our lovely Coco being as lovely as she could be."

Heiren hummed, wordlessly agreeing.

The two of them came to an agreement to start cooking dinner due to the time being six in the evening— meaning that Alhai, Quizen, Kairo, and Rey will be arriving home soon.

Speaking of which.. Kairo and Rey..

"How long will Kairo and Rey have to stay with us?" Heiren inquired, closing the door of the kitchen as he stepped inside the room.

Zaque paused in the middle of taking the dry ingredients for the pastry he wanted to make and turned to Heiren, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. "I’m not sure.. But it seems like Rey wants to stay with us for as long as he’s welcome."

Heiren walked over to the stove and sighed. "It’s not that I don’t want them here, but they’re slowly becoming part of our daily routine."

"What do you mean?" Zaque asked, encouraging for Heiren to elaborate further.

"What I mean is.. Ever since they started staying with us, I couldn’t help, but think of Kairo as one of us." The brown haired mediator admitted, keeping his gaze down on the floor as he rested his hands on the pot on the stove. "That’s not supposed to happen, no?"

"No.. No, of course not." Zaque murmured, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Exactly, but this morning, I found myself packing Kairo’s lunch box like how I would pack yours, Alhai’s, and Quizen’s— as if he was one of us." Heiren’s grip tightened on the pot, frowning.

"We’re not expecting Coco to get another mediator, right..?" He asked, his voice barely above whispers.

Zaque stared at Heiren’s back, his eyebrows furrowing further as he let the words of his friends sink into his brain and tried his best to understand.

"Not only that, Kairo and Alhai have been walking home together lately." Heiren added on his previous statements with grumble. "Alhai didn’t like Kairo, but it seems like they’re friends now."

"Alhai assured us that Kairo is just someone he walks home with." Zaque retorted, putting the jars down on the table with unintentional force.

"Time can only tell what may happen." Heiren countered back and eyed Zaque, his lips forming a straight like for a moment before he sighed. "Besides, didn’t Rey talk to Coco about her marrying Kairo?"

"What? When?" Zaque blinked owlishly, bewildered beyond words could describe.

"A few nights ago." Heiren stated and picked the pot off the stove, placing it on the counter top instead. "If Alhai didn’t confess that night, I’m pretty sure she’ll talk to us about her marrying Kairo."

Zaque’s lips parted from surprise. Why hasn’t he heard any of these things?

"Is.. Is that why Coco started coming home late for the past couple of days? Because she was thinking of marrying Kairo after she divorce us?" Zaque inquired, his heart dropping to his stomach.

Heiren froze, his eyebrows rising to his hairline. "She’s still thinking of divorcing us?"

"You didn’t know?"

"Why would I know? Coco hasn’t talked to me about anything unlike you." Heiren hissed gently, shooting Zaque a glare as if he had uttered something absurd.

"Me? She also hasn’t talked to me about anything!" Zaque retorted back as defensive as he could.

"What?" Heiren, once again, felt surprised. "Then who is she confiding these things to? If it’s not you.. Or me.. Or any one of the four of us.. Then who?"

"Have you seen her talk to Quizen?" Zaque stared blankly at his friend, the nervousness isn’t evident in his face, but he felt quite anxious about the fact there’s someone else Coco has been confiding to.

"No, she slept with me the other night and she was knocked out cold last night, remember?" Heiren frowned.

"Crap.. Is she.. Cheating—"

"There’s no way." Heiren immediately cut through Zaque’s words before he could finish it, a menacing glare accompanied his interruption. "Coco isn’t that type of a woman, okay? You should know this best.’

"But.. But how can I not think like this? I’m scared that she will divorce us at any given moment if we don’t focus on her like hawks!" Zaque exclaimed, his eyes getting blurry with unshed tears.

"Coco would have said something if she intended to divorce us tomorrow or someday in the future." Heiren sighed, already knowing what Zaque would say next.

"Isn’t it obvious? It’s because I love her." Zaque sniffled.