Idol Love : After Hours

Chapter 17

Eventually, everyone is gathered at the grand dining table for breakfast. They're all chatting about various things until Rachel steals the spotlight, "Soooo, Lance, Keith. What was that whole shenanigan on the show about?"

Lance raises a brow, "What shenanigan?"

"You know what I'm talking about." She receives confused stares, "Oh come on! The whole 'relationship problems'! The hell is that about?!"

Keith begins to mess with the ring on his finger, "It's nothing that concerns you, Rachel."

"Oh come on! You two seemed like the happiest couple ever then all of a sudden I hear that there are problems?"

"Rach, stop," Lance states.

Marco pipes up from the other end of the table, "Ya'll callin' off the engagement or what?"

Lance freezes whilst Keith keeps fidgeting with the jewelry on his hand. 

"Marco!" Camile gasps.

"Don't you think you've bothered them enough?" Veronica asks.

"Judging by their reactions," Marco looks between the couple, "I think I hit the nail on the head."

Andres glares at his son, "That's enough, Marco."

Luis backs his brother up, "I think he's gotta point, Dad. These two been actin' strange for a while now."

Keith exchanges a glance with Lance. The popstar knew at that moment that they were caught. Keith slips the ring off his finger and sets it on the table. With a sigh, he explains, "We broke up for a brief moment but we're back together now. But, I'm not sure if we're together for love or press anymore."

Lance shakes his head and leans back in his chair, his expression seeming tired and worn, "Why are we even talking about this?"

"They're just curious," Keith motions to the family as he turns to Lance.

Lance groans quietly knowing Keith is right. That annoys him. The K-pop Idol rolls his eyes at the noise. He huffs out hot air and turns away from Lance, not wanting to fight in front of the family. Biting back his anger Keith takes a sip of his drink whilst Rachel pokes at them again, "So... the engagement is called off..?"

"Jesus, Rachel! I don't know!" Lance practically screams. He gets concerned looks and takes a deep breath to calm himself, "Look, I'm not- I just..."

Keith sets his drink down and stares at the table, "You're not ready for the public's approval or ridicule."

Lance glares, "I guess you could put it that way."

"You guess? You know that's all you ever say now. Can you just be like fully there on a response?" The Idol begins to get heated, and not in a good way, "I just want an honest response, Lance. How are we supposed to get married if you can't even be honest with me, without a fight or prying for answers?"

"You want me to be honest?" Lance responds with the same energy.

"Yes," Keith turns to Lance and looks him in the eyes, "I do."

"Fine, I'm upset constantly because I know I'm powerless against the press and their negative comments. I'm scared of my career ending because of our relationship. I'm tired of the, 'do you regret proposing' shit," He turns to his brothers, "I'm still pissed off about you two and your bullshit."

In perfect harmony, Luis and Marco ask, "What have we done?"

Lance raises an aggravated brow, "Are you serious?"

They shake their heads no and let Lance continue his rant, "Besides that I'm terrified of doing the wrong thing again and losing you." Lance turns to Keith, "And.. if I'm being 100% honest, I don't want to express how I feel anymore because everytime I do it feels like competition of who had it worse. And I get it, you had it way worse than I did and I know I shouldn't be worrying about trivial shit like this but I do."

Keith is took back by the very honest and pissed off rant, "Lance.. I.."

"You wanted me me to be honest, right?"

"Yeah, I did- I do."

"Well you got what you wanted," Lance says pushing himself away from the table, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to cool off."

Everyone watches Lance walk away before turning to Keith. Veronica tries to do... something, "Sooooo.. Um... That was..... something."

"I haven't seen him THAT worked up in years," Rachel says.

They fall silent again for a moment until Cecile asks Keith, "Are you not going to go after him?"

"We aren't in some k-drama, Cece," Nadia states, "He doesn't need to do that."

Cece sticks her tongue out at her cousin. Whilst Keith slips his ring back on and stands, "No, Cece is right. I should probably go try to fix this."

Andres steps in, "You don't have to do that."

"I'm his fiance," Keith explains, "I think comforting Lance is part of the contract."

"Fair."

Keith excuses himself and tracks Lance down. Soon finding him outside on the back patio near the pool, Keith cautiously approaches. Leaning against the railing next to Lance, he waits in silence, not sure what to say or do. Eventually, Lance turns to his partner and sighs heavily, "I'm sorry for making a scene, I just needed to get that off my chest."

Keith props his head up with his hand, "I asked you to be honest so I don't see why you're apologizing."

"I was yelling at you... At everyone," He turns back to the skyline, "That's just not something I usually do."

"You're right, you don't usually do that," Keith edges closer, "But, you seem stressed. And I'm sorry that I haven't been the best at letting you vent. You made me realize that I do act like it's a competition for who had it worse. I'm really sorry for that."

"It's fine.." Lance says bitterly, "That's just how you are... Competitive."

"Lance, it's not fine if I'm hurting you," Keith explains, "I can be competitive, but I shouldn't be competitive over something like that." He pauses in thought for a moment, "I don't even think it's competitiveness... More like it's impatience."

"Impatience?"

"I just want us the be together and happy again. I'm tired of the cycle we've been going through."

"I'm tired of it too."

They sit in silence as a cool breeze hits them.

"What do you want to do?" Keith asks.

"What do you mean?"

"What's the plan? Like are we just gonna keep going like this until we break up or what?"

"Let's not even think about breaking up again, please and thank you." Lance says half jokingly.

"Alright, well... What's the next step?" The idol grasps the railing and leans back, balancing, "We can't keep doing the endless cycle that we're in right now."

"Maybe we can start with being honest and not judgemental towards eachother."

Keith 100% understands that 'judgemental' part is all him, "Fine, but you better start answering questions about our engagement honestly. No more panicking and waiting for me to cover your ass."

"Alright, fine."

Keith reaches out and places his hand on Lance's, "Now that that's over. Let's try to smooth everything over with your family." Lance gives him the look and he is quick to correct himself, "I met our family."