"No no, you can't leave me like this. I will be lonely without you, brother Luke. Only you understand me completely." Fred shakes his head like a child. 

Luke removes his hand from Fred's grip "Fredy,try to understand. I am not leaving you. We will always be good friends. But we need to maintain a distance for our own sake na.." 

"Why ?" Fred asks stubbornly. 

"Because Fredy, we have personal lives. I love Ben and Ben is feeling insecure about our friendship. So, It's my duty to assure him. And not only Ben, maybe our friendship is the reason for Mr. Scott's indifference towards you." 

"You know, brother Alan doesn't love me. He doesn't care for me. He doesn't give a "F" about our friendship."Fred complains. 

"Then make him fall for you. You are so talented, so beautiful.. he will fall for you easily. Also he cleared your doubts about Ben and his relationship. Didn't he ? He stood by your side. And now it's my time to stand by my boyfriend's side." 

Fred's eyes shoot up "your boyfriend? Didn't Ben break up with you ? You two are back together?"

Luke shakes his head a little upset "not yet. Ben is still angry with me. But I will court him and he will accept me eventually. After all Ben loved me for more than five years." 

Fred clenches his fists. Ben, Ben, Ben ! He is tired of Ben. He tried so hard to break Ben and Luke but what happened ! No ! He can't lose to Ben like this. He controls his anger and looks at Luke with a forced smile. 

"Then Brother Luke, let me help you. If I go and clear the misunderstandings with Ben, then he will accept you redily and we don't need to separate.." 

Luke frowns "No, I don't think that's a good idea. We already damaged his reputation a lot. Now if, Media sees you with him they will target Ben again." 

"Nobody will see. Big brother Alan has established a tight security after that day's incident. No one allowed to record anything except the cameraman." Fred smiles "trust me na, I can help you." 

Luke looks at Fred with doubts "really ?" 

"I promise." 

***

"I told you already. We aren't going there. Go, get ready. I will drop you at kindergarden." Alan glares at Ethan. 

Ethan stomps his little feet on the floor "no ! Today is play day. I will go to Uncle Ben." 

"Ethan ! Don't irritate me." 

Ethan sticks his tongue out. "I will visit uncle Ben." 

Alan pulls Ethan by his arms "where is your manners ? I said no means no. Dare to argue with me ? Want me to leave you with Grandma again ?" 

Ethan stops protesting. His eyes turn teary. 

Alan pinches his nosebridge in frustration "go, get ready. I will drop you at kindergarten. You will enjoy play day with your friends." 

Ethan stays silent. He doesn't have any friends. He is the only one who has no parents to play with. No mother to make cookies. No father to build lego. He never plays in playday. 

*** 

Ben checks his social media once again before closing the app. There is no hashtags on his name finally. Netizens found new trending topics to discuss. His mood lifts a little. 

Today they are going to shoot the second episode of the celebrity chef. 

He puts on his apron before walking towards his group. "Hello ! Good morning!" 

"Good morning!" Charlie greets Ben with a happy smile.

Meanwhile Briana rolls her eyes "have you thought of a dish ? Don't make any last minute dishes please. You will drag all of us down." 

"Guys, we don't know the rules yet. Calm down." Mathew whispers in a low voice. 

Ben gives a small nod towards Mathew before looking at the judges. 

"Welcome back to celebrity chef. We are back with our talented celebrities who are going to show their extraordinary cooking skills on this platform to achieve the "The celebrity chef" title." 

"Yes !" Every participant shouts together. 

"Then it's time to choose your captains. Please choose your captains and your signature dish before the pantry opens." 

*** 

Ethan was busy in his office work when his mobile vibrates breaking the silence of the cabin. He accept the call without looking at it. 

"Hello !" 

"Hello ! Is this Alan Scott ?" 

"Yes ?" 

"I am Lisa from Primrose Kindergarten. Ethan Scott's homeroom teacher." 

Alan closes his laptop with a frown "what happened ?" 

"There is an emergency. Can you please come as fast as you can." 

Alan stands up from his seat "Is Ethan ok ?" 

*** 

Ben's team chooses Briana as their captain and their chosen dish is deviled crab. Not an easy dish yet they are competing against Juliette's blue team. And most of the members of the Blue team are good at making desserts. 

Briana smiles cheerfully towards the camera as she announces the dish to the audience. 

Meaning Ben and Charlie take their grocery basket to collect the ingredients from the pantry. 

"Best of luck !" Mathew whispers to them. "Collect as much as you can." 

Ben nods. The pantry will open for only five minutes. They have to find the location of the ingredients and collect all of them within five minutes. 

Ben and Charlie wait for the judges to blow the whistle. 

"Best of luck , Ben." 

Ben frowns. He looks up hearing a familiar voice. There in the audience Fred is sitting with a smirk on his face. Ben's mood drops. He looks at Luke beside him.

"Ben .. go! What are you doing ?" Ben looks back hearing Briana's shout. He looks at the front. Charlie is inside the pantry already. Ben gasps. He hurriedly runs inside.

"Bay leaves , hot sauce, ketchup, celery, scallions .... What else ?" Ben panics. He forgot . He forgot the ingredients. 

He looks around the pantry "Oh .. Bell paper,mastard, lemon ... " 

Ben closes his eyes in frustration. He needs to get all the seasonings right. He takes in a deep breath. "Mayonnaise, white pepper, panko, celery, jalapeño.." 

Ben takes the ingredients one by one. 

"Celebrities last ten seconds to collect your ingredients. Hurry up!" 

Ben heard the count down. He tries hard to remember more. "Garlic, paprika, miso ..." 

Ben and Charlie walk out of the pantry with their own baskets. Briana first checks Charlie's basket. 

"Crab, carolina rice, Egg, packed crab meat ..... All good." She smiles. 

Then she checks Ben's basket. "Garlic, white pepper, hot sauce, ketchup, celery ...  All goo.... Wait ... Where is Butter ?" 

Ben blinks. He forgot. 

Briana looks at Ben in disbelief "can't you do one task carefully?"

Charlie also looks at Ben in disbelief "how are we supposed to cook without butter ? We can't air fry our crab !" 

Fred who was watching the drama from the audience smirked. He isn't going to let Ben win. 

*** 

Alan glares at the kindergarten teacher with a clenched jaw "you are saying that my nephew is psycho to hit a kid without any reason ? And that kid did nothing?" 

"Mr. Scott, I never called Ethan psyco. I just said Ethan can't go around and hit someone just because he wants to. We don't tolerate this kind of behaviour." 

"What kind of behaviour do you tolerate ? Did you ask Ethan why he hit that boy ? I want to know what behaviour provoked him to hit." 

"Mr. Scott, I called you here to solve the issue. You are blowing it out of proportion." 

"Ethan" Alan ignores the teacher and kneels down in front of Ethan "why did you hit him ?" 

Ethan sniffs and points at the injured boy  "He called me a liar." 

"he is a liar. He said that he has parents. His parents are busy to come for play day. He said he has two daddy like Tobby and he was going to visit his daddy in a cooking show. He is a liar ." 

Ethan lowers his head as tears roll down his eyes. Alan takes in a sharp breath. 

"See, Mr. Scott .. not only your nephew lied but also he chose violence to prove his point." The homeroom teacher points out. 

"I can see that." Alan pulls Ethan in his arms "I can also see that you are allowing your students to bully each other. Is it anyone else's business whether he has parents or not ? Shouldn't you teach your students social and personal boundaries, civic sense and good manners ?" 

The teacher was about to protest but Alan cuts her words. 

"You are raising bullies and when my son fights back against his bully, you had the audacity to complain against my son ? Tell me, miss Lisa .. how much donation you took from this kid's father ?" 

"That's a serious accusation. You can't just question me like that."

"I can't ? Ok , then let the authority question you. I will let them know." Alan hugs Ethan in his arms before walking out of the kindergarten. "Because legally, I am Ethan Scott's one of the daddies. He is my son." 

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