Dedicating this chapter to breathetolove as she is one of my very first readers and she had been a regular voter and commentor on all my chapters. You are so awesome. :) Thank you sooo much for your support. I really appreciate it. :)

Banner on the side - thevaliant07. You are so awesome girl. :) Thank you!

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CHAPTER - 21

FITTING PERFECTLY

What is a Miracle?

As defined in Wikipedia - A miracle is an event not ascribable to human power or the laws of nature and consequently attributed to a supernatural, especially divine, agency.

As defined by a common man - Miracle is a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment.

As defined by Warren family - Keith waking up early morning on his own will is Miracle.

Everyone in this household remembers the tough times they used to have to wake me up for school. The way Dad used to bribe me to take me to football matches or arcade; the way Mom used to cook all my favorite dishes in breakfast so I would wake up and reach school on time; the way Hailey used to jump on my comfortable bed to wake me up and I used to push her in order to make her fall; the countless times when Adam used to lose his precious sleep of half hour in order to wake me up and I breaking more than twenty alarm clocks that he used to keep on my side bed.

Let's just say that in these twenty one years, I've watched way too many football matches, always had my favorite dishes in breakfast, Hailey fell down from my bed so many times that now her body seems to have a fall-proof material and Adam gets a good seventy-five percent discount on alarm clocks from the electronics store near our apartment.

"Keith, is that you?" My mother's shocked voice after seeing me awake at eight in the morning was something I had expected. So I was not surprised at the way she was looking at me with eyes wide as meatballs, like I was an alien who had descended the human planet twenty one years ago and she just found out that her own son was not actually her son, but her alien twin sister's son.

"Good morning, Mom," I greeted her with a grin on my face.

The next thing she did definitely surprised me. Very smoothly, she dropped the tray with tea cups on it and they fell with a loud shattering noise. "Oh, dear God!" she exclaimed covering her mouth with her hands like she had just won the title of 'Miss Universe'. My mother was more suitable for winning the title of 'Drama Queen'. And, soon it was time for her never ending rant to start. "I can't believe this. Are you really awake? Oh, Keith. This is some kind of miracle. It's like God has finally given me an answer of all the prayers I did over the years."

I decided to interrupt her in hopes of making her quiet. "Mom, you prayed this? Seriously?" I asked her ridiculously.

"What's the matter?" Hailey reached the dining area, rubbing her eyes; the eyes, which widened dramatically once she spotted me.

As if I was talking to myself and as if Hailey never made an appearance, our dear mother ignored us and continued, "This is such a precious moment. I want to capture it forever. Oh, where is the camera?"

At this question, I shook my head in disbelief and looked towards Hailey, who was already looking at me with wide eyes. 'Is she serious?' We both were asking from each other silently.

"Oh, do you remember when we went to Houston to meet your Uncle Peter? It was such a wonderful summer. We all had so much fun and we took so many pictures. Well, that was until Peter sat on the camera and almost broke it. But, it was actually not broken and I really can't understand why you didn't take any pictures after that. Pictures are a very vital part of everyone's family. I'm going to bring the camera and take one now as you waking up at eight in the morning all by yourself is truly a miracle and I want to capture this wonderful moment," she finally finished with her hands clasped together in excitement and her eyes lighted up.

I cringed a bit when Mom mentioned the Uncle Peter's part which made me remember the dreadful summer. Dad had gifted me this amazing digital camera when I had turned fourteen and the very next summer, we all went for our family outing in Houston where my nine month pregnant looking Uncle - Peter lives. The only nice things about that summer was the sun, the beach and the various pictures that we could click with my new camera. I was not afraid of being clicked by that time. I was a very good looking teenager or 'killer' as girls used to call me. Everything was going just fine, well, until one day when Uncle Peter sat on my camera that I had placed with utmost care on the side of the mattress where Mom and Dad were sitting. Uncle Peter sat on it and I still can't understand how he kept sitting on it for a good one hour, during which Hailey and I were searching for the camera in every possible part of the beach. 'Didn't the camera poke his ass even once?' I was tempted to ask this question but I was too emotional, thinking about what my dear camera had gone through in the last one hour that I just couldn't. Not only my camera had faced more than three hundred pounds of weight on it, but also the fart-spell that Uncle Peter had gone into.

That camera was never touched by me again. Or by Hailey, for that matter.

"Where is your camera, Keith?" Mom's utterly happy yet confused voice brought me back from the Houston memories.

Before I could say anything, dad entered the room. "Why do you need a camera, Rose?" he asked Mom. Then his eyes went towards me and they widened just like Hailey's had. "Keith? You're awake? What time is it? Eleven?" he asked all the questions in one breath and looked around the room to see the clock which showed that it was eight in the morning. I waited for his reaction as he squinted his eyes a bit to read the time and gasped dramatically. "Holy sh*t!"

A fit of giggles escaped Hailey's mouth and I chuckled as we heard our dear father, whose main aim all during our childhood had been not to curse in front of his children, or not to curse in this house ever.

"Keith waking up at eight in the morning, Dad cursing in front of us. Am I dreaming? Somebody please pinch me!" Hailey exclaimed dramatically.

"With pleasure." I immediately volunteered with a huge smirk on my face. Before she could protest, I took two steps towards her and pinched her on the arm. It was exactly like I had intended it to be - forceful.

Hailey yelped in response and uttered, "Holy sh-"

Before she could finish the word, Dad interrupted her, "No cursing in my home."

"Hypocrite," Hailey muttered while rubbing the spot where I had so nicely pinched and glaring at me. I just laughed. The four of us sat on the dining table to have our breakfast and were shortly joined by Brian and Kim.

Kim!

A huge smile made its way on my face the moment I spotted her entering the dining area. "Morning, Kim," I greeted her with a big smile on my face.

She looked at me for a moment with a little surprised reaction on her cute face and said, "Good morning." She took the seat opposite me and paid attention to the breakfast on the table.

Feeling a nudge on my arm, I whipped my head to Hailey, who was looking at me with raised eyebrows and a smirk. "What?" I asked.

"Morning to you too, Keith." She fluttered her eyelashes and tilted her head lightly towards Kim's direction.

"Whatever." Dismissing whatever she was trying to imply, I focused back on the breakfast on the table. Who was I kidding? All my attention was diverted towards Kim, who was sitting across me. Her hair was tied in a messy bun and her grey sweatshirt was way too loose for her. She was engrossed in talking to Dad about something funny as he laughed at something she said. I loved this quality in her. She was perfectly capable of lighting up complex situations and making everyone laugh. Her sense of humor was what I really liked, it was something that had been lacking in all the girls I had hooked up with till now. But, then again, Kim was not just another hook up. I really liked her.

"So finally, you've realized that you like her. Huh?" a voice broke the train of my thoughts and my head snapped towards my right where Hailey was seated, looking at me with a huge smile on her face.

'Did I just say my thoughts out loud?'

"Oh, this one you did. Not the earlier ones." She was grinning from ear to ear. I was just thankful that her voice was loud enough for just me to hear.

Recomposing myself, I lied to her, "I do not like Kim."

Her grin just grew bigger, if that was even possible and she said, "I never said Kim's name. I was actually talking about Hannah, but I'm more than happy that it's Kim who you like."

I glared at her while she just fluttered her eyelashes and kept grinning. "You look your true self like this. Scary witch," I told her and got back to making a toast for myself.

I heard her grumble and she nudged me again on the side. "Why exactly did you wake up so early today?" she inquired when I shot her a glare at nudging me.

I leant a bit towards her and whispered in her ear, "I'm taking Kim out today." No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep the happiness and excitement out of my voice.

Hailey's eyes widened dramatically and she said, "You're going on a date?"

"Date?" My head snapped at the speed of light from my dramatic sister to my over-dramatic mother whose attention has been captured by the mere mention of the word 'date' by Hailey. "Keith, are you finally going on a date? With a girl?" She had cupped her face with her hands and was looking at me with huge blue expectant eyes, as if a mere 'yes' to this question would change her life forever.

There was no way in hell that I was going to tell my family about my date with Kim, well, not in front of Kim at least. There was a slight probability that if she knew that I was taking her on a date without telling her that it was a date, then she would go all crazy-Kim on me and I would be the first man in the world to go on a date alone. I didn't like the sound of it even a bit. No sane man would ever like it.

Before I could say anything, the girl who was overshadowing my thoughts lately spoke, "He is going on a date with Adam."

The hands that were earlier cupping my mother's cheeks were now covering her mouth in disbelief; the cutlery in Dad's hands had fallen with a click-clack voice on the wooden floor; Brian converted his very detectable laugh into a sprint of coughs; Hailey rested her forehead on the table and was shaking with silent laughter and I was staring at Kim with disbelief while Kim was still maintaining the prefect seriousness on her face.

For a moment, everything was silent and in that very moment I asked myself various questions. The most prominent one being, 'Why do I even like her?'

"Coz she is awesome," Hailey answered in between her laughter, making me jump slightly. Before I could ask her if I had said it loud again, she herself replied, "Yes, you said it aloud, but I'm sure nobody other than me heard it. They are in a shock of a lifetime."

Dad's head turned towards me and he cleared his throat. "Keith, tell me that it's not true." He was so damn serious.

Kim could no longer keep her face straight and broke into a cheeky grin when Mom and Dad were looking at me. She was so proud of herself.

"Well... Mom, Dad, whatever Kim said is true," I told them with the most serious face I could muster up in such a situation. Their expressions were priceless and it seemed like they were about to cry as there was apparently no one to carry forward the 'Warren' name if I was dating Adam. Yuck! I shuddered at the thought.

"But, how could you?" Dad asked in rage. "I've been telling you since two years to change your apartment but no. You decided to live with Adam and go all gay with him."

I tried my best to control the laughter that was threatening to erupt from my lips and I just kept on nodding my head in the most serious way possible.

"I completely understand you, Dad," I said, stopping Mom from starting her ranting spell. "But, dad, you too need to understand. Those were my words that I would go out with him. My words!" I stood up from my chair and took a mouthful of air as I got ready to show my gift of gab. "I am Keith Warren. A Warren, Dad! A Warren is a man of his words. We never take back our words. The words that once leave our mouths are like arrows that can't be taken back. Ever." Dad kept looking at me dumbfounded as I said his words perfectly mimicking Dad's crazy Warren side.

But, Kim, Hailey and Brian and couldn't keep their laughter under control and burst out into fits of laughter, which was soon joined by me. Our infectious laughter made Mom and Dad understand that it was all a joke and to say that they looked relieved would be a huge understatement. Both of them shook their heads at us and muttered something like, "Spoilt kids." But there were huge smiles on their faces and soon they were laughing too.

"Who are you going on a date with?" Kim asked me slowly between the laughs. Her voice was low and only I could hear her. Everyone was busy talking and laughing, making fun of the situation that had just occurred.

There was hint of seriousness in her eyes as she asked me and the truth slipped from my mouth. "You," I answered truthfully and watched as her eyes grew a bit wider and her mouth opened a little. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out of her mouth. Mentally, I cursed myself for telling her the truth and there was this tiny part, hell, a huge part in me who was afraid that she would refuse to go out with me if I told her that this was a date and because of that part, I forced a chuckle and looked at her with playful eyes. "And you thought that only you could joke around. Huh?" I forced the teasing to form part of my voice as I didn't want her to think that I was being serious and I didn't want to scare her away.

I watched as a strange expression overtook her face and she laughed after a moment, the laughter seemed a bit forced just like my chuckles. "Oh! Yeah. Right!" She chuckled and went back to eating the breakfast.

"You know, Kim made the chicken that day," Hailey whispered after a few minutes, smiling towards Kim, who was now talking to Brian, Mom and Dad and all four of them were laughing at something.

A chuckle escaped my lips and I nodded. "I know."

She gave me an amused look and lightly laughed. "She is perfect for you, brother," she said and the honesty in her voice was crystal clear.

I just gave her a small, reluctant smile. I was not sure whether she was perfect for me or not, but for some reason I liked the moment that the six of us shared at this dining table just now. That moment was kind of perfect.

Kim definitely fitted in my family, quite perfectly.

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A/N

Please VOTE, COMMENT, FOLLOW & spread a word about this story if you like the story. :)

Again, fun of homosexuals is NOT made in this story as I myself support their rights completely. Fun is just being made of my characters because of the situations they land themselves into.

I'm sorry for postponing the date by one chapter, but this part is also important for this story. I've written date part a bit, but I won't be able to upload it for at least 3 days & so I thought, that I better upload at least half of the chapter. And here it is....Tell me, if you like the humor in this chapter, I had to really think a lot for this one. :D Hope you guys enjoyed reading it. :)

Imp : I've written a short romantic story titled 'Engraved In My Heart' & I really hope that you all will give it a try. You can check it out on my profile and please tell me whether you guys like it or not. :)

25th February 2016 - Edited!