I stepped through the door quietly and motioned for Arthit to follow me. I knocked softly on my mum’s door and seconds later she appeared in front of me.

Her eyes were red and puffy like she had been crying and she looked like she hadn’t slept in days. I dropped my bags and hugged her tightly. She buried her face in my neck and cried onto my
shoulder..

“Stop crying or else I’ll start crying too.” I pulled back and she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Sorry love, I’m just so happy to see you, it’s been a while.” She smiled sadly.

“It has.”

“I hope you and your friend don’t mind sharing a room. All the others are taken.” She sniffled.

“That’s fine. By the way this is Arthit.” I put my hand on his shoulder and tried to ignore the tingling in my hand.

“Arthit, this is my mum, Alice.”
He shook her hand politely and I saw that look in her eyes. I knew she would like him.

Then again, how can you not like him ? He’s just…likeable. My mum’s eyes always light up when she meets someone she likes, and when she doesn’t like them her gaze will drift around the room.

I put a hand over my mouth as I yawned. Arthit gave a small smile at that, making me raise an eyebrow at him.

“What?”

“You look funny when you yawn.” He grinned. I rolled my eyes and looked at my mother.

“Well, it’s been a long night, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to bed. I assume you’ll be gone before I wake up. I’ll probably wait until the day after tomorrow to come see her.”

“Well, I was going to go, but I need to take the girls to school, and-.”

“Don’t worry about anything, I’ll take care of it.” I held up a hand.

“Thank you, honey.” She hugged me again.

“Goodnight mum.”

“Goodnight Boobear.” She laughed.
I froze and my eyes went wide.

She did not just say that in front of Arthit.

“Mum!” I whined.

She laughed as she closed her door. I led a smirking Arthit back to my old room, then threw my stuff into a corner and jumped on the bed.

I rolled onto my side, facing the wall, and heaved out a huge sigh. I may seem calm on the outside, but inside I’m panicking.

There’s just so much that worries me.

“Do you wanna talk Boobear?” Arthit’s voice snapped me out of my trance.

“Don’t call me that. I’m fine, it’s nothing really.” I rolled onto my back.

I wasn’t sure when he had lain down beside me, but when I rolled over, there he was. At first it was awkward because we lay as far away from each other as possible.

Don’t get me wrong, I wanted nothing more than to cuddle or something, but I didn’t want to freak him out. I fell asleep not to long after the room got quiet. I stayed on one side of the bed and he
stayed on the other.

“Kongpob!” I sat upright as something launched itself onto the bed.

Arthit shrieked and scooted away, causing him to fall off the bed. I looked down to see what had jumped on me and I grinned when I saw that it was the twins.

“Maprang! Prae !” I pulled them both into my bare chest for a hug.

“Who’s that?” Maprang pointed to my left.

I laughed when I saw that Arthit was once again sitting on the bed and rubbing his head. I guessed he hit it on the table because I heard a thump.

“That’s Arthit . You should apologize for scaring him.” I scolded.

“We’re sorry!” They said together.

“It’s okay.” He mumbled.

“You guys ready for school? Where’s May?”

“How many sisters do you have?” Arthit asked in amazement.

“Four.” I laughed.

“May's eating.” Maprang answered.

“Well then, let’s go get her. Just let me get dressed first.”

They smiled at me, before climbing off the bed and running from the room. I stood up from the bed and started digging through my suitcase for some clothes.

“They’re really cute.” Arthit grinned.

“You’ll think their monsters by the end of this week.” I scoffed.

“Are you alright? You hit your
head on that table pretty hard.” I asked him. He nodded his head, but I saw the way he winced afterwards. I shot him a skeptical look and stepped forward. I carefully removed his hands from his forehead and examined the red spot on his forehead that was quickly turning purple.

“That’s going to bruise I’m afraid. Just lay back down, I’ll get you some ice.” I ran my thumb over the spot and I noticed his breath hitch.

Why is it that we always end up in this position? Maybe fate is trying to tell me that I should kiss him, because we always end up with our faces really close together.

Talk about deja vu. And just like that we were leaning in and my heart was racing in my chest. I momentarily worried that he could hear my heartbeat, but my mind went blank as we inched nearer.

“Kongpob !”I should have known.

Dammit!

Again, we jerked away from each other and I ran from the room to avoid any awkward questions and to get his ice.
.
I filled a Ziploc bag with ice cubes and wrapped it up in a dish towel, then brought it back to Arthit, in our room.

He thanked me and held it to his head. We didn’t mention the three almost kisses that we’ve had since he came to live with me.

“I’m going to take the girls to school. Just call me if you need anything.”

**
After dropping my sisters off at their schools, I ran by the drug store and picked up some Tylenol for Oon. After that, I did some grocery shopping, seeing as my mum had not had time to. I also
picked up some lunch for Arthit and me

.
With my impeccable timing, I arrived back at exactly twelve o’clock. He was sitting in a recliner playing with his phone. I smiled at how cute he looked in sweatpants and a t-shirt.

Sometimes I just want to shove him against a wall and snog the hell out of him. He helped me put up the groceries, then we ate the chicken tenders I bought. He fell asleep on the couch after he took a few Tylenol to get rid of his headache.
.
At three o’clock he rode with me to go pick up my sisters and we had a fun time singing along to the radio and just goofing around. I think he’s starting to like me, as a friend at least. I did catch
him staring at me…twice. That’s got to mean something right?

My sisters all liked Arthit , especially Maprang . She was practically clinging to his leg all the time. He didn’t seem to mind though.

They all conned me into taking them out for ice cream after school. With four sets of puppy dog eyes –Oon’s were the most convincing- I just couldn’t say no.
So that’s how we ended up in a local ice cream parlor with all of us taking up two tables and chatting happily about stuff. The twins were talking to Arthit about ponies and I was listening to him talk back to them. He was a natural with kids.

Everything was fine until Prae started talking.

“So Arthit , do you have a girlfriend?” She batted her eyelashes and it took everything I could do not to die of laughter.

She had no idea she was flirting with a gay guy, but I’ll admit she does have good taste. What?

He’s handsome.

I bit my tongue as I kicked her under the table.

“Ouch! What was that for? It was a simple question.” She glared at me.

“No, I d-don’t.” He stuttered.

“Oh, is that so?” meanwhile Maprang leaned forward and smiled.

Seeing the look on his face was all it took for me to burst into a fit of laughter. He looked terrified.

They all stared at me in confusion, but soon Arthit was laughing quietly along with me, finally realizing why I was laughing.

“Ca-Can I t-tell them?” I laughed.

He shrugged. I held my stomach and took a deep breath to calm myself down.

“He’s gay.” I snickered.

Their smile faltered for a second, but then it turned into a full blown smirk..

Whoops, I forgot how good Prae is at revenge.

“So he’s your boyfriend?” She raised her eyebrows and my laughing instantly stopped, so did my breathing.

“N-No. We’re…we are- umm…”

“Friends.” Arthit finished for me.

My heart swelled knowing that Arthit thought of me as his friend. After everything, I hoped he would consider me a friend, maybe even more than a friend.

Prae nudged me with her foot, which I knew meant that we would talk about it later.

Shit

**
That night after I had tucked the twins into bed and Arthit had read them a story, I made myself a snack. He reached around me and took one of my grapes, but I didn’t mind.

In fact, I liked the way it felt to have his arm around me.

Oh, get a hold of yourself Kong!

He doesn’t like you that way and he probably never will.

The truth hurts.

Oon  said he was going to bed, so I was left alone in the kitchen eating my snack when Prae sat down across from me. She crossed her arms over her chest, and smirked.

“You like him.” It wasn’t a question.

“Okay, am I that obvious about it?” I groaned.

First Aim and now her. I just hope Arthit hasn’t noticed it.

“Have you seen the way you look at him? It’s like you’ve been wandering the desert for days and Arthit's an ice cold glass of water.”

“Okay now you’re just making stuff up.” I scowled.

“Trust me. I’m a girl, I know these things.” She sighed.

“I can easily tell when someone’s in love.”

“How? Wait, no I didn’t just say that! I’m not in love with him. I mean, yeah he’s cute and funny and smart and sweet and-“
“KONGPOB ! Do you even hear yourself?” She laughed.

Realization slapped me in the face and I groaned. Why does love have to be so difficult? AND when did my life turn into a cheesy soap opera?

“I guess you’re right. I do love him.” At that moment, it was like I was three times lighter.

Finally admitting it out loud made me feel so much better, and I was beginning to be glad that I HAD finally told someone.

I knew Prae wouldn’t tell anyone. She always had my back..

“Why?”

Her question was a bit odd, but I answered it anyway.

“Well, there are a lot of reasons. Like I said, he’s cute, smart, funny, and sweet, but he also can be serious when he needs to be. He’s like a big kid really. It’s quite adorable. Oh! And he does this thing with his nose whenever he’s angry, it scrunches up kind of like a bunny.” I grinned..

“Oh dear, you are head over heels in love with him.” She giggled.

“Yeah, but I don’t think he likes me back, why would he? He’s amazing and I’m just  Kongpob.”

Setting aside that fact that I let him live with me, bought him stuff, and got him a record deal, there wasn’t really any reason why he would like me..

“Kong, you’re amazing too, and he’ll realize that soon.” She patted my shoulder.

“I think I just did.”

I paled when Arthit's gravely tone reached my ears. It felt like I was having a heart attack, and I wanted to run and hide forever, but I was frozen solid.

I couldn’t have moved if I wanted to.
I could only watch in terror as he sat down across from me with a small frown. It was only made worse when Prae left, leaving me and Arthit alone in an awkward silence.

I wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out.

A/N : I always feel quite emotional when I write about Scenes of Kong /Singto with his mom. 😭