A/N: The long awaited chapter post that one is here. Sorry for the delay but this story was plotted a lot differently when I first started so I had to re-plot several major points when the boys in my head told me that I wasn't taking into account their feelings. 😏

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ARTHIT

When I finally wake up, my namesake is shining in through a crack in the curtains where the cloth wasn't quite fully closed shut. Its blinding light streaks across the room and onto the bed where it illuminates one brutally harsh fact to me.

I'm very much alone.

This is not completely unexpected if I'm being honest with myself. Kongpob has been running from our connection since the first day we met so why would I think having sex would make a difference? Doesn't mean that I'm not disappointed and a bit heartbroken that he's holding true to form even now.

I glance over to my phone on the side table to check the time and see a post-it note stuck to the screen reading "I'm sorry. I need time to think."

Well at least he didn't leave without a word, so to speak.

Is he sorry for what happened between us or for leaving me alone this morning? How much time are we talking about here? Will I hear from him tomorrow, next week, next month? Maybe when I'm old and gray, barely able to remember his lustful groans as he took me over the edge?

Shaking my head to clear it, I certainly don't need my mind to wander down lusty memory lane right now.

One might think that the amount of alcohol I consumed would make the events of this morning hazy but like I told Kongpob, I was completely sober for every second of it. A part of me wishes I could forget due to his telling absence in bed but another part will hold onto the memory for the rest of my life. It was several of my firsts all rolled into one. My first time having sex, first time with someone I had feelings for, first time with my soulmate and sadly, my first time waking up alone afterwards.

I cannot stay here any longer, not when the memories are riding me hard and the scent of what occurred still permeates the air. I don't know where the owner of the room is or when he will be back but I think it best if I'm not still here when he returns.

Gingerly sitting up, I can feel the soreness in my lower back and ass but it's bearable so I am able to pull myself out of the bed without too much trouble. I get dressed slowly, trying to not make the state my body is in any worse, and peek out the door only to find Em standing a few feet from the door and staring right at me.

Oh shit. Not good! I repeat, not good!

"There you are! I was wondering when you were gonna wake up sleepyhead."

Huh?

Okay, even for hungover me, this response seems a bit....understated. I mean, I did just come out of his roommate's bedroom dressed rather obviously in yesterday's clothes based on their wrinkled appearance. I am basically doing the walk of shame in my own brother's apartment.

Apparently my confused expression doesn't deter my brother from continuing, "Kongpob wasn't kidding when he said you were sleeping like the dead."

Am I in an alternate reality here? Like...am I being punked or something?

"Uhhhh....." I'm too flabbergasted to think of anything more than this. My brother is taking the fact that I clearly just sex with Kongpob last night remarkably well all things considered. I figured I'd have to apologize several times with a few bribes thrown in for good measure in order to get back on his good side.

"But really P'Arthit? Did you have to get drunk and kick Kong out of his own bed? I mean, I get that it used to be your room and all but it's not anymore. You're just lucky that he was so understanding about it."

Oh. Well yeah, that makes much more sense.

"Yeah, sure. Umm...where is Kongpob by the way?" I wasn't ready to reach out and mind link with the man in question to ask so this seemed the safest way to get the location on my absentee soulmate.

"I think he said something about seeing his girlfriend."

HIS WHAT?!

"Wait...no. That's not right." Em pauses in thought before nodding to himself, "His friend that happens to be a girl. Yeah, that's what it was. For some reason he was really weirdly specific about it when he left. Like I'd care whom he was seeing or something."

More like he knows you're terrible at relaying messages and was worried you'd tell me exactly what you did.

Relieved to know that I hadn't somehow found myself in a love triangle worthy of a daytime soap opera, I let out the breath that had gotten trapped in my lungs at my idiot brother's grossly incorrect statement on Kong's relationship status.

I'm seriously considering fratricide as a viable option when the intended victim gets a phone call and leaves to his bedroom to answer it. I can't help but notice the screen flashing 'May' before he leaves. Shit, not that drama again. She plays my brother like a damn yo-yo, tossing him out and when he's at the end of the line, yanking him back to her. I've tried talking to him about it but I should know better than anyone at this point...you can't control where your heart goes.

Tucking my feet into my shoes that I left abandoned last night at the front door, I take a last look at the bedroom that I just spent the night in and shake my head.

Sometimes the heart leads you down a lonely and painful path.

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KONGPOB

I'm in no way proud of myself for what I did this morning. Leaving Arthit alone like that in my bedroom after what we just shared was actually one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.

But I couldn't stop the panic that started seeping in when I thought about the consequences of our actions and what it would mean if we continued. My parents had spent my youth hating my soul mark, telling me that it stole my right to choose and until I had met Arthit, I would've agreed with every single thing they said.

Arthit was like a tsunami, unexpected and destructive, laying waste to what was there before and leaving it unrecognizable and forever changed. The soul mark may have warned me about the impending arrival of my mate but it in no way prepared me for the unstoppable force that was him.

"You left him a post-it note Kong?! Please tell me you are not that much of an ass!"

I hang my head in guilt as my friend Prae reads me the riot act for my actions, including that blasted piece of paper I stuck to Arthit's phone. I admit it was not my finest moment in the grander scheme of things.

"Wow. So you're seriously telling me that you have the ability to telepathically link into his head to explain and that's what you go with? A fucking post-it?"

"What?! I panicked okay! I just had sex for the first time, and with a guy on top of it. Excuse me for not thinking straight."

"Straight." Prae sniggers, trying to hold it in before letting loose loud cackles as she struggles to get out the next words, "No worries about that anymore!"

"Bitch."

"Manwhore."

"Traitor."

 "Coward." 

"Hmph." I glare at her, the insult hitting too close to home right now.

"Sorry, sorry." She finally manages to get herself under control, "I'll stop but first I gotta ask, who was top? Because I don't know Kong, I can see you going either way."

My jaw drops at her audacity and I punch her lightly in the arm. That is NOT up for discussion and is solely between Arthit and myself.

"Hey, can't blame me for being curious. It could have some bearing on your situation."

"Nice try Prae. It doesn't. So don't ask again because I'm not going to tell you."

"Must've been bottom with that defensive attitude."

"PRAE!"

"Alright, alright! I'll drop it. Geez, so touchy." She holds her hands up in surrender and rolls her eyes.

"Can we please get back on topic? I came here for advice, not for you to torture me with my questionable sexuality status."

"Okay. Where were we? Hmm...hot dude as soulmate, check. Awesome telepathy gift, check. Mind-blowing sex with said hottie soulmate, check. Dickish post-it note, check. What's left? Running to me like the scared little girl I always suspected you to be? Ah, that sounds right."

"I hate you on a level that even mathematicians can't calculate."

"Kong, are you a closeted nerd as well as gay?"

I look heavenward to plead my case to anyone that might be listening up there, "Why do I even bother with you?"

"Because I'm an amazing best friend that will give you the advice you so richly deserve and need, but only after I have my pound of flesh."

Sighing, "I think you've scalped me plenty so out with your sage wisdom oh-noble-one. What do I do now?"

"You talk to him dumbass!"

"After all I told you and all you know, that's the best you can come up with?!"

Prae and I grew up together but we didn't really get along until junior high when I tried to hitting on her by asking if she wanted to play doctor with me. Not the best line I admit but I was a horny kid and she was pretty. She punched me in the nose and told me that I didn't have the right body parts to interest her. Then Prae proceeded to help me up but not before telling me to stop being a pig and to work on my approach if I wanted to get laid. Something about her blasé attitude just struck a chord with me and we've been best friends ever since.

Being there as I threw things in a tantrum when I got rejected again and again for this blasted mark on my chest. Hearing me rant about being forced to be with someone that I surely could never love. Comforting me when the soul mark got darker and darker as I cried about how unfair the universe was.

Even taking the soul mark out of the equation, Arthit was a male and I was a male. How could that work in our society that still doesn't accept that type of relationship easily, if at all? Not to mention how our parents will take the news. Mine hated the mark and what it meant, so how am I supposed to be with Arthit knowing how they feel about it?

"Kong. I want you to listen to me, na?" Prae grabs my hands, forcing me to look at her. She has one of the most serious expression on her face that I've ever seen from her and I know that what she says next will be the truth, no matter how painful it might be for me to hear. It's part of why I love her, she's always brutally honest.

"I know alright? I know all too well what you are up against with both your families and the world itself. I'm not saying you need to go out and marry this Arthit tomorrow. Hell, you don't even have to date him if that's what you choose. But...I am saying that you need to listen to your heart for once and be honest with yourself about what you want. Not your parents, not society, not even me. You, and you alone, need to decide if this guy is worth exploring what you could have together and then together, the two of you can go from there."

"We are both guys Prae. Society doesn't want us together."

"You are soulmates Kong! The universe itself put you two together so who the fuck cares about what society wants?"

What she says gives pause to my spiraling thoughts of being ridiculed and ostracized for having a male as my soulmate. No, not a just any male but Arthit. In all these equations and scenarios running in my head, I wasn't factoring the most important part but the stubborn, adorable Arthit that makes my heart beat faster and is most definitely not just a friend.

"Look, this isn't an easy decision to be made overnight and definitely shouldn't be rushed to avoid any regrets in the end. You already told him that you needed time, which is true though you went about it in the most asshat manner possible." she pauses to shake her head, no doubt at my stupidity, "But while you take that time, you may lose him to indecision and distance. Then all of this will be for nothing and you may have lost the only thing worth having because you didn't even tell him why."

My face blanches as I realize she's right. I may not be ready to take the leap just yet but I'll never get the chance if I push him away and I'm ready to start panicking all over again.

"Shh, stop freaking. Such a big baby sometimes. Sure you aren't the bottom?" she eyes me but when I glare at her she must decide that my panic has subsided enough to continue, "Now put on your big boy panties and reach out to him. Tell him all that you are comfortable with revealing so that he can maybe start to understand your freak-out disappearing act because if I was him, I would be mighty pissed off, especially if the sex was awesome. Then just take your time getting to know each other and go from there."

I nod, grateful that I have such an amazing best friend that always knows how to put my head on straight. No pun intended.

"Wait, are you already doing it?"

"What the hell are you talking about now Prae?"

"Doing the mind thingy dickhead!"

On second hand, maybe I need to find another best friend, one that doesn't call me degrading names every chance she gets. I wonder if Em is looking for a BFF and wants to fill the spot, he seems like he could be a cool guy.

Prae smacks the back of my head, "Stop thinking of replacing me. No one would dare take you one except me and the poor hottie that got stuck as your soulmate."

I really do hate her for how well she reads me.