Sky was studded with dark clouds,
Rushing all over with big sounds,
Impeded danger of heavy down pour,
Adding of woes to already poor.

................. ............... ................

Sometimes he wonder, he really does wonder what life would have been like if he would have taken a different way to reach where he was today. Would he be happy? Depressed? Sad? He doesn't know but If he was at least a little braver than he think he is, then maybe,  just maybe this is not where he will be today.

Standing at the door, feeling the coldness of the room while seeing that kid lying on the bed with tears long dried on his face. If he was really brave, he would've assumed those tears were for him. But seeing the reality, those tears were not something that will ever belong to him. He must've fought with his friend or that ridiculously charming man according to this kid, that Gulf hate. It could've been for something else too. But he was sure it was not for him.

The atmosphere was too heavy in the room. When he stepped inside, the cold air hit him in full force. The window was open, the fading moon still glowing it's soft light outside but fading quickly too. He slowly close the window before picking up the blanket that was by the look of it, thrown on the floor in anger.

That kid stirred a little as he tucked that body in the comforter. Those soft eyelashes creating a dark shadow as pink glow surround those puffy cheeks. The soft light from outside made that kid look like something that was not from this world.

And for a moment, Gulf  stood still. Admiring, looking, in silence. That kid was close. So close that he was sure he could touch him if he wanted to. But at the same time, he was far. Far from his world where everything is black and white. A world where this little one clearly doesn't belong.

This was the first time he was realizing this. This kid, this softly snoring kid with that messy hair was someone who was made of sunshine, meant to spread his light everywhere he goes.

Unlike him who can only exist in the dark. Where everything is blurry and not clear.

He looked at him for one last time before stepping out of that room. Johnathan's eyes met his instantly. His hands slowly closed the door before looking at Johnathan. This man must be waiting here for a long time. 

"Everything is ready Sir. I have prepared the Car. We can leave as soon as you want."

"Not us, John. Only I am going. You are staying here." Gulf sidestep him going forward to his room. He have to take something from there that will be needed if he was correct about what he will face today.

"Sir..please forgive me for opposing your idea, but let me come with you. This is dangerous, Sir."

That old man followed him into his room. Probably for the first time without for his permission. Gulf knew he was worried. But still, he needed him to stay here for another task.

"You are asking for forgiveness and that's the only reason I am allowing you to speak against me today, John. This kind of behavior won't be overseen in the future."

"Sir, please try to understand, This thing that you are going to do today is...is not an everyday task. These people....

"Are dangerous?" He finally found what he was looking for. Grabbing the black packet in his hand, his eyes found those concerned eyes again. "Do you not know who I am John, even after all these years?"

Johnathan's eyes were downcasted, lips pressed in a firm line. Totally disapproved of what Gulf was doing. This old man had a different way of showing his disapproval to him. His brows will always furrow together when he doesn't agree with something he was doing.

A sigh left his lips, his hands already grabbing the car keys. "John" He slowly looks back up. Worry was written as clear as day on his face. "I need you to stay behind. I need you to stay and keep a close eyes on the kid when he leave today for that trip."

"But Sir.."

"I can only do this mission without worry if you are here to ensure his safety. These people, they will try to harm him too. I am sure of it. That's why can you stay?"

He didn't answer. Face blank as usual. They both were same that way. They both go for blank card when there are countless emotions paying inside them. Maybe that's why from his very childhood, he was the only person he trusted with hid life.

"Sir, I can assign a bodyguard for him if you want to..."

"Johnathan, for once don't ask questions. You are not going with me. Instead, you will follow him without being noticed." Gulf took his mobile checking if that useless friend of his has woken up yet or not. He told him to message as soon as he does. Then he look back at him. "He cannot find out about this. Cause if he finds out then we are both gonna be found in a morgue somewhere."

A hint of a smile crossed his feature as he nodded, albeit reluctantly, but agreeing nonetheless. 

Satisfied with the answer, Gulf stride forward exiting his room. It was when he was going down did his eyes fell on his father. Those warm eyes greeting him, making the turmoil inside him subside down a bit.

Then his eyes fell on the closed door on his right. The soft light coming from below the door seems so addicting for a moment. That he almost caved.

At that moment he pause, hesitated, just for that second, where his mind was pulling him in two different directions. Should he woke up that kid and tell him something about going away? Does it even matter. In all these weeks, that kid made one thing clear to him. That he was a nuisance in his life. And after yesterday, this was clear enough that Gulf really was nothing in his life either. So maybe it wouldn't matter if he vanish one day. He wouldn't care if he wasn't even here.

"Sir, I know I am stepping out of my limit." His calm voice made Gulf's eyes snap towards him. His face was still blank except for the slow smile playing at the corner. "But I just wanted to know. You say you hate that child sleeping inside, then...."

He knew in that moment. This old man was going to ask something he won't like. And true to hid word, he didn't.

"Then why are you so concerned about his safety?"

"Because he is my responsibility." He look at the closed door again. "And as long as he is, I am gonna do everything in my power to protect him."

He forcefully make his eyes turn away from the door. Looking at his father one more time before stepping down the stairs. Johnathan followed him closely. Just like he does every time Gulf leave.

Before he drove away, for one more time, he looked back at the three storied building standing in the dark. The sun wasn't apparent yet. And he think...the sun that was inside wasn't apparent yet either. Then his eyes fell back on the old man standing before him. 

"Johnathan.."

"Sir?"

"I am gonna overlook your mistake today. But in the future, if you ever refer to him as a mere child, you might need to make a new resume. He is a Kanawut now. I hope, I won't need to remind you again of this."

His eyes went wide, just slightly. Before he bowed down nodding his head while apologizing to Gulf. "Pardon me for my mistake. It was never my intention to insult the Young Master."

"I know." He started his car while lilting up a cigarette. The cancer stick brought temporary warmness to his body before leaving it cold. "That's why you are still standing in front of me." Johnathan didn't replied back. He didn't waited to for an answer either. He can't stay here for long after all. His new friends might be waiting for him.

........................ ..................... .........................

"I will miss you, Bob, If I don't come back, Please take revenge for me. Remember meee, do you understand? I love you more than cherry."

Gulf was at his wit's end. The morning sun shone brightly behind him. And the friend, soon to be ex dead friend were still on his romantic farewell with his....chicken. "Who the hell names a chicken Bob?"

Mild glared at him while holding his chicken's face. "Don't say it loudly, My bob will mind. He has a very sensitive character."

He really must've killed millions of chickens in his past life to get this chicken loving idiot as his friend. "Now if you are finished, can we leave? The journey is long." And the way I am predicting, it is gonna be even longer when we reach the place we are going to. A gut feeling or just some unknown doubt, but he was sure, something is ahead and it will take longer to get out of the place they will be entering today.

''Ruthless bastard. I hate you sometimes. "That idiot wiped his snot standing up before taking his jacket. The chicken ran away at the first chance it got. The bright pink color of his jacket blinded Gulf shortly. A scoff left his lips as he stride forward to his car. It looks alone, disbanded in the middle of nowhere, calling for its owner.

He took the driver seat, rolled down the window, taking a deep breath of fresh air. 

"This is not gonna be easy, is it? We are going into something dangerous blind, aren't we?" Mild asked as soon as he entered the car making himself comforted in the passenger seat.

Gulf looked at him. There wasn't a trace of worry on his friend's face. The chewing sound of his gum was not enough to distract him. "Since when we ever got anything easily?"

A smirk appeared on that face. Eyes shining with anticipation. "Hopefully someone will die. It has been so long since I have seen blood and death together."

Gulf looked ahead on the road. The birds were chirping, clouds playing together. Nothing out of the ordinary. "As long as it's not you. Because I am not gonna be picking up your body to drag it back to your chickens."

He snorted, then threw the gum outside the window and popped another in. "Likewise Kanawut, likewise." His voice sounded wary for some reason. But he didn't pay it any mind. As long as this fucker can get out of his hazy burger mind and pull a trigger, he was okay with it.

Though his next words did made him pause for a little. 

"At least I Have my chicken to get back to. They love me. Tell me Kanawut, whom should I throw your dead body to?"

He was joking. His smile gave him away. Gulf knew this fucker will stand before a bullet for him if it was needed. But those words unknowingly made him think. 

So he though for a while, 5 second to be precise. Before turning to Mild. "In the ocean. The fish will have a party. I think I should be useful after my death too."

He stopped chewing, his eyes narrowed, lips pressed in a thin line. "What about your mom?"

"She doesn't even remember having a child. So losing one won't matter either."

"Johnathan?"

"He can deal with it. He knows not to wait for me anymore."

A slow smile appeared on his face as he uttered the next words. "What about that little husband of yours?"

Gulf put the key in the ignition, slide his sunglasses over his eyes and started the car before answering. "Get real Suttinut. I am nothing to him. So it won't matter to him if I die or not either."

Mild laughed suddenly as if enjoying an inside joke he couldn't understand. "One day..I am gonna remind you of your exact words. One day."

Sometimes Gulf really don't understand his friend. Sometimes he doesn't want to. This is the second one. So he ignored that idiot and increase the speed, his eyes looking at the road yet fixed somewhere unseen ahead. This is gonna be a long journey. He just hope, in the end, it won't end in ruins.

........................ .................. ................

The chattering sound around him wasn't enough to snap Mew Suppasit back from his mind that was thinking mile in a second. His eyes weren't able to focus on his cousin who was busy trying to get everything on the tour bus. He couldn't even see Jennie who was talking his ear off. The ice cream in his hand half melted already. Sticky glue surrounding his fingers in sweet nothingness, yet he....he couldn't focus on anything.

Except the unknown feeling, he was going through. The same feeling that has plagued him since yesterday when he fought with that jerk. When he saw the back of that black Mercedes drove away, when he was in the washroom of the restaurant trying to control his rage towards that jerk of a husband he got.

The feeling remained the same. He didn't knew how to name it. How to specify it. Even when it hung tightly around his neck like a rope making it harder to breathe. Yesterday, was the first time he felt like that. When those otherwise unemotional black cruel eyes turned away from him. He felt like for a moment, he couldn't breathe. maybe he was just emotional. Maybe that's why he locked himself after dinner where that man wasn't even pestering after him. Maybe he was just frustrated, that could be the reason for the tears that fell from his eyes that night where a pair of very cruel dark eyes didn't look at him for even one second.

"Mew..."

Kaownah's hands were shaking him bringing him back to earth from the land of his thoughts. His cousin's narrowed brows didn't go unnoticed by him. "What are you doing? The bus will leave in a moment. I even saved a sit beside Professor Richard for you." Kaownah's smile was nothing but proud. And Mew tried with every cell in his body to not scream at him to just shut up.

He was feeling like screaming at everyone to shut the hell up and let him be in peace where he won't be taunted by a black pair of eyes and emotionless face that strung unknown feelings in him.

"Yo..suckers, get on the bus already." Jennie screams from her window seat. Her red hair flowed with the wind, her smiling face greeting him back. He could do this. He could pick his bag, go inside the bus where Kaownah was currently standing, his eyes looking at him, probably telling him to grab the seat beside that ever smiling kind man he had a crush on. A man who was charming, handsome, always have a smile on his face, unlike someone who doesn't even look at him without a glare and disapproving gaze.

But he couldn't. He just couldn't.

"I am not going."

His cousin looked at him as if he had gone mad and maybe he had. Maybe that's why he step away from the bus after picking his bag up. 

"Mew! Have you gone crazy finally? Get on the bus now."

"I...I can't"

"Why?"

Because he wouldn't like it. That man, whose face was always filled with dark clouds that can scare anyone away, wouldn't like it. "I am not feeling good."

The lie rolled in his tongue as easy as a ping pong ball. Because the truth wasn't something he was ready to say aloud. He wasn't ready to say aloud that he finally realized the feeling that was throwing his inside in storm. It was something he never felt before this man came. It was not sad. It was not happy. It was...empty. Just really really empty. A void that was slowly taking the shape of a human. A man. Who doesn't smile. Who doesn't like him. Whom he doesn't like other.

Yet when he was finally running away leaving behind his two screaming bestie, a smile lit up his face. He was feeling the wind in his face. The storm slowly subsided inside his chest as his feet carried him towards his destination. To  A place, To a man, he doesn't understand.

Hell, he doesn't even understand himself nowadays. He hates that man. 

Maybe he really wasn't feeling like going anywhere today. Yes. He convinced himself of this and threw aside any unwanted feeling that was taking place in him. Yet the giddiness wasn't something he could get rid of at that time. Thinking about various ways he can irritate the man all day made him smile, his feets increasing their speed. 

And all of a sudden he wasn't so lost anymore.

............................ ............................... .....................................

Gulf's eyes weren't on the windows that were showcasing light making it reflect on the broken glass window behind them. His eyes were lost between the door that was somehow inviting him more. It could be easy. Just twist the knob and he will be in. But the man with a six feet two form guarding it won't like it that much. At least that's what he presumes.

"Let's kill him."

His eyes fell on his otherwise irritating friend. Mild's nostril flared up as if smelling blood already that he wanted to shed. His eyes glow as always when he goes for hunting. Sometimes animals, sometimes humans. 

"I don't like unnecessary bloodshedding. We are gonna handle it other way."

"How?" He glared at me. "This warehouse seems to not have any shadowy place where I can drag him to. Just let me grab him, slit his throat then go wherever the hell you want me to follow."

This psycho bastard! "Sliting throat is not in our agenda, Suttinut." Gulf's eyes fell on the man, a red button clearly resting  alongside his pocket seeming to outshadow the gun he was holding. And something told him that it was more dangerous too. "We are doing this from the front. You will get many chances to shower with his blood later."

He cursed Gulf in fifty languages that he ignored, his feet carrying him towards the other who was maybe just a little shorter than him.

"This fucker have a death wish today." Mild cursed him again but followed him nonetheless. And just as they step out two narrowed eyes fell on him. His face showed confusion before settling for rage. 

"Who the fuck are you. Get away from here unless..."

"Just let me slit his throat.."

He sigh for the umptenth time before glaring at Mild. He was fuming. The man before them already went in action. The gun was already raised when Gulf's fist collided with his face. He didn't get the time to shoot, his eye rolled sideways before the body fell down like a rucksack in the floor.

Mild snickered. "Can't even take a punch. You should've just let me kill him when I had the chance."

"Not everything can be solved with killing Suttinut. Especially today." His hands were already going towards the door while he hear that psycho bastard beside him scoff.

"But it can be solved with a knife."

It was getting harder to control his rage around this prick  today.  Not because of him. But because of what he saw inside after stepping in. The whole place was deserted. Old, reeking of a smell that clearly was saying that this pace was bad. It has seen something really worse before. The smell of that still lingered aroud the air.

But despite that, there was nothing. No human, no shipment that he heard about, no fucking trace of any living being.

"This is..did we get to the right place? Because this seems like a right trap set perfectly well in a way that we have to walk into...."

Mild's voice got lost in the way. But before Gulf could look beside to see what made his nonstop blabbering friend stop talking, a sharp pain rang through his scalp, making everything blank for a moment before the pain set in. He can make out the hazy profile of Mild when another pain hit his mind in full force and everything went black. Throwing him into an endless sea where  he couldn't swim back from. Falling deeper and deeper until himself just like his body disappeared into the pit of darkness.
............................
.....................
.............

God, what is happening? Did they really get into a trap? And what the hell is wrong with that kid? He is getting all funny feelings. 

Well, I can say one thing. That in the next chapter someone's head will be broken, a champagne bottle will be wasted and someone might just need to realize what he is dealing with..

Till then, this is your ever confusing author saying Bye Bye....