The House by the River

Chapter 9

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Title's POV

My roommates Mean and Plan were already snoring away and yet there I was, wide awake, staring blankly at the ceiling.

I resigned myself to the fact that morning would come without my being able to sleep a wink. The pain in my chest was too sharp to ignore.

I mean, I can't expect Cooheart to feel the same way for me. He has the right to be with whoever he wanted. I was his love partner only in our series. Outside of that, what did I expect? I wasn't dumb enough to think that he would always  be by my side just because we were on the same vacation. 

He had chosen to be with Kao, even after I had chased him straight from the river. I realized that he and Kao had an agreement to celebrate Kao's birthday together. Who was I to stop them from doing so.

I sighed deeply before closing my eyes.

I turned on my side, making my phone fall out of the pocket of my pajama top.

At almost the exact same time that it fell out, it started to ring.

Shit, who would be calling me at this late hour. I took a quick glance at Mean and Plan. Thankfully the sound of the ringing did not wake them up.

I swiped the screen.

"Please, Title, please! I'm sorry to wake you up, but would you please come and pick me up? I am at the entrance to the trail leading to Gun's house where we're all staying! I'm still inside the taxi! I asked the cab driver to let me stay inside his taxi until you come along to pick me up and escort me back to the house! I'm begging you, Title, please???"

"Stay where you are. I'm coming to get you," I said grimly on the phone before cutting the call.

I wasn't going to ask any questions. I was just gonna go and escort Cooheart back to safety inside Gun's house. Whatever happened between him and Kao was none of my business.

I did not bother to change out of my pajamas. I slipped into my flip flops and quietly unbolted the front door before starting the trek down the trail that led to the main road.

Being close to midnight, the way was dark, but thankfully there were enough stars in the sky to light my way. I did not want to use my phone's flashlight  because I had forgotten to charge my phone after dinner so it did not have much battery life left.

Although it was just a fifteen minute walk, I was starting to get hot and sweaty because I was half running half walking in order to be able to get to Cooheart right away.

Cooheart must have seen me a short distance away because I saw him step out of the taxi. Then he came running towards me before I could reach the end of the trail.

He flung himself at me, holding me tight while sobbing endlessly.

I let him hold me and sob into my chest until his sobbing subsided.

"Come," I said, taking his hand, "let's start walking back to the house."

He nodded and then wordlessly fell into step beside me, sniffling every now and then.

The trek back was silent. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

Just when we reached the short steps leading up to the porch, he stopped and turned to me.

"Title, I did something very wrong to Kao," he started crying again.

I waited for him to elaborate on his statement. He made me wait for a good five minutes before talking again.

"I don't think he will ever be able to forgive me for what I did," he said between sobs.

I lost my cool.

"Tell me already what you did to Kao!" I yelled at him, shaking his shoulders.

"I made out with his younger brother inside the gazebo of their family garden," Cooheart said, his voice barely above a whisper, that I had to place my face closer to his so that I could hear him properly.

"Fucking shit," was all I could say. My voice became as soft as a whisper as well.

"Please don't judge me badly, Title, please don't," Cooheart was begging while pulling at the lapels of my pajama top.

"Did he see you doing it?" I asked, my voice still hardly above a whisper because my heart was racing so fast that I felt like air was being sucked out of my lungs.

"Yes, he did, and he and his brother had a big fight. They took turns punching each other and I was screaming for them to stop and the father heard the commotion and came out and yelled at them to stop," Cooheart was still talking between sobs.

After a short pause, Cooheart continued, "I ran out of the house while all three of them were talking and yelling at each other all at the same time. I flagged down a taxi and halfway through the trip back here Kao kept on calling my phone but I did not answer any of his calls."

Okay, so if Kao was still trying to reach him after what happened, I was thinking that Cooheart could be wrong in assuming that Kao would never forgive him for making out with Kao's younger brother.

I turned to Cooheart.

"What made you do to Kao what you said you did?" I asked.

"I had not been expecting his brother to kiss me but when he did I got carried away and I did not stop him from doing what he did," Cooheart said, his hands covering his face.

"What else did the brother do apart from kissing you?" I had to ask even though my heart was breaking into a million pieces inside my chest.

Cooheart did not answer. He just kept on shaking his head and sobbing into the palms of his hands all over again.

"Come," I said to Cooheart. "Let's go inside and get you all cleaned up and settled for bed."

"You don't have to do this for me," Cooheart said when he saw me wringing a face towel after running some warm water on it.

"Stay still," I ordered as I started gently wiping his grimy tear stricken face with the warm wet towel.

I wiped him around his neck before pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it to the bathroom floor.

Then I rinsed the towel under the warm water and twisted it a little to keep it from dripping before I started wiping his chest and arms.

I leaned forward to reach his shoulder blades. The action drew my face close to his and my heart started pumping hard and fast against my chest once more.

I found myself lowering my face to his.

He moved a step back, placing the palms of his hands against my chest.

"I'm sorry," I said, handing the wet towel to Cooheart. "Here, you might want to finish the rest of the task by yourself, before I do something I might regret."