Am I in Love.?

Chapter 10

Kong's POV

Today is the flag capturing day... P'Oon texted me that we will met after that as they were busy with the arrangements. But he surely did arrange my breakfast and drink before itself with a note stuck on it.

"Eat well Mee Noi.. you got to work hard in the sun today.. Take care." 

My heart fluttered with the name he has been calling me. Mee Noi.. that means a little bear. I ate the food happily not caring about the teasing. Most of my classmates who saw it came to know that someone was already courting me.

At around 9:30 we reported in the ground. We could see a locked box placed in front. We did not approach it as we were waiting for hazer to tell us what challenge it was first. I ordered everyone to fall in lines and sit down. I already made sure that everyone gets their caps.

After few minutes the hazers came and stood behind the box. P'Oon was a step forward with P'Tay a little behind him and then the rest were in a line. 

"Swadee Khab first year.. I hope you all know what today is.?" P'Oon said.
"Khab P." We responded together.
"Are you ready to face the challenge.?" P'Tay sadi.
"Ready." We all responded.
"Send you class representative here." P'Oon said. I walked towards them. He gave me a slip of paper first.
"You need to find out the key to unlock this." P'Oon said. I looked at the lock.. the key will be a 5 letter word.. I silently tried SOTUS but it was not it. I wanted to try SHARE but I could not because I did not want them to feel offended with my trial and error.

"Open the paper when you go back to your friends." He said and I nodded. I was about to leave but stopped when he held my hand. I looked at him.
"All the best Mee Noi." He said but with a stern face and a sly smile. I blushed and ran to my friends. 

"So guys.. I am given a slip.. and we need to find the key to the lock of the box which we can see there. The key is a 5 letter word. " I said they all waited for me to read what is in the paper.

"From food to tables.. paper to rubber.. I give you most of the things which you need to be alive." 

I read out the clue. Everyone started thinking.. 

From where do we get food. Tree or plants. Then tables from wood.. and wood again from tree.
Also we get paper and rubber basic material from a tree. Also a tree gives us air. Which we need to be alive.. So it is tree. 

As soon as the answer hit me.. I called Tew, Em, Wad and Oak to the front. I divided the whole class into 5 teams.. one of them being mine. I connected our 5 phones with a call. I told them the answer and asked them to search the trees. Before I left to search.. I glanced at P'Oon and winked at him. He gave a smile and immediately made a serious face as P'Knot hit him reminding him the surroundings. I chuckled and left with my team.

After 30minutes of searching... Oak found the clue. All of us went back to the ground. Oak gave me the packet. I opened it. There was a letter in it 'S'. Along with that there is another clue. 

"It is a place where we can find a solution for any of the problems.. but don't think of personal problems. Think as a student." 

After reading out.. we started trying to understand it.

"What kind of problems can one person have.? That to a student.?" Em said.
"Student.. mostly financial." Oak said.
"It is personal problem." Wad said which was right.
"Main problem I know.. I know." Em exclaimed and we all looked at him to continue.
"Attending the classes.. that to calculus and boring subject." He.. All of us facepalmed and I also smacked him. 
"All the students of university have one common problem.. guides." Tew said.
"Guides in the sense..?" Oak asked.
"References where we can find the information to read from.." Wad said. 
"And we can find the solutions for that at..." Em said.
"LIBRARY" All of us shouted at once. 

After that we went to the library. We remained in the same teams and divided the various sections in the library for each of us to search at. We have been searching every corner of each section.. above the racks.. in between the books.. below the tables every where.

Wad found the packet after about one and half hour. We did not want to form a crowd in the library so we went back to the ground. Wad gave me the packet. I opened it.. there was another letter in it 'A'. I took the paper which has the next clue.

"I take charge when the King is not there.. but if you want to find me.. maybe you should search where we have most of our first ever memories at." 

Weird.. there is no King right.. then what are the talking about.? Before we could decode.. we were asked to have lunch. I received a special box.. with a note stuck.

"Relax your little mind my dear Mee Noi.. and don't rush.. you still have time.. I won't accept the key unless you find all the letters. You got a lot of work to do so.. you have 3 more to go.. eat well..

                                                                                                                                                 -- Your future lover"

It was what written on the paper. I blushed reading it.. especially 'future lover' ah.. he make me blush with just a word. I looked at him.. he was already grinning like an idiot.. I stuck my tongue out. I started eating my food. 

"Ai'Kong.. if there is no king then how can a temporary king take over.. but in this faculty where the hell should we find the king..?" Em said suddenly while Oak was making tired faces beside him. 

After listening to Em.. something clicked to me.. Tew and Wad seem to have realized the same thing as we shared glances.

"P'TAY" We three exclaimed suddenly.
"Why the hell are you three behind my lover.. go.. find yours." Em whisper shouted. I, Tew and Wad hit our own heads this time.

"You stupid Em.. how am I surviving with you as my PA" I whispered audible to only 5 of us.
"Ai'Em.. In this faculty.. who the leader.?" Tew asked.
"P'Arthit." Oak and Em said at the same time.
"Then.. if he is not there in command who will take over.?" Wad asked.
"Second in command." Em said. This idiot.. I could only shake my head at his dumbness.
"And who is it.?" I asked.

Maybe realization hit him. He and Oak smiled sheepishly.
"P'Tay." They said with a low voice. 
"Now search you lover.. we don't want to go behind him." Wad said shooing him. 
"Ai'Wad.. this is a task given by a senior to junior." He started pleading Wad who was actually just acting angry. I and Tew started searching for P'Tay.. but he was no where to be found. Shit he already hid.

"Where do we have our memories with the hazers.?" I asked.
"Cheer Hall." Oak said.
"The play ground.. where we did the on field hazing." Tew said.
"Basketball court." Em said.
"Auditorium where the event held.. I saw them really happy seeing Kong and Prae win also Kong's answer." Wad said.
"Canteen." I added in the last. They looked at me. "Our first task.. and the first time.. collecting signatures.. that is the first time we spoke to them face to face especially P'Tay." I added. They nodded their head in agreement. 

With the same teams we started searching in those 5 places first. I and my team were going to search the cheer hall.. Tew's team was going to search the Auditorium.. Wad's team was going to search the Basketball court area.. Oak's team was going to search around the playground and lastly Em's team was going to search the canteen area.

After everyone had their food we scattered and started searching everywhere.. Even after an hour we could not find him... I started thinking if I have missed any area.. I recollected every interaction of ours.. I have a gut feeling that he was hidden in the canteen. I remembered our interaction on that day.. I and Wad did push-ups.. it is an open area he can't hide.. then Em was asked to shout 'I like boys' which we tricked them.. then Oak and Tew were asked to get food. 

It clicked me.. food stall.. he might hide inside it.. I immediately called Em.. 

"Em.. search the food stall.. the stall from where Tew and Oak bought food as a task for signature." I said.. 
 The call was active... I heard the hurried food steps.. I heard noises of him opening the stall door.

"Found him Kong.." Em screamed. 

I jumped when I heard him say that.. I asked him to take the packet from him and come to the ground. After that I informed Wad, Tew and Oak. We all met Em and his team in the ground. Em was smiling widely.. I glanced at the hazers.. who seem to be a little shocked and P'Tay was pouting a little. I smirked when my eyes met with P'Oon's.

I opened the packet.. there was a letter 'E' this time. Till now we got three letters.. two more to go. I opened the slip to read the clue.

"You got what you need for every hazing session here." 

That was the clue.. Everyone were trying to understand it.. 
"All we need to attend the hazing session is courage.. which I still lack." Oak murmured. We could only shake our head.
"We need to complete the task or find out the answer for the questions the asked in the previous session." Tew said. 
"But.. where did we find the answers.?" Wad asked.
"College website and forum mainly." Em said. 
"So that excludes that option." I said.. we continued thinking of other options.

"What do we do before going to the hazing session.?" I asked still thinking of answer.
"Where that T-shirt and the name tag." Tew said. 
"That is it.. " I said. They all looked at me.
"We need those for every hazing session mandatorily." I exclaimed a little loudly.
"And we got that from the student desk.." Wad said. 

This time instead of the whole class only we 5 rushed there.. because we just need to search a desk.. and more crowd means we may loose it. We 5 of us started searching the desk and that room. Finally Tew found stuck at the bottom of the table. We took it and went back to the stadium to open it in front of everyone.

The letter in the packet was 'R'.. I gave Tew to read the clue out as I was thinking about the letters. The four letters were 'S', 'A', 'E' and R.. They are surely not in an order.. I started thinking of words with these letters which would be related to this situation. It clicked me.. 'SHARE' the key is SHARE. But I kept quiet as I remember what P'Oon wrote in the slip.. he asked us to find all the letters. I took the slip from Tew to read it as I did not hear it before.

"Final thing is what I say.. So impress me if you want the final letter." 

It was what the clue said. My friends were still not getting it exactly. I saw at the time.. it was already nearing 5..

"The final say stays with our head hazer.. so we need to impress him if we want the last letter." I said. They understood it now.. We were all thinking of ways to impress him. I started thinking of ways which can be used to impress them as seniors..

From the day one.. all they did was to guide us, teach us, support us and care for us.. so the least we can do other than learning and following them is to thank them. Then I got an idea.

Arthit's POV

It was the last letter they need to find.. I know Kong must have already got the word with his expression.. But I know he will earn the last letter.. I saw him whispering something to Tew.. And then all of them formed circles while Kong approached me. I looked at him not understanding what he is up to.

"P.. come with me na.." He said.
"Why should I my dear Mee Noi..?" I teased him a little. My friends were chuckling hearing it.
"Don't you dare to tease me now.. else you will suffer if I play hard." He warned me though he blushed. All my friends sat down and started laughing. They did not want the others to see it. 

"Okay.. I won't tease.. tell me why and where should I come." I asked.
"Why because... we need to impress you.. and where means to the ground.. it is where we all are.. So P.. will you please SHARE your presence and time with us" He said highlighting the word Share.. All my friends stopped laughing and looked at him with wide eyes.. I smirked at him and then nodded my head.. saying YES. 

I walked behind him. My friends were standing a little away.. and watching what they were doing. Kong made me stand in the middle and then he joined others.

"FIRST YEARS NOW." He exclaimed.
"Thank you P'Arthit for guiding us." 
"Thank you P'Arthit for teaching us." 
"Thank you P'Arthit for standing by us."
"Thank you P'Arthit for giving us the values and always supporting us." 

They started thanking me together.. Shit.. I did not expect this.. this way to much for me to take in.. Don't get me wrong.. I am impressed the very first time they thanked me. I kept on looking around at everyone. 

"CHANT NOW." I heard Kong's voice. Immediately everyone started chanting the cheer. 
"E.N.G.I.N.E.E.R. Engineer.. We Are Engineer Engineer Hey." The cheered with me still standing in the center. I glanced at my friends who also seemed to be moved. I wanted to make it hard but melted when I heard the next part.

"Thank you P'Arthit.. for not only being a senior but also a guide and a well wisher for all of us.. thank you for giving us the values which we need for our future." Kong, Tew, Wad, Em and Oak's voice echoed in my ears. After that Kong stepped forward. 
"Thank you P'Arthit." He said and bowed to me. I melted completely.. hell with being strong and hard time.. All I could do was give him the last packet. He took it and opened it. I left back to our place near the box.

Kong's POV

I opened the last packet. It had the last letter.. I did not glance at it.. but I took the last slip and opened it.. 

"You are officially our juniors from now on.. Send your representative to collect the flag." 

I read it out.. by now.. everyone understood what the word was. Tew made sure that everyone falls in line. After that I went and unlocked the box and took the flag out.
"Take care of it for me Kong." P'Oon said. Not as my lover but as a responsible and successful seniors. 
"With all my heart." I said with a smile. He then asked me to hang the flag. After I did P'Oon stepped forward to speak.

"You are all our juniors officially. From now on if anyone of us have a problem or come across difficulties we will help eachother." P'Oon said.

"P'Arthit Khab.. can I ask a question.?" One of my classmates raised his hand. P'Oon nodded his head.
"Why did you choose the word Share P.?" He asked.

"The word Share has a very good meaning. To me all the activities we do.. there will be something or the other we share with one another. The seniors share Knowledge, Experience, Values and other good things with the juniors.. Likewise Juniors also share many things with us.. especially your personal time.. without which none of us would be standing here." P'Oon said.

After that there was thread tying ceremony.. the atmosphere was warm and filled with happiness. I wanted P'Oon to tie me the thread first so I was searching for him.
"P'Tay where is P'Oon.?" I asked.
"He went towards the grandstand." P'Tay said.
"P.. can you give me a thread.?" I asked. P'Tay gave me.. I took it and rushed towards the grandstand. I walked near him.
"P'Oon.." I called him. I saw him wiping his tears away and turning towards me. The tears were not because he was sad.. I could feel that. 
"Won't P'Oon tie the thread to his Mee Noi first.?" I asked and pouted. He chuckled and took the thread. I gave him my left hand so that it will remain to it.

"Always take care of yourself Kong.. and remember that you will have me by your side forever and ever. I love you Kong.." He said while tying the thread.
"P.. next time you want to cry.. tell me. I will wipe away the tears for you happy or sad. And you will also have me forever P." I said. He smiled and hugged me.. After few minutes we joined everyone.. I got the thread tied with the hazers and then the other seniors. 

After the ceremony was I and P'Oon along with our friends had dinner.. By now everyone knows that we have become close. All of us ate in comfortable silence while talking about something in between. We called it a day after dinner.. I pulled P'Oon to sleep with me today. We freshened up and changed into night dresses.

"Good night P'Oon." I said while sleeping on his chest.
"Good Night Mee Noi." He said wrapping his arm around me and pulling me closer to him. We drifted into our sleep with happy faces.