The House by the River

Chapter 17

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

Third Person POV

Gun and Mean went running to the living room to see what was going on with Title. Plan followed shortly.

They found Title, his fists raised, getting ready to hit the young man who stood looking at him defiantly, ready to defend himself.

"What's going on here, Title?" Gun demanded to know.

"He is insisting that I bring out Cooheart to him," Title explained, lowering his arms upon seeing Gun and the others. "He is accusing me of hiding Cooheart from him."

"I have reason to believe that he is hiding Cooheart because he claims to be Cooheart's boyfriend," Santa addressed Gun.

"Who is claiming to be my boyfriend?" Cooheart suddenly appeared. He stepped into the living room from the hallway leading to the bathroom.

Title turned red in the face.

"Where have you been, Cooheart?" Title asked.

"I just came from the shower," Cooheart replied. "Can't you see my hair is still... Pongsapak, you sonofabitch!"

Title rushed towards Cooheart to prevent him from running into Santa's arms.

"Wait, wait, wait... " Title pleaded with Cooheart. "Can I have a brief conversation with you in our room?"

"You share a room with him, Cooheart?" the agitation in Santa's voice was very much apparent.

"Yes we do," Title quickly said. "What is it to you?"

"Don't misunderstand," Cooheart said just as quickly. "There are two other guys who share the room with us."

Before Cooheart could say another word, Title dragged him inside the room.

Santa looked down at the floor looking plain miserable.

"Are you Cooheart's friend?" Gun asked.

"He's obviously more than that," Mean muttered from behind. "Oww!" he complained when he felt Plan pinching his arm.

"I thought I was more than just a friend to him," there was a catch in Santa's voice. "We spent a lot of time hugging and kissing during our dates and then he suddenly disappeared without letting me know where he had gone off to. It took me a long while to trace him to this place."

"Did he declare anything official to you?" Gun asked.

"No, but he was very loving towards me," Santa replied.

Plan threw him a look of pity before shaking his head and going back inside the room. He placed a hand gently to the dressing on the side of his forehead. He grimaced. His head was starting to throb painfully. He badly needed for someone to kiss it better.

Meanwhile back in the living room, Gun sized up Santa and wondered what Cooheart was doing with this boy.

"If you don't mind my asking, how old are you?" Gun asked.

"I'm seventeen," Santa replied, fixing Gun a defiant stare as if ready to defend his and Cooheart's relationship.  (A/N: in actuality, Cooheart has been accused by netizens of being a pedophile but his fans have come to his rescue, saying that in Thailand, seventeen is past the age of consent, so he is not doing anything wrong by being friends with Santa and being seen with him in public.)

Gun could not help shaking his head. No wonder Santa was making all the wrong conclusions. He was too young to see things in proper perspective.

Inside the room where Title had taken Cooheart, Title stood and placed his arms across his chest and looked grimly at Cooheart.

"Maybe it's time for me to ask you this question," Title declared.

Cooheart just stood silently facing Title and waited for Title to continue speaking.

Title heaved a sigh before saying, "Should I just forget how I feel about you because there's absolutely no hope for me ever getting you to love me back?"

Cooheart looked down at the floor.

"Answer me, Cooheart! There's a young man out there in the living room who has chased after you all the way from the city to take you back there with him because he is claiming to be your boyfriend!"

"He is not my boyfriend," Cooheart declared firmly.

"Then who is your boyfriend? Kao? His brother Neo?" Title was feeling angrier by the minute.

Cooheart sighed. "Title, listen carefully. I. DO. NOT. HAVE. A. BOYFRIEND."

"Does this mean, I have a fighting chance ... "

Cooheart did not wait for Title to finish his question. He pushed him out of the way and made his way back to the living room.

When he got to the living room, he found Gun already showing Santa to the door.

"Wait!" Cooheart cried out.

Santa stopped and turned around.

"I'm going back with you to the city," Cooheart declared firmly.

"Are you serious?" Gun asked.

He had no time to wait for Cooheart's answer because Saint at that moment had come out from the other room and was rushing to the kitchen, saying to Gun "I'm going to get a glass of cold water for Mark. He's saying that he feels thirsty."

"I'll get the water and bring it to him," Gun said.

"Alright," said Saint and walked back inside the room where Perth was sitting on the bed where Mark was lying, still looking very weak.

After less than a minute, Gun walked in with a tall glass of cold water.

"I will take over, you guys may leave the room now," Gun said to Perth and Saint.

"But this is the room that Saint and I share with Mark," Perth protested, not wanting to get up from the bed.

"Please," Gun pleaded to Perth.

Saint pulled at Perth's arm and dragged him from the room.

Mark opened his eyes when he felt Gun lifting his neck to help him drink the water from the glass.

Mark drank the water gratefully. He finished up all the contents of the glass.

"Thank you," said Mark. "You're very kind."

"I wasn't just being kind," Gun said, his cheeks starting to turn pink.

"What do you mean?" Mark wanted to know, but when Gun kept quiet Mark said, "It's okay, you don't have to answer my question."