~BE BY YOUR SIDE~

Chapter-2

Prem took him to a nearby café. The whole way to the café Boun only thought about Samantha and Bosston. Prem was also quite. Well he was always really quite. They entered the café. The café was really pretty inside. It was small but it had a cozy feeling to it. Boun followed Prem inside the café. There he saw his two old friends sitting and making out. He smiled. "Ok enough making out guys." Prem said as he went to sit between them. "Come on. Don't get too jealous." Said Ohm. "Jealous who is jealous" Prem said. Boun stood there and smiled at his old friends. He felt like he was home. Like nothing tragic happened. Like they were still a couple teenagers who were messing around. "Hey guys" Boun said awkwardly. Both Ohm and Fluke looked at him like they saw a ghost. Boun was just smiling. They didn't say anything just stared at him. Suddenly Prem started laughing. Soon all of them joined in. Boun didn't know when the last time he laughed like that was.

After they all gained their breath Fluke asked "Where the hell have you been all this years." "It's nice to see you to Fluke but when did this happen?" Boun asked pointing between Ohm and Fluke. "During the 3 years you weren't here." Ohm replied. "But seriously where were you Boun?" Prem asked. Prem seemed genuinely curious. He always was this curious. And Boun missed this curious boy so much.

"I moved here for collage." Boun replied to Prem's question. "But why without saying anything?" Prem said almost looking hurt. "To be honest after Bosston's death every time I saw you guys it reminded me of him and that he couldn't be here with us. So I thought it would be better if I just left." Boun said." But what about us? Didn't you once think what would we feel? What would I feel?" Prem said. Boun could see tears were threatening to come out of Prem's eyes. They were all silent for a second.

"What happened in the past cannot be changed. What matters is the present." Fluke said breaking the silence. "Yeah Fluke is right I am sorry na hia" Prem said as he wiped the tears and gave Boun a smile. Boun couldn't believe what Prem just called him. Prem called him hia "No I am sorry, Pao" Boun said. "You still remember it" Prem asked his hia. "You do too." Boun replied.

"Anyways I feel sorry for Samantha" Fluke said out of the blue. "She was an amazing person." Fluke continued. "She was. She didn't deserve this" Boun said. 'Even if she killed Bosston she didn't deserve this. That was an accident.' Boun thought.

"I just wish she kept in contact with us. Maybe we could save her." Prem said. This made Boun confused. "Wait she wasn't in touch with you guys?" Boun asked. "No. After you left she also left without telling us. We didn't know she was here." Fluke replied.

Again questions were going around inside Boun's head why would Samantha leave? Was it because of guilt? Or was it something completely unknown? Boun's head was spinning. He was overwhelmed with the situation he was in. He felt like throwing up. He wanted to go home.

"Guys I think I am gonna call it a night. Gotta go home." Boun said. "Yeah we should too. Can I have your phone number?" Ohm asked. "Yeah sure here you go" Boun said giving his phone number to Ohm. "Prem, will you walk with me?" Boun asked. "Sure we'll see you guys later bye" Prem replied.

Even though he wanted to be alone he needed Prem. Prem was the person he went to when he needed advice, when he needed comfort. In the past when Boun was under a lot pressure he went to Prem. They had a spot in the middle of a forest. They would go there Boun would lay on Prem's lap and Prem would ruffle his hair. They would talk until midnight. Sometimes they even fell asleep there too.

[Outside the café]

After getting outside they started walking. "So how have you been?" Boun asked. "I have been good. I dropped out after high school. Now I am doing an online course on editing. What about you?" Prem replied. "Oh I am still in collage." Boun said.

They were walking in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence. It was a comfortable silence. Boun felt like all his stress was gone. Prem had that effect on him. "Boun can I ask you something?" Prem asked. "Sure what is it?" Boun replied. "Is there anything about Bosston's murder that you know but we don't?" Prem asked.

Boun flinched by the question. He wanted to tell Prem so bad that Samantha was the killer of Bosston. But he couldn't he promised Samantha he wouldn't. And he didn't want Prem to think bad about Samantha. "No Prem I only know what you know" Boun answered trying to stay as calm as possible. Prem knew him since childhood. He could easily tell when he is lying. So he tried to do his best acting. "Okay. I believe you." Prem said. He felt both relieved and guilty. Relived because Prem couldn't catch his lie and Guilty because he was lying to Prem.

Suddenly [Prem's Phone started ringing. "It's Ohm." Prem stated. He put his phone on speaker. "Hey, what's up?" Prem asked Ohm. "Prem are you still with Boun?" Ohm asked in reply. "Yes why?" Prem asked. "The police are looking into Bosston's murder case again. And they think Yatch was not the killer."

End of Chapter 2

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