Before He Met Bright Vachirawit (Prequel to Bright for the Win)

Chapter 5

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

Third Person POV

When Pluem defeated Win for a third time, he stopped looking at the screen and gave Win a pensive look.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, he spoke up.

"Wanna talk about it? I'm a good listener, I promise."

"There's nothing to talk about," Win lied. Win had stopped counting how many lies he had made for the day.

He got a bit startled when Pluem took hold of his hand. Pluem had never done that to Win before. But of course Win considered it stupid to even give it any significance.

"Listen, Win," Pluem said, looking Win squarely in the eye. "You have never lost to me in a game before. Never. When you lost for the first time earlier, I told myself it was just a fluke. I was willing to believe that I had gotten a bit better at the game. But losing to me for a third time... c'mon. Win, I can tell there's something on your mind that's important enough to take away your concentration on the game."

Win badly wanted to confide in Pluem but he was not sure how Pluem would react to the news that Win might have fallen hard for another guy, someone who soon was getting engaged to be married, to complicate matters for Win.

"I swear, there's nothing going on, Pluem," even to Win's ears his voice sounded unconvincing.

After a moment's silence, Pluem said,  "Fine, I won't push you to confide in me since it looks like you're not ready to open up to me. Let me tell you, though, I'm very good at keeping secrets."

"That's not my issue, Pluem," Win blurted out. Shit, now Pluem knew for sure that there was something on Win's mind.

"What's your issue then?" Pluem forgot his promise to not push Win to confide in him if he wasn't ready.

Win restlessly ran his fingers through his hair and then covered his face.

Pluem waited patiently for his friend to start talking.

"My neighbor ... " Win started to say, and then thought the better of it.

"Damn it, Win," Pluem lost his patience. "Who is this neighbor of yours that's making you lose your concentration on your games?"

"You don't know him, Pluem."

"Him??? Did you just say 'him'?"

"If it bothers you that I'm losing my mind over a man, then there's nothing for us to talk about," Win said, standing from the couch.

Pluem grabbed Win's wrist when Win was about to walk away.

Before Win could take any step away from the couch, Pluem quickly stood up as well, and then keeping his hold on Win's wrist used his other hand to grab Win's neck.

Before shock could even set into Win's brain, he felt Pluem's lips on his.

Win was too shocked to react. The kiss might have gone on much longer if Win's phone had not started to ring.

The ringtone that Win had assigned to Sapol jolted Win back to his senses. He used all his strength to push Pluem away from him.

"Are you not going to take the call?" Pluem asked when Win just let his phone keep on ringing without answering it.

Win did not answer but just looked grimly ahead into space.

After some time, Pluem connected the dots.

"So that's the neighbor that you're losing your shit over," Pluem said bitterly. "What's his name, Win? Give me a name."

"It's pointless to give you a name, Pluem. You've never met him before. He is much older than both of us. He is about to graduate from university whereas we are just about to graduate from high school. Our age gap is hopelessly wide."

"Then why are you even involved with him?" Pluem asked, not bothering to hide the frustration from his voice.

"Things just happened," Win finally confided in Pluem.

"How deeply involved are you?" Pluem asked.

When Win did not answer, Pluem continued. "More importantly, the question I should be asking is, 'are you in love with him'?"

"I'm not sure," Win confessed. "All I know is that when I found out that his parents are planning to invite a female family friend to his graduation party, I felt devastated at the thought that this friend could possibly be someone that his parents want him to eventually marry."

Pluem was deep in thought, allowing his brain to process what Win had just told him.

After some time, Pluem said, "I suggest that before you get involved much deeper with him, just stop seeing him. Cut all ties with him."

"Maybe that's what I should do," Win conceded as he walked Pluem to the gate.

"Don't be wishy washy about it," Pluem scolded Win. "Cut loose now. Throw him to the curb."

"I'll see you at school tomorrow," Win said when they reached the gate.

Pluem leaned towards Win and gave him a hug.

"Win!"

Pluem and Win gasped in unison and broke apart at the sound of Sapol's voice.