Koon Chai Cafe

Chapter Thirty-Four - The Question

Kopter

"Five more minutes." 

"Kopter, I really have to go. Mum and Dad are gonna be here any minute and I've barely even started!" 

"Hmmm, three minutes then." 

Park sighed disapprovingly, but didn't resist when I pulled him in closer to my chest. I breathed in deeply, inhaling the scent of his lavender scented shampoo from the mop of silky black hair beneath my nose. Park's thumb beat a slow, rhythmic pattern along my hands which were interlocked tightly around his waist. 

I want to be like this forever. Us laying on my bed in a mess of white bed-sheets with late afternoon sunlight streaming through the window. Park's head tucked just under my chin and his limbs messily intertwined with mine. I never want him to leave. 

"You know I can't stay forever," he murmured into my t-shirt, as he effortlessly read my thoughts. "I have a home to get back to, Kopter. I've already stayed an extra three weeks, the longer we put this off the harder it'll be." 

I held onto him even tighter in response, daring him to try escape but with a small squeeze of his hands on mine, I released him, finally admitting that our time was up. 

There was a rustle of bedsheets as Park clambered out of the four poster bed and I edged myself across to the very end of it to sit and watch him work. 

One of my large black suitcases lay open on the floor and Park began chucking his belongings in any order into the depths of the bag. 

I looked at the mess of clothes, books and toiletries strewn across the bottom of the bag. "I see packing isn't really your thing..." 

Park shot a glance at the suitcase as he picked up some textbooks from off of the desk. "Eh, it's fine, right?" 

"Have you ever packed in your life?" 

"Of course I have!" Park cried indignantly. "What, do you think I got my Mom to pack my bags whenever we went on holiday?" 

He wasn't very convincing. 

I tutted loudly, doing a very good impression of my own mother. "And yet you have the audacity to call me a Mommas boy." 

Park grinned sheepishly as I reached out a hand for the pile of t-shirts in his arms. "Give that here." 

After forty minutes of folding, dusting and rearranging, I placed the final immaculately ironed pair of boxer shorts on the uniformly packed suitcase and zipped the bag shut. We stood in silence and stared at the suitcase, both knowing what was coming next but neither of us wanting to be the first to say it. 

Park turned and our eyes met. He silently walked over and wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace. There were a thousand words conveyed in that hug, but none of them needed to be spoken aloud. Gratitude, apologies, grief, love, they were all there. 

"I'm going to miss waking up next to you." I said simply. There were so many more things I was going to desperately long for once he was gone, but I trusted that Park knew already. Reminding him would only be painful for us both. 

Nok's voice echoed around the now seemingly empty room from down the hall. "Boys, they're here!" 

We broke apart, but as I moved back to let him leave, Park let his hands rest on either side of my shoulders and gripped them gently. He lent in and kissed me softly as his hands took in fistfuls of the fabric from my shirt. I placed my hands around his waist and pulled him in closer so that his body was pressed up against mine and kissed him back with more urgency. Every nerve in my body was electrified in a way only Park could cause.