Self Rival • Completed

xxvii. the storm pt.2

Kongpob buried his nails in his palms when he saw the state he put Arthit in. Seeing Arthit desperate, frustrated, and somber made Kongpob hate himself more than he ever did. 

Arthit was very distracted and focused on his goal to look for Kong because Kongpob's been following him since he left the office yet never did he realize that the person he was looking for was watching his pathetic attempt to look for him. 

Kongpob only wanted to see how Kong's disappearance affected Arthit. He did expect that Arthit would be hurt, but he never expected to see Arthit like this– lost and desperate. An hour of following Arthit, Kongpob almost broke his own plan and called Mr. Khan for Kong's clothes. He couldn't bear to see Arthit like this. 

But he held himself. Everything would be nonsense if he stopped it now. And like he said, Arthit's going to feel this pain in the future anyway, why not do it now?

Kongpob waited until Arthit left his apartment building with a downcast posture, but Kongpob's eyes widened when Arthit started walking away from the supposed way to his house. 

Then, Arthit stopped all of a sudden. Kongpob saw Arthit with his head bowed down and his shoulders trembling, obvious signs of crying. From his position, Kongpob could see that Arthit was murmuring to himself. 

He didn't need to move further to know it was because Arthit screamed, "Kong!" He sounded very broken and resigned. 

Kongpob sighed to himself and just let himself walk towards Arthit. "Arthit..."

Arthit looked up at him, hopeful for a second, but when he only saw him, "K," Arthit sobbed. "Kong left. He disappeared. I don't know where he is anymore..."

Seeing Arthit crying from afar hurt him, but this, it's the worst. Seeing Arthit from this distance made Kongpob almost break down as well, but the only thing Kongpob could do was wrap Arthit in his arms.

Arthit let him, but he didn't hug Kongpob back. "What will I do, K? How do I find Kong again? I want to see him even for the last time. I want to see Kong..."

Kongpob hugged Arthit tighter, dropping a soft kiss on his temple. If Arthit were in his right mind, he would've pushed Kongpob the moment Arthit felt his lips on him but Arthit was too broken to do that. "I'm here Arthit... I'm here for you."

Arthit cried harder. Kongpob winced, that hurt him. As if the thought of being with Kongpob made everything worse for Arthit. 

"Kong was just with me last night. We were okay. We were happy, but he left and," Arthit took a shaky breath. "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to find him K."

"Don't worry, I'll help you. I'm here. I'll aways be here for you." Kongpob knew what he was telling Arthit were unpromised offers of help, they both knew Kongpob wouldn't give Arthit the help he needed. 

"We were okay, Kong and I... I thought we were on our way to be together. He was dropping hints but then this... I don't know what I did. I don't know what happened to him, but I must have scared him away. I must have pushed too far. I shouldn't have done it. I should've been more careful with Kong."

"You don't need-" 

Arthit shook his head. "All I wanted was to be happy with Kong. It's probably weird, but I wanted Kong to be the one for me. I could see myself with him until the end, but now he's gone, and I don't know how to look for him..."

"It's going to be okay, Arthit. We're going to be okay."

Kongpob smiled a little when Arthit slowly wrapped his arms around Kongpob as well, but his next words not only crushed Kongpob's heart, it pulverized him. "I only want Kong beside me. Kong's the only one I love."