2gether AU: Be You, be Mine

Chapter 5: This Too, Shall Pass. Su Su!

TW // CW: Cheating, implications of intended self-harm. 

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FLASHBACK - 3 years ago

Tine held the box of freshly baked bunny-shaped cookies in his palms as he walked happily down the corridor. He had spent his free time watching countless YouTube tutorial videos, learning how to bake butter cookies from scratch. To make his surprise more personal, he even bought the bunny-designed cookie cutters online. It was these little details that made Tine's gift so special. His pace stopped abruptly as he approached the study room at the corner of the library. He frowned when he didn't see the person he wanted to see the most. Instead, he saw a boy with thick eyebrows sitting in the room. Tine recognised the boy. It was Mil from the faculty's soccer team.

Before Tine could turn his heels around and leave the place, someone emerged from the bottom of the table. Tine's eyes widened in shock. Only then, did he realise Mil's shirt was crumpled, his hair was also moist and dishevelled, his cheeks tinted in red and his lips swollen. They were all the telltale signs of something. Tine wouldn't misrecognise the figure which is currently back-facing him. It was the same person who just confessed his feelings to Tine a few days back. He was buckling his belt up as he kissed Mil softly. That very same person who confessed to him was cheating on him in just a few days' time. Or, was he actually the affair? Tine dropped the meticulously wrapped box onto the carpeted ground and left silently. If this was the relationship that he was getting himself into, he would rather weep for the love that died before it started growing. Tine missed Mil's intent stare and pretentious smirk from the place he was sitting at. It was a staged scene, and he needed Tine to be his audience. In fact, only Tine needed to watch this.

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Tine ran in the rain until his lungs were burning, until his legs were numb. He didn't know where he was running to. He just needed to run away from the suffocating reality. He ran across the hustle streets of Bangkok, cars honking, bikes gushing past him. He didn't care, he had lost part of himself this afternoon, buried in the faculty's library with the person whom he loved. As for now, he didn't even know if that was love. It was probably his one-man show all along. Tine bumped into somebody, he apologised bewilderedly before he continue fleeing. He breathed in until his lungs hurt a little, then he exhaled, and he repeated that breathing cycle again. He was exhausted, crying while sprinting in the rain was taking a toll on his body.

It was well past daylight when he leaned against the metal railings of the deserted bus stop. The rain was too heavy for people to bus home. If he was lucky, one of the bus drivers might pick him up. Otherwise, he would have to find his own way back to his place. Tine panted heavily in the rain, his uniform was soaked in stormwaters, the white fabric was clinging tightly on his torso. His appearance was the last thing in his mind, he wanted to go home, take a long, hot shower and curl up in his single bed, falling asleep while listening to Scrubb's albums. His mind ran past what happened this afternoon and he started crying soundlessly in the rain. No one would hear his scream as the deafening thunder struck again. Tine lifted his hands, trying to wipe his tears away instinctively, only to realise that his hot tears were mixed with the icy cold rainwaters. It didn't matter anymore.

The grey clouds thickened and soon, it was becoming too dangerous for Tine to stay at the bus stop alone. He was cold and hungry, and the worst thing was he didn't have his phone and wallet with him. Tine shivered as the wind cut through his shirt, his teeth clashed against one another as his body tried its best to keep itself warm. Before Tine lost all his hopes, a ray of blinding light shot directly into his sight. At that split second, Tine thought the sun rose again. The car approached the bus stop and pulled over, the driver alighted from his car, offering Tine an umbrella as he ushered Tine into his car. Tine couldn't stop crying when he slammed the door shut, the man was playing a Scrubb's song on his stereo.