Lil' Prince

Chapter 3

Kongpob: 16 Arthit: 8

3rd Person's POV
"Arthit, where are you?" Arthit held his breath when he heard his brother yelling from outside. He was currently hiding in the closet, playing hide-and-seek with Prem.

"Arthit?" Prem called out again, looking around the empty room, even under the bed, and then proceeded to stump loudly out of the room before returning to Arthit's room with soft and careful steps.

Listening to the loud thumps, Arthit burst out laughing in his closet, thinking that he'd successfully fooled his brother. The soft giggles alerted Prem as he approached the closet as quietly as he could and when he was about to open the door of the closet, it suddenly swung open and Arthit jumped out of it just to be scared out of his life to see his brother in his room.

"P"Prem!" He took a step back, almost stumbling back into his closet.

"You little shit, you thought I'd already left, right?" Prem snickered, catching Arthit in his arms as he tickled the little kid who was giggling so hard that he was heaving slightly.

"P'Prem!" He yelped and struggled to get out of Prem's hold while still laughing, "Stop!"

Noticing his heavy breaths, Prem stopped and watched as the kid panted.

"You okay?" Prem asked worriedly and Arthit nodded.

Knock. Knock.

The two turned to the door when they heard the faint knocks.

"Prem?" The door opened and a head popped in, peeping inside.

"Kongpob? What's up?" Prem was surprised to see Kongpob as they didn't have a meeting today for their work.

"P'Kongpob." Arthit greeted the elder with a small smile and Kongpob entered the room, patting his head.

"Hey, kiddo." Arthit could feel the gentle caresses on his hair and looked up just to see a hint of sorrow flashing in his eyes.

"P'Kongpob, are you okay?" Arthit asked and could feel the hand on his hair freeze before Kongpob retreated his hand.

"Arthit, why don't you go finish up your homework first? I'll call you for dinner in an hour, okay?" Prem said as he ushered Arthit to his desk and helped him take out his books, placing them in front of him. He then pulled Kongpob out of the room and went downstairs out of his house, to the garden.

"Something wrong?" Prem sat on the ground and was followed by Kongpob.

"Not really?" Kongpob's voice was raspy as he looked down at the grass.

"Then, why the dull mood of yours?" Prem scooted closer to Kongpob and took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, handing one to the latter as he helped him light it.

"Just some random stuff going about." Kongpob inhaled deeply and puffed out the smoke, trying to ease his frustration and despair.

"Okay then." Prem decided not to push Kongpob further as they settled in comfortable silence for a moment before Kongpob decided to speak up again.

"I'm not going back today." Kongpob said, breaking the silence.

"You can stay in my room or the guest room." Prem replied, looking at Kongpob, finally realizing what was up with the latter.

"I'll just stay in the guest room, thanks though."

"No problem. Just... If anything happened again, remember to come to me, okay? We're friends." Prem took a deep breath and his brows creased when he thought about why Kongpob was in a foul mood today.