Departure

Part 2

It would be a shame to have sad Pat without an equally devastated Pran. 

(If you need some music to listen to while reading this, I recommend Back To You by Nont Tanont)

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Pran looked up from where he was sitting on a bench hunched over in the garden to see Pa walking towards him and calling his name. He doesn't even know how he got here, but here he was staring out into nothing trying to make sense of what happened.

He had Pat in his arms again and every nerve in his body cried out in relief. How was he able to survive a year without touching Pat? Then this stupid phone of his interrupted them. He had developed a habit of bringing his work phone with him everywhere just in case there was an emergency or someone needed a quick response. For tonight's dinner, he was determined to leave it at home, but in his rush to make it on time he grabbed his work phone instead of his personal one. He even called Ink to tell her that he was on his way with said phone. Why didn't he notice that he picked up the wrong one?

He looked down at the phone on the bench next to him hating himself for being so careless. In the time it took him to look down and back up, Pat's mood had changed. Before Pat seemed like he was opening back up to Pran, if not to accept his sudden confession, at least hear him out. Pran was confused, why was Pat distancing himself again? That's when he realized what he did, he hesitated. He tried to tell Pat he wasn't going to answer it, that he hesitated because he was surprised that he had this phone with him. But he refused to listen and left Pran standing alone.

"Did you talk to him?" Pa's voice once again pulled him out of his thoughts.

Why is she blurry? Am I crying? Based on the sad look on Pa's face, Pran guessed he was.

"I tried to." He mumbled through the tears.

"What do you mean? You didn't tell him?"

Pran wanted to reach out and run after him, but his fear got the best of him, what if Pat pushed him away again?

"I almost picked up my phone." He admitted.

Pa stayed silent, allowing Pran to say whatever else he needed to say.

"I was ready to tell him everything and then my phone rang. I tried explaining to him that it didn't matter, but Pat cut me off and moved away from me." Pran bit at his bottom lip to stop the sob that slipped out. "His face. Pa, he looked so hurt. Like he was expecting this to happen. I think I hurt him again. "

Pran looked down at the watch he was wearing and gently caressed the links. He slipped the watch off and thumbed at the engraving on the back. 'My forever and always.' When Pat proposed with this watch instead of a ring, Pran laughed then he cried and laughed some more. This was typical Pat, refusing to succumb to the norm and doing things his way. (Pran didn't admit it often, but he loved that about Pat.) He had treasured the watch, not wanting to wear it often out of fear of possibly damaging or losing it.

"You know, someone once asked me how it was being with Pat. I answered them honestly saying 'we're both tall guys, he's even taller than me, yet he insists on being treated like he's five foot and dainty'. Then they asked me 'so how do you deal with it?'. Do you know what I said?"

"I have an idea, but what did you say?" Pa said softly.

"I told them I treat Pat like he's five foot and dainty. What can I say? Pat's cute when he's clingy. How could I say no to him?"

He couldn't tear his eyes away from the watch.

"When did I lose sight of that?" he whispered to himself.