Marriage Contract

[4]

Light from the morning sun trickled through the tiny slits of the blinds
covering the bedroom's French windows. The bright specs shone as they lit up the floorboards.

Due to his inner biological clock, Arthit had already woken up long ago,
yet he remained reclined on the bed, maintaining the same position. All this
was because on this particular morning he awoke to discover the one who
tried to avoid him, as well as keep a distance between them, was now deeply
asleep on the pit of his stomach.

Unlike their first two interactions, which consisted mostly of polite alienation, after falling asleep kongpob seemed to appear unimaginably more gentle. In that room, his features became indescribably soft. The corners of his mouth rose ever so slightly, as he dreamt of something quite amusing, he even acted like a spoiled kid, nuzzling against him a few times.

Arthit was quite surprised by this, looking at him with interest as he
awaited the sort of expression the other would have because of their
unexpected positioning.

Ten minutes later, kongpob woke up. Arthit's sudden return had made
his nerves a little tense, causing him to not fall asleep until it was past
midnight.

Last night, he had a dream. He dreamt about his childhood, about his old
house and his huge dog, Fiat, playing in an open field. At that time, he was just eight years old so when Fiat stood up, it was almost as tall as him.

Back then when he played with Fiat, it would often use its head to gently brush against him, coaxing him. He in turn, would chase Fiat around the field until his Grandpa came calling for him to return home for his meal.

Now, that dream of his younger years faded into the distance, Grandpa had
become old and grey, and Fiat who had been at his side as he grew up, had also passed away.

Stretching out his arms then rubbing his eyes, kongpob squinted as he stared towards the blinds where the bright light shone through wearing a
bewildered expression.

Having just woken up he was a bit confused, though it was not uncommon
for him to be in a daze for a few seconds before he became completely alert.

After his spirit returned he was left stunned speechless-at the sight of
Arthit's hanging head staring down at him and that he was actually laying on the other's stomach.

Each of their gazes met the other's. Soon, kongpob felt embarrassed and
was at a lost as to how exactly this situation came to be. For Arthit, when he saw kongpob rubbing his eyes he knew at once the younger man had woken up. Having waited expectantly to observe his reaction, he found that kongpob wore a blank expression as he looked
ahead, face displaying no emotion whatsoever at their current positions and neither did he utter a word.

Arthit also noticed that kongpob who
began to get off the bed, unexpectedly, stayed..kong staring at him blankly was awfully cute, Arthit thought to
himself.

"I'm sorry." Kongpob quickly got off his body. He did not know for how long
Arthit had been awake, or if he had been sleeping like that since last night wouldn't the other be quite tired having spent all that time holding such a posture.

While apologising, he couldn't help but wonder about his dream where he
was clearly hugging Fiat, and how exactly he ended up on top of
Arthit, embracing him...Not only that, but also about how that man's bad temperament wouldn't be as good as his dog's.

With his newfound freedom, Arthit massaged his stiffened shoulder. In
order to allow that just awakened one sleep comfortably, he had kept his arm
quite still. What he did not expect was kongpob to be, well, okay. Instead, he
predicted that other would arise to treat him as a 'great scourge' before
hastily retreating like always. Tch, he hasn't run away yet, huh?