From Something To Everything (Bounprem)

36. Revelation

Boun opened the door and entered his apartment. It was a tiring day for him.

His trip to Shanghai was postponed for a few more days and hence he had a free schedule, which happened to be the last thing he wanted at that point. Having free time only meant that he had time to think about Prem and regret the stupid move he made a few weeks ago.

He ended up spending his day off at Ohm’s place. His favourite cousin, Dream was also there to accompany him much to his delight.

He was planning on having a sleepover at Ohm's place but the two siblings were unavailable. But thanks to the visit he got a whole load of new information that he was still processing. And the information was that his eldest cousin, his role model, Kao was also into men like him.

Boun was actually confused if he should be excited or get mad at revelation. Not just about Kao’s sexuality but also about Kao’s first love. He had been closer to Kao than Dream. Yet such a huge piece of information, he had to get it from her? This didn’t sit well with him.

Even though Dream had only learned about it by eavesdropping on her mother’s and aunt’s conversation, Boun was mad that Kao had hidden something this big from him and Ohm, who regarded themselves as Kao’s left and right-hand men.

Fuming to himself, Boun slumped on his bed, turning on the television to watch some random show. As the show played in the background, Boun was lost in his own thoughts.

Earlier when he was at Ohm’s place, Dream had told them about Kao’s first love. A twenty-six-year-old guy falling for a high schooler who was almost ten years younger than him, knocking out his ex-girlfriend and ending up marrying her for the sake of the baby, didn’t seem to be something that Kao he know would do. But unfortunately, that was what had happened.

His cousin had gotten his ex-girlfriend pregnant while he was dating a guy who happened to be his first love.  This sounded like a whole lot of drama to him.

Kao had always been the silent type. Not Ohm silent type. But introverted silent type. He was active around people he was comfortable with and completely quiet with strangers.

Boun was still in high school when Kao had gotten married. Then he got to know that Kao’s bride was a few months pregnant, which was huge news for him as he had never expected his cousin to be so bold.

He was familiar with Shelly who had been Kao’s girlfriend for almost a year before the two broke up. Boun was pretty satisfied with her that they had broken up as he never had a good impression of Shelly.

Later when Shelly ended up marrying Kao and officially became his eldest cousin-in-law, he had no choice but to accept it. Things were rough between Kao and Shelly post-marriage. But the couple did give birth to a cute little nephew for him. The marriage ended up in a divorce even before they could celebrate their first anniversary.

Boun had always thought that Kao’s lack of affection towards his son, Art was because of his issues with Shelly. Boun had always resented Kao for this matter. As someone who grew up without receiving any affection from his parents, he felt bad for Art whose mother had abandoned him and left to marry another guy and his father who buried himself in work.

Boun was really fond of Art, even more than his own nieces Lyra and Leah. Maybe the fondness came from his closeness to Kao. Still, he loved the kid. When Art was still a baby, Boun had spent most of his time off his university to play with the kid, showering him with love and attention. He was more of a father to Art than Kao, despite being a completely awkward one at handling a baby. 

Boun had often tried to convince Kao into spending more time with Art but had always failed miserably. Little did he know that all his cousin’s behaviour was due to his broken heart.

Back to Kao’s love story. Boun learned that Kao had fallen in love with their grandparents’ best friend’s grandson when he visited their hometown in Chiang Mai. They had dated for a while but ended up breaking up after Shelly was found pregnant. Boun couldn’t blame Kao’s boyfriend for breaking up with him in that situation, after all the other party was still just a high school student then. He wouldn't have been able to handle the pressure Kao's parents would give him if he didn't.

He did remember Kao smiling happily from the bottom of his heart, from the photographs of his elder brother, Alan’s wedding (Boun only saw the photographs because he was already kicked out of the family before the wedding happened and was not welcome to attend any related functions). If the timeline was right, that must have been the time he was dating the little guy.

Boun couldn’t deny that that was the only time he had seen his eldest cousin being so happy and carefree as if all the weights on his shoulders were lifted. Boun badly wanted to find his cousin’s ex-boyfriend to help them patch up their relationship. He wanted Kao to be happy again. But he had too little information on him. He didn’t even know the little guy’s name much less his contact information.

He knew deep inside his mind that him being eager to help Kao was only an excuse to visit Chiang Mai, to find Prem. He could get Prem’s address in Chiang Mai from Prem’s profile in N&P, but he didn’t dare to. With what face would he show up in front of Prem after the stupidity he had committed.

Boun slightly regretted not agreeing with his parents when they asked him to stay in Chiang Mai along with his grandparents when he was young like Kao did. If he had, maybe he would have met Prem sooner or maybe he would have had the courage to actually pursue Prem without hesitation. He sighed at the thought. There was no use regretting the choices he made.

Prem. Prem. Prem. That was all he could think of nowadays. Most nights he would have wet dreams and wake up with morning wood like a teenager hitting puberty.

He had gathered courage and tried to reach out to Prem. When he called Prem, it said that the number was unavailable. When he texted Prem, the text was not being sent. When he went to Prem’s condo, there were new residents living there. All in all, he was unable to contact Prem. He was sure that the younger had blocked him.

Boun started thinking about how better his situation was compared to Kao’s. A sadist mentality. Yet, it gave him relief.