Hidden Within 🤍 Bright/Win

Chapter 1 ~ selection day ~

Paitoon received his letter of notification at the beginning of April and he had no choice but to turn up on selection day. He had been so busy making BL drama's consecutively and appearing on all manner of tv and music shows that this was the last thing he needed but he knew it was inevitable.

Since turning 18 his agent had managed to get him out of completing his national service but this year as he turned 21 there was no way out of it. The alternative was a prison sentence which would ruin his career not to mention he didn't want to go to jail.

He could risk it and maybe get away with a fine but it was a risk he couldn't afford take, the only thing that would get him out of it was a black card exempting him from duty but that was highly unlikely considering all the fitness training he did and his strict diet so he just had to suck it up and put his life in hold at least for the next two years or however long the military wanted him.

His agent had tried to plead with the relevant departments on his behalf but they just would not give him a break. He had two ongoing contracts with the cosmetics company B.U.tifull and the fashion house Willow Couture and the contracts were set in stone.

To break them would financially break him so his agent had no choice but to confirm that he would complete any modelling gigs in his spare time be it daytime or through the night if they needed a night time shoot consequently giving him no spare time but at least he was lucky that they had agreed to work with him on his hours.

Meanwhile in an office on a military base on the outskirts of the city, Phichit (Chit) Thanonariwit was looking over the list of possible cadets for this year and his eyes fell on the profile picture of someone called Paitoon Pinamakhorn.

The file said he was a celebrity, a BL actor, TV personality, singer and model, shiyaa, what the hell were they thinking sending this one to me he thought to himself as he looked at the picture of the 21 year old.

The guy looked slim and pretty like a girl, no way was he going to be able to handle basic training and the last thing Chit needed was babysitting some fragile, bunny faced beauty who would probably cry for his mummy if he screamed in his face, what a nuisance he was going to be.

He found himself gazing at the profile picture again noticing how pale and clear the kids skin was, he really was a beauty Chit thought to himself before snorting and slipping the paperwork beneath all the others. With a bit of luck the kid would get a black card, he didn't look as if he could make it over an extreme assault course.

Chit leaned back in his chair and raked his fingers through his mid brown wavy hair, how he hated April. Why did he have to train a bunch of rookies every year, it was only for three months but still. 

There were so many other thing's he could be doing but it wasn't what you knew, it was who you knew and he didn't know anybody of any importance. At least he had his best friends Phong and Suttinut, they would be able to let off steam together in the evenings and on weekends unless they were doing overnight wilderness training.

***

It was two weeks later Paitoon stood on the parade ground with the other candidates, an arms length between them all front and side. They were all dressed formally in white shirts and black ties awaiting their fates and there was a separate area for family members.

His agent had tried to keep the news quiet but somehow his fans had found out about him being called up to serve and there was a modest gathering waving flags, there was also a small television crew filming the entire procedure.

After all the names had been called out including his, he pasted a saccharine smile on his face for his fans and the tv crew before turning away to speak to his agent. He had no family present and no one to wish him well, he had been alone since he was 5 when his alcoholic father had passed away after choking on his own vomit following a particularly heavy night of drinking.