Hidden Within 🤍 Bright/Win

Chapter 3 ~ stubborn ~

Chit sat in his air conditioned office overlooking the track, it was well after lunch and Cadet Pinamakhorn was still completing his laps, he would probably be at it until dinner if Chit didn't step in.

The track was just over 2.41 km and one lap took between 10 to 15 minutes on average to complete, the cadet had been running for about four hours so Chit figured he was almost halfway there, it was time to put an end to this. Grabbing his stuff he made his way down the stairs and left the Officers building before heading over to the track.

Chit waited until the cadet was approaching before he walked onto the track and stopped directly in front of him causing him to stop moving forward but he continued to jog on the spot.

"at ease Cadet" Chit said.

"I can't Officer, I don't want to lose my momentum" he replied.

"you can stop now, you have done enough" Chit ordered.

"will I have to get my hair cut if I stop" Paitoon asked.

"I wish I could say no but it would still have to be cleared by my superiors" Chit replied.

"then I must continue Officer, I literally can not afford to get my hair cut" Paitoon said.

"even if you complete all fifty laps it will still have to be cleared by my superiors Paitoon" Chit said using the Cadet's first name.

"then I guess I'll get punished again Officer, am I excused sir" Paitoon said.

"yes"

Paitoon jogged around Chit and began running laps again as Chits friends Phong and Suttinut walked up to him.

"what's going on Chit?" Phong asked and Chit explained the situation to them before starting to unbutton his shirt.

"we don't have anything pressing this afternoon do we?" he asked his friends.

"no, don't tell me you're going to ..." Suttinut asked.

Chit stripped down to his white vest before grabbing a bottle of water from Phong's hands and handing him his shirt.

"bring some more bottles of water will you bro' and leave them over there on the benches, maybe some snacks too"

"you got it, fuckin' crazy bastard" he said.

"yeah well ..." Chit said as Paitoon began to approach again.

"don't forget the water" he added before jogging across to join Paitoon as he ran,

"here, drink this" Chit said passing the bottle of water over to the Cadet.

"I'm ok sir" Paitoon replied.

"I SAID FUCKING DRINK IT!" Chit shouted and Paitoon opened the cap to drink some of the water.

"why are you doing this sir" he asked.

"I need some exercise, you got a problem with that Cadet?" Chit said.

"no sir" Paitoon replied as the pair continued to jog around the track in silence.

Chit had to admit he was impressed with Paitoon's stamina, he had expected him to cave long before now but he just kept going, lap after lap after lap. Chit glanced over at his face and he looked as if he was in a trance oblivious to everything and everyone around them because by mid afternoon they had acquired a small audience.

Paitoon was used to getting up early and going to the studio to work on dance routines all day until he got it right. Sometimes he would dance until late at night especially if there was a difficult move he just couldn't master. The choreographer would push him hard and he used a trick where he would just shut out everyone and everything around him and focus on the music and the moves.