From Something To Everything (Bounprem)

113. Cry

"Cry, Hia. Cry as much as you want. You don't have to hold back today. Let it all out." Prem's voice cracked, yet he was trying his best to keep his emotions in check. His hands around Boun's waist became tighter as he pulled the older closer to his chest.

Prem's gentle voice and the warm cuddle successfully broke through Boun's last line of defence. He started bawling his eyes, letting out all the emotions he had been holding back all these years. His fear, his helplessness, his frustration, his anger, his sadness, his aggression, his apprehension, his anxiety his contempt towards himself, his despair, his disappointment, his guilt, his grief, his hurt, his insecurity, his paranoid feelings, his vulnerabilities.

Boun let all the emotions that he didn't dare show anyone come out of himself, as he clenched tightly onto Prem's t-shirt. Those negative emotions flooded out like a broken dam.

Through the years, he had been hiding it well within his smiling mask and playfulness. He never let anybody know of the existence of these emotions that suffocate emotions that reduced his self-esteem, self-confidence, and overall happiness with life. These negative emotions hindered him from behaving and thinking rationally and having the proper perspective when a situation occurs most of the time. This had in turn led him to only view things how he wanted to see and remember them... lengthening the process of grief and anger he was experiencing. And the longer he held on to these negative emotions, the worse the problem became.

Despite knowing everything, he never opened up to anyone, and never asked for anyone's help, making the people around him believe that he was strong and could go through all these all by himself. He successfully fooled everyone, including his best friend, Ohm that his bad experiences weren't able to bring him down, even when he was being eaten by his emotions.

Overwhelming emotions rushed into Prem's heart as he held Boun's trembling body against his. He knew that there was nothing he could do to change what happened in the past or wipe off Boun's memories of the things he had to go through as a teenager. All he could do was stay be Boun and be his pillar of support so that no storm can topple the latter over.

A long time had passed and Boun's cries finally died down and became tiny sobs and sniffles. Prem gently stroked his back, as a form of assuring him that it was all over and he was going to be alright.

Having cried for a long time, Boun felt tired. His eyes were swollen to the extent that he couldn't keep them open anymore. He felt cosy being held in Prem's arms. He snuggled in closer, inhaling the soft fruit smell the younger one was emitting to help calm his nerves that were on overdrive.

Soon, Boun drifted into a deep sleep. All the crying had exhausted him both emotionally and physically.

Prem kissed the top of Boun's head as the latter's breathing became more even, indicating that he was asleep. He slowly pulled out his hand that was under Boun's head, shifting the older into a more comfortable position to sleep.

He arranged the pillows and duvet, tucking the sleeping Boun properly. He massaged his aching arms that Boun had been using as a pillow for the last few hours.
He stared at the tear-stained face feeling a little guilty. He wondered if he did the right thing by letting Boun speak about his past, after all, it had opened up his old scars, making them raw again.
It was not like he had no idea of all those things. He knew. He knew every single detail of the incident. Even better than Boun who was drugged and was not completely conscious during that time. He had read it all in Fluke's reports.

He had felt the pain and angst while reading it. But when he finally heard it from Boun, he the pain felt deeper. It felt like someone was slicing his heart. The pain felt unbearable for a bystander like him, imagine how it would have been for a victim like Boun to endure all of it in silence.

He was somehow happy that he had asked Fluke to find everything beforehand or else if he had directly heard all these from Boun, he might have flipped. He might not have been able to keep his emotions in check and may have even ended up hurting Boun's feelings in the process.

Prem took his time to calm down. He knew he had to stay strong to handle Boun who was emotionally fragile. He had been doing his own research on handling depressed people after Fluke had expressed his doubts that Boun was one. He had gone through videos trying to find methods to console Boun when he breaks down. His efforts paid off today.

He grabbed some tissues and gently wiped the tears and snort off Boun's face, trying his maximum not to wake the older in the process.

Once he was done, he adjusted the room temperature and left the room. He went downstairs.

Prem sighed audibly putting his hands on his hips as he saw the condition of the living room- it was a mess. Broken furniture, shattered glasses, vases, overturned tables.

He scratched the back of his head in frustration. If there was one thing he hated doing, that was cleaning. But today he had to. He couldn't make up his mind to ask Boun to clean it with him, not after the emotional roller coaster the older had to go through a while ago. Having no options left, he started cleaning.

Prem remembered reading the part of the report that said what happened after the incident. He was sure that Boun was unaware of most parts of it.

After Ohm rescued Boun, Boun had to stay in the hospital for over a month to recover as he was not only drugged but had also become malnourished and anaemic. In the meantime, Ohm had handled the culprits including Colt and the four people. He took them to court and was sent to jail.

Alan however remained unscathed as Ohm couldn't get any evidence to prove the elder's involvement in the whole case. Not to mention that Saen was protecting his eldest son so fiercely that hindered Ohm's investigations.

Prem felt that Ohm had gone too easy on those people. He literally wanted to destroy anyone and everyone who made Boun's life miserable.

He wondered if it was because Fluke knew that Prem would react this way that he hid the details of the four people from the latter and had only provided full information on Colt.

Colt didn't get much of a punishment as he was still a teenager and was sent to juvenile camp. He was sentenced to eight years of prison.

The fact that Colt was finishing his sentence in a month was eating Prem from the inside.