Hidden Agenda (English)

Chapter 9

Pruksa sat beside the stone table in front of the faculty and observed Jiranai's luxury car pulling into the parking lot of the IR department. A sense of unease had begun to settle; his close friend Sitang had been absent from the faculty for a week due to a report. Now, he saw Sitang walking beside the car's owner, engaging in a conversation that seemed to isolate the two of them from the rest of the world.

"Do you think your friend is done with Joke?" Pruksa inquired of Alongkot, who sat at the same table, his attention focused on the approaching pair.

"If they're really done, I'll get Joke to make a salad next...."

The tall, dark-skinned young man clenched his teeth and cast a sidelong glance at his friend beside him.

"Your turn will come, my friend."

Pruksa was about to voice her complaint, but before she could speak, Sitang and Jiranai approached their table. Noticing Pruksa's puzzled expression, Sitang asked, "What's wrong, Pat?"

"He's afraid of the nail sticking out from his shoe's sole." Alongkot's reply, which had been accompanied by a stunned expression, suddenly shifted as he turned his head and let out an exclamation.

"You still want to kick me with your shoe soles?"

"I intend to crush it, not just kick it." The more these two bantered, the less Sitang understood. He turned to Jiranai, seemingly about to ask for clarification, but Jiranai merely shrugged and interrupted the conversation.

"The bell is ringing, time for class. Make sure not to doze off during that lecture."

"How can I fall asleep when you've been insisting I get eight hours of sleep every day?" Sitang retorted. During the time he had been away from school working on the report. Jiranai had consistently found reasons to visit his room. Sometimes he brought food, other times he checked on his well-being. He'd even persuaded him to sleep early and take showers.

If Jiranai deemed him well enough, he allowed him to continue working on his report; otherwise, the interference continued.

"Children need to sleep twelve hours a day," the tall figure said with a smile as he walked over to a nearby building block. Once he had moved far enough away and only the three close friends from the Department of International Relations remained, Alongkot turned to the person who had been absent for a few days and asked, "Is the project done?"

"There are only a few more places to check. Um... maybe it needs some tweaking because I don't think it's quite right yet."

"Then let's go relieve some stress tonight; I'll bring my younger brothers." Friends from the football club had invited Pruksa and Sitang to unwind.

Usually, the older brothers arranged gatherings for all those with the same code to eat together. Naturally, these meetings had to be sizeable so that the juniors couldn't easily decline. Yet, this arrangement was primarily aimed at Zo and Alongkot's first-year brother with the same code as "Mee."

Pruksa exploded. She grabbed a dried leaf from the table and flung it at the person who was speaking.

"Damn Kot! Are you trying to stir up something?!"

"I'm not looking to start trouble. I just want to invite him so my brother can have friends too," Alongkot replied, his expression seemingly innocent, although someone like Pruksa understood the underlying implications all too well.

...Between Mee and Joke, Kot considered N'Mee to be a million times better. In fact, in any comparison involving Joke, damn it, Kot would find the other party superior in every aspect.