What I Failed to Do

Chapter 3

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Chimon's POV

"This is a much better idea than going to a restaurant for dinner," I said to Perth as I settled with Saint onto Perth's spacious luxurious sofa.

I was about to grab the TV remote when Saint suddenly stood up from the sofa and walked over to the kitchen where Perth was bent over by his fridge taking out assorted ingredients that he could find.

"Can I help you prepare dinner?" I heard Saint ask. "After all I'm gonna be eating with you."

Not wanting to be left out, I stood up from the sofa and rushed over to the kitchen.

"Yeah," I agreed with Saint. "Since we will be eating dinner with you, Saint and I should at least help you prepare it."

"If you insist," Perth said with a smile.

"Here," said Perth handing me a whole head of garlic and a whole red onion. "Why don't you mince these for me. The chopping board is inside the top drawer by the sink. You can use any of those kitchen knives sticking out of the knife block."

Then Perth turned to Saint.

"While I peel the shrimps, why don't you take out a bunch of celery from the vegetable crisper and chop them up finely," said Perth. "There's another chopping board in the same drawer where Chimon took the one that he's using right now."

Saint did what he was instructed to do.

Not very long after, I could no longer see. My vision got all blurry as my tears fell faster than I could wipe them away.

When Perth saw what was happening to me, he rushed up to me and held me tight in his arms.

"It's alright, it's okay," he whispered in my ear. "I would never replace you with anyone else."

I pushed him hard making him almost lose his balance.

 Never replace me, my foot. My replacement was already right here in the kitchen with him and me.

Saint turned away from what he was doing and stared curiously at Perth and me.

"Don't mind him," I said, rubbing my eyes with my shirt sleeve. "He likes to clown around with me. He knew that I was tearing up because of these goddamned onions but he pretended to think that I was crying because I caught him cheating on me."

Saint laugh out loud.

"Are you sure it's not for real?" he teased. "For all I know you are indeed a couple."

"I wish," I blurted.

Perth's eyes widened as he stared at me.

I was so shocked at myself. I wanted the kitchen floor to open up and swallow me.

To Perth's eternal credit, he turned back to his task of peeling the shrimps and did not say a single word about what he had heard.

Tonight when I go home I need to take time before I sleep to look hard into my inner self and try to discover just what is going on with me.

Had those months of working very closely with Perth done something to my feelings? Had I unconsciously developed some feelings for him? Was that the reason why I turned down my boyfriend Pluem's invitation to have dinner with him in order to have dinner with Perth instead, even if it meant being with Saint as well?

Suddenly my tears started to fall again. And this time I knew that it was not caused by the red onion that I was cutting and mincing.

I tried to wipe away my tears as surreptitiously as I could and hoped desperately that Perth would not notice.

I kept chopping blindly and fiercely away until I felt someone's arm gently pull me away from the chopping board.

"Excuse us for a minute," I heard Perth say to Saint.

I allowed Perth to lead me away from the kitchen and into his bedroom.

He closed the door and then gently placed both hands on either side of my face.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked with concern

I stared at him not knowing what to say.