Roundabout Way to You

8. Puppy

"P' Sa" Mihit shook Sarth trying to walk him up. He was looking around warily at the unfamiliar atmosphere. "P' Sa, get up! " He shook Sarth harder.

" Let me sleep" Sarth squatted Mihit's hand away and pulled the blanket over his head to fall asleep again.

"P' Sa..." Mihit called again.

"Go away" Sarth whined sleepily.

Mihit was so fed up. He had been trying to wake Sarth up for more than half an hour but the latter was showing no results. The massive hangover wasn't helping him either.

He decided to get up on his own. Throwing his side of the duvet over Sarth, he got out of bed.

After washing his face, Mihit opened the bedroom door and walked out. The layout of the house was very similar to his but he was a hundred percent sure that this wasn't his apartment.

Just as he was looking around he felt something really soft on his legs. He looked down and saw that it was a ragdoll kitten. Being someone who loved animals, he picked it up happily.

The kitten purred as he scratched its chin, clearly showing how much it was enjoying it.

"She seems to like you" 

Mihit was shocked by the voice. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a guy looking at him.

"She is usually very distinct to strangers" The guy said with a smile watching the kitten nuzzled in Mihit's arms. 

Mihit stared at the stranger in front of him. He was so sure that he had seen this person somewhere but couldn't remember where.

"You might not recognize me but you will recognize this" The guy pressed a button on his remote-controlled wheelchair to move it forward, revealing the plastered leg.

"Oh! It's you" Mihit said recognizing the guy as the one he helped the previous day.

"Yup. My name is Ayut." 

"I'm Mihit."

"Nice to meet you, Mihit." Ayut smiled widely. "By the way, what is your door number? Our neighbor told ne that you live in this floor but he too didn't know which apartment was yours."

"one eight six"

"Oh? You live across the hall? This is one eight three."

Mihit chuckled awkwardly "What a coincidence."

"Yeah" Ayut mirrored him. "You passed out in the elevator yesterday. You were totally wasted yesterday"

Mihit cursed Bern in his mind for having mixed his drinks with higher concentrated alcohol.

"Did the other guy in the room wake up?" Ayut asked pouring a glass of water for Mihit.

"No"

Ayut hummed "Come take a seat."

Mihit nodded and obediently took a seat on the couch.

"Here" Ayut handed the glass of water to Mihit, dropping a dissolving tablet into it. "This will help you with the hangover."

Mihit thanked him and took the glass. He waited for the tablet to completely dissolve in the water.

Ayut whistled softly. A Pomeranian dog ran over, hearing the whistle. "Comet, can you help Mama wake the guest in that room?" He asked the little dog, pointing at the door from which Mihit walked out.

Woof! The puppy barked in reply, running into the room.

Mihit who was lost in the cute interaction between the puppy and its master, realized what was going on. Just as he was about to stop them, he noticed that Ayut was giggling and mouthing the words one two three, before covering his ears.

AHHHHHHHHHHH

A horrifying scream was heard inside the room and Ayut burst into laugh.

"P' Yut, what happened? Why did you scream?" Anwit rushed over from the kitchen wearing the cute Panda apron. 

Before he could ask anything else, someone jumped on his back just like last night.

Ayut laughed his heart out at the sight.

Sarth was terrified after having woken up by a puppy licking his face. He rushed out of the room trying to get away from the puppy.

He finally realized who the owner of the puppy was "You damn bitch, how could let this thing wake me up?"

"Au? Is this the way you greet you best friend you are meeting after so many years? It's sad." Ayut acted as if he was hurt.

"Best friend my ass! Call that thing back." Sarth had his limps wrapped around Anwit as he pointed at the puppy.

"Don't call my baby, thing na" Ayut picked up the puppy. "He just wanted to greet his uncle Sarth. Isn't it, baby?" He asked the puppy. 

Woof. The puppy barked, enthusiastically waving its tiny tail at its master.

"My baby Comet is such a good boy." Ayut cooed at the puppy, giving him a good head scratch.

"If you want to make me an uncle then give birth to some human kids. I don't want these dogs to be my nieces and nephews" Sarth retorted.

"His name is Comet" Ayut reminded.

"Whatever its name is. I am not its nephew" Sarth said stubbornly.

"Au, Sa, don't be so stubborn na. You saved him back then. He is practically yours."

Sarth looked at the teacup Pomeranian for a few good seconds and realized that it was the same puppy he had saved back in high school. Then he frowned "That's not right. The puppy I saved was a girl, not a boy."

Ayut laughed again "Yeah. I was kidding. This is her child. That makes you, his grandpa."

"Ai satt, stop joking around and take him away" Sarth commanded seeing his friend still in a mood to mess around.

Ayut scoffed and put the puppy down. "Comet go back to your room."

The puppy obediently went to his room.

Sarth looked warily at the direction in which the puppy left.

"Khun can you please get off now?" Anwit asked.

That was when Sarth realized that he had jumped onto Anwit. "I am sorry." He quickly got off him.

"How do you two know each other?" Mihit was lost. He had known almost all of Sarth's friends but didn't recognize Ayut.

"I and Sarth went to the same high school. We lost touch after we joined university." Ayut answered.

"Hit, this is Yut. I have told you about him. Don't you remember?" Sarth was a year older than Ayut but he had to repeat a year in school as he had an accident and couldn't attend school for a year.

He and Ayut ended up in the same class and quickly became good friends. But being from a rich family, the latter had never met the rest of his friends.

Mihit nodded, remembering it.

"And Yut, this is Mihit. My neighbor Nong" 

"Oh? The basketball guy?" Ayut still remembered how much Sarth adored the kid next door as if he was his own little brother.

"Yeah. You remember the basketball part." Sarth chuckled. He had often mentioned Mihit and him playing basketball in weekends to Ayut.

"This is my Nong, Anwit" Ayut introduced his little brother to the other two. 

Anwit waied at them and vice versa. Ayut had already told him that Sarth was his friend from school to him the previous night.

"He found you in the parking lot yesterday, running from a puppy." Ayut added. "That poor puppy was having separation anxiety and it felt safer with you that's why it was chasing you."

Sarth gave his friend a middle finger and decided on ignoring him. 

Anw