Vintage Diaries.

12. Collision

"Din, are you alright?" Kiryu asked with a worried look on his face.

"Yeah, what can possibly happen to me?" Din answered without looking at him.

Kiryu sighed glancing at the table next to theirs. It was the table shared by Noah and Ped.

The kid they had caught imitating the Principal backstage turned out to be Ped's distant cousin. That would mean that the Principal was his aunt in some way.

Kiryu had been observing the interaction between Noah and Ped for the past few days. It was very odd to see someone like Ped who kept to himself interacting so freely with Noah. 

The fact that Ped had started having lunch at school, which he used to skip every day, after Noah's arrival, was enough to show how much the shorter guy meant to Ped.

Kiryu could feel that this new change was starting to affect Din. This realization made him a bit hostile to Noah.

"Din, Achaan Suphong is looking for you" A student informed.

"Yu, I am going to meet Achaan Chunam. You can head out for lunch na. This might take a while," Din said apologetically. 

He knew that Kiryu had a practice session for the upcoming interschool spelling bee competition during the latter half of the lunch break. If the latter had to wait for him, he might not be able to have lunch before going to the practice.

Kiryu nodded.

Din headed to the teacher's office. He knocked on the door.

A faint 'come in' was heard and he entered the office.

"Saran, you are here," the teacher smiled at him.

Achaan Chunam was the art teacher at the school. He was particularly fond of Din due to his talent for drawing.

"What happened Khrab?" Din asked politely.

"The National Art competition results are out. Your painting won first place again." Chunam beamed. "The school wants to exhibit your painting in the central hall so that every student can see it."

"Khrab" Din didn't look that enthusiastic about the news. He was more worried that his father would be upset if he found out.

"Child, I think you should seriously reconsider changing to Arts stream. It is a waste of your talent to continue studying in science stream." Chunam said in a serious tone. "I have seen your grade card. You are not doing very well in the science and math subjects."

Din clenched the hem of his school jacket. He knew that his grades were bad.

"You are doing well in the language subjects but for all four of the main subjects, you are struggling. If you continue like this it might not be easy for you to get admitted to a good university. You should know that the competition for the university seats are very high."

"Khrab, I know."

"Saran, I am not doing this to reamend you or anything. I just think that you will be able to show your full potential if you switch to the arts stream. I have your middle school grades as well. You have scored well in arts stream subjects."

"Achaan Khrab, I want to continue in science stream," Din said firmly.

"May I ask why? Is it because of your Por? If it is, I can talk to him for you" Chunam suggested.

"No Khrab. It is my decision," Din denied. His father had never asked him to take science stream. He had volunteered for it himself.

Chunam sighed as he stared at his stubborn student. "Saran, I know that a lot of people think that taking science stream could give you more career prospects than arts. But I have to tell you the arts stream can open a variety of career options as well."

Din bit his lips, not saying a word.

"Alright, I won't force you. You can let me know if you change your mind."

"Khrab"

"You can go now." Chunam dismissed him.

Din waied at the teacher and walked out of the staff room. He was so lost in thinking about that he collided with someone who was running over. He lost balance and fell backward.

THUD

His back hit the wall heavily and he fell to the floor.

The person he collided into halted and turned around.

"I am so sorry. Are you okay?" Ped asked the boy who was on the floor.

Din looked up in surprise. He wasn't expecting to collide with his crush. "I- I am okay." He blushed as he tried to stand up.

A trickling pain shot down his spine and he winced a bit.

"You don't look okay to me. Come, I will take you to the infirmary." Ped helped him up.

Din felt like his heart was going to explode from pounding so hard. This was his first time being so close to Ped. He had always stayed at a distance and watched the guy. He had never expected the day he would be held by his crush would come.

Ped took him to the infirmary. He helped Din sit on the infirmary bed. 

 "I think Achaan Palawi has gone to have lunch." He said as he looked around. The doctor in charge of the infirmary was missing. "Can you let me take a look at your back to see if its wounded?"

Din blinked, feeling completely flustered.

"Don't worry. I know how to treat such wounds," Ped explained hurriedly. He felt something funny at the pit of his stomach as he saw the clear pair of eyes that reminded him of kittens, staring at him.

Din lowered his gaze. He slowly took off his unform jacket and life the shirt beneath it, displaying his back.

"This looks more serious than I expected" Ped commented staring at the huge purplish bruise on Din back. "Let me see if they have some ointment that we could use on this."

He went on to rampage through the shelves of medicine and found an ointment. "I think this would work." He walked back to Din. "This might hurt a bit but hold it."

He unscrewed the ointment and squeeze some into his index finger and gently started applying it on the bruise.

Din hissed as the medicine touched the bruise. It was not just because of the pain but also because of the feeling of Ped's cold fingers on his skin.

"Is it really painful?" Ped asked, making his actions even gentler.

"N- No, it's manageable." Din muttered a reply with great difficulty.

Ped blow air to the area he was applying the ointment to.

Din stiffened as the air his skin. It wasn't doing him any good. The touches were enough stimulation for him and now this... he could feel his junior starting to wake up inside his boxers.

"All done!" Ped announced after what seemed as and eternity to Din. "The bruise is really big. You should rest here."

"K- Khrab" Din answered softly, as he used his both hands to cover the growing tent on his trousers. It would be embarrassing if Ped saw it.

"I will go get some ice from the canteen. Applying ice will help reduce the swelling." Ped said, gaining a soft nod from Din. He rushed off to the canteen.

Din only relaxed after Ped was out of his sight. He looked down at his junior who was ready for action. "Damn it." He cursed.