Roundabout Way to You

21. Deal

"Are you mad at me, phi?" Anwit asked. He never meant any harm to Sarth or hurt him. He just talked to Sarth just the way he spoke to Ayut. But he failed to realize that the person in front of him wasn't his elder brother who liked to pamper him, but a stranger—a stranger whom he had only met a handful of times.

For some reason, he felt a dull ache in his heart seeing the gloomy air around Sarth. "Phi, I was just joking. I~"

Before he could say anything else, Sarth turned around and hugged him tightly.

"Phi?" He was somewhat puzzled by the older's action but didn't push him away.

It reminded him of the time when Ayut broke up with his long-term boyfriend. Back then, Anwit was just a teenager who had yet to hit puberty. He didn't understand why his brother was so sad over a breakup. He never understood how relationships worked nor the pain and heartache it brought along with it.

Anwit was pretty sure that Sarth was going through the same phase that Ayut had gone through back then. He hugged Sarth back without another word.

Sarth buried his face in the crook of Anwit's neck. His body seemed to be losing strength. He felt like a total struck-up loser.

He had sworn that he would never shed a single drop of his tears for a woman like her, but it was hard. So hard that he found being alive suffocating.

Anwit was supporting Sarth's whole weight. Seeing that the latter was showing no sign of letting go of him, he slightly pushed him to straighten him up.

He cupped Sarth's cheek with one hand and made the older look at him. "You are going to be fine." His thumb rubbed against Sarth's cheeks as he spoke in a gentle reassuring voice.

This was something Ayut did to him when he was down. It would somehow always give him some confidence in himself. That was why he imitated his brother's actions and consoled Sarth.

Sarth gave him a thin sad smile. He didn't want to look weak in front of Anwit.

"How about we order chicken nuggets for dinner? I am really craving them na," Anwit said with an excited expression on his face. He badly wanted to disperse the cloudy atmosphere around him.

Sarth burst out laughing the next second and hugged Anwit again, tighter this time.

"Why are you laughing, phi?" Anwit asked innocently. 

"You are really cute," Sarth pinched Anwit's chubby cheeks.

Anwit squatted Sarth's hands away from his cheeks. "You are not allowed to pinch my cheeks." That was a right reserved for his mom, dad, and his phi.

"Alright," Sarth raised his hands in surrender.

"Now, tell me what you want to order. I am getting a spicy chicken burger and chicken nuggets for myself tonight. What do you want?" Anwit asked pulling out his phone.

Sarth said his order and Anwit proceeded to place the order on the food delivery app.

Sarth watched Anwit busing himself on the phone. He didn't know how Anwit did it, but his mood had suddenly improved a lot.

"I have placed the order. It would take about half an hour to get delivered. I am going to take a shower by then." Anwit said, slipping his phone into his pocket.

"Go ahead," Sarth nodded.

Anwit mentally praised himself for successfully changing the topic. He didn't want to stay there for another second and ran to his room.

Sarth watched Anwit leave with a smile. He headed to the bedroom that was given to him. He was relieved and happy that Anwit didn't kick up a fuss after knowing that he had lied to his parents.

He had spent the whole trying to come up with different ideas to coax Anwit so that he wouldn't have to ruin the newly formed fragile bond between the two of them.

He took a quick shower and changed into a pair of homey clothes. When he got out of the room the kittens were there to greet him.  It was super cozy to have so many kittens around him.

Anwit's kitten, Maru was especially fond of him and loved sleeping on his lap. 

Ding dong.

Sarth heard the doorbell ring. "Ni Maru wait for a second na. Let me get the delivery." He said to the cat as he set it down on the couch.

He answered the door. It was indeed the delivery man standing at the door with the food.

"Enjoy your meal, Khrab." The delivery man said as he handed the food packages to Sarth

"Thank you, Khrab. Be safe on the road," Sarth replied, closing the door.

He was just taking the food boxes out of the paper bag and placing them on the dining table when he heard Anwit ask "Is the food here already."

"Yeah," the next thing he saw was Anwit getting himself seated on the dining table and opening the box of nuggets.

Anwit took a bite of the nugget and let out a moan of satisfaction. "This is so damn delicious." He commented.

Sarth chuckled. He noticed the droplets of water on Anwit's hair. It was sure that the younger guy had just gotten out of the shower. "Why didn't you dry your hair?"

"I am hungry, phi. Also, the food would get cold by the time I am done drying my hair." Anwit pouted. His hair was thick and long. It would take him a while if he had to blow dry them.

"Give me that towel. I will dry your hair. Or else you will catch a cold." Sarth said, picking up the towel that was hanging around and started drying his hair

Anwit let him do as he wanted and continued enjoying his food. Usually, Ayut would be the one doing this for him. He didn't mind Sarth doing it for him in his brother's absence.

"Here, you should try it too," Anwit picked up a nugget and offered it to Sarth. The latter just leaned forward and opened his mouth as his hands were occupied by the towel. Anwit ended up feeding the nugget to Sarth. "How is it? Yummy, right?"

"Yes. Really yummy," Sarth answered as he chewed the food that he was fed with. 

The process was repeated a few more times. Neither of them noticed how domesticated they were being with each other.

"That's enough, phi. My hair will dry on its own. Come and eat," Anwit requested.

"I will go hang the towel and come back," Sarth excused himself.

Anwit unwrapped his burger but didn't eat. He was waiting for Sarth to come back.

When Sarth came back, he took a seat opposite Anwit. He had ordered a simple Onion burger and some French fries for himself. He dug in without delay. He was hungry as well.

"P' Sarth," Anwit called out, making Sarth look up. "Let's make a deal."

"Deal?" Sarth paused. "What deal?"

"I will be your boyfriend," Anwit smiled as Sarth choked on his food.