Reading Between (the line)

Scene 17

A/n: So sorry for posting so late. Work has been a lot this week TT

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I slowly opened my eyes when I felt a light tap on my arm, waking me up.

It seemed like I had dozed off after closing my eyes for a while. I just wanted to avoid the sunlight that made my head ache more, but instead, I was taken to dreamland. I looked outside the car and saw that we were parked on the side of the road.

"Are you feeling okay?"

I heard a soft voice from my left. I turned to see Noon's worried expression as she awaited my response. I nodded subtly. "Why are we stopped here? Did your car break down?" I asked, avoiding her gaze.

"No," she answered briefly. "Here." Then she handed me a small paper bag. "I bought you some medicine for your headache. You were wincing in pain while napping."

I was hesitant to take the bag, so she took out the pill herself and handed it to me along with a bottle of water. I had no choice but to take the pill from her palm and drink it. When I was done, she took the bottle from me and exchanged it for a convenience-store sandwich.

"Eat that," she said, pointing to the sandwich. "You just took a pill, so you should have some food. It's a chicken sandwich, your favorite. It might not be as good as the one from the ****café, but it's decent."

Surprised that she knew my favorite sandwich and the place I usually bought it from, I ended up staring at her blankly. When she noticed me not moving, she spoke again, "Just take a few bites, Praewa. Please."

It was the first time she'd ever said "please" to me. And maybe because of that, I slowly unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she replied, smiling.

"How long was I napping?" I asked after swallowing my first bite.

Noon looked at her wristwatch before answering, "About two and a half hours."

My eyes widened, and I almost choked. "What?!" I put down the sandwich quickly and took out my phone. It was fifteen minutes to ten. I had really been napping for more than two hours! "You should have woken me up! Didn't we have a schedule today at nine? We already missed it!"

Frantically, I began dialing Ms. Pram's number. I wanted to ask her what happened at the interview. However, Noon took my phone away and hung up the call. "Relax, Praewa. I already called Ms. Pram earlier. We're good."

"No, we're not! It was for an interview, P'Noon!" I argued, grabbing my phone back, but she just transferred it to her other hand, making it harder for me to reach.

"So what?" she retorted. "You're suffering from a severe headache. What if you collapsed while doing it?"

"I can manage," I stubbornly replied, stopping my effort to get my phone back. Moving around made me dizzy.

She sighed. "Look, Praewa. I'm sorry if I decided on my own about this. But I am not comfortable with the idea of you answering and smiling in front of the camera when you wince in pain with just a slight movement of the car. So no. We already did quite a lot of interviews anyway. It won't hurt to miss one."

Annoyed, I wanted to glare at her, but my head was already spinning, forcing me to lean on the seat and close my eyes. I massaged my temple.

"A-are you okay?" I heard her worriedly asked. When I didn't answer, she cursed silently. "Damn it! See? Even with just small movements— ha!" She stopped midsentence and just sighed. Meanwhile, I continued to massage my head.

I heard the sound of her unbuckling her seatbelt, and I felt her presence near me, speaking close to my ear. "I'm inclining the chair back," she informed me.

I froze as the car seat slowly inclined lower, and I slowly lay down with it. But that wasn't the reason I stayed still and dared not open my eyes even a bit. It was because I could feel Noon's subtle breathing on my neck as she leaned closer.

When she finally moved away, I opened my eyes. I saw her buckling herself back in and adjusting the rearview mirror. When she moved to turn around, I quickly closed my eyes firmly, pretending they had always been closed.

"I'm bringing you back home," she announced, not asking for permission but rather just informing me. I knew I couldn't stop her, so I stayed silent. Not long after, her car made a U-turn and headed back to my house.

---

It was already night when I woke up again. I sat on my bed and scanned my room. "How did I get here?" I uttered. The last thing I remembered was being inside Noon's car while she drove me back home. Did I doze off again?

While trying to find the answer to my question, I heard knocks on my door. "Come in," I told to the person behind the door. It must be my brother.

The door opened, and I saw Pammu's head peek in. Behind her were Bua, Som, Anda, Lookkaew, and Pin, all entering my room simultaneously. I was surprised to see them here.

"How are you feeling?" Pammu asked as she sat next to me.

I smiled at her. "Better. How are you all here?" I asked, looking at everyone. My bedroom wasn't huge, so they were kind of filling it perfectly.

Anda answered my question with just one name, "Noon."

Shaking her head at Anda's short reply, Lookkaew elaborated, "What P'Anda meant is that Noon messaged in the chat group. She said that your parents are out of town and that your brother can't tend to you because of his exams. So, she asked everyone who was free to come and nurse you while she's out."

"Wait. She was here?" I asked, surprised. I thought she had just sent me home and then left.

"Yeah. The whole day. She just has a schedule tonight, so she left. But she said she'll come back straight here once she's done," Pin answered.

Wait. What now? The whole day?