Once Again

21.

Prapai shifted his gaze from the keyboard to the screen of the laptop he had on his lap.

He didn't sit on his work desk today like he usually did while working, instead he was sprawled comfortably on his bed with laptop on his lap and several pillows placed comfortably around him.

There were pillows especially under his injured arm that made him comfortable as well as managed the blood flow properly.

After leaving Sky's home yesterday, he did nothing the whole evening but just scrolled his phone. Today, he decided to do some work, but from home only.

He didn't push it through, instead he kept taking breaks since the bed wasn't far anyway.

Currently, he was reviewing the work of one of his juniors. He pushed his safety glasses slightly up when he looked up at the sound of his phone coming from some distance.

His phone was in his office. Unlike Sky who had a work desk in his bedroom itself, Prapai actually had a whole room designated for it.

He ignored the call at first but as the faint ringtone rang again, he decided to move.

There were two missed calls from Sky. His brows furrowed as he tried to call him back, but no one picked up.

"He just called a minute ago, why ain't he picking up now." He said to himself.

Prapai saw the clock placed on his desk. It was late already.

When Prapai opened his phone once again, he saw the text left by Sky. It was a live location.

Threads of worry began to weave in his mind as he replied.

Prapai: 👋 Hey. What's this?

Prapai: Is anything wrong??? Do you want me to come at this location?

Prapai waited for at least a few minutes but after not getting a reply even until then, he finally decided.

Prapai: Fuck it! I am coming. Stay there.

Prapai took his wallet and keys. The place wasn't far so walking there was sensible. It was probably the location of a park. Prapai knew that place, it was simply a children's park but his brain couldn't process why Sky was there.

As he approached the place, he paced up, almost running through the gate of the park.

His eyes roamed around as he stood inside the park. They ended their search on capturing the sight of that one person they needed.

Sky sat on a swing that was way too small for him. His tongue was wrapped around the icecream in one hand, while the other held the swing's chain.

Prapai stopped in his tracks, huffing while standing at some distance. After catching his breath, he moved towards him. The approaching footsteps made Sky look up at him.

"You seem completely oblivious of how worried I was for you, sitting here and licking that icecream."

Sky showed him his biggest smile, with all teeth shining white.

"I have brought one for you too." He said and quickly rummaged through the little polythene bag he had.

Sky's mouth gaped as his own icecream fell onto his feet in the process of getting one for Prapai. His eyes fluttered as he watched the leftover icecream dripping from the stick that was the only thing left with him now.

Prapai witnessed, the colourful icecream splattering over his feet and the ground. He saw as Sky's face crumpled and within seconds tears started welling up in the beautiful brown eyes.

Prapai rushed the short distance distance as he saw a single tear rolling down Sky's cheek.

"Hey its fine, we still have this one. I didn't want to eat one anyway." Prapai took the other icecream packet from his hand and offered it to him in an attempt to calm him down.

As soon as the packet left Sky's hand, he placed them over his face, hiding his tears from the person in front of him.

Confusion etched on Prapai's face, he didn't really expected Sky to cry on such a small thing, maybe there was something else. And Prapai wanted to uncover that reason.

The swing moved and made a sound as Prapai squatted down in front of Sky, taking support of the chains of the swing.

He tried to get a glance of Sky's face. The environment was silent. Even the huge trees standing tall in the park stopped moving as if they also wanted to comfort him. His cries had faded into silent sobs accompanied by some sniffles.

Prapai kept his gaze fixated over him until he finally felt that he had calmed down.

A hand was pressed against his shoulder while he sobbed. The hand constantly kept rubbing around his shoulder providing him a soothing touch.

Sky's sniffles gradually faded and he took a deep shuddering breath as his eyes dried up.

Strong arms were wrapped around him at that moment and he didn't hesitated to lean into the touch.

Prapai was standing now, his arms surrounded Sky and Sky's head was pressed against his stomach.

"Everything is just going so wrong, Pai."

Sky's voice was so soft and low that Prapai wouldn't even have heard it if he wasn't still hugging him.

"Sometimes things just go so wrong that we think everything is bad, we still have another icecream over here and I suppose this is not just about ice cream so whatever else is wrong, we will make it correct together."

Prapai's words were music to Sky's ears. They gave him the assurance he needed the most at this time. Sky lifted his head from Prapai's abdomen and Prapai also moved back and sat down on the swing next to him, giving him some space.

Sky finally let go of the chains that he had clenched so hard that his knuckles had turned white. Prapai took his hand into his, his thumb gently brushing across his knuckles that had turned pink now.

Sky's face was flushed with a rosy tint around his cheeks that were still stained by tears. His eyes were slightly puffy, a testament of the emotional baggage he recently released.

Prapai's eyes were glued to their interlinked hands as he waited patiently for Sky to open up.

Sky's shaky breaths soon transformed into relaxed ones as he calmed down.

"I am sorry for all that. I-I really don't know what happened to me." Sky said in a rough voice, returning to his more composed self.

"But I know what happened to you. You were emotionally frustrated from... well you know that better. And they say its always better to share than to bottle up."

Sky cleared his throat before speaking, "Well the ice cream, I don't know, it is such a small thing but I think I was indeed frustrated." He said, himself amused of the reason he broke down.

Prapai's lips curled up into a soft smile as he saw Sky seriously contemplating his thoughts.

"Ughh Its seriously all because of her." He said.

Prapai stopped the little movements he was making with his thumb over Sky's hand, giving all his attention to Sky.

He was ready to listen to it all, only if Sky was ready to pour it all.

~~~

Today's chapter was probably not just a chapter but actually a work inspired from my own life.

Sometimes when you are emotionally drained, even small things can feel like a huge deal. When you are fatigued, it doesn't matter what, even something small like this can cause a breakdown 😿

So guys stay happy and never hesitate to share your thoughts with  someone you are comfortable with✨🥹