TO SHOU WITH LOVE

83 - HOW WAS IT?

The next day, when Sailub woke up, he opened his eyes and was momentarily dazzled by the light seeping through the curtains.

He squinted, adjusting to the brightness, and glanced down at Thanapon, who was still asleep beside him.

Thanapon hadn't woken up yet, his head slightly lowered, breathing evenly, the warm breath falling gently on Sailub's neck.

Images from last night flashed through Sailub's mind-the repeated messages from Thanapon during the birthday party, the uncontrollable tears shed in front of Thanapon, rushing back to find Thanapon in the rain after getting out of the car, and the words "We're together" spoken out loud...

It all felt somewhat unreal, but the warmth of their bodies pressed together reminded him that it had indeed happened.

In fact, before falling asleep last night, Sailub had briefly wondered- after so much had happened that night, what would it feel like waking up the next day?

Would he feel too impulsive?

Now that he was truly awake and remembering everything from last night, he did feel a bit impulsive.

At twenty-nine, after experiencing so much, he thought he was past the age of being impulsive, yet he had been impulsive several times just last night alone.

In the few months since meeting Thanapon, many of the things he had done couldn't be explained rationally.

But impulsiveness wasn't necessarily a bad thing, Sailub thought.

If it hadn't been for last night's impulsiveness, he might not have had the courage to take this step with Thanapon.

Perhaps sensing that Sailub was awake, Thanapon's eyelashes fluttered, and he slowly opened his eyes.

He didn't look fully awake, just gazing at Sailub with sleepy eyes, appearing quite different from his usual unapproachable self.

"Awake?" Sailub whispered softly.

Thanapon looked at him but didn't speak. Instead, he reached out and touched Sailub's hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose, moving downward until he reached his lips before finally speaking, his morning voice still a bit hoarse,

"Sai."

"Hmm?"

But Thanapon remained silent, only wrapping his arms around him tightly.

He exerted considerable force, as if trying to embed Sailub into his own body, to the point where Sailub felt somewhat breathless.

But Sailub didn't say anything, just let him hold him like that.

"Sai." He called Sailub's name again.

Sailub reached up and touched his hair, responding with a soft "Hmm."

Thanapon hugged him for a while longer before letting go.

His gaze seemed much clearer now than before. He ran his fingers through Sailub's hair and pecked him on the lips. "Regretting it?"

"Guess." Sailub teased him. "What if I do regret it?"

Thanapon lowered his eyes, seemingly pondering the question.

Then he sat up slightly, stretching his arm to grab a pair of wired earphones from the nearby bedside table.

Holding Sailub's wrists, he raised his arms above his head and wound the black headphone wire around his wrists several times.

Sailub raised an eyebrow as he glanced up. "Are you planning to the me up here?"

"Yes." After finishing tying him up, Thanapon got out of bed, put on his pants, a walked out of the room without saying a word.