TO SHOU WITH LOVE

105 - FALSE HAPPINESS

His wrist was held, but Sailub didn't rush to pull away, leaning in to kiss Thanapon. "Don't be so serious..."

He tried to steer the conversation towards something that would make both of them happy.

However, this time Thanapon refused to go along-Thanapon held onto both of his wrists with one hand, and with the other lightly lifted his chin, calling out again, "Sai."

In the past, when talking about this matter, Thanapon always had a coaxing, negotiating tone, and as soon as he sensed Sailub's evasion and resistance, he would quickly soften and stop halfway.

But now he looked very serious, so serious that he seemed a bit stern, as if he had made up his mind to push this topic forward.

"You said it yourself," Thanapon looked at him and said, "that lovers should be involved in each other's lives, and when things come up, they should discuss them together. Why can't we discuss this matter together?"

Sailub fell silent and stopped trying to kiss him.

Indeed, he had said these words just a few days ago, and he couldn't deny them now.

He couldn't refuse to do what he had asked Thanapon to do.

Originally, he had decided to keep dragging it out until the day of the finals, but now it seemed that wouldn't work.

After a moment, he sighed softly and said, "Pon, I just don't want to do this backup vocals. Every time you ask me, I express my refusal. I don't understand, why do you insist on forcing me to do something I don't want to do? If there's something you don't want to do, I would never repeatedly persuade you to do it."

Thanapon let go of his wrist, and the two stood facing each other, finally beginning to have a serious and straightforward conversation about this topic for the first time.

It was like the elephant in the room, it had always been there, but before, they had chosen to ignore it.

And now they dared to reach out and touch it, to talk about it.

"What if I don't want to go to college?" Thanapon said. "I just want to go back the days of singing at the bar. Would you choose to indulge me or persuade me?"

"That's different," Sailub frowned slightly. "Whether or not you go to college is very important for your life, but whether or not I do this backup vocals, for both you and me, it's not that important."

"I thought we were discussing more than just this backup vocals," Thanapon said "It's about when you can overcome your psychological barriers and sing again."

Thanapon realized he was touching on the core issue, because Sailub's frown deepened and his expression became more serious.

For a moment, he wanted to reach out and smooth out the wrinkles on Sailub's forehead, but he clenched his fingers, restraining his impulse.

He had finally made Sailub face this issue head-on, and he couldn't afford to fail because of soft-heartedness.

He had to be firm and be the one to push Sailub.

However, this statement made Sailub feel intensely uncomfortable.

He took a deep breath before speaking, "Pon, I thought I've told you about my illness. It's a physical condition, related to the Eustachian tube and ears, not caused by psychological reasons."

"You've had surgery," Thanapon remained calm, "The physical issues have been mostly resolved by the doctors, but unless the psychological issues are addressed, you'll never be able to completely overcome this illness."