More Than Words II: Say It If You Do

Chapter 8

a/n: Before you begin the chapter.. I was thinking of writing a Vamp-Wolf meets Arranged Marriage trope for my next Kongarthit fic. We are talking months here if I did get around to writing it. What do you guys think? Drop in the comment if you'd want to read it!!! :D

January rolled into February and February to March. Arthit and Kongphob went around in circles not talking about the thing between them, neither questioning nor doubting it. They didn't name what it was. They didn't tell what it was. Neither did they mention anything about it to their friends.

The new semester saw a lazy start and slowly changing into a busier one. Arthit started spending more time at the faculty, even staying back till late hours with his friends for projects. For one of the assignments, he had to partner with one of his classmates he barely knew. So that took even more time of his, trying to figure out how they best worked with each other. Because their final year projects and dissertation were based on this semester's works, Arthit got really busy.

All this made it difficult for him to see Kongphob even when they lived across each other.

 Kongphob would text him 'hello, p', 'I hope you are sleeping enough, p' and so on. Arthit would occasionally reply to them, the other times he would leave it on Read. He was grateful that the first year always inquired after him. In fact, every time his phone pinged, he thought it was the freshman. Arthit usually would turn his phone on before going to bed and smile when Kongphob's messages filled his Inbox. He would fall asleep smiling, happy that there was someone outside of his family who cared about him. Someone.. special.

They would see each other from across halls, corridors, stairways. Those times, Kongphob would look at him and his friends and bow at them respectfully not sparing Arthit even a glance separately. But, if they were crossing each other, the younger boy would brush the tip of his fingers on Arthit's hand and would leave it tingling. Other times, Arthit would go interrupt 0062 and his friends' circle and ask about their preparations, checking Kongphob's expressions through the corner of his eyes every now and then. Arthit would usually give them pep talks when Oak or, Em would be tired or depressed from the workload or midterm marks. Kongphob would look up and smile at him gratefully. Arthit would feel satisfied and little bit proud of himself because the younger boy looked at him like that. One time he and his friends even took out the juniors for dinner to cheer them up. Because Arthit's friends still didn't know that he and Kongphob were neighbours, he stayed back with them, letting Kongphob walk away with his friends though he would be wishing constantly, hoping, Kongphob would look back at him or, ask Arthit to go with him but the taller boy didn't.

Arthit was a bit unhappy. He admitted to himself finally. He wanted to spend some time with that first year. Was that too much to ask? Arthit wasn't sure why he hadn't told his friends about him and Kongphob. Should he tell them so they would stop taking so much of their time away?

Then there was that matter.

Arthit heard from Prem that Mei had confessed to Kongphob about her feelings the previous semester. It had left Arthit irritated because every time Arthit saw the freshman, his classmates were next to him -including Mei. How much ever he would like to deny it, it left him disgruntled and left him doubting.

Was there really nothing going on between them? The two first years were always laughing and chatting with each other. Did it really mean nothing? How could Mei be so unaffected? Arthit wouldn't have been been able to face Kongphob had the latter turned him down.