stoLen

Chapter 6

The Secret's in the Telling

"Hello?"

"Forth?"

"Pring? What's up?

"Are you busy?"

It's Sunday night and I'm not doing anything except thinking about him. It really feels good to be with Pha again. It might not be the same as before, and I know I have to struggle first before I can make him feel comfortable around me again, but I will do anything.

Whatever I did in the past that made him leave me, I swear it won't happen again. But of course I need to know exactly what I did that made him eradicate my presence completely in his life.

How should I know?

He never talked to me ever again after that night. That night when he just left me alone without a word. No explanations, no reason, no nothing. I still find it strange and unfair. And I really want to straighten things out with him before I decide to make another step. I never want to make the same mistake.

"Not really, just stalking somebody." I grinned at my own joke.

"Can you come over?"

"Where? Everything okay?"

"I'm not sure. It's about Pha." Just the person I've been thinking about.

"What happened? Tell me now. Where are you?"

"Calm down first. Alright?"

Since I didn't know what time Pha would return from the hospital, I decided to wait for him at his apartment lobby. I know it looks desperate, oh but I am.

It's like the boogeyman hiding under my bed that desperately wants to come out and bring up all the mess that I have done in the past. If I don't come face to face with it, I believe I will never find happiness. Ever.

I rushed to the parking area, and drove like crazy to get to where Pha is. Pring explained everything that's happening at the bar, and I am really in the mood for beating somebody to death when I heard what that guy is doing to Pha. He'd better not touch him, or else.

While I keep stepping hard on the accelerator, I also get more and more anxious about what I might see when I get there. I don't want him to feel that I'm meddling with his affairs, for all I know, maybe he's enjoying being there, but I also want him to feel that I care for him, still, and that I don't want to see other people messing with him.

Honestly, I just don't want to see him with someone else.

FLASHBACK

Me successfully getting through almost 5 years of engineering life is still a puzzle for me, and here I am yet again wondering how I can start and end this next big step as a student.

I just got admitted to the University of Toronto for my master's degree. I made a pact with myself that I have to finish this in no longer than two years. Well, a little extension won't hurt.

Alone in this foreign country and new to its people, culture and even the climate, it's a must that I train myself to adapt quickly and learn the easy way to survive this challenge. I wanted this, so I have to suck it all up. Maybe a few new friends can help me with that. Maybe even someone more than a friend.

I may have been popular in KU during college, but all those things don't matter here which I am starting to like anyway. I can do anything I want because nobody knows me, and nobody cares.

I was expecting everything to be difficult, so I had prepared myself for all of it. What I didn't expect was meeting someone who could actually make this experience easier and more bearable.