Perseverance [Complete]

Chapter 9

Arthit's POV

I was trying to bury my head in my textbook as deep as possible. Kong had refused to leave and as expected Rune had refused to let him go once she woke up. She was still feeling guilty for being responsible for me getting hurt and barely spoke to me and focused all her attention on Kong.

Kong on the other hand had refused to let the earlier debacle go and basically self invited himself to stay at the apartment until my foot healed. Sure it would really help me with Rune but how in the heaven's name was I supposed to sleep next to him every night.

He had this crazy idea that what happened between us that day was more than a momentary lapse of judgment and that exploring further was how we should resolve it.

As enticing as I found his lips, this was wrong on so many levels. We were both men for heaven's sake. What would our friends say. What would Rune say. Just because I dreamt of him or found him slightly attractive I couldn't throw away a perfectly normal life for me or Rune. No, this was absolutely crazy and I needed to find a way of explaining it to him somehow.

"P'Kong I am hungry"

"Do you want to go buy lunch with me?"

"Yeah, can we go to the restaurant by the theatre? Pa really likes their food."

"Ofcourse, anything for you and your pa." He gave me a mischievous wink before herding Rune out the door.

I finally let out my breath which I realized I was holding in for a while. How was I supposed to handle this situation now? I picked my phone to call Knott. Partly to get my mind off Kong and partly to find out what I missed in classes today.

Hmmm, this was weird. Why was my phone acting funny? I just bought it a few months ago. Ah great! Now I need to find a way of getting it repaired. I tossed it aside and pretended to read my textbook again. I need to come up with a game plan for dealing with Kong. Maybe I can ask Knott or Prem to come stay here for a couple of days? But how would I explain to Rune that I was trying to kick out her most favorite person in the world.

I continued ignoring Kong for the rest of day. I was extra careful to not make any physical contact, even accidental. What amazed me was how normal Kong was behaving, as if he hadn't dropped a massive bombshell on me today. He joked and chatted with Rune as they normally do. And here I had practically chewed off my nails in nervousness.

"P'Arthit are you ready to go to bed?"

"Umm...uh...yeah"

"You don't need to look so nervous P'Arthit, I won't attack you in your sleep. Although you know I won't mind if you have other ideas." I wish I knew how to make that cheeky smile of his disappear.

"Also, you need proper sleep. Don't worry I am taking Rune's bed anyway."

Rune did have her own bed on the opposite wall of the room. The only times Rune used it was when she was mad at me and even then she never completed the night on it, or when there was someone sleeping over. Also, the bed was tiny. Even Rune would outgrow it soon. There was no way a grown man was going to fit on it. I looked between Kong and the bed trying to decide what to do.

"P'Kong you are going to sleep on my bed?"

"Yup"

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to accidentally hurt P'Arthit and split his stitches at night."

"Your legs will hang out of the bed."

"It's ok I will curl them in."

"What if you fall down at night?"

"I won't fall down."

"What if you are too heavy and you break my bed?"

"I won't br..."

"Enough, enough both of you. Rune go sleep on your bed. Kong won't hurt my stitches." I turned around and got into the bed keeping my back to a broadly smiling Kong.

The stinging pain in my leg woke me up again. The sun was just rising and I could see a few rays making their way into the room. Thankfully unlike yesterday morning, this time I wasn't coiled around Kong. He was still asleep next to me looking deceptively innocent. And....and attractive. Damn it. Did the boy need to be so good looking.

I was still staring at him when he suddenly opened his eyes and asked with a smile, "Like what you see?"

I really wish I didn't blush as easily as I did. I was still trying to school my expressions when with a soft laugh he reached over and dropped a quick kiss on my lips.

"KONG!!" I whispered as loudly as I could to not wake up Rune. "What are you doing? What if Rune saw you?"

"So then can I kiss you when Rune can't see us?"

"What ofcourse not. You can't kiss me ever."

"Why not? Don't you like it when I kiss you?"

"Kong that's not the point."

"So you atleast agree that you like it."

"Kong stop it. What has gotten into you. Just think clearly please. We are both men. You are my junior. What will Rune say? What will out friends say?"

"Why do you care so much what others think or say? And if it really bothers you so much we don't have to tell anyone anything. It's just between you and me."

Our argument had woken Rune up and we had to cut our conversation short. I was getting really frustrated now. Kong was too important to me and Rune for me to just cut him off our lives but right now he was being so unreasonable. I knew very well how stubborn Kong could be and I was worried I was not strong enough to resist the pressure I knew he would put on me.