Perseverance [Complete]

Chapter 25

Kong's POV

I was trying my hardest to not break out in a smile. People in my class would think I had lost my marbles if I started grinning without reason. And also the last time I was this incredibly happy, what had followed was the worst three weeks of my life. Hence, I needed to keep all this mushy gushy feeling inside me, waiting to overflow, in check. Atleast until we made sure Rune was safe.

But god dammit it was hard to not break into a silly dance. For the past week my feelings were so conflicted. I was drowning in guilt but also for the first time ever I was very aware of the possibility of rejection. I knew before any of this mess started I might have had a chance with P'Arthit, but with his focus solely on protecting Rune and me having royally fucked up I knew there wasn't really a 'us' to discuss. But that didn't stop me from being madly in love with him, or driving myself slowly crazy while having to sleep next to him every night.

Honestly if he hadn't come into the bathroom last night, my control would have snapped sooner or later and I would have pounced him very uninvited. There is only so long I can distract myself with a little girl's games while the man of my dreams is naked in the shower every night.

So now I am stuck oscillating between trying to stay grounded in a rather dangerous reality and losing my thoughts in P'Arthit related fantasies.

Thankfully, P'Arthit had forgotten about me going to his apartment. So I planned on sneaking in and out without telling him. And no, I had no intention of walking into a trap alone. I was taking Wad and Aim as reinforcements. It was honestly a much better option than P'Arthit going there alone.

We had just entered the apartment and Wad and Aim had already started tinkering around with his robots. I forgot how much I liked this apartment. It was tiny but it always felt like home to me. I really wanted this mess to end soon. I wanted us to go back to normal.

I was looking through Rune's closet, searching for the clothes she wanted. P'Arthit had told me about the things that were replaced, but I was still taken aback by the sheer volume of new items in her closet. Nearly everything was in a plastic cover. It was as if Rune's identity was being replaced.

But somehow I was getting this odd feeling. Things in this closet seemed vaguely familiar. Like I had seen them recently. I was staring at a particular toy in my hand, trying to remember when or why I would have seen it before when I got a call from P'Arthit.

"Hello P'Arthit."

"Kong! I got another message from him."

"What? What does it say? Are both of you Ok?"

"Yeah, yeah we are fine. We are still at the hospital. It's a picture of us. I mean you and me. But I think it may not be real."

"What do you mean not real?"

"It's us..uh...kissing..."

"Kissing? Where? In the hotel room? You think he managed to put cameras in the hotel too?"

"No no not in the hotel. This is outside, at some bus stop. At night."

"Bus stop?" It took me a few moments to make the connection. It was already a few months ago, and that kiss was so brief. How did he manage to take a picture of such a fleeting moment.

"P'Arthit, I think it is real. It was after the party. You were really drunk so you probably don't remember. But it was only for a moment. You think he was following you since then?"

"I got drunk and kissed you?"

"Yeah.."

"Why was he following me then? And how come now its Rune he has been targeting? Do you remember seeing anyone that night?"

"I don't think I can remember, I was pretty drunk myself."

I hung up trying hard to remember if I could recollect anything about that night. Is that when all of this started? I definitely won't be able to remember if we were being followed, I was too intoxicated to pay attention to my surroundings, but what about the party itself? We were at a club, and it was crowded. Was there someone weird lurking around at the club? We were surrounded by our friends, so why was P'Arthit singled out? And Rune thinks I know him, but I don't remember running into anyone I knew at the club.

Maybe following P'Arthit that night was pre-planned, which would mean the trigger was something that happened right before? What could it be? It was right after.....

Holy Fuck! Everything made sense now.

I frantically called P'Arthit.

"He...hello Kong!"

"P'Arthit, take Rune and get out of the hospital right now. I know who is after her."

"Kong! I can't find her. She was right here. She was right next to me two seconds ago. I can't find her. He took her Kong!"