The thin line [Complete]

Chapter 11

Arthit's POV

He laughed. Can you believe the jerk? Here I was willing to sacrifice all potential future chances of getting myself cozying up to Preet just to make sure Kongpob wasn't getting blitz attacked by Mr. Spectacular night and he simply laughed at my face. What did spectacular night even mean? I tried to investigate what made his night so bloody spectacular but I don't think I have gotten any substantial clues. And what does jerk face do? Laugh right at me, saying I am too obsessed with Mike.

Me? Me?

I am too obsessed? Me? Ok maybe just a little bit. But for heaven's sake it is all justified. If Kongpob wasn't so daft about Mike buzzing about him like a honey starved bee I wouldn't need to spend so much of my brain power trying to keep them apart. And in the past two days that it had dawned on me I had spent very little time even considering my next move on Preet. And to be brutally honest with myself I am even having second thoughts about pursuing her at all. I mean she is great as a friend and a colleague. Smart, and funny, and always a hoot to be around. But if going by my past track record I never manage to ever exchange any reasonable conversation with her cause she makes me too nervous, our romantic adventures are going to be mighty dull. To the point that I bore myself at times when I am around her. How can I possibly woo her when I am half asleep at the time.

In either case my more immediate problem thankfully had gone off on some tour but when I ran into his annoying, grinning face at the elevator yesterday morning he was excitedly bouncing on the balls of his feet counting down to his return in 10 days. Which means I have all of 8 days left to convince dimwit here to not welcome random people into his bed.

I was pondering over this new dilemma plaguing my life while I walked into the restaurant to order my regular takeout. Maybe I should find a way to send him away on a work trip somewhere out of town? Nah! Too extreme. And what if Mike finds a way to follow him there. I won't even be around to keep an eye on them. Hmmm, maybe I can accompany Kongpob on the trip too. That way he is constantly under my supervision. But that could very well end with one of us killing the other. And in the middle of my mile a minute though cycle I was interrupted by what would possibly be the most shocking conversation of my life.

"Oh hi P'Arthit. Here to pick up dinner?"

"Hi May. Yeah, I really like this place. What are you doing here? Don't you stay on the other side of town?"

"I do, but I was around here anyway cause I was hanging out with the girls from accounting so I thought I would drop by and pick up food."

"Don't they live on the other side of town too?"

"That is also correct. But you know who does live around here. Kong. And you can't really blame them for trying to get a sneak peek."

"I have no idea why they treat him like some sort of a celebrity. It's not like they don't already go around staring at him at work all day long. I swear I am this close to charging an entrance fee to anyone wandering over to my floor uninvited. Either it will lead to stopping all the strays from annoying the hell out of me or I will end up collecting enough money to never have budget restrictions. What do you say? Brilliant right?"

"If I didn't already know you were some sort of a genius I would have been questioning your sanity. I doubt Kong's face is that precious that people will pay to simply look at it."

"Then what exactly are all of you haunting my neighborhood for?"

"C'mon P' how can you blame them for dreaming about getting hitched to a handsome millionaire. It's their Cinderella story."

"More like beauty and the beast if you ask me. What are you doing with them anyway? I thought you didn't like to hang out with them outside of work."

"I don't. But if I don't make the sacrifice who will find out what is the latest piece of juicy gossip making its way through the company grapevine. I am doing this for all of our benefit you know."

"Yeah right. As if their gossip warrants a nobel prize in innovation. In two years I haven't heard anything other than a new girl Kongpob is supposedly dating or has impregnated. I am surprised they are still going strong on this course after according to them he has managed to date all the women in our office three times over. I would have suspected they would have moved on to greener pastures."

"Oh worry not. Kong is plenty green yet. Although their latest round of gossip is possibly the stupidest theory they could have ever come up with."

"What is it?"

"That Kong is dating P'Preet. That is why they are hanging out so much together after work, even on weekends. Can you believe it? Kong and P'Preet. I mean how ridiculous can it possibly get."

Is it really that ridiculous? Before he was supposedly helping me, I was pretty sure he was chatting her up too. But atleast for the past few weeks I have been convinced that's not the case. So atleast in this one instance their gossip wasn't that out of the ball park. But apparently May continued to think so.

"Can you even imagine both of them being in a relationship. I almost had to slap my hand on my mouth trying not to burst out laughing. Honestly, the funniest thing I have ever heard in my life. Already matching Kong up with one hussy after another is hilarious enough, but this is just too much. I mean c'mon, pairing up not one but two gay people together. That's just spectacular."

"Hmmm...."

Wait!

What?

"What did you just say?"

"That the girls in accounting are super funny."

"I got that part. What did you say after that?"

"Ummm....that I couldn't stop laughing..."

"Why? Why couldn't you stop laughing?"

"Cause the thought of Kong and P'Preet is hilarious....P' are you alright?"

"Why is it so hilarious?"

"Because both of them are gay that couldn't possibly be dating each other."

"Gay? Both of them?"

"Wait, I thought you already knew."

"Preet likes women?"

"Please tell me you already knew."

"And Kong likes men?"

"I am getting this sinking feeling you didn't already know."

"Ok let me get this straight. Both of them. Preet and Kong. Both. They are both gay?"

"Ok, how could you possibly not know? You spend nearly every waking moment with atleast one of them."

I had way, way too many thoughts swirling through my brain. How? How did I not have any idea. How could I have not known at all. Well, obviously neither of them had ever told me anything. Maybe cause they assumed I would figure it out? Or maybe they just didn't want me to know. But why? Why would they not want to tell me? It's not like I would judge them for it or anything. Maybe they just didn't want to bring their personal lives into the work place. And I was still bouncing around in confusion when the most pertinent thought just hit me.

"May, does Kong know Preet likes women?"

"P'Arthit can you pretend that we didn't have this conversation? I think Kong will really not appreciate me telling you when you didn't already know."

"May focus. Does Kong know about Preet? If you tell me I won't tell Kong about you spilling the beans to me. We won't ever bring this up again."

"Ummm...yeah he knows. Infact he sets her up on dates all the time."

He knows!

That fucker has been purposely messing with me even though he knew I had almost no chance with her at all. I am going to find a way to absolutely slaughter that jerk.

I was still fuming about all the games I just realized he was playing with me and how I absolutely needed to get back at him, in the most cruel, vicious way when the last piece of the puzzle finally fell in place. Now the threat of Mike was a lot more real.