Chapter 19

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Kong's POV

I walked out the building straightening the bag on my shoulder and as expected I saw the same black car across the street I see most days with the same man leaning against it, looking down at his phone, probably busy responding to the thousands of emails hounding him. Yet he insisted on coming here most evenings, spending entirely too much of his precious time driving back and forth. Arthit looked up from his phone in my direction and smiled, giving me a friendly wave and waiting for me to reach his car. So much has happened in the three months since I had resigned from the company, and yet it seemed most things remained unchanged.

I remember the night he came over as clearly as if it were yesterday. His arms full of pots, after ignoring me for two straight weeks. I wasn't particularly mad at him but I wasn't going to let him waltz back in my life either. What would that achieve anyway. Both of us knew I was nothing more than a pet project for him. Someone he thought he could fix with a makeover and some new clothes. And I like a fool got carried away with his attention. I knew very well what his purpose in being fixated on me was and yet I fell under his spell. I actually started believing his words. Like I didn't know how distant our two worlds were. How drastically different our backgrounds were. He was rich and successful and famous, being featured in magazines and getting invited to fancy parties. I was virtually a nobody and I wanted to keep it that way. The two weeks of his silence did a perfectly good job in reminding me of our realities. No amount of plants would make me forget again. I didn't want to be an experiment anymore, that he could pick up and drop anytime he wanted.

Atleast that was the original plan. I have no idea why I am so goddamn weak when it comes to him. He has this unique way of discovering holes in my defenses. 'Now, that we don't work together can't we be friends? Just friends. I'm not asking for anything else' he said. He didn't even apologize or explain his sudden disappearance and equally unexpected arrival. Or why he accepted my resignation without a word. Infact we never spoke about what he had discovered. He didn't ask and I wasn't going to ever volunteer that information. I would rather keep my memories with Arthit very far away from my past.

And just like that he began showing up at my apartment again or whenever I would hang out with Kim. I didn't know exactly how I felt about it. I wanted to move on. Make a clean break. And yet I found it so difficult to stay away from him. It was so exhausting constantly pretending to be this person I have become and with him somehow I didn't feel the need to. Yet I knew what the inevitable was going to be. If he was going to leave again anyway I wish he didn't do this charade of pretending to care. I have tried many times to be the one to walk away. Every Friday night for three months now I pep talk myself to be strong. To not be so affected by him. We don't have any future that didn't end in me getting hurt. That it only made sense for me to cut ties before things got too far once again. And yet every Saturday morning none of those words would leave my mouth while I sit next to him in his car. I had simply let him off the hook for casually walking in, and out, and back in my life. Without so much as a simple "I'm sorry I stomped all over your heart."

He never mentioned our so called date again, about his cancelling it or about rescheduling it. And just as well. That boat has sailed a long time ago.

We were 'just friends' now. Friends who spend entirely too much time together. Who talk to each other every night before bed. Who have a more than an intimate knowledge of each other's day's plans. Like exactly what time I would get done with classes today and that he would be waiting outside to pick me up.

It was actually Arthit's idea that I try starting college. I had dismissed it when he first mentioned it. I was too old to sit around kids learning what I should have ages ago. But that night while I gave it a little more thought I actually really liked the idea. I still hadn't figured out what I wanted to do. I hadn't even begun to hunt for a new job. Working towards a degree would give me a purpose in life. It would be like I was starting over. A clean slate.

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