Even If You Beg

Chapter 43

A/N: I'm sorry if some readers were not happy about the turn of events in the previous chapter, but as I said in the very beginning of the story, I promise everyone and myself a happy ending for Tin and Can.

Third Person POV

Can turned the shower knob on full blast and let the strong spray hit his face, letting the flow of water mix with his bitter tears.

He kept on banging his fist against the wall of the shower stall.

What a fool I have been, he scolded himself. Tin was such a good actor. He was so good in acting that Can totally fell for it hook, line and sinker.

Well, at least he realized the truth before it was too late.

He dried himself quickly after his shower and rushed to his room before Lay could see his puffy red eyes and start asking questions.

He looked at the time on his phone. It was only eight in the evening.

He went to his Contacts on his phone and selected a name and tapped on the number.

Before the contact on the other end could answer, he ended the call.

"Can, everyone has eaten his dinner already, are you not coming down to eat yours?" his mom asked from outside his bedroom door.

"I will come down in a minute, mom," he called out.

Before he went down, he took a peek from the banister to make sure that his father was no longer in the living room nor the dining room. He wanted to avoid any further conversation with his father.

When he saw the grilled salmon and the pickled shredded half ripe papaya on his plate, he suddenly realized that he was very hungry. He re-heated the bowl of New England clam chowder that had grown lukewarm by placing it inside the microwave. He was aware that his mother would prefer for him to re-heat the soup on a stove top instead of in the microwave but he was too lazy and was in a hurry to eat his dinner.

After dinner he gathered his empty plate and bowl and utensils and placed them inside the dishwasher. Thankfully they had a housekeeper who would take care of the used dishes in the morning.

He ran upstairs and looked at his puffy eyes in the bathroom mirror while he was brushing his teeth.

He felt a violent anger wash over him once more. He was going to get back at Tin, the certified card carrying member of the Organization of Rotten Jerks.

When he entered his room he checked his phone before changing into his PJs. He noticed that he had five missed calls. They were all from Jade. Jade's number was the number he had called just before his mom had called from outside his door to tell him to go eat his dinner.

He remembered that he had ended the call before she could answer.

Maybe it was just the polite thing to do to say thank you for the pad thai dish that she had brought to his house for him. He didn't remember ever saying thank you to her for it. Besides, maybe she wanted the food container back. It was a large name brand plastic food container that she might want to use for pot luck parties.

He looked at the time on his phone. It was almost nine o'clock. He didn't think that she would already be asleep by this time and so he tapped on her number.

"Hello, Jade, were you sleeping already?"Can asked when Jade took his call.

"No, Can," said Jade, "I'm working on an assignment that I have to submit tomorrow."

"Oh, I'm not gonna bother you then," said Can, "the reason I called was to say thank you for the pad thai dish that you cooked for me and to ask you if you wanted your food container back."

"You're welcome anytime," said Jade, "as for the food container, I will ask Chak to pick it up from your house when he is available."

"There's no need for him to stop by the house," said Can, "I can bring it to school and I can give it to him there."

"Okay, that sounds good to me," said Jade.

"Good night, then, Jade," said Can.

"Good night, Can," said Jade.

Before Can turned out the light in his room, he wondered if it had been a bad idea to reject Jade in favor of Tin. Was it too late to get back under Jade's good graces?