Tough Love

Between Dead-End Escape and Confrontation

"A dead end can never be a one way street; you can always turn around and take another road." - Bo Bennet 

Arthit's escape came in the form of Bright and Prem.

When Arthit called them around 9 pm on a weekday and asked them to hangout that night, Bright thought it was weird. But, what made him feel that something was wrong with Arthit was the way Arthit almost urgently forcing them to meet. Although he said that he just wanted to hangout, but this tone of Arthit was unfamiliar — Bright had never heard of it before.

Upon seeing Arthit in his bar an hour later, Bright could confirm himself that something bad had happened to his friend.

The thing is, although the three of them had been friends since early college days, Bright and Prem were not Knot. Prem was always an impatient person to begin with; and while Bright might be the mood maker in the gang along with Tuta, but it was always Knot who handled serious matters like this. Level-headed and calm Knot would know what to say and what to do in times like this.

'Stupid Knot. Why should be his phone inactive now of all time?' Bright cursed internally. He threw a look to an almost-snapped Prem, and turned his eyes back towards Arthit. This friend of his had been sitting in complete silence for the past hour, with empty gaze at his beer-filled glass. Never once he touched that glass nor drank the content.

The sight of Arthit in front of him made Bright lamented quietly. He might be seen as someone so jovial and impetuous, but he's far from ignorant and stupid. He pretty much figured that whatever causing his friend's inner turmoil right now must be related to that 0062 junior. But, Arthit had never really shared details about Kongpob before. What Bright could see was only that something had changed in Arthit after he met Kongpob. Everyone in their gang could confidently testify on how he had turned into a happier and softer person with Kongpob. So, this quiet and desperate Arthit just did not provide him any clue on how to help settle things down.

"Arthit, it's been an hour and you said nothing at all. What kind of hangout is this?" Prem finally  decided to snap. "Do you realize that we wouldn't understand what you need if you keep silent?!"

Bright closed his eyes, trying to fend off the headache that began to formulate. He wouldn't be able to handle both angry Prem and lost Arthit at the same time like this. However, it turned out that Prem snapping could make Arthit snap out of his own misery as well, because he then sighed for the first time that night and looked at both of them.

"I am sorry to bother you two. I think I will just go home," he stood up slowly. Prem and Bright looked at each other dumbly.

"Hold a second," Bright grabbed his left hand. "Just tell us what happened, okay? We're really worried about you now, but we can do nothing if you don't explain."

The silence was back for sometime before Arthit lowering his gaze to the floor and whispered, "I think... Kongpob had decided to break up with me."

***

Prem was left speechless. Don't get him wrong, he had seen moody Arthit multiple times before. He had seen once composed and laid-back Arthit became a thunderous one in a blink of an eye. But this... this defeated and broken Arthit was something new. It was something foreign to his eyes.

Speaking frankly, he had guessed right away that the source of this newly-seen attitude was Kongpob, but what he didn't expect was that the result came to this great extent. Because let's be real, a break-up was a regular thing to happen to any relationship — there's always a chance for a break-up in any relationship.