Unplanned Marriage

Chapter 12

"Arthit! Over here!" Prem yelled over the whole bar at his friend just that he would notice them. Arthit's eyes followed the familiar noise and he was sitting at their table in no time.

"Man, I thought you won't come, we haven't seen you in ages!" Tutah greeted him, happy to see his friend after a long while.

"He was just too busy doing..." Bright commented, doing weird moves that supposed to resemble sex.

"Shut it." Prem smacked his head and P'Tum shot him with his sight. Arthit laughed awkwardly, wondering how much they knew and if he should tell them the truth about previous events in his life.

"I've been busy lately, you got that right." Arthit mentioned regarding to Bright's comment. "My work is very hectic nowadays."

There was a short, awkward silence, everyone wondering how to continue the conversation.

"You can take your clothes off, I'll hang them for you." Perm noticed that Arthit was still wearing his coat and gloves.

"Oh, it's fine. I won't stay long." He quickly tried to brush him off, not wanting to take off especially one piece of his clothing, left glove. The ring was too extravagant, sparkly, and feminine, everyone would notice.

"You will stay long, I'm treating. We've got a lot to catch on." P'Tum ordered, giving Arthit no other choice but to listen. After all, he was still his senior and a scary one on top of that. "What are you drinking­­? Beer?" He asked before waiting for an answer and already ordering vodka shots and five glasses of beer.

Arthit handed Perm his coat, still keeping the gloves on. They aren't that eye-catching so his friends shouldn't notice.

"And your gloves? You want to keep them on?" Perm asked, still waiting, starting to be a bit impatient.

"What are you, a wanted murderer? Or a soon to be one?" Bright teased him, not knowing it might become true if he won't stop.

"You see, the thing is... my hands are really cold." Arthit smiled awkwardly, hiding his hands under the table and quickly making up a new topic to talk about.

"Knot won't make it today but he's saying hi." Bright remembered, digging his own grave.

"Really? I see..." Arthit managed to say, spacing out instantly. The scene of him lying in bed with Mary flashed before his eyes. "How's your bar, anyway? I thought we will meet there." He changed the topic immediately, wondering why they didn't meet at his lousy place. Arthit couldn't allow himself to think about them in this kind of situation. It would only make things more difficult.

"I'm officially on vacation." Bright claimed, chugging down a new brought shot of vodka.

"He'd closed it down." Perm explained instead of him.

"What? Why?" Arthit asked surprised, pitying him. Bright had put so much work and effort into running that place.

"Dear! I told you it's a secret!" Bright pouted, hitting gently his boyfriend sitting next to him.

"Dear...?" Arthit asked, reminded of the time when Kongpop called him like that. His stomach was weirdly tingling.

He hasn't heard from him for two days now since they met for dinner. The last thing Arthit remembered was falling asleep in Kong's car and then waking up in his own bed, already changed to his pajamas. Kongpop was gone. He still had many questions left to ask but needed to find a reason for contacting him first. The marriage contract Kong had ordered him to sign was only a reasonable thing for a further meeting, but it wasn't that urgent. He could give it to him anytime.

"You don't know about it yet? Damn, you really need to come to drink with us more. The two of them have been dating for at least a month now!" Tutah shook his head.

"Month and nine days, if you want to be exact." Bright muttered and then added something about still loving girls and being Mr. Popular.

"If you say one more thing about some girls, you're sleeping on a couch." Perm scolded him with a smile. He couldn't take Bright's words seriously. After all, he was the one chasing after Perm and begging him to date him.

"We aren't even living together, what difference would it make?" Bright asked, frowning.

Everyone chuckled and the tension has finally lifted up after Bright's inappropriate comments.

*** *** ***

Everyone was in a mood when leaving the bar. They weren't drunk, but the alcohol was definitely taking its effect. Arthit felt relieved and relaxed after a long time, running away from all of his problems. Not once he thought about Mary during the evening or Kongpop and their marriage. He felt haunted past days, although he did his best to resist and ignore those feelings.

"We're we going now?" Bright asked, being the drunkest one. His hand was wrapped around Perm's neck while Perm himself did his best to support him.

"Home." Tutah ended all his plans at the beginning.

"But the night is still sooo young!" He argued.

"Yeah, but you're not anymore." Arthit scolded him, feeling happy. He missed his school days when they were so careless and free. They used to be so close, now he couldn't even tell them about his sudden, unplanned marriage with a guy. Details about Knot and Mary were also best to kept secret, but he got a hunch that everyone knew anyway.

"Pals, isn't that Knot?" Bright asked, pointing at the other side of a busy street. Everyone's eyes turned to a given direction and spotted their friend among the crowd.

"Knot! Over here!!!" Bright yelled before Perm had a chance to cover his mouth. Arthit's stomach started to act up, and it wasn't because of alcohol.

Knot turned around and noticed them immediately. Except for Arthit, everyone felt like killing Bright there and then. They all spotted he wasn't alone. A woman walking hand in hand with him turned around as well.

Arthit's heart dropped to the ground.

How he wished it wasn't her. How he wished his eyes were wrong... but Arthit could see clearly and recognized the person.

Mary.

Since I love you like crazy, although it's already 2:17 a.m. and I have only 3 hours of sleep ahead of me, I've written you a chapter! I will go through it later, I'm too tired to check for errors now. Point them out if anything isn't clear or grammatically correct, please!

Goodnight 💤