In the loving realms of the Sun

Are we out of the woods yet?

      Prae had never been so nervous and restless in any situation. She always exuded great confidence and poise no matter what the circumstance but today the situation was quite the opposite. There were a few days now and then where her insecurities outweighed her confident persona in her own eyes, perhaps this was one of those grey days.

She couldn't exactly pinpoint the cause of her insecurity right now but it most probably has to do with a certain dainty and charming young maiden with a petite figure and long brown hair. This young lady had taken over Prae's thoughts ever since she'd met her yesterday.

"Where does Kongpob disappear when you need him the most?" fretted Prae. She waited for him for a while but when she saw no sign of him she decided to head off to the woods to meet Maprang. She pep talked herself into not embarrassing herself in front of Maprang.

On reaching the woods, Prae was greeted by the stunning sight of Maprang dressed in a turquoise knee-length dress, her hair left untied and a tiny puppy in her arms whose head she was gently caressing.

"Did I keep you waiting for long?" inquired Prae. "Oh don't worry, I just got here too." replied Maprang giving her a gentle smile. "Meet Atticus, isn't he the most precious boy?" cooed Maprang, Prae tucked a few stray strands of hair that were getting into Maprang's eyes, behind her ears which made Maprang's ear turn red due to blushing.

Unbeknownst to the two women, two pairs of eyes from the opposite direction were sneakily watching them, it was Kongpob and another mysterious man.

While trying to get a closer look at the two ladies, the two crashed against one another, which caused the shorter of the two to trip on his feet and slip and the two men landed on the ground with Kongpob on the shorter man's chest.

Kongpob had never seen such a gorgeous being in his life much less a man. His beauty was ethereal and it made Kongpob question his own existence. His bangs were getting in his eyes and so Kong helped him move it aside and he was exposed to most stunning brown orbs that could stare right through your soul.

"His hair is so soft, I'm sure his cheeks are softer.... Kongpob get back to your senses what's gotten into you?" he thought to himself.

"Hey kid, are you about to get off my body in this life or the next" said the man grumpily. A flustered Kongpob then got off the ground and helped the man up too. "What were you doing watching them sneakily? By the way, I'm Kongpob, son of Zeus and you are...?" inquired Kongpob

"I'm Arthit and the girl in the turquoise dress is my cousin, I'm here to make sure she stays out of trouble. While trying to befriend people she often ends up being in trouble." replied Arthit looking a little conscious.

"I'm here to make sure my friend Praepaillin doesn't make a fool out of herself" Kongpob said letting out a soft laugh. Suddenly he was pinned against a tree by Arthit with hand covering his mouth and his other hand placed next to Kongpob's head, entrapping him.

  "Kid do you wanna get caught, we're trying to be sneaky aren't we? They might hear us if you laugh like that again" said Arthit with gritted teeth. He should've been angry and upset due to Arthit manhandling him and calling him a kid so many times but Kongpob was weirdly alright with it but also he was really intimidated by him and his stomach felt all weird.

They heard the rustling of the bushes behind them followed by "Arthit, is that you?" "Kongpob!?" Maprang and Prae interjected at the same time. Arthit quickly turned around to face them not wanting them to misunderstand the situation

"Surprise!..... I guess" Arthit said nervously. "I told you I'll be fine didn't I? I can take care of myself" replied an upset Maprang. "We were just trying to make sure you two spend some good time together without anyone interfering, so we were keeping guard" Kongpob jumped to the rescue. "Yeah yeah, that's exactly what we were doing." Arthit agreed.

"Maprang, meet Kongpob my best friend" Prae introduced. "Oh, and this is Arthit my cousin", replied Maprang. "So now that we've already found you two here, let's just all hang out together" Prae said. The four young folks then walked through
the woods getting to know each other.

Prae and Maprang were lost in their own world and didn't feel the tension and awkwardness between Arthit and Kongpob walking silently behind them. Arthit hummed a tune under his breath while walking.

Kongpob for some reason found himself looking at Arthit from time to time, he'd been held captive by his soft features and his fiesty and strong personality.

"Oon, why don't you go take Kongpob for a ride on your chariot, I'm sure it's really awkward for the two of you to walk behind us like that" suggested Maprang. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me Oon? And alright if you wanna come Kongpob, you can." said Arthit.

The two then walked a small distance and soon reached the place where the chariot had been parked. "Give me your hand kid, I'll help you get on this chariot" said Arthit while reaching out his hand. "I'm not a kid alright, you need to stop saying that and call me by my name" Kongpob grumbled but nevertheless took ahold of Arthit's hand and got on to the chariot followed by Arthit.

The chariot took off from the ground as soon as Arthit sat in the chariot. "This is so amazing, you get to go travel around on this, I'm so jealous. My father never let's me travel too far from home but I don't understand his logic, I'm an adult for Merlin's sake! I can very well look after my own safety" Kongpob ranted.

'Oh gosh, kids these days are so overbearing' thought Arthit to himself and rolled his eyes. "See I was right, you really are a kid. Your own father doesn't think you can take care of yourself. Now that I think of it, you should've been home by now. Isn't it past your curfew already" said Arthit and laughed out so hard, a few tears rolled down his cheeks. Kongpob should've been annoyed by that but he actually enjoyed listening to his laughter that was no less than music to his ears.

Kongpob was really confused with the mixed emotions that he was having since he met Arthit. Arthit waved his hands in front of the other's face when he didn't  get a reaction after making fun of him. "I pity your kids. How do they even put up with a person as annoying as you" retorted Kongpob. "What!? I'm not even married yet!" interjected the latter. 

"I figured maybe you already have kids my age since you were calling me a kid even though you yourself aren't more than a few years older than me" Kongpob replied with a smirk. "YOU-  alright I'll start calling you Kongpob from now on" Arthit said.

"Why does your father not like you to travel far from home alone?" inquired Arthit. " Its due to some prophecy about me meeting someone and it leading to something bad, well, I don't really know the whole reason. But I don't really believe in it, I can look after myself. I'm not some young naive boy, I'm one of the Olympian Gods damn it." explained a frustrated Kongpob.

"Well, I wouldn't call you exactly smart either. You're riding on a chariot with a total stranger to those parts of your homeland that you've never been to. What if I'm a bad man?" said Arthit trying to tease the younger man

"I trust you Arthit. I think you're cute. I don't think a man with such pretty eyelashes, cute puffy cheeks, the most full pouty lips I've ever seen and the most angelic laugh could  ever cause me any harm." Kongpob replied without thinking twice.

Arthit was caught off-guard by what he just heard. All his life he'd been feared by a lot of people and this kid in front of him was not afraid and had the audacity to call him 'cute' out of all words that he could have used to describe him. Those words struck his soul and he felt happy and warm, the feelings he hadn't felt in a while since 'that incident' that he doesn't like to remember.

It triggered something inside him and the chariot lost control and was now crashing towards the ground at an alarming speed. Kongpob had been staring and didn't realise when he lost his grip and slipped off the edge of the chariot and was now free falling towards the ground.