Distant Signals: The Love Between Us

Chapter Fourteen

When Kongpob arrived at Double Trouble on Saturday, he learned that Arthit had called the store and asked them to tell 'Kongpob Suthiluck' that he couldn't make it because he was sick. Apparently, he'd paid for an iced coffee over the phone, and, according to the owner, had described him as "a lanky, attractive man who looked like mischief and would arrive precisely at noon". She laughed and said she only agreed to do this because he sounded so earnest over the phone.

"He said he's sick?"

She nodded and handed him the iced coffee, but he hardly paid attention to her at that point, already imagining that Arthit was sick and alone in his dorm.

Kongpob immediately headed back and, instead of going to his own dorm, decided to check up on Arthit. He needed to give back his key anyway. That was a good enough excuse to show up at his door unannounced, right?

However, he never got a chance to talk to Arthit. As he rounded the corner, Arthit's door swung open and out walked Prem and Knot, both shaking their heads in exasperation at their friend, who emerged behind them wearing an oversized white shirt and basketball shorts.

Panicking, Kongpob jumped back and hid behind the corner, cursing himself for his stupidity. He shouldn't have come. If the line-dinner was any indication, Arthit didn't want to see him and even if he did, he'd refuse to admit it in front of his friends (or alone, honestly—the man was too stubborn to acknowledge he wanted to see Kongpob despite his dreams saying otherwise).

At that point, Kongpob considered leaving right then and there, but he wanted to see Arthit. More so, he wanted to confirm that his stubborn, infuriatingly obstinate senior was okay. So he peeked around the corner and saw Arthit leaning against the door frame happily sipping a glass of pink milk. Kongpob let out a relieved breath. Arthit looked a bit pale, but otherwise fine.

"I'm not taking care of you if you get sick again," Prem said. "Next time I'm sending one of the juniors to do it."

"One of the juniors?" questioned Knot, frowning.

"Shut up, Prem. You know all the juniors hate me."

Prem smirked. "I can think of one that doesn't."

Arthit said nothing at first, his expression one of puzzlement, then he frowned and said, "Whatever. It's just a fever so I don't need anyone to take care of me anyway. Don't forget we're having a hazer meeting tomorrow."

"All right, all right." Prem held up his hands. "We won't forget, damn, Arthit. What's lit a fire under your ass?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit, but whatever. Get some rest and we'll talk tomorrow."

Satisfied, Kongpob left before he could be caught by Prem and Knot randomly loitering in the hallway and headed back to his dorm. Once there, he dropped his bag on the floor next to his bed and fell onto it lazily, stretching out like a cat. Sighing, he thought back on the night before, at the end of their dinner, and tried to figure out what had caused Arthit to become so angry with him.

He didn't understand. One moment, things seemed fine and then the next, Arthit snapped at him outside the restaurant. Truthfully, he hadn't expected Arthit to be there at all, and it'd felt a bit like fate to find out that their line IDs were the same numbers, but swapped around. He smiled. Arthit's number was 0206; his was 0062. Kongpob didn't actually believe in fate, but he had to admit that the story about Tum and Fon being destined for one another because of their line IDs was endearing, and he hoped that he and Arthit would eventually come together as well.

But that could only happen if Arthit opened up to him, and that didn't look promising.

"If you didn't want to study here in the first place, you shouldn't have kept this spot to yourself. Don't you know how many people are struggling to get in here? You think you can just keep it to yourself for a year and then go study something else, just like that? You are so damn selfish."