Listening to the Heart

Chapter 17

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Third Person POV

Kao gathered his bathrobe and his towel and went to the bathroom and did his evening rituals before stepping into the shower stall.

He let the warm water stream down his face and whole body.

He kept shaking his head, making the water on his hair spray all around the sides of the shower walls. He refused to admit it.

He pounded his fist against the shower wall right below the shower head.

"This is crazy," he kept telling himself, "I'm not falling for him. I'm not. I'm not, goddammit! I. AM. NOT."

Kao actually thought about moving out of Mrs. Namwirote's house to look for a different room to rent. He knew that staying on in her house would only increase his heartache. He wouldn't be able to take it when the time came that Title would fully recuperate from the motor accident and would come to visit Cooheart and would act lovey dovey with Cooheart in front of him.

But then again, Kao knew that he would not be able to stand a day going by without seeing Cooheart. What was he to do? He was in such a painful dilemma.

After his shower, without being able to come to a decision, Kao made his way back to his room.

He met Mrs. Namwirote and Cooheart in the hallway. Mrs. Namwirote was holding Cooheart and helping him make his way to Kao's room.

Kao had totally forgotten that he had agreed to Mrs. Namwirote's idea of letting Cooheart share his bed during his recovery days.

As if in a dream, Kao opened the door to his room and stepped aside to let Cooheart and Mrs. Namwirote in. Then he quickly went and removed the bed covers and helped Mrs. Namwirote to help Cooheart get onto the bed.

Rose had followed, bringing Cooheart's pillows and blanket.

Kao took Cooheart's pillows from Rose but told Rose that there was no need for the extra blanket. His blanket was large enough for two people.

"Kao, is it alright if I bring a small wash basin into your room?" Mrs. Namwirote asked, "I would like to give a light sponge bath to Cooheart before he sleeps."

"Sure," Kao replied, "and there's no need for you to give him a sponge bath. I can do it for him."

"No, no," Cooheart protested, "I can do it myself."

"Cooheart, you're still too weak, let Kao do it for you. I insist," Mrs. Namwirote said firmly.

"I'm sorry to be such a pest," Cooheart said to Kao in an apologetic tone.

"No, no, no, it's not a bother for me at all," Kao assured Cooheart.

In a few seconds, Rose had come back with a small wash basin containing some warm water and a small towel already soaking in it.

Kao took the wash basin from Rose.

"Thank you for being so kind to my young master," Rose said to Kao before leaving the room.

"It's my pleasure," Kao said and mentally kicked himself for saying that. He hoped desperately that Cooheart didn't hear that.

Kao placed the washbasin on top of the bedside table. He sat on the edge of the bed and was about to reach for the towel that was inside the washbasin when the upper part of his bathrobe fell open. He quickly pulled the edges together and then remembered that he was wearing only his bathrobe. He wasn't wearing anything else. He felt his cheeks getting warm as he quickly stood up and went to his dresser drawer and took out a pair of boxer shorts. He desperately looked around the room to see where he could put them on outside of Cooheart's range of vision. Then he remembered the closet.

"Please excuse me," Kao said hurriedly as he opened the closet door and squeezed himself inside and quickly put on his boxer shorts.

When Kao stepped out of the closet, Cooheart was looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"What's going on?" Cooheart asked, starting to get curious about Kao's suspicious actions.

Kao decided to come clean.

"When I stepped out of the shower earlier, I only had my bathrobe on and nothing else. I'm just worried that if my bathrobe were to come apart you would get a freak show," Kao said with an embarrassed smile.

"Don't worry," Cooheart tried to reassure Kao, "I'm not gonna freak out. I have seen Title..."

Cooheart cut himself short while Kao waited for him to complete his sentence.

"You were saying..." Kao tried to prompt Cooheart to continue talking.

"I just wanted to assure you that I'm not gonna freak out if I were to see you in your birthday clothes," Cooheart said.

"But you were saying something about Title," Kao insisted.

Kao noticed Cooheart's cheeks growing pink and decided to let the topic go.

"It's okay," Kao said, "you don't have to say anything more."

Kao tried to suppress the sharp pain that was shooting through his chest.

Kao went back to his dresser drawer and pulled out a loosely fitting tee. He then removed his bathrobe and hung it on a hook attached to the front of the closet door and then put the t-shirt on.

Unknown to Kao, Cooheart was watching his back muscles moving as he put his t-shirt on. Cooheart was also watching the shape of his butt straining against his boxer shorts.

Cooheart quickly turned his head to look at the pictures hanging on the wall when Kao turned around to face him.

"Shall I start giving you your sponge bath before the water loses its warmth?" Kao asked, already taking the towel from the wash basin and wringing it with his hands.

"I really should be doing it myself," Cooheart said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"No, you shouldn't," Kao said firmly, "it's not good to strain yourself physically while you're still in your recovery period."

Cooheart kept quiet as Kao started wiping his forehead and eyelids and nose and cheeks and chin with the wet towel.

He then dipped the towel into the wash basin and after wringing out the water, he proceeded to wipe it around Cooheart's neck.

"We have to remove your pajama top so that I can clean your chest and abdomen," said Kao, waiting to see if Cooheart would let him be the one to unbutton his top.

"Okay," Cooheart agreed, looking a bit uncomfortable.

Kao started to unbutton the pajama top. He found that his fingers were shaking and fumbling awkwardly with the buttons.

When he finally managed to fully unbutton the top, Cooheart's cell phone which was inside the pocket of his pajama top, fell out and onto the space beside him on the bed. At the exact same time that it fell, it started to ring.

Kao glanced at the screen.

Title was video calling Cooheart!

Kao and Cooheart looked at each other with panicked faces.