Listening to the Heart

Chapter 25

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

Kao's POV

After I made my excuses to Mrs. Namwirote for not staying for lunch, I went to my car but did not drive straight away to the mall.

I didn't even have any plans to go to the mall initially. It was just seeing Cooheart's new boyfriend at the dining table with him and his mom made me lose all my appetite.

I just stayed behind the wheel, resting my head against it, wondering why, of all people, I had to go and fall in love with a player.

I took out my earpiece and started to play my favorite love songs. Wrong move. It only made me sadder and sadder by the minute. But because I was something of a masochist I kept on listening to every single one of them.

The last song I listened to, just before I saw that wretched new boyfriend of Cooheart step out of the house was Hate that I Love You by Rihanna and Ne-Yo.

I stopped listening to the song right in the middle of it.

Against my better judgment, I found myself stepping out of my car and walking towards him. I just knew that I had to warn him about Cooheart before he fell into the same pit that I had fallen into.

"Hey, you," I said, because I didn't even know his name.

He stopped in his tracks and before he could say anything back, I quickly said, "I just thought that I should warn you that Cooheart already has a string of boyfriends to his name."

He looked me squarely in the eye and said, "I'm not interested in him. I'm just here to give him his doctor authorized physical therapy."

In that instant, I could feel my blood rushing from my heart all the way to my neck and upwards to my cheeks and forehead.

What in bloody hell had I been thinking for fuck's sake.

I would have gotten down on my knees to beg for his forgiveness and understanding but it would have looked like I was proposing to him, so I just quickly murmured my apologies, and as a token of my contrition, I offered to give him a ride in my car to wherever he was going, but then he said he had his own car so it was okay.

I offered my profuse apologies once more and got back to my car.

I kept pounding my fist against the wheel of my car. Then I quickly turned the ignition on and sped away to the mall.

I knew that I could not go back to the house and face Cooheart. I had to wait until he was asleep before I could come crawling to his bed. The thought occurred to me that maybe I should just sleep in the folding bed later tonight.

By evening, I was still walking aimlessly at the mall. I made a call to Mrs. Namwirote and gave her some lame excuse for not taking my dinner at the house. I said something like I still hadn't found the proper materials for my school project.

It was already past eight o'clock and I still could not find the courage to go back to the house.

I drove to a convenience store that was just a block away from the house, bought a six-pack of Newcastle Brown Ale, set it on the passenger seat beside me and parked my car in the driveway. If I was going to get drunk, at least I wouldn't be driving anymore.

I belatedly remembered my father's advice about staying away from alcohol before I opened the first bottle with the handy bottle opener attached to my key ring.

I took my ear piece once more and listened to several more sad love songs.

Fortunately, I wasn't a lightweight but still I decided to stop drinking after the fourth beer when I found myself feeling already a little buzzed.

I looked at the time on my phone. It was a quarter after ten.

I hoped against hope that Cooheart was already asleep as I fumbled with my key at the front door. I tried to tiptoe towards his room.

I rehearsed silently my words of apology for if ever he happened to wake up when I walked into the room.

I could hear him breathing regularly when I walked in.

I walked quietly over to the side of the bed where he was sleeping and went down on my knees and peered into his sleeping face.

"You reek of alcohol."

I lost my balance and fell backwards to the floor.

This was the second time that he had done this sort of thing to me. The first time was when I was peering at the koala bear, thinking that he was asleep and he suddenly said something to me which made me lose my balance and fall on top of him.

I struggled back to my knees saying, "Cooheart, I just want to apologize..."

He did not make me finish my sentence.

"I will not be inclined to forgive you while you're smelling of alcohol," he said.

I got up and gathered all the stuff I needed and went to the bathroom.

After I did my evening routine and took my shower and changed into fresh pajamas, I slowly made my way back to the room.

Cooheart's POV

I wondered why Kao wanted to apologize to me. I was thinking it was related to his last statement to me when he saw me on the exercise mat with my physical therapist.

But if earlier he had concluded that Singto was my boyfriend, how did he find out later on that he wasn't. I guess I just had to wait for his explanation when he came back to the room.

I had actually already dozed off by the time that Kao came back to the room. I had taken my pain pill after dinner and its side effects of drowsiness and preventing me from feeling any pain from my injuries were already into my system.

I was awakened by someone nuzzling against my neck.

I turned and opened my eyes.

"Kao! What are you doing?" I asked, moving away and feeling wide awake now.

"I'm sorry, Cooheart, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done what I did," he said, straightening up. "I met that guy who was with you earlier in the living room and he told me that he was your physical therapist. I apologized to him for jumping to conclusions and I'm apologizing to you too. I'm really, really sorry."

I kept quiet, debating with myself whether to make him go down on his knees first as he had done earlier or to just simply accept his apologies by saying yes he was forgiven.

"Can you find it in you to forgive me?" he asked in a very contrite tone.

I found myself just nodding wordlessly.

"Thank you so much," he said breathily, the smell of his mint toothpaste wafting to my nose.

"Can I kiss you goodnight, to cement my apology?" he asked.

Expecting him to just kiss me on my forehead, I nodded once more.

Before I knew it, his lips were on mine.

His lips were slightly opened and I could feel his tongue seeking entrance into my mouth. His lips were soft and his tongue tasted of mint toothpaste.

I found myself opening my mouth slightly. His tongue eagerly dug deeper and I started to feel delicious sensations that I had never felt before.

Title and I had never kissed. I started to wonder how Title's lips would feel against mine. Title had a very sensuous looking bottom lip.

I felt Kao's mouth traveling to the side of my neck. I wondered once more how Title's mouth would feel against the skin of my neck.

Kao's mouth started to travel backwards up my cheek and just before his lips enclosed mine, I unconsciously whispered "Title" into his ear.