The Prince and The Thief

Eleven

Prem sat at the table near the window in the backmost corner of his friend's cafe. He looked at the different notes he had laid out in front of him, his face reflecting pride. This is going to be a huge story that would may be even shake the foundation of the royal family. "Why are you putting out all these as if for an exhibition? Your controversial piece can even put my business into trouble," his friend Dae said, placing a cup of black coffee on the table. Prem looked around with his eyebrows raised, indicating that there wasn't another soul in the cafe except them. Dae cleared his throat noticing it. "That's because it's Thursday," he reasoned to which Prem laughed out loud. "Shut up!" Dae said annoyed,"So you are going to publish it?" Prem nodded his head. "It's almost done. I have saved it in my draft. I'll publish it tonight," Prem replied before taking a sip from his coffee. Dae nodded his head. He had seen how this friend of his had gone crazy and had been looking for evidence in the past ten years the moment he saw his neighbour who worked in the palace was killed and the little boy, her grandson, went missing. In the beginning Dae had warned him not to get worked up with his intuitions. But when Prem actually began gathering evidences, Dae was convinced that he wasn't wrong.

The loud knocks brought both their attentions towards the door. "Oh! Hello sir, I haven't seen you in a while," Dae said before moving towards his customer. Prem on the other hand closely observed man who was interacting with Dae. He wore a black hoodie and black trousers and his long untied hair covered his face. As Dae went in to prepare the order, the man turned to Prem and shook his head as if to greet him. Prem repeated the gesture, wondering where he had seen this man before. He surely did look familiar. Prem saw that the man was limping as he took the packet from Dae and walked towards the door. "Who is he?" Prem asked when Aim walked towards him after the man was gone. "Why? Are you going to investigate him now and drive away my only customer?" Dae asked, pulling a chair and sitting near Prem. "He looks familiar," Prem said looking at the door through which the man walked out few minutes ago. "His name is Tan. He barely goes out or talks to any one. I don't know where he came from or what he does, but he lives at the last house at the end of the alley. I know that because he had asked for home delivery once when he fell ill," Dae said. Prem nodded his head, still trying to figure out where he had seen him. "Okay, you continue with your work. I am going to experiment my new menu. The fortune teller I went to last time told me that this new recipe can help my cafe find sucess," Dae said before walking off. Prem shook his head at how his friend spent more money on talismans and amulets than doing something about his cafe to get more people.
After rereading what he had typed, Prem clicked save and the started piling the newspaper cuttings, printouts and post-it notes on the table. Suddenly a photograph on the newspaper caught his eye. He scrunched his eyes to ensure that he was seeing it right and gasped. Dae furrowed his eyebrows seeing his friend ready to leave as he came out of the kitchen with his new dish. Normally he would stay until night and leave only after dinner. "What's the hurry?" Dae asked. Prem placed a pen drive on the counter where Dae stood. "Publish this if you see my missed call at night. You have the username and password in there," Prem said before rushing out. "Wait what??" Dae asked gaping while looking unbelievably at the retreating figure of his friend.

Kongpop looked at the prince sleeping on his stomach, his right hand still around his waist, and sighed heavily. He hadn't slept the whole night and the crying last night was giving him a headache already. "Good morning," Arthit mumbled, his voice rough and eyes still closed. He then opened an eye and looked at Kongpop, his lips curving into a smile, his dimples now visible. Kongpop had a mini heart attack at the sight. "Damn," he cursed in his mind before turning his face away. He then felt the prince's hand move away from his waist and he felt suprised at his own reaction of being disappointed. Kongpop sat up the next moment, massaging his temples. "What happened?" Arthit asked as he too sat up and the proximity made Kongpop flinch. He looked at Arthit questioningly, wondering why the prince was acting weird all of a sudden. He got up and rushed to the bathroom after taking the towel that lay on the chair. Arthit watched Kongpop's actions until he closed the bathroom door and let out a deep sigh.

In the morning when he had woken up, Arthit was shocked at where he had placed his hand. But he had heard Kongpop sigh indicating he was awake. He didn't want to show that he was embarassed and put on an act. He was doing it to tease Kongpop, but it was having a reverse reaction on him. The butterflies twirling at the pit of his stomach won't settle down anytime soon.