It was you all along

10

When Gulf entered the mansion, the other butlers and housemaids were equally as anticipative. They were all ready to surprise Mew - the birthday spread was done up, the decorations were put up nicely and they even got gifts for the man which were lined up on the table. Everything looked flawless like how Gulf had wanted it to be but then why do these decorations look exceptionally glaring to Gulf now?

Mr Woody, the housekeeper was the first to notice something was amiss and he hurriedly shushed the rest when he saw Gulf's tear-stricken face.

"Birthday celebration is over. Mew isn't coming back today." The boy said despondently, before he headed upstairs to his bedroom mechanically without sparing any of them a glance.

Mr Woody quickly followed the boy up seeing the boy's disheartened look. Mew was never the sort to not turn up especially when Gulf was the one who'd initiated it so something must've happened but Mr Woody didn't know what since the man didn't instruct anything.

"Mr Kanawut?" The housekeeper knocked onto Gulf's door gently, but as expected, there was nor response but faint sobbing sounds could be vaguely heard and Mr Woody felt sorry for the poor boy. He knew how excited Gulf was when he was preparing for Mew's birthday - the poor boy had spent the last 2 days trying to create the best birthday party he could for Mew but it turns out that Mew wasn't even coming.

Gulf on the other hand, was just dumbfounded. He was confused and hurt, and he didn't know what to do. A part of him was angry at Mew yet another part of him was angry at himself. He knew it was selfish of him to want Mew to abandon Tar especially when the latter was sick. But who was Tar to Mew? Gulf groaned. Is he truly that more important than him? The thought of that made Gulf cried even harder while his heart throbbed painfully against his chest.

Was this the feeling of being heartbroken? Gulf didn't know. But it hurt. It hurt so bad that Gulf wasn't even thinking straight anymore. It was worse than a cut or getting beaten up. The pain was excruciating and it was killing him inside as the seconds tick by.

He heard the knock on his door, but Gulf really wanted to be alone right now. To be honest, he was expecting Mew to call back but there was no buzzing from his phone, no message, nothing. Gulf didn't know what was worse - the fact that Mew didn't show up or the fact that Mew had gone to spend the night with Tar?

Or the fact that Gulf Kanawut was stupidly in love with Mew from the very beginning and it hadn't realized it until now?

He was married to Mew, but that was it, wasn't it? It was supposed to be a loveless marriage, but Gulf never got to ask Mew why was he chosen then. He could've picked Tar, but he chose him and Gulf had actually stupidly thought that maybe it was because Mew liked him even if it was just for a while. Ultimately, it had always been Tar from the day Gulf saw him, he knew Tar meant something to Mew and it was clearly beyond a friend.

He remembered hearing people at the office say, those who had the gold card were people who meant a lot to Mew which was why they were given easy access to his office and on that day, Gulf had seen Tar in Mew's office. He should've known that Tar was the boy Mew was supposedly looking for - he had overheard Mew and Frong's conversation but it never occurred to him that that boy was Tar. Maybe it did, but Gulf refused to believe it. Today was a wakening call for Gulf he'd guessed.

Gulf stared at the gift he had gotten for Mew, and all he felt was sheer frustration. So he threw it, as far as he could to the corner of the room, a loud 'cling' could be heard clearly when the pendant had fallen out of the box. Gulf shook his head bitterly to himself, as he grabbed his coat before he'd stormed out of the house. Mr Woody was about to ask where he was going, but was instead replied with a harsh slam of the front door and off the boy went.