Eight Letters (Completed)

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"I love you."

Just eight letters. Only three words. But they mean the world to Mek. It's all he ever needed to erase all the pain he silently endured for the years he decided to stay at Boss' side as a friend. The only medicine to cure his years of heartbreak. The only thing he likes to hear more than the word 'husband' itself. And Boss said the words. Not to another girl but to him. With tears in his eyes. With love and longing in his gaze.

And Mek can't help but shed a few tears of his own. His heart's like a parched land waiting for the rain. In vain. He has long accepted the impossibility of having his feelings returned. Boss never saw him romantically and he thought he could live with that. He thought he could be fine with it. He thought he can survive his every day seeing Boss fell in love from one girl to another as long as he can remain at his side. As long as he can get crumbs of Boss' attention. But the heart can only endure so much. So he left thinking distance will be so kind as to help him heal and forget. But it never did. Nothing can ever help him. He's in too deep.

And after a year of being separated, with more than 2000 kilometers of land separating them. Mek realized the futility of it all. He can't escape his feelings for Boss. It doesn't matter where he's at, his heart will only beat for his 'cheeky wife'. So he decided to go back. Go back and confess to his wife. Tell him all the things he's been keeping to himself. He won't swallow his feelings anymore. He'll let it all out. He won't care anymore. It hurts him when they're together but that one year apart taught him that being away from Boss hurts more.

So he went back to Thailand without any plans and without ever contacting Boss. He knows they will meet somehow. And right after the plane landed, his feet took him to his former place. The place where he left all the physical evidences of his unrequited love. That one place that stood witness to all his sleepless nights and stolen mementos.

And just like in his dreams, the moment the door to his place was opened, there he was. His cheeky wife. As if waiting for him to comeback. As if wishing for him to return. After standing frozen for a while, he noticed the tears streaming down his face. Why is he crying? Unable to bear his wife's tears without doing anything he reached out to him. He wiped his wife's tears away. He tried caressing his wife's cheeks, trying to tell him not in words that everything's going to be okay. That there's no reason to cry. He'll make sure there isn't.

And just when he finally decided to accept it as mere hallucination. Just when he's ready to dismiss it as only the result of his strong desire to see Boss, a hand touched his, and with tears streaming down once more in his wife's face, he heard him say the words.

"I love you."

*****