Once And Always

Chapter 27

 Hello guys!

Let's chase that Monday blues away.

Happy reading!

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Tee left for Bangkok very early the next morning and started back to Khon Kaen at dusk. Cradled lovingly in his hands was the object he'd seen in a shop when he first came to the city weeks ago. It had reminded him of Khun Luang Tae then, but it had looked terribly expensive, and besides, it wouldn't have been proper to buy him a gift at that time. The memory of it had lingered in his mind all these weeks, nagging at him, until he was afraid to wait any longer and risk having it sold to someone else.

Tee had no idea when he would give it to Tae; certainly not now, when things were so hostile between them—but soon. He shuddered at the recollection of its price. Tae had given him an outrageously huge allowance, which Tee had scarcely touched, but the gift had cost every shilling of it, plus a good deal more, which the proprietor of the exclusive little shop was more than happy to put on the account that he eagerly opened in the name of the Khun Luang Thanapon Jarujitranon Kreepolrerk.

"His lordship is in his study," Pawat advised Tee, as he opened the front door.

"Does he want to see me?" Tee asked, puzzled by Pawat's quick, unsolicited information on Tae's whereabouts.

"I don't know, my lord," Pawat replied uncomfortably. "But he has ... er ... been inquiring whether you were home yet."

Tee looked at Pawat's harassed expression and remembered Tae's anxiety when Tee had disappeared for an afternoon to Captain Mew's. Since his trip to Bangkok had taken twice as long as it would have had he remembered the exact location of the shop, he assumed that Pawat had been called up on the firing line again by the khun luang.

"How many times has he inquired?" he asked.

"Three," Pawat replied. "In the last hour."

"I see," Tee said with an understanding smile, but he felt absurdly pleased to know Tae had thought about him.

After allowing Pawat to divest him of his coat, he went to Tae's study. Unable to knock with the gift in his hands, he turned the handle and put his shoulder gently to the door. Instead of working at his desk where he expected him to be, Tae was standing at the window, his shoulder propped against the frame, his expression bleak as he gazed out across the terraced lawns at the side of the house. He glanced around at the first sound of Tee's approach and instantly straightened.

"You're back," Tae said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Didn't you think I would be?" Tee asked, scanning his features.

He shrugged wearily. "Frankly, I have no idea what you're going to do from one moment to the next."

Considering his actions of late, Tee could understand why he must think him the most impulsive, unpredictable human alive. Yesterday alone he had treated him flirtatiously, tenderly, and then furiously walked out on him in the drawing room. And now Tee had an insane urge to put his arms around him and ask him to forgive him. Rather than do that and risk another cutting rejection like the last, he quelled the urge and instead reversed his earlier decision and decided to give him the gift now. "There was something I had to buy in Bangkok," he said brightly, showing him the wrapped package in his hands. "I saw it weeks ago, only I didn't have enough money."

"You should have asked me for it," Tae said, already heading toward his desk with the obvious intention of burying himself in work again.

Tee shook his head. "I couldn't very well ask you for money when the thing I wished to buy was for you. Here," he said, holding out his hands. "It's for you."