The House by the River

Chapter 4

Title's POV

I was sitting right across Earth during breakfast when the handyman had walked into the dining room to announce that he had come to fix the broken bathroom door knob.

I did not fail to notice that Earth had been in the middle of reaching for a pancake and had left his arm to dangle in mid air as he stared at the handyman.

I couldn't understand why I felt a twinge in my chest. I mean, it's not like we were in a relationship and I had the right to feel possessive about him. All the skinships and the loving touches that we gave each other during fan meetings and promo events were all just fan service. There was no way that I had anything going for him. We were only friends, just co-workers, that's all. I have to watch myself. I can't allow myself to catch ridiculous feelings for someone with whom I have to work closely, once season two of our series started. After that, we would of course be going separate ways.

I grabbed Earth's fork which he was holding while his arm was still hanging in mid air and stabbed at a pancake and plopped it on to his plate. My action took him by surprise and he smiled sheepishly and mouthed a 'thank you' to me.

Mean's POV

Of course I totally understand why everyone including Plan would gape at the bulging muscles of the handyman. It is necessary for a handyman to be well built and to possess tough and hard muscles in order to carry out his tasks. What I had not bargained for was his having an attractive face to go with the gorgeous body. 

I have to admit that I found myself staring as well. I was not even aware that I had just stuffed a piece of the crispy bacon strip into my mouth and had forgotten to chew it while the handyman was introducing himself to our group.

I did notice though that Plan was in the middle of sipping from his glass of orange juice and I could hear him swallowing with difficulty. I tapped him hard across his back which made him spit out the orange juice all over his plate.

He set down his glass noisily on the table.

"What the hell, Mean!" he protested.

"You were making yourself too obvious," I explained as calmly as I could. "I'm just saving you from the embarrassment of getting teased by the others later on."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he pouted at me and stood up to get a new plate from the kitchen.

"Yeah sure," I muttered under my breath.

Third Person POV

After breakfast, everyone helped to clear the table and to wash the plates and utensils and to tidy up the kitchen.

Nobody dared to make any further comment about the handyman. They talked about everyone and everything under the sun except the handyman. The handyman had become the elephant in the room.

During the lull in their conversation, Mark desperately tried to think of something else to say. Then suddenly an idea hit him.

"I'm going to take a swim in the river!" he declared loudly. "Who wants to do the same?"

Title grabbed Cooheart's hand (A/N: From here on out, Earth will be referred to as 'Cooheart' to avoid confusing him with Earth Pirapat our 'handyman')

"I'm doing the same. Are you game?" Title asked Cooheart.

Title noticed Cooheart's hesitance.

"I... I was just thinking, Gun might need assistance to fetch some tools for him while he is assisting the handyman," said Cooheart, his cheeks unmistakably turning pink.

Title gave Cooheart a flick on his forehead.

"Ouch!" Cooheart protested.

"Gun will not need your assistance you silly goose. In fact he will not want anyone to be around while he's assisting the handyman," said Title a little testily. "Get the handyman out of your head already and cool yourself down in the river."

Mean was already giving a challenge to Plan.

"Race you to the river," said Mean, rushing out of the house, removing his clothes one by one, not caring where he was dropping each piece of clothing as he ran in the direction of the river.

Plan followed suit, kicking his sandals off his feet and raising his shirt over his head as he tried to outrun Mean.

First to reach the river's edge was Mean. He was down only to his briefs.

His hands hesitated on the waistband of his briefs. He looked back and saw Plan approaching. Plan noticed Mean's hand on the waistband of his briefs.

"I dare you to take them off!" Plan shouted, his eyes gleaming gleefully.

"Dare accepted!" Mean shouted back, and without further hesitation pushed his briefs down his thighs, down to his legs and kicked them off before slicing into the running water.

"Holy shit!" was all Plan could mutter.

He heard Mean shrieking as his head rose out of the water.

"The water is icy cold!" he warned Plan as Plan slowly approached the river's edge.

"Don't you dare step into the river without taking off that last piece of clothing!" Mean yelled at Plan. "You have to accept your own dare. Take them off or I will take them off for you myself!"

Cooheart who was approaching with Title covered his eyes when he saw Plan removing his briefs, revealing his bare bottoms for all the world to see. Title however noticed that Cooheart's fingers were splayed open and could properly see through them.

Cooheart protested as Title placed a hand over Cooheart's eyes and kept them there until Plan had submerged himself in the river.

"Aren't you going into the water?" Title asked Cooheart after he removed his hand from Cooheart's eyes.

Cooheart nodded in reply.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Title asked impatiently. "Take your clothes off already!"

"Turn around first," said Cooheart.

"Oh come on, you silly goose," Title protested as he grabbed Cooheart's shirt and raised it up and over his head before Cooheart could make any further protests.

Mark whose idea it was in the first place to go swimming in the river, was the last to arrive. The reason he was late was because he had lingered in the hallway leading to the bathroom and had stopped to check what Gun and the handyman were doing outside the bathroom door.

In all the fun and frolics in the river, no one had noticed the absence of Perth and Saint. Unknown to everyone, they had taken advantage of their roommate Cooheart's absence and had gone inside their room and had made sure to lock the door.

In the meantime, as Gun reached for a tool from the open toolbox that the handyman had brought with him, the handyman reached for it at the exact same time and his hand understandably landed on Gun's hand.

Gun gasped loudly and tried to remove his hand from under the handyman's hand. He looked up wide eyed at the handyman's face as the handyman kept his hand over Gun's, trapping Gun's hand where it was.