Stumbled In Love [Complete]

20.

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?"

My mom's eyebrows shot upwards as she quietly stared at me while I awkwardly stumbled from my bike, practically throwing Arthit off my back before reaching out to stabilize him as I stuttered incoherently at the shock of seeing my parents suddenly pop up in front of me completely unexpectedly. Her annoyingly perceptive gaze never leaving me as she followed each and every one of my actions. And if you are wondering why am I choosing to ignore describing my father's reaction it's mainly cause it was pretty much as standard as it came. Glaring at me with a frown, completely oblivious to what they had just walked in on.

My mum though, she was another thing altogether.

"Ummm, newsflash kiddo, pregnant lady here. I practically live at the hospital. And you would know if you ever picked up my calls. So let's get to the actual interesting question. What are you doing here?"

Her gaze trained on Arthit's face in a way that spelled trouble for me in one too many languages.

You know that dreaded feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you had to introduce that one cool friend you had you were desperately trying to impress to your parents, knowing full well that not five minutes later mum the greatest would suddenly remember the most excruciatingly embarrassing stories of your infanthood? Yeah, now just multiply that feeling by about a million, and that was the lump stuck in my throat as I mumbled out the worst introduction that the English language has ever witnessed.

"I was giving him a ride. He is my boss. No, I mean my friend. I mean boss friend. Friend boss?"

Were words still coming out of my food hole? Why the fuck was I still talking? Nervous sweat pouring down the sides of my forehead as I was trying to figure out how I went from controlling my heart palpitations cause of Arthit to suddenly mere seconds away from a heart attack cause of my parents.

My own folks gaping in amazement at the personified daftness they had given birth to when I heard Arthit softly clear his throat beside me.

"I guess what Kongpob is rather eloquently trying to convey, is that he had kindly offered to give me a ride for my appointment at the hospital. I am Arthit, by the way, and apparently I am either a very friendly boss or a bossy friend. And I really apologize if I have been taking too much of his time. I do have to accept that I can be a rather demanding client, but I will try to make sure I don't impose on too much of his time anymore."

Three rather varied expressions gaped at him as he flashed a wide, pleasant looking smile in the general direction of my parents. A smile I didn't even know his facial muscles knew how to contort into. When the fuck did he start behaving so nice? Weirder still, I could literally watch my mom melt at the very first sighting of that dimple of his.

And while I am still gaping stupidly at this strange wonder of the world standing next to me, my father stepped forward.

"Uh, no, no. We are just happy he is finally working hard and being responsible. Please make sure you are getting your money's worth. His mom was just worried cause we haven't seen him in quite a few weeks. It's Arthit right?"

Let's ignore that not so required dig my dad managed to slip in, but with decades of reflex naturally made him outstretch his hand towards Arthit for a shake, which resulted in my mom promptly slapping away his wrist. A deep blush instantly rising up his neck as he finally realized that no amount of hand waving in front of a blind man was really going to work.

I guess now I know where I inherited the foot in mouth syndrome.

Thankfully, either Arthit was unaware of the Shutiluck family embarrassment or was gallantly choosing to ignore it cause he just pulled his lips in a wider smile.