Life Was Boring {RamKing}

Part 14

King was starting to get worried. It was Wednesday and he still had not heard a word from Ram. Asking Duen about it made him even more concerned because he said that Ram had not shown up to work since Monday and was calling sick to school. At first, he just thought that Ram was indeed sick but how sick could he be if he would not even reply a text, just once telling the older male that he was okay. 

He was out of it the whole day on Wednesday. So much that Frong stayed for the whole day because he was sure that King was going to knock something over or just leave and forget to lock the doors.

"I something wrong with King?" Thara asked, gazing over at the male who had been spraying the same plant since Thara walked in the shop.
Frong looked at King as well, "I don't know. He seems distracted with something but I don't know what it is. I'll go get you the flowers."

Thara did not bother to talk to King, especially since it seemed that the male did not even realize that someone walked in the shop. Frong returned from the backroom with the flowers.
"I've only seen him that dazed when he gets to germinate a difficult plant or when he receives a foreign plant."

"I have to go! Frong lock up," this surprised both of them as King dashed from beside them, almost running out of the shop. The two of them stared at him leaving and eventually ended up staring at the door for no reason.

"Do you need help closing up?" Thara asked as he came back from the initial stun.
Frong shook his head, "no, I just need to close the back and lock the door. Everything else is ready."
Thara nodded. He paid for the flowers and left, leaving Frong to lock up and leave as well.

King ended up in front of Ram's building. He wondered whether he should go and check which apartment the younger male lived in or text him and try to appear less creepy. He was glad he knew Ram's address but standing in front of the whole building made it feel like he was only halfway through. The place was huge and he cannot just go around knocking on people's doors hoping that Ram would come out from one of them.

He took out his phone.

'Hey, I came to your apartment. Which one is yours?'

Deep down he knew that sounded a bit weird but he was not thinking at the moment and all he wanted was to check if Ram was okay. He also realized that he could have asked Duen for Ram's apartment number or even his phone number because after weeks of talking to each other they still had not moved from the app.

He saw a woman walking out of the building and quickly ran up to her. "Sorry Phi," he called, "do you know someone named Ram living in this building?" he asked.
She looked up at him confused, "Ram?"
"Yes," he said, "tall, dark hair, has tattoos and looks foreign," he described, hoping that not a lot of people fit that description in the building.
"Oh, the handsome one with the tattoo on his neck?"
King smiled at her, "yes him. Do you know his apartment number?"
"He lives in 4B. However, I haven't seen him out lately," she said.
King thanked her and hurried into the building.

He knocked on the door with 4B written on it without hesitation and heard a dog barking on the inside. That must be Nayo, Ram's dog. Which meant that Ram must be home. The door opened slowly and Ram showed up, holding his dog. He was quite confused when he saw King outside the door, surprised about how the other male showed up.

"I just want to check if you're okay," King said.
Ram pushed the door open and let King in. King stayed in the doorway while the other went and put his dog in the bedroom.
"No one was able to reach you these few days so I just wanted to check if you were doing fine. Duen said you're sick."

Ram picked up his phone from the counter and showing King that his phone had been off the whole time.
"Are you sick, or did something happen?" King asked him. That was when Ram sighed and sat down on the couch. It was obvious that he was not sick so it did not take a lot of time for King to figure out that something had happened.
King stepped up and stood next to him, "Is it family related?" Ram looked up at him, wondering about how the older male was able to tell that it had something to do with his family.
"Duen said you mentioned you had family problems but that's all he told me." Ram looked back down again. Of course, King was not a mind reader and someone had to tell him about it. "Is that why you haven't left your apartment or talked to anyone in days?" Ram nodded.

King took out his phone and tried to hand it to Ram, "do you want to tell me about it?"
Ram took the phone but did not move for a while, he kept looking down, clutching King' phone in his hand. "It's my dad," he muttered. King could not believe he was hearing Ram's voice for the first time! It felt so different having Ram talk, especially as he was not used to it. He had a strong tick voice, clear and calming but also a little harsh, as if he had been crying or shouting. King just wished that he would hear Ram's voice in a different situation other than that.

"What happened to your dad?" King asked.
Ram sighed and opened King's phone.

'My dad had an affair with my neighbour a few years ago and now my mother found out about it.'

King look at the message, unsure of what to do. He was not exactly someone who can give advice in such a situation and he was worried that whatever he might say, might end up causing more harm than good.
"Did you know about your dad's affair when it was happening?" Ram nodded.
"And you did not tell your mother about it back then?" Ram nodded again.
"So now you're worried that your mother would feel bad, or hurt or betrayed because you did not tell her about it?" Ram sighed and nodded. Why was King always right?
"Yet, you did not tell her because you did not want to hurt her and because you believed that your father could change and be better?" Ram did not more for that statement but King knew he was right again.

King moved to the little glass coffee table that Ram had in front of his couch and took off his bag, opened it and pulled out a little fly trap, placing it on the coffee table.
"Some plants are really hard to grow and take care of. Cactus sting you when you repot them, some flowers are very poisonous and need to be handled with extreme care. This plant traps insects and kills them even though they are important to our life. Yet, even though all that happens, we still take care of them and make sure they grow because they are the main factor in our lives. Without plants, we can't breathe or eat."

Ram was looking at him rather puzzled, not understand most of what King was saying. "What I mean is, even though your mother is hurt now, she will never hate you for not telling her. She will understand your reason and she would forgive you. So you should turn on your phone, call your mother and tell her everything you know and feel so that she could understand sooner."

King picked Ram's phone and handed it to him and after a few moments of staring, Ram took his phone, stood up and went to the bedroom to call his mother.

King sat on the couch and took a deep breath. He could hear Ram speaking but he could not tell what he was saying, however, he was sure that at one point the tattooed male was crying. When Ram came out from the bedroom his eyes were red but he looked calm.

King smiled and stood up from the couch, "I should go. The plant is for you by the way. Don't water it a lot because it doesn't need much. If you have problems with it just tell me." King picked up his bag and was about to walk to the door when a tight and strong grip on his wrist stopped him.

"Stay. Please." Ram spoke softly, it was as if his hand and his mouth moved by themselves but he was not mad about it. King looked at him confused and eventually nodded. "Yes sure. I can stay," he said smiling and Ram smiled back.

The two of them woke up the following morning when they hear Ram's alarm go on in the bedroom. King got up quickly, still not grasping the situation until he realized that the two of them had fallen asleep on the couch When he saw that the clock was reading seven he jumped up, "oh no I'm going to be late. Sorry, I have to go, but I need to go to my apartment before I go to work." Ram nodded, still half dazed himself.

King went to put on his shoes and grabbed his back. "Thank you," Ram said. The older male stopped and turned to look at him. He smiled and gave him a soft nod.

"Hey, next time something happens, don't disappear and get me all worried again. Just text me to come over and we'll figure something out." Ram smiled softly and nodded at him before King left his apartment.

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I'm sorry this took so long but my laptop broke down and it took a week to get it fixed! I guess it was a little short this week but mostly because I wanted to leave it on an impact rather than start another part of the story  only to reach a word count. A little note, I might start taking longer than a week to update. I will be starting work again soon and I only have one more chapter written so far. I will keep updating obviously but probably won't happen weekly. Sorry about that. 

I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading.