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Worry

Part 12

"Arthit?"

"Yes Aunite?" I ran into the kitchen when I heard Mrs Suthiluck calling for me.

"Do you know what day is next Monday?" She whispered mysteriously to me and gave me a sly look. Duh?! Next Monday? I scratched my head. Hmmm...Was it anyone's birthday?

"Er..."

"Now now don't be shy..."

Shy?! I was more puzzled than ever...Hang on it's...

"Valentine's day!" I gasped, my eyes going wide.

"So what do you plan to give Kongpob?" She asked me with a wink.

I started blushing, stuttering and stammering. Goodness, how obvious have I been? Why does the entire world know how I feel about Kongpob Suthiluck? It is really embarrassing especially seeing that he does not return my feelings in any way.

"I ...Umm...er..."

"You should make him some chocolates!" She cut in, too impatient to wait for my reply. "That's what a lover should do for his boyfriend. Handmade chocolates!"

"But Auntie, I'm not his..."

"Come, look at this recipe book I bought the other day, it's got recipes of all types of chocolates," she gave me a smug smile as I surrendered. Obviously, Auntie only heard what she wanted to. There was no use my protesting, I might as well save my breath. Furthermore, I must confess that I wanted to give Kongpob Suthiluck something... I could just imagine him smiling at me lovingly as he took the chocolates.

"Is that for me Arthit? Thank you so much! I love them!" Then he would bend down and give me a kiss on my cheek... I sighed dreamily... If only life was as kind, loving and wonderful as my daydreams.

Anyway, I sat down with Mrs Suthiluck as she pointed out all the mouth-watering looking chocolates and told me what she thought Kongpob Suthiluck would like. I was taking mental notes as she rattled on and on.

"Let's have a trial now!" My eyes opened wide as Auntie opened her cupboard and I saw blocks and blocks of bitter concentrated blocks of chocolate in the raw form and bottles of milk. Also, there were several different types of fillings — cherries, coconut flakes, walnuts, almonds and a large variety of other nuts. I rolled up my sleeves as we each took a block and started grating it, getting ready to melt it with sugar, milk and other ingredients as stated in the book. In a way, I'm glad Auntie bought so much. There was more than enough for retries in case I fuck this up as usual...

"You know, I don't want Kongpob to go to SK University."

I almost grated my hand by mistake when the shocking words came out of Mrs Suthiluck's mouth.

"AUNTIE?"

"All SK University students are too focused on their studies, complete bookworms," she sniffed. "I would rather Kongpob get a job or become an apprentice and learn a useful skill. Look at your friend Max! Now that's a real man." After a while, my mouth started to feel dry and that was when I realized that my jaw was still hanging open. Auntie was really...unique... Well, that particular conversation got nowhere because the pan of chocolate that I had left on the stove started smoking and we both rushed to salvage what we could of the mess and the pan.

I looked at the prettily decorated gift box and couldn't resist lifting up the lid again. There, each in its own little translucent wrapper, lay 12 homemade chocolates of all different flavors — milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate coated almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, chocolates coated with coconut flakes. Even though some of them were slightly misshapen, I had selected the best 12 out of probably 200 we had made? And all 12 were made by me and myself alone, although supervised by Mrs Suthiluck.

We toiled for like three solid days in the kitchen when everyone else was out. I really hope that Kongpob Suthiluck would like them — a warm smile twitched at the corners of my lips as I remembered the blood, sweat and tears that I had to go through to produce them.

Quite literally, since I had cut my finger, cried and worked my ass off in that damn kitchen.

Gently, I placed the lid with the ribbon back on the box and hid it in the back of my drawer. I didn't want Kongpob Suthiluck to see it until Valentine's Day.

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"Kongpob, the 2nd part of your entrance exam is tomorrow." Mr Suthiluck looked sternly at his son who continued to eat his dinner unaffectedly. I looked worriedly at Mr Suthiluck, noticing that the vein in his neck was starting to stand out. "Son, did you hear me?"

Kongpob nodded without looking at his father and continued with his dinner.

"I'll go with him tomorrow and make sure he enters the exam hall, uncle!" I said hurriedly as Mr Suthiluck's face started to turn red — a definite danger sign. Apparently, Mr.Suthiluck was still angry at his son for his outburst about not wanting to go to university at all. And now, he was afraid that Kongpob would miss out on the exam entirely. That was out of question.

"Oh would you Arthit? That'll be great," This time Auntie started beaming as she gave me significant encouraging nods. Not so subtle as she thought.

I gulped and prayed that I would not start blushing because at this point in time, Kongpob Suthiluck actually lifted his face from his bowl and gave me a cool appraising look before turning back to his dinner.

To my surprise, he didn't protest to my offer, not even once. I guess he knows when he should keep his mouth shut and not irritate his parents any further.

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I wish Arthit would keep silent for once. There I was dragging my feet reluctantly to SK University's gate and he's chirping nonstop, asking me if I was stressed, worried and simultaneously providing me with a whole heap of unsolicited encouragement, even cheering me on boisterously.

My face was as black as a thundercloud as my personal insensitive walking "radio station" continued to boom next to me even after we got off the train and headed for the exit leading to SK University.

Suddenly, there was silence for a good whole ten seconds as I kept walking. I breathed a sigh of relief, but then realized that Arthit was no longer, clutching onto his stomach. I realized that his tiny teeth were biting into his lower lip and...was that sweat that was glistening on his forehead?

"Are you okay?"

"Of course," he bubbled cheerily, rushing to catch up with me. "Let's hurry, so you won't be late." He started to drag me off and continued blabbing on as if nothing had happened. However, I noted that there was something forced about his demeanor. It wasn't the same light-hearted ceaseless chatter of moments ago.

It made me feel uneasy.

I was worried for him.

"You don't have to see me to the gate," I turned to him. "I can continue on myself. Why don't you go home and rest?"

"No no no!" He insisted with that big bright smile of his. "I MUST see you to the gate!"

However, I knew him too well. This time, Arthit's smile was forced.

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My stomach hurts so much that I'm practically starting to see stars — or rather white spots — in front of my eyes. I could feel cold sweat pouring down my forehead and apparently, in spite of my brave front, Kongpob Suthiluck is also sensing that something is wrong with me. I see his eyes on me more frequently than before and once, there was a slight frown on his forehead.

However, I continued to shoulder on bravely, gritting my teeth with every single step. Thank goodness the gate to SK University is looming up in the distance. With my last ounce of energy, I started cheering Kongpob Suthiluck loudly.

"Do your best! You'll definitely ace this exam as usual! Fighting Kongpob! Fighting! Do your best!"

I could see the tips of his ears turning red as he walked away from me as fast as he could. However, before he ran off, he actually told me to go back as soon as possible. I cheered as loudly as I could until his figure disappeared from my sight.

I didn't know whether that was because he had left or whether it was due to the world that was suddenly tilting alarmingly. Just then, another wave of sharp pain hit me as I bent almost double, clutching at my stomach. I gratefully sank onto my knees and crumpled onto the floor as darkness overtook me...

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I was so embarrassed that I almost wanted to dig a hole in the ground as everyone stared at me, thanks to my one-man cheer team screaming his lungs out. However, just as I was about to make my way to the hall, the screams stopped with a suddenness that was a bit unnatural.

A feeling of bad foreboding came over me and I found my feet carrying me away from the hall towards the entrance, back the way I came. I saw that a small crowd had gathered around the gate and I quickly ran up to them, making my way to the front.

My heart nearly stopped when I saw Arthit's limp figure motionless on the ground.

"Arthit!!!" I yelled as I quickly turned him over, noticing for the first time how deathly white he was. Even though he was unconscious, his hands were still clutching at his stomach. Was it appendicitis?

My only thought was to get him to a hospital as soon as possible. I bent down and lifted him into my arms – goodness he was lighter than I'd expected. I heard a muffled groan from him as I held his limp figure carefully against me.

Then I started walking rapidly to the hospital. I tried to hold him against my chest as steadily as I could, looking down at him occasionally, noticing that sweat was constantly pouring down him forehead and that he was biting his lips even in his unconscious state.

His head was resting on my shoulder and his soft hair brushed my chin and cheek occasionally. I liked that warmth and unconsciously leaned into it, pulling him even closer to my chest.

Finally, I burst into the emergency unit where the nurses took one look at us and removed him from my arms.

As I anxiously watched them take him away, for the first time in my life, I was terrified for someone else's well-being.

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