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Part 34

"Hey Arthit!" I turned around and saw Mike waving at me. I waved back cheerfully.

"Yo! What's up?"

"Do you know that Kongpob switched jobs?"

"Did he???" My eyes opened wide – Kongpob Suthiluck never mentioned that to me. Well, he never did before, but...damnit, how did I not notice it before?

"Yes, he's actually working at my grandma's inn."

My mouth dropped open, Mike's grandmother owned an inn? And I never knew!

Well, within seconds he was blabbering to me all the details – apparently the inn was at a holiday resort and there was a restaurant that Kongpob was working at. And sometimes he also helped out at the reception.

After Mike had told me everything, I rushed home to update the Kongpob family.

And guess what???

Mrs and Mr Suthiluck decided to take all of us to the inn for a holiday weekend!

Hehe...I am so smart sometimes!

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I was wiping the tables one bright morning, enjoying the peace and quietness, when suddenly...

"Kongpob!!!"

My head snapped up when I heard my mother's voice calling for me. To my surprise, my entire family, including the Rojnapat family, were dragging suitcases into the inn.

What the hell...

"Mother, father...um...you've all come to stay?" I asked in half-disbelief, half-panic.

"That's right son, we're here for the weekend!" My mother squealed happily in response, while Daniel waved at me happily.

0_0

No way in hell...

"H-How many rooms do you need?" I asked them politely as I approached the reception desk. Despite my anger and dissatisfaction over this situation, I was still working after all.

"You know, son, we were initially staying at a bigger resort. However, we decided to come here after Mike recommended this place. I'm glad we made the choice. We will be seeing a lot of you this weekend, Kongpob." My mom spoke very happily, while Dad and Mr. Rojnapat were nodding equally excited. Only Arthit's head was hung low, clearly avoiding looking me in the eyes.

I nodded as I quickly checked them in and gave their keys. I turned to see my Mama heaving a sigh of relief, before nodding her heads towards Arthit, obviously suggesting me to led him up to his room.

Damn, mother you really won't give up, do you?

Although, this was not part of my work obligations, I decided to obey to avoid getting a earful from my dear mother again. I sighed and grabbed Arthit's luggage, walking away from him, knowing very well he would follow me wherever.

"Kongpob Suthiluck," Arthit spoke softly as he walked beside me.

"Yes?"

"Thanks... thank you so much for carrying my luggage. So... so sorry about giving you so much trouble. I never expected your mother to bring us here..." His voice died away as he bowed his head guiltily.

I knew he had every reason to feel guilty.

"Baka, you did it on purpose, didn't you?" I stopped by the door to his room and put down the luggage. "Here you go, Sir." I said through gritted teeth and walked away.

As I turned to look at him at the end of corridor, he was still staring after me with his eyes and mouth wide open.

I always know what you are up to, Arthit, didn't you know? I shook my head and stepped into the elevator. It's not your fault that our entire family is here. Knowing mama she would have found out anyway through other sources...

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"Arthit what are you doing?"

I quickly popped my head out and saw Daniel with an impatient frown on his face.

"I'm almost done."

"Hurry! Everyone's waiting for you."

I popped my head back into the room, quickly pulled on my socks and ran a comb through my hair. Daniel frowned at me as I apologized to him. As we were walking through the corridors, I noticed that the dark wooden walls and floor boards gave the hotel an eerie look. I wouldn't want to be walking around here alone.

Just then, Daniel froze beside me. I turned and felt my blood run cold when this long dark shadow slowly moved towards us...

"Aaaahhh!" We both screamed loudly and clung to each other in pure horror as a white head suddenly appeared in front of us. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to cover Daniel with my body and protect him from this...ghost??

"Ho ho ho! Ha ha ha..."

The laughter that rang through the corridor sounded strangely reminiscent of a...human. I opened one eye cautiously. The head was now "connected" to a body – an old man with white hair stood in front of us. His face was as wrinkled as a prune and his toothless gums flashed at us as he bent almost double in laughter.

"Who are you?" I asked cautiously, trying to calm my thumping heart as I realized that this old fellow must have trying to frighten us. Well, he sure succeeded, we were both petrified!

"I'm Mike's Grandfather," the old weirdo finally stopped laughing and vanished through an open doorway. It was a smart move, Daniel and I were ready to jump on him and pummel him with our fists for scaring us – yes, regardless of his age.

Daniel was complaining to Kongpob Suthiluck about Mike's grandfather the moment we stepped into the restaurant. He listened quietly and then nodded, "Yes, that sounds exactly like him. He loves frightening young men..."

"It's all your fault Arthit! If I hadn't gone up to call you, I wouldn't have been frightened as well." Daniel pointed an accusing finger at me as his face twisted into an angry pout.

What??!

You try to blame this on me???

I shook my head and decided to be magnanimous and forgive Daniel for his ungracious comments when a delicious smell assailed my nose. Damn that smelt good...Hmmm... whoever decided to come here made the right choice!

Hehehe...I am such a genius.

Soon, I was sitting next to Kongpob Suthiluck and burying my head in the menu, when the waiter approached us.

"What would you like to have, Mister?"

I could never mistake that familiar voice anywhere.

"Max!!!" My eyes widened as I resurfaced from behind the huge menu. "What are you doing...are you working here?"

Max beamed brightly as me. "Your father told me that you were all having a holiday here before he gave me the week off, so I decided to take a part time job here – there were vacancies."

Geez, this guy really is resourceful in his own way.

"So ... so ... you actually...followed me here?" I was so surprised that I could hardly speak. Surely Max had to be joking – I mean there was probably no other job that he could find, so he decided to come here right? Or perhaps he knew that this was a lovely holiday resort so he made up his mind to work here so that he could relax after a long day? My brain was so busy thinking up excuses for him that I almost missed his exchange with Kongpob Suthiluck.

"... ... so see Kongpob, how can you compare your love for Arthit to my love for him?"

I choked on my rice and buried my head in my napkin, coughing my lungs out when I heard Max challenging Kongpob Suthiluck in a gleeful and triumphant tone.

"Nothing is comparable to your love." Kongpob responded in his usual cool way.

Damn! What was that enigmatic sentence suppose to mean? Between coughing and sputtering, I managed to lift my head slightly and peeked at Kongpob Suthiluck through the corner of my eye. He was looking at Max with his usual cool unperturbed expression.

Then I heard him placing his order calmly. Max had the darnest expression on his face – it was as if he didn't know whether to jump in joy or to scratch his head in utter confusion. Quite obviously, he was just as puzzled as I was by Kongpob Suthiluck's comment – should we simply take it at face value?

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After that delicious dinner I was so full and felt a bit tired, so I decided to go to the park surrounding the hotel and walk around a bit. Despite Max's efforts to entice Kongpob into a fight, Kongpob had remained completely unbothered by him and family dinner was spent without any problems.

Except, Kongpob was ignoring my presence as usual, even though I was sitting right beside him.

I sighed...

Well, at least this location is a beautiful for a small vacation. I felt very calm there.

The evening sun was nice and warm, with a soft breeze blowing and I decided to sit on the soft springy grass, leaning against the trunk of a huge tree. The network-like branches spread evenly overhead, shading me against the setting sun.

I sighed, closing my eyes and enjoying the quiet and peaceful moment, while listening to the birds singing cheerfully in the woods. And the more I listened, the further away those voices sounded until...

Suddenly, a pair of feet came into my vision. I lifted my head and saw Kongpob Suthiluck standing in front of me.

"Kongpob Suthiluck?"

"Is it okay if I sit with you?"

Before I could nod hurriedly in agreement, he continued with an uncharacteristically soft voice and sweet smile. "Why did you bring the entire family along with you? You should have come alone, you baka... I was expecting only you to come, because I knew that Mike would have told you by now where I was working." He bent down to sit beside me as he spoke, leaning against the tree trunk and...still staring at me with that...soft look in his eyes.

I could hardly believe my ears – this was KONGPOB SUTHILUCK speaking? And did he just sound...disappointed that I hadn't come to see him alone??? Why is he staring at me like that??? Not with the usual poker face filled with disgust and anger, but...with actually softness in his eyes? And why is he smiling at me??? Oh god, he is smiling at me...

My head swarm in confusion, while my heart leaped to my throat in excitement.

"Sure ... surely, I'm not... not that important to you..." Somehow I managed to stutter, but the end of my sentence died in my throat, when I felt Kongpob move beside me and I found myself staring up into his face that was hovering slightly above mine, barely a feet away.

A warm smile broke over his face, so wide, so happy and it was as if the sun had broken through the stormy clouds, casting warm light rays over the gloomy Earth. "Silly," he whispered in a low husky voice, his tone so soft and endearing, making my heart skip a beat.

My eyes widened as he leaned closer and closer to me and then, my eyelids fluttered shut and I felt his warm breath on my face, so close yet not close enough. And for a split of a second I was sure he would move away from me in loud mocking laughter and make fun of me for being so gullible, but those bad thoughts were gone the moment something soft and warm touched my lips and I melted. His lips tasted sweet like heaven and I could feel him moving closer to cup my right cheek, while pressing our lips flush together.

I must be dreaming ... I must be dreaming ... I muttered to myself as the kiss seemed to last for forever. And gosh, how I wished it would.

His touch on my cheek was equally soft like the touch of his lips and I could feel my heartbeat beating so loud, I was sure Kongpob could hear it too.

After what felt like forever (or was it just a second?), he moved away from me and I opened my eyes, looking directly into his dark eyes that were warm for once. My cheeks were aflame and my right cheek tingled from his touch.

"This is the second time!" I gasped aloud and cupped my cheeks in shock, turning away from his intense gaze.

"Silly." I heard Kongpob whisper in a low chuckle, clearly amused by my reaction. And gosh, it was enough to give me a heart attack right there and then.

I blinked hard and turned to him, but...Kongpob Suthiluck was no longer sitting beside me. I looked around, but saw him nowhere in sight – where did he go?

A strange feeling of disappointed descended upon me when I finally realized that indeed I was right — it had only been a dream...Of course it was a dream! There was no way Kongpob would talk to me sweetly or smile at me warmly...let alone, kiss me!!! Wake up, Arthit!

Unconsciously I raised my fingers to my lips, tracing the soft skin there and wondering why the hell were my lips still tingling then?

Damnit Arthit, you have got to stop daydreaming about Kongpob like this! You are confusing yourself!

I sighed heavily as I got up and decided to make my way home. The sun had set and it had gotten dark by now. But as I turned, I saw a small figure standing under a tree a few feet away.

"...Daniel?"

As I walked nearer, I noticed that indeed it was Daniel. Strangely enough even from a distance, I could see that he was blushing furiously. "Daniel? Are you okay?" I asked softly, starting to feel worried when he was not responding and just stared at me in wide-eyed shock.

Just as I put a hand to his shoulder, he suddenly seemed to come back to life, turned and ran back to the hotel as fast as he could, away from me. I was rooted to the ground for a while, totally puzzled by his weird behavior. What has gotten into him? It was almost as if he had seen a ghost!?

Did he see Mike's grandfather lurking somewhere in the dark again?

As soon as I thought of that possibility, I didn't plan on staying longer to find it out for myself and ran towards the hotel as fast as my legs could carry me. Just like Daniel had done seconds before me.

He really must've seen that creepy grandfather behind me...

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As cliché as it sounds, happy times do indeed pass quickly. Within a blink of the eye, Sunday had arrived and we were packing to return home again. After putting the suitcases into the car boot, we all gathered around to say goodbye to Kongpob Suthiluck. I purposely waited to be the last. Somehow, tears sprang into my eyes as I saw him hugging Mrs Suthiluck goodbye. They really had the best mother-son relationship.

Finally, those dark brown eyes turned to me.

"G...goodbye Kongpob Suthiluck," I whispered trying to control the quaver in my voice. Alas, my voice broke the moment I opened my mouth and my silly tears started spilling over.

"What are you crying for?" Was the only cool response I got from him. As the dark eyes continued to gaze at me, I thought I saw a flicker of emotion in them. Something akin of care...or worry? However, seeing that the surroundings were looking rather blurry through my tears, I thought I probably imagined it as I hastily wiped away my tears and patted my cheeks.

"Both of you are very compatible."

I almost jumped out of my skin as this hoarse quivery voice sounded next to my ear. I spun around and saw that Mike's "dear" (read: uber super duper creepy) grandfather had yet again successfully snuck up on me. However, since he was actually saying something so nice this time, I restrained myself from screaming at him and actually managed a watery smile.

I gave Kongpob one last look until Auntie came to usher me into the car. I watched as Kongpob gave his little brother a big hug, and although it looked normal, I couldn't help but think that Daniel was acting a bit stiff and awkward around his brother. Did that creepy grandfather scare you that bad yesterday? I couldn't help but worry as I watched how Kongpob whispered something into Daniel's ear. Daniel nodded, and then climbed into the car and stared at me weirdly, half in shock, half curious.

I guessed he needed his space to overcome his fear and figure out...whatever he was dealing with, so I opted to looking out of the car windows for the entire trip home.

My head was in cloud nine as I savored the way Kongpob Suthiluck's lips had felt against mine in the dream. So sweet, so soft, so gentle were his lips and touch on my cheek as he pressed closer.

Oh gosh, was I blushing again?

That had been the most realistic and simply the best dream that I had ever had – the only one in which Kongpob Suthiluck had actually kissed me....

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Double update with my favorite chapter so far!