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Part 37

I was getting more and more distressed by the minute as everything that Aya was reading out showed how incompatible I was with Kongpob Suthiluck. Was it really decided by the stars? That we were bound to not match with each other?

Ever...?

"Okay, last one...." Aya said as she quickly flipped open the last book in her lap and I held my breath anxiously.

But instead of hearing Aya's voice reading the book aloud, I heard a familiar husky voice speaking in a calm tone, "Kongpob's sign moves through life with pure intellectual exploration, asking questions like so what does this mean and how does it connect to extant objects? While Arthit's sign is more emotionally focused, asking questions like how does this feel? These partners may find it extremely difficult to understand the other's origin of thought and conflicts are inevitable in this relationship..."

"Kongpob!" I leapt to my feet in shock, my eyes glowing with joy as I looked at the tall figure leaning over Aya's shoulder and gazing at the book in her hand. But before I could say anything more, Auntie had rushed over the moment she heard Kongpob Suthiluck reading out loud, and immediately pulled him aside.

"Why are you so late???" She whacked him hard on his shoulder and I found myself flinching as if her target was myself. "You should have known better...I already told you weeks ago you should be here..."

However, Kongpob Suthiluck stood there calmly, not responding to her ire. Then as if he got tired of all her theatrics, he turned to me.

The moment our eyes met, I felt an odd electric current traveling down my spine. His dark eyes seemed to widen slightly as they traveled from my face down the full length of my body, and back up again to my face. Under his steady gaze, I felt myself going weak in the knees and I unconsciously leant back against the sofa. I hoped with all my heart he found me handsome...at least this once. Gosh, I really hoped so.

For one long moment (or so it seemed to me – apparently later, I was told it was not even noticeable to the rest) we stared at each other. This was one of the first times that I saw some kind of warm emotion as I gazed into the depths of his dark eyes. However, I could not decipher the look – I only knew it gave me a warm cosy feeling inside, as if I was soaking in the hot springs. As if he was...admiring me.

"Happy birthday, Arthit." My knees trembled at the sound of his voice. "You look handsome." Was it my imagination or was his tone a tad warm? Others probably were not able to tell, but I was so familiar with his tone of voice by now that I could detect nuances that no one else could.

I blushed deep shade of red and reluctantly tore my eyes away from him when Mrs Suthiluck touched my shoulder. She had a bright encouraging smile on her face.

"My present must be given to you in private." His next words drew not only my attention but everyone's else. When I looked at him, the warm look was gone and he was back to his normal cool self. "Shall we go to your room?"

Extremely curious to know what surprise he had for me, I quickly nodded as I led the way to my room. We were both unconscious of the delighted expression on Mrs Suthiluck's face, as well as the shocked looks on my friends' faces and horrified looks that were reflected on our fathers' and Daniel's faces.

As soon as we entered my room, to my surprise, Kongpob Suthiluck pulled my spare chair to my desk, next to my original chair, and calmly sat down in it. "Bring out your books." I looked at him in surprise. "I'm tutoring you for your exams tomorrow – that's my birthday present for you."

Immediately, I beamed and quickly started gathering my notes and textbooks, blithely ignoring the fact that he was muttering something to himself that sounded suspiciously like, "that's something that you desperately need anyway..."

Soon it was like the good old times, him taking about fifteen minutes to flip through my notes and textbooks for each subject, and then highlighting the important points, testing me on my concepts and teaching me how to apply my newly acquired knowledge.

"Kongpob Suthiluck."

"Yes?"

"What about Krystal?" Somehow I managed to muster enough courage to ask Kongpob Suthiluck this question. I haven't forgotten the fact that he was supposed to tutor her today.

"She's so smart that she doesn't really need my help. Also, I have asked someone who is ten times smarter than me to help her with her exam revision."

0_0

My eyes widened in surprise as I stared at Kongpob Suthiluck. Wait...Kongpob found someone else to tutor Krystal, so he could still come to my birthday party???

And he found someone ten times smarter than him???

Not possible!

I would never believe that this kind of person would actually exist and Kongpob would actually admit them being smarter than him. Can't be... Who was it???

I was so curious to know, but I didn't want to ruin the moment, so I quickly turned back to my studying, not wanting to miss out on any part of the best present that I have received in my entire life.

Yes, I'm so sorry papa. Even your Kimono fabric, expensive as it is, cannot be compared to Kongpob Suthiluck's present. He has given me time and attention, and knowing Kongpob, that is the rarest gift I could have.

I was smiling the entire time as I studied hard together, all because I had Kongpob Suthiluck next to me again...

Just like old times...

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"What's happening?"

"Stop pushing me, hey stop shoving!"

"Why is it so quiet?"

"What are they doing???"

Mr and Mrs Suthiluck, Daniel, Mr Rojnapat and all the guests invited to the birthday party were fighting for a place, pressing their ears to the door and trying to find out what was exactly happening inside the room.

However, all was peace and calm in the room as Kongpob continued to tutor Arthit relentlessly, both of them blissfully unaware of the scuffle that was taking place outside their door.

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I was dancing around in joy as I looked at my exam results – goodness, I've scored about eighty for every subject!

Yippeeeee!!!

This is the best exam results I have had in all my university days!

Of course, I know who is responsible for it. That's why here I am, pacing the corridor outside Kongpob Suthiluck's lecture room, my heart beating loudly as I waited for him to appear.

"Kongpob Suthiluck!" I ran to him the moment I saw him, excitedly waving my exam results under his nose. He took the slip from me and ran his eyes down the list. I waited for his reaction, to congratulate me, to be happy for me, but... there was none. "Thanks so much Kongpob Suthiluck, all the questions you taught me came out in the exam!" Despite his ignorant poker face, I was still bubbling with joy.

"If all the questions came out, why did you only get eighty?"

My heart sank at the cold expression on his face. Obviously, he was not impressed. I held out my hand automatically as he passed the result slip back to me and walked off in the opposite direction. I felt as though a bucket of cold water had been dunked over me. Even this was not enough to please him...

I wandered off listlessly, exiting the university building for some fresh air, when suddenly two pairs of arms grabbed hold of me and I was dragged behind the nearest tree.

"Aya? May?"

"Shush!" They both hushed me.

"Now tell us – what was your first time with Kongpob like?"

"First time, what first time???" I asked extremely puzzled.

"Tell us!" They both glared at me fiercely.

"Er ... er ... okay I guess." I quickly muttered as a reply and ran away from them.

"Arthit, wait! We want to know mooooore!"

They were still screaming after me when I disappeared around the corner. What on earth are they talking about??? First time?? Wierdos ... ...wier ... HANG ON!

0_0

Suddenly, I felt myself blushing to the tips of my ears. Did they think... oh my goodness, so they thought that Kongpob Suthiluck and I were... ... because he said he had to give my present to me in private in my room...so that's what everyone was thinking yesterday! What filthy minds people have!

And ... and I told them it was okay, and added I guess.... I groaned aloud at my own stupidity. I could only imagine that Kongpob would be much better than just "Okay, I guess...". I leant my flushing face against the cool surface of a pillar.

Slowly, my embarrassment faded as depression took its place instead. In a way, perhaps it might even be better if everyone thought that was true. Nothing like that has never happened between us – I mean we haven't even held hands. Nothing like that would ever happen between us – for I know too well that I would never be able to hold a piece of Kongpob Suthiluck's heart.

I sat down and buried my face in my folded arms, trying to fight the dark despair consuming my heart and bringing hot tears to my eyes once again...

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"Arthit, what on earth are you doing?" I could bear it no longer and raised my voice at the stupid baka who was swinging his tennis racket back and forth. He quickly stopped and straightened, looking rather flustered at my irritated tone.

"I... I'm trying to learn more about your style because I'm the back-up for the tournament. So... so I'll need to practice in case Krystal gets injured."

Krystal's face darkened in annoyance as she heard Arthit's blunt remark. This was absolutely the most ridiculous reason I have ever heard. He would never be able to be as good as Krystal and frankly, I would rather quit the tournament than have him replace Krystal.

And what takes the cake is that he's totally convinced by his own flawed logic.

I felt an impending headache consume me...

"You can never learn my style," I responded in an extremely cold tone. "Now go off and stop disturbing my practice."

With that I turned back to face our opponents Mike and Jessica, ignoring the sudden slump in Arthit's shoulders and the familiar injured dog expression on his face as he bowed his head in silence and quickly crept away, his tail between his legs.

I heaved a sigh as he left the court – it had been extremely difficult for me to concentrate on the practice match, while having your "personal shadow" trying to copy your every move, causing you to bump into "it" when you move back to hit the ball.

...

Aahhh...who am I kidding???

...

It had been impossible for me to concentrate on the match, when all I did was worry about Arthit getting hurt somehow...

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Still stinging from Kongpob Suthiluck's harsh words, I crept listlessly away. As usual, I have managed to irritate him. Just then, I saw a girl from our opposing team approaching me. I stopped as she came up to me, waving her hand in greeting, I was wondering what she wanted from me.

"Hi, my name's Yumi."

"Hello, I'm Arthit."

We shook hands politely.

"Yes, I know. I've heard a lot of you Arthit."

I stared at her in surprise – why would she have heard of me?

"I must say I'm impressed with your courage and determination. If I had been you, I would have given up on Kongpob Suthiluck a long time ago. He seems such a cold and arrogant person, despite being so smart and handsome"

I didn't know how to react and just managed a sheepish smile and a wave as she returned to her side of the court.

Well...that was...random.

I turned to look for Aya and May sitting in the crowd, only to see them chattering away with their boyfriends.

This has happened so often in the past few days that I am no longer surprised.

Ah goodbye my dear friends, once they fall in love, they don't have any more time for you...

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