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Part 38

Everyone had a very gloomy expression on their faces as Mike kept looking at his watch impatiently, muttering to himself. "What on earth is taking Krystal so long? The tournament is going to start in about 10 mins!" 

He paced around feverishly and I didn't say a single word – I couldn't. I only felt my palms sweating with nervousness – Krystal, please please hurry up! I really don't want to play in this tournament...

Finally, 5 minutes before the tournament started, Mike stopped pacing. He took a final glance at his watch and then came towards me, a grim expression on his face. I took a step back involuntarily, shaking my head furiously, cause I already knew what he would say. "Get ready to play Arthit."

"NO!" I shook my head violently. Wild horses wouldn't get me to step into the court – if I played, losing the game would be a foregone conclusion. Kongpob Suthiluck would do much better playing by himself.

"YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!" Mike yelled at me in frustration. Close to tears, I still shook my head stubbornly, backing away from the fearsome scowl on Mike's face. Don't make me go, please don't! He clenched his hands into fists and took a few threatening steps towards me.

"Mike, let me talk to him." Kongpob Suthiluck suddenly stepped between us, preventing Mike from coming any closer to me.

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I wanted to tear my hair out in frustration. Of all days, the train had to break down today!!! I have every intention to write to the Ministry of Transportation and lodge a complain about the poor transportation services provided in this city in spite of the high fares that are charged by the government. I looked at my watch – only twenty minutes left till the tournament. 

There was no other choice. Gritting my teeth, I got off the train and started running towards University. It would take a miracle to get me there on time.

"Krystal!" 

I heard a familiar voice behind me and turned around, seeing Nat on his bicycle. "Where are you rushing off to? Hang on, aren't you on the tennis team?" He took a look at my disheveled appearance and put two and two together. "Hey hop on, I'll give you a lift." He stopped pedaling and waited beside me. I looked at his bicycle dubiously. "Come on," he made an impatient gesture. "Otherwise, you'd probably make it in time to hear the results of the tournament."

Biting my lip, I nodded and climbed up behind him.

"Hang on tight!" He told me as I insistently wrapped my arms around his waist. Then, off he went, pedaling as fast as he could. I could feel the wind whipping through my hair as the bicycle zipped down the streets. 

"Faster, Nat, faster!" I screamed in joy. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to be rescued by a knight my age wearing sports gear and riding on a mountain bike...

Modern times require modern solutions, I guess.

Nevertheless, I was happy to have him save me like this.

Very very happy...

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"Arthit..." I began slowly, keeping my voice soft.

"No, no..." Arthit kept shaking his head as he backed away from me, his hair flying all over the place as he kept shaking it. 

I sighed silently, it was obvious that he was terrified about having to play with me. Frankly, looking at his non-existent skills, I can't blame him. I would probably do better without him distracting me, but I do need a partner for the tournament, since it is a couple game anyway. 

So I simply stood there looking at him patiently and waiting for him to calm down on his own. There was a long silence as his body tensed, expecting a tongue lashing from me that never came. When I continued to keep quiet, he slowly lifted up his teary eyes and looked at me. His wide panic-stricken eyes were like those of a frightened animal caught in a trap.

"I won't be allowed to play solo on the court, so I guess I'd have to give up my dream of winning the cup..." I muttered audibly to myself and sighed heavily in an attempt to make him feel guilty and give in.

"Kongpob Suthiluck ...I'm so sorry..." I saw him lip starting to tremble from the corner of my eye.

"Listen, Arthit, all you would have to do is just to stand in the corner that's all. I can handle all the throws myself. But I'll be disqualified if I enter the court alone..." I frowned and put on the most distressed expression on my face that I could. To be honest, it must have been really unconvincing. I know my own limitations and acting is definitely not something I do well.

But it was enough to sway Arthit's heart. "Will you be very disappointed if you get disqualified, Kongpob Suthiluck?" I heard him ask timidly between his small sobs. Gosh, he should stop crying in front of everybody like this. He is too cute for his own good.

Hiding a victorious grin, I simply sighed and turned away from him, resisting the urge to wipe away those tears of fear from his face. 

I would protect you, Arthit. I wouldn't let any ball hurt you, you know that, right? 

Deep in thought, I felt his small hand on my arm, a hesitant touch, but enough to make me turn to him again.

"I'll play, Kongpob Suthiluck." There it was. That unbelievably strong determination in his eyes. I was happy to see him return back to normal Arthit.

I bit back a self-congratulatory grin. You did it again, Kongpob.

Don't worry, Arthit, I will protect you.

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I spent the last two minutes before the match giving Arthit a few pointers, basically telling him to dodge the balls and about the hand signals I would be giving him to let him know what I wanted him to do. 

He listened to me with intense concentration, nodding occasionally and somehow, I knew it was going to be alright. 

The main thing that I wanted and succeeded in doing, was to distract him from the impending match and help him calm down. 

Mike, on his part, went to the opposite team and started boasting about Arthit's non-existent skills. We had both agreed to use scare tactics, hoping that they would try to target their shots at me rather than at Arthit...

As we finally stepped into the court, I saw identical nervous expressions on the faces of our opponents. Turning around to look at my partner, I realized the reason for their fear. 

Arthit was looking so nervous that his lips were drawn over tightly clenched teeth in an angry snarl, his eyebrows knitted together in a huge frown, a protruding vein was throbbing in his forehead and a muscle was twitching in her cheek. 

I had to admit that a person who didn't know him well would be completely frightened by what they would deem a most ferocious expression. 

I stopped walking, letting him catch up with me. Then, as he went past me to take his place in the court, I whispered to him with a smile, "Maintain your current expression, Arthit. Don't let it drop once throughout the match."

The first set of the match went rather smoothly. Arthit obediently dogged all the balls as I had instructed him, and I easily returned them instead. We won after the opponent failed to return a few of my smashes. I could see that he was maintaining his angry focused expression without any difficulty, making our opponents more and more nervous.

And making me feel more and more proud of him.

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Finally, we reached the University gates. My heart was racing and I could barely catch my breath. Thank goodness Krystal was so light! In spite of that, I was totally worn out from completing a usual forty minutes trip in twenty-five minutes with an extra weight on my bike. 

The moment she got off, I collapsed on the grass panting hard, too tired to stand. I saw Krystal grab her tennis gear and then pause, looking at me with worry evident on her face.

"Go..." I couldn't manage more than one groggy word. I gestured in the direction of the tennis courts with my head, signaling her to go and play the match. 

She seemed to hesitate for the longest moment, but then she gave me a nod and ran off. 

I was still gasping for air, when a short while later, a shadow fell over me as I was still lying on the ground. I stiffened with surprise when I looked up, seeing Krystal towering over me, holding a water cup in her hand.

"What are you doing here?"

"I went to the tennis courts, but I was too late. The game has started and Arthit has taken my place, playing with Kongpob." She shrugged carelessly, "They're doing good and even winning the game. They don't need me to be there anymore." 

I was quite shocked to see her being so calm and...somewhat happy about missing the game. Judging by her older sister's obsession with Kongpob and her own admiration with him, I had always thought she was after Kongpob and would be extremely pissed at Arthit for taking her place.

But...she really proved me wrong here.

Then she held out the cup to me, "Here, have a drink. Don't get dehydrated. And...thank you so much for 'driving' me here. Although, it was all for nothing."

A tired smile broke out over my face as I took the cup of ice water and gulped it down. 

She helped me over to a bench in the shade and somehow, we started chatting...

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The second set of the match has started and Arthit is still dogging all the balls like I had ordered him to.

But suddenly, I stumbled and watched helplessly as the ball flew right at Arthit. My body froze, eyes widened and I knew immediately I was too far to reach him in time.

Just as the ball was about to hit him in the face, he swung the racket in front of himself, protecting his face. My jaw dropped open as his racket hit the ball squarely, sending the ball back over the net where it bounced a couple of times and actually won as a point...

I couldn't believe it...

Fifteen minutes later, the audience was cheering and Mike came up to us with a huge grin on his face. "Congratulations you both! Good match." Then he winked at me, "Arthit is your partner now." 

I looked at him with a shocked expression as Arthit simply stared at Mike with this disbelieving expression on his face, and then he started tearing up in joy, screaming and jumping up and down happily. 

She was actually more happier being my tennis partner in the next matches, rather than having won the trophy...?

I couldn't help but shake my head, that adorable baka...

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0_0

So...umm...

OMG

I can't believe that we actually won!

...eerrr I meant that Kongpob Suthiluck actually won. 

As impossible as it may sound, we really did win and now we are both holding the trophy, smiling for the cameras. And then Mike approached us, telling us that we would be partnering up in upcoming matches from now on. I was in complete disbelief for a moment, certain that my ears had betrayed me, but when I saw the unmistakable tiny tiny smile spread over Kongpob's face, I realized that this was actual reality and I was "Kongpob's partner" now. ❤︎

Kongpob's...partner!

ME!!??

OMG

I am soooooo friiiggging happy I could die!!!

I know it's just for the tennis matches, but who knows, maybe this is a sign of something bigger to come???

Kongpob's partner... for life, maybe???

Hehehehehe... hmmmmm...that sounds nice...

Daanddaandadaaan, daaandaandadaaaan, here comes the married couple...

Come on, sing the marriage march with me! Daaandaandaddaaaaaan... ❤︎

Hehehehehe...one can dream right?

This is another moment in my life that I treasure forever...

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A few days later, I was still on cloud nine and kept daydreaming of me being Kongpob's partner for life, when Mr Suthiluck suddenly addressed Kongpob during breakfast.

"Kongpob, I need your help." 

We all looked at Mr Suthiluck in surprise as he made this unexpected request at the breakfast table. I noticed that Mr Suthiluck was looking very stressed. His forehead was furrowed and lines of fatigue were etched around his eyes. 

Uhoh...I immediately realized something serious and worrying was going on.

"Could you cover the duties of my secretary for a while?" He asked Kongpob seriously. I saw my dad trying to catch my attention and we both left the table hurriedly, leaving them to talk things over in private.

As soon as we reached my bedroom, my dad sat me down and told me quietly, "Listen, Arthit, Mr Suthiluck's secretary ran off last weekend, taking all the available cash and valuables in the company. They lost a huge amount of company's money and now Mr. Suthiluck has to come up with a solution to save the company from going bankrupt." Dad's face was serious and sad, and I could see how much he worried for his best friend. 

Poor Mr Suthiluck! My heart bled for the Kongpob family...this was a terrible situation! What were they going to do now? 

Dad told me that we would wait and see what was to happen. The good thing about us staying with them is that he could insist on paying rent to give the Suthiluck family some kind of income.

I really hoped Kongpob could come up with some solution to help his father.

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The next day, I found myself walking behind Mr Suthiluck and Kongpob as we stepped into his office building. Mrs Suthiluck had enthusiastically offered my "services" to Mr Suthiluck as well (all with the "hidden" intention to get me spend more time with Kongpob...bless her!). 

Don't get me wrong...I was very delighted to help, I had said that to Auntie first thing the next morning, but I was worried that I would mess up things when she told me to work for Kongpob's father. 

Mr Suthiluck had smiled tiredly, but kindly at me, telling me that he actually did need a secretary if I was willing to do such a menial job. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to work together with Kongpob Suthiluck.

"Ooo...."

"Aaah..."

"Oh! This must be the young Mr Suthiluck..."

"He's so handsome..."

"Wow... what a cutie!"

Shrieks of laughter, chattering voices and excited giggles greeted us as soon as we entered the office building. I saw Kongpob Suthiluck visibly wince when a horde of office girls and matrons surrounded us, screaming his name.

Gosh, it was like high school all over again! No! I gotta protect what's mine! --_-- 

I gritted my teeth, wanting to personally strangle those overly dolled-up girls who were busy fluttering their fake eyelashes at Kongpob Suthiluck, giving him calf eyes. Glancing at Kongpob Suthiluck, I managed to retain my composure and felt relieved instead. He looked as if he was going to be sick from all the screaming and unwanted attention.

"Ease up girls, go back to work." Mr Suthiluck commanded firmly and the crowd quickly melted away. 

"Arthit," he smiled at me and gestured towards a lady in her late forties. "Mrs Tania will show you where to work. Kongpob, you'll be sitting in that desk over there, directly in front of my office. No one would dare to disturb you there." 

Kongpob Suthiluck didn't say a single word, but sauntered after his father.

"Hi, I'm Arthit." I quickly smiled at Mrs Tania who showed me to a small desk and the filing cabinet. After explaining my assistant work to me, she gave me a huge stack of papers and left me to my own devices. 

I heaved a sigh of relief as she left – thank goodness the job was quite easy. Just a lot of filing, paperwork and making sure that I can help Mr Suthiluck with everything he needs. 

I should be able to accomplish this task without any mistakes...

It's the least I could for Mr Suthiluck who was already worried sick about his company's future.

And as the best work bonus, I could see Kongpob every day now! Partners in tennis, partners in work, what's next? Hehehehe...

Dreaming in my lalalaland again :D

Fighting, Arthit!

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