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"So, will you help me?" I asked Nam, hoping that she would say yes. After all, she was the one who probably knew more details about Kongpob after dating him, so she would definitely be a big help.

She thought about it for a moment as she rubbed her chin. But then she gave me a smile. "I'm in." she answered, then followed, "Operation Seduce Kongpob is officially starting."

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"Step # 1, you should learn Kongpob's schedule, because the more times you bump into him, the better." Nam was saying as we ate our lunch. "Luckily, I still know it so I'll write it down for you."

She handed me the piece of paper after writing it. And when I saw it, my jaw dropped. It was so detailed, even including the time he goes home and when he reaches his house. "Don't tell me you were stalking him when you guys were together." I exclaimed, looking at her, wide-eyed.

"Then I won't." she responded with a sheepish smile. "Anyway, as you can see there, he's going to be here in about..." she paused to check her watch, then continued, "...five minutes, so before he comes, let's try to come up with a plan for you to approach him."

I looked around, checking for Jessica's presence in the cafeteria. Sure enough, she was there, chatting with one of her fellow obsessed Kongpob fans. "I want something that would make her get out of here once she sees it." I told Nam, feeling my anger rising upon remembering what she did to me.

Remember when I said Nam and I possessed the same kind of evil minds? Well, here was the proof. "That's easy. You can do that just by talking to Kongpob in front of her." She remarked simply. "But here's what you've got to do," she paused, taking something from her pocket. "This is Kongpob's watch. When we became a couple, I took it from him, telling him that as long as I have this with me, he can never have a girlfriend. Tell him that I asked you to send this back to him because I'm ready to let him go."

I observed Nam as she said that, and from what I saw, behind the smile she was showing me as she spoke, there was still pain and it was difficult for her to say it. "Are you serious?" I asked with a frown, feeling like Nam didn't need to do this for me.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" she replied, still smiling as she placed the watch in my hand. "Now go. And don't even think about bickering in the middle of your conversation."

Seeing how she really seemed sincere with her words, I smiled too, and stood up from my seat. At exactly the same time, Kongpob and Joss entered the cafeteria. I slowly walked up to them, hoping we'd meet at a point where Jessica would have a very very clear view of us.

"Kongpob!" I called cheerily as I approached him. I never really called him that way so it felt a bit awkward. But nevertheless, it got his attention. And he sure was surprised at my sudden friendliness. "Hi, I just wanted to give this to you from Nam." I remarked in a friendly tone. He looked at me with a raised brow, but didn't say anything. I decided to say something more. "And to apologize for losing my temper on you earlier."

Joss was really surprised by what I said. But before he could utter anything, Kongpob suddenly grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the exit. "I'll be right back." He told Joss as he did.

As he pulled me, I tried to glance over my shoulder to see how Jessica was reacting. And to my delight, she had jumped up from her seat and was glaring at us very angrily. It took a lot of effort for me not to laugh. Well, not really, because I was busy trying to pull away from Kongpob's iron grip. He really had a thing for grabbing my wrist and dragging me along all the time. "Where are you taking me?" I demanded when we were already in the hallway.

He stopped walking and turned to me. "I'm taking you to the school clinic." He answered in a serious tone.

"What?! Why are you talking me to the clinic?" I remarked, finally pulling myself free from his grip.

"Because you're ill." He responded simply.

I gave him a glare." Just because I'm trying to be in better terms with you doesn't mean I'm ill!" I pointed out to him. But he still looked at me unconvinced so I tried to defend myself. "Look, I just want to be friends with you, because I realized that your breakup with Nam wasn't really your fault." (Yeah right!)

"But it is my fault." He suddenly admitted with a smirk.

Why was it that whenever I wanted Kongpob to do something, he always did the opposite? For a long time now, I had wanted him to admit his fault on his breakup with Nam in front of people, but he never did. And now that I was trying to get him to lie, he was actually telling the truth. "Well, then I forgive you." I retorted, starting to once again, be irritated.

Breathe, breathe Arthit, you have to get friendly with him, remember?

Being the arrogant jerk he was, Kongpob was once again using my words against me. "Wait, but you're the one apologizing, so why would you forgive me?" he said, his smirk turning into a mischievous smile.

"Fine, then do you forgive me?" I spoke irritatedly.

"Not in that tone of voice. I'd forgive you if you get on your knees and ask me for forgiveness in a sweeter tone." He remarked in a teasing tone.

If it wasn't for Nam's warning earlier about getting into a fight with Kongpob, I would probably already yell at him by now. But instead, I tried to control myself by taking a deep breath. "Look, I'm not going to get on my knees and beg you to forgive me because my offense isn't really that big. And if I were you, I'd forgive you now." I tried to speak in a softer voice.

"Okay then," he suddenly said, making me believe that he was ready to forgive me now. "You don't need to keel for me, but you have to do something for me before I can forgive you."

I let out a sigh. Here he was again, with his out-of-this-world requests. "And what is it?" I asked, somehow ready to hear something like jumping like a frog three times or shout at the top of my lungs that Kongpob's the greatest. You know, the embarrassing stuff.

But unexpectedly, he chose this moment to become all serious again as he looked me deep in the eyes. "I want you to stay away from me." He remarked out of the blue, his face filled with seriousness. Then it was his turn to walk away from me.

Kongpob had never walked away from me before. It was always me who ran away from him, but never him...

Surprised by what he just did, I found myself staring at his back for a while. Was he actually implying that I was always sticking to him? How dare he say that??? Sure enough, I was angry again.

Just as I was about to run after him, I suddenly noticed Daniel running up to me, a bit breathless. "There you are! I need to talk to you, do you have time?"

Unfortunately, I was in no mood to play along with him. "I'm sorry, I need to go." I answered him, turning around and starting to walk away. As I did, I prayed that he would leave me be because if he didn't, I could really explode on him.

But he just had to be persistent. He grabbed my hand and pleaded with puppy eyes. "Please?"

Having no choice, I turned around and waited for him to say what he had to say. "Go on and say it then." I finally said, not bothering to hide what I felt in my tone of voice.

He looked around. "Let's go somewhere more private." He said, starting to walk as he continued to hold on to my hand, causing me to follow him.

He led me to a deserted classroom, asking me to take a seat. If I were to guess, he was probably going to ask me out (courtesy of Jessica). And though I would have felt really excited before, right now, I was feeling the exact opposite.

"Arthit, I did something really really bad." He started, looking at me with an apologetic smile.

Suddenly, I knew what he was saying. He was admitting his dreadful ways. "What do you mean?"

"Jessica approached me a while back. She asked me to do something and I agreed, seeing how I wanted to do it too." He explained with his eyes focused on mine. "She asked me to court you, Arthit and I accepted, in exchange for money."

I wanted him to say something more, like how he was so sorry and he was an asshole, that he would never see me again so that my wounds would heal, but he didn't. I guessed he wanted me to speak instead so I finally decided to vent out my anger. "What exactly do you expect me to say? Let me guess, you expect me to take that as an honest remark and for that, I'd forgive you, don't you?" I spoke as coldly as I could. "I'm sorry, but I'm not that stupid to believe you."

"You're right, you're not stupid. And that's the reason why I resorted to doing it." He responded in a comforting tone. "I knew that you wouldn't easily fall for someone like me, so I accepted Jessica's offer. Because I knew that she could help me win your heart."

I was so on the edge that even the smallest stupidity seemed to make me very mad. And what Daniel did was not a small mistake. "That's really stupid, you know that? I trusted you! and you know what I hate most in this world? It's people who have nothing better to do than lie and play with people's feelings!" I shouted angrily at him, standing up and heading for the hallway. "Goodbye."

I ran towards the bathroom, not even bothering to apologize to the people I bumped on the way. I was afraid that my tears would fall before I reached a stall. And luckily, my first tear dropped as I locked the stall I entered in.

It didn't really cross my mind why I was crying until about a minute. Why was I crying? Was I crying because of Daniel?

I want you to stay away from me...

Then why was it that only Kongpob's words were the ones circling in my mind? I couldn't believe it, he still managed to disturb me in my mind.

My phone began to vibrate in my pocket so I took it out and saw it was Nam calling me. I answered in no hurry. "Arthit! What happened? Where are you?" she asked from the other end of the line.

"I'm in the bathroom near our classroom." I answered, my voice muffled. That was all I said then I hanged up.

No other girl would dare step into the guy's bathroom, but I knew Nam was different and soon enough, I heard a knock on my stall. "Arthit? Are you there?" Nam asked worriedly. I opened the stall and faced her. "What happened?"

Wiping my tears, I took a deep breath. "I just had a talk with Daniel. He admitted everything." I explained, suddenly having hiccups.

"Wait, but I thought you said you're over that already? Isn't that why we're doing the plan?" she remarked, offering a handkerchief to me. I nodded. "Then why are you crying?"

"I don't know." I admitted as I continued to wipe my tears. "I guess I just suddenly had an emotional breakdown. But I'm feeling better now."

She then smiled. "Okay then, can you tell me what happened between you and Kongpob?" she finally asked what I thought to be the question she wanted to ask all along.

I told her about how it started like our usual conversation, but then he suddenly became strange and angry. "He asked me to stay away from him, can you believe that?" I let out, once again feeling angry. Luckily, my hiccups had ended. "It's not like I want to hang out with him."

"He seriously said that?" Nam exclaimed disbelievingly. "That's impossible."

"Would I lie about something like that?" I asked, washing my face. "He really said that...and then he walked away."

She sighed with a frown. "Why would he do something like that? It doesn't make sense." She remarked.

I shrugged at her.

"This could only mean one thing." She said seriously.

"What?" I couldn't help but ask, nervous all of a sudden.

"Maybe Kongpob doesn't like you anymore."

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