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Daniel was leaning against my locker, holding a small white lunch box in his hands.

Ohoh...

Upon reaching my locker, I opened my mouth to ask Daniel what he was doing there. But before I could say anything, he suddenly extended his hands towards me. "Here, take it." He said quietly, his eyes fixed on the ground.

"What's this?" I asked, although I already had an idea what it was. It was just that I couldn't understand why he would still give me this after the fight we had yesterday.

"It's the fried rice we were cooking yesterday. After you left, I continued making it." He answered softly, still unable to meet my eyes. He placed the box in my hands.

Since I was right about it being a lunchbox for me, I returned it to him just as he placed it in my hands. "I'm sorry, but I can't take this." I told him, trying my best to sound nice since it was really sweet of him to do this. But I had two reasons why I couldn't accept it. The first was because I already knew how hurt he was when he found out I was cooking for Kongpob, what more if I were to give something he made to Kongpob? The second reason was because if I accepted this, it would mean I was willing to forgive him already, which I didn't think was ready to, after being accused of being a liar.

Finally, he lifted his head and faced me. "No, you should. Look, I'm really sorry about yesterday if that's what's stopping you from taking this. I was upset so I ended up saying things that weren't really true. No, rather, I was wrong. I just thought you've changed but I realized that you didn't after all. You're still doing this for Nam, even though I don't like the method you're using now." He said, once again placing the box in my hands. "Don't worry. I'm not asking for a deal. I just don't want to waste the food."

Then he started walking away, probably thinking that if he didn't, I would give the lunchbox back to him. Once he was gone, I sighed, opened my locker and took out my books. As I did, I debated upon myself on whether or not I should give Daniel's fried rice to Kongpob. After all, it was probably, no, definitely, a hundred times better than mine. But then again, if I gave him Daniel's, he might find out about it and it could hurt his feelings.

I really didn't want to hurt Kongpob's feelings...

Closing my locker, I jumped in shock as Kongpob was suddenly standing beside me. "Where's my food?" He asked excitedly, his dark brown eyes shining somewhat similar to the happiness of a child who was anxious to receive his Christmas presents.

Since I still hadn't decided on which of the two I would give him, I made an excuse. "Yah, why are you asking for your lunch so early in the morning? Look for me later when it's lunch period." I remarked, turning away from him and walking towards my first class. He continued to follow me around so I once again looked at his direction. "If you're going to be annoying, I won't give you any food later."

Hearing that, he stopped walking and smiled innocently. "I'll see you later then." He turned and walked away from me.

During class, Nam noticed me being unusually inattentive in the discussion. "What's wrong? It looks as if you're planning something big." She commented in a whisper as the teacher wrote something on the board.

I took a piece of paper from my notebook and wrote, "I'm in big trouble. I bragged about being a great cook to Kongpob last Saturday. And because of that, he asked me to cook for him." I passed the note to her under my table.

Upon reading my note, her eyes widened as she wrote a response hurriedly. "What?! But you can't cook." She passed the note back to me.

Gees...thanks for the encouragement, dear Nam.

"Actually, I already cooked him something. But it's not very pleasing to the eyes (and probably for the taste buds as well). But the thing is, Daniel made me a lunch box that looks so much better."

"Then go and give Daniel's to Kongpob!" She wrote quickly as if the solution was really that easy. Then she passed the note to me again with a raised brow as if to say I was overreacting and that there was no problem after all.

I shook my head at her before I wrote why I was hesitant. "Are you crazy??? If I do that, I'd be hurting Daniel's feelings. Plus, for some reason, if I do that, I have a feeling Kongpob would know about it. And he would definitely not like it."

When she read it, it was her turn to shake her head at me. "You're being paranoid. Kongpob isn't a god, you know. He can't know everything. And why are you more concerned with Daniel's feelings? Have you forgotten that Kongpob is your boyfriend? How do you think he would feel if he tasted your cooking?"

I was going to respond to that when the teacher suddenly called my attention. "Arthit, please stand up and read the first paragraph of page 201." She instructed firmly. I didn't know if she did that because she caught Nam and I passing notes, or if she just wanted to call me. Either way, I was lucky I didn't get any punishment. I guessed she was in a good mood today.

After reading what I was asked to read, I sat back down. But even though we weren't punished, we decided to stop passing notes. Instead, I just gave what Nam said some thought. She had a point that Kongpob wasn't a god nor a psychic so he couldn't possibly know if I used Daniel's rather than mine. And Kongpob wouldn't get poisoned from eating my cooking, right? After all, I didn't put anything inedible in it, so it couldn't be possible... could it?

Damn, I didn't feel so sure about it.

By the time the lunch bell finally rang, I had made my decision. Since the pro's outweighed the con's in giving Kongpob the lunchbox from Daniel, I made up my mind to do so. And Nam was really pleased with that. "You're doing the right thing, so don't worry. I'm sure he wouldn't know the truth." She assured me excitedly. "This is a really good sign. This actually shows that he wants to be closer to you."

I raised my brow at her. Why couldn't I see what she was seeing? For me, it was just one of Kongpob's ways to make me feel like a fool. "Can you not see this as a way for me to make a fool out of myself?" I asked her, hoping she could actually see my point for once.

"You're just being biased about him, Arthit. He didn't make a fool out of you when he took you to a perfect date just a few days ago, did he? So I think you should stop with this 'Kongpob's a bad guy' prejudice, alright?" She remarked in a bossy tone. "You know what? I think you should eat lunch with him today. Maybe that's what he wanted when he asked you to make him lunch."

"What? No!" I objected. It was enough that I was going to lie about having cooked something I didn't. But if I ate with him, I might slip and tell him the truth.

But before I could state my reason, May suddenly appeared before us. "Hey! Can I have lunch with you guys?" She asked as she approached us. "Michael and I were supposed to eat together because he was going to help me with my history homework, but Daniel suddenly came and asked if he could talk to Michael in private, so I left them."

Nam went ahead and answered her even before I could say anything. "Sure! But you and I are the only ones going to eat together because Arthit's eating with Kongpob." She answered, starting to pull May away before I could protest. "See you later, Arthit!"

In a matter of seconds, Nam and May were gone. And as if everything was a set-up, my phone began to ring. It was none other than Kongpob calling. "Hello?" I answered unenthusiastically.

"Where's my lunch?" He asked straight to the point. Was he always this excited about food or was he just starving? "I'm in the cafeteria right now and I'm really hungry so hurry and come here."

"Yah! I'm not your slave." I remarked defensively though I was already heading for the cafeteria.

When I reached the cafeteria, Kongpob was sitting alone behind a table. That was unusual, because, for as long as I could remember, Kongpob and Joss always ate together, even when he and Nam were still together. And I had a feeling that Nam had something to do with it. She had probably told Joss to stay away.

I walked over to him with the two lunchboxes (I decided I'd eat mine so it wouldn't go to waste). As I was taking my seat, Kongpob went ahead and took my blue lunchbox from my hands. "What took you so long?" he asked impatiently.

I hurriedly leaned over the table and tried to take it back from him. "That's mine!" I reasoned.

But he wouldn't give it back. "It doesn't matter anyway, since you cooked them both." He replied, opening the blue lunchbox.

Exactly at the moment my ugly fried rice was exposed, Jessica arrived with her daily 'Kongpob lunchbox'. And upon seeing him disastrous lunch box, she let out a mocking laughter. "What the hell is that??? Did someone puke in that lunchbox? Yah, Kongpob, why are you eating that horrible thing?" She remarked loudly, offering him her own luxurious lunchbox. "Here, just eat this."

After seeing Kongpob's shocked face up seeing my burnt fried rice and shabby vegetables, I really expected him to just take Jessica's food and start teasing me about my horrible cooking skills. But he didn't. Instead, he turned to Jessica with a fake smile. "Why would I choose your cooking over my boyfriend's?"

Jessica's expression immediately darkened. But she didn't retreat just yet. She suddenly let out a smirk. "So that's Arthit's cooking? Eat it then." She dared with a smirk, as if it was something Kongpob would never do.

Without any sign of hesitation, Kongpob removed the set of utensils attached to the lunchbox and scooped a spoonful of the greasy fried rice. Then he placed it in his mouth and chewed it happily as if it was the tastiest food in the world.

0_0

After that, he took another spoonful and another and another, until the whole lunchbox was finished. Then he faced Jessica, fuming beside him. "It's absolutely delicious." He told her with a satisfied smile and Jessica stormed off with a loud scream of fury.

0_0

...What did he just say?

Wow, Kongpob had actually enjoyed my food!

OMG! Points for Arthit!!!

I couldn't help but smile happily.

But just when things seemed to go much better than I'd feared, Kongpob turned to me and suddenly clutched his stomach as sweat started dripping from his forehead.

"Arthit... my stomach hurts..."

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