❤︎

Gosh, he looked scary yet sexy at the same time...

Wut? Stop thinking like this, Arthit!

Why is he leaning even closer to me???

"Are you ready for your punishment?"

OMG!

Was he really going to steal my very first kiss?

❤︎

As Kongpob's face grew closer and closer to me, I really thought he was going to kiss me. But then his lips moved past my left cheek towards my left ear and barely brushed my ear, making my knees go weak. "You're now under probation." He whispered huskily, suddenly bringing relief to my vigorously pumping heart.

He moved away after that.

Thank god, I could breathe again...

Kinda.

But I didn't understand what he had just said. I mean, of course I knew what 'probation' meant, but I didn't get how it would work on me. "What do you mean by that?" I asked, trying to sound casual, as if I hadn't freaked out just now upon thinking he would kiss me.

Pull yourself together, Arthit!

"You're on probation, meaning you can't get out of my sight. Where's your cell phone?" he said, extending his right hand towards me like he was asking for it.

I widened my eyes cautiously. "It's in my pocket, why do you ask?" I replied, placing my hand on my pocket protectively, just in case he'd try to snatch it from me.

He smiled playfully. "Because you have to give it to me." he said, not putting down his hand. "Starting today, you won't be using your phone. We'll be swapping. You can't spend your breaks with Nam either. Every time you're free, you have to spend them with me. And you'll be walking home with me."

"What?!" I exclaimed in disagreement. "No way."

"Okay then." He said, not even trying to convince me into agreeing to his punishment. But I knew he wouldn't give up that easily. He moved close to me again. "I guess you like a kiss better for your punishment. I knew it, you like me after all."

0_0

Whaaat?

Upon hearing that, I immediately took out my cell phone and used it to block his face from getting closer to mine. He moved back again with a big satisfied smirk on his face like he'd just won the lottery. That smug arrogant brat...And even though I couldn't normally tolerate losing to him, I found myself with no other option than to smile at him sheepishly. "H-here you go." I told him obediently, my heart still wildly thumping in my chest.

Damn stupid heart.

He took the phone from me and started fiddling with it. I took a peek at what he was looking at on my phone and saw that he was checking the games I had downloaded (how immature could he be?). "Yah, is this the only game you have?" he suddenly complained with a whine like a small child as he started playing 'Free Kick'. Then he stopped and turned back to me. "I don't like your phone. Let's just switch SIM cards."

"No." I answered quickly because I knew that his phone was way better than mine. It was a much newer model with better camera and lots of games. I wanted it. And since we were already switching, I might as well get the best out of this stupid deal. "If you want to switch, then we should switch the phones like you said. If not, I won't agree."

"You're really in no position to bargain with me." He reminded me, his lips twisted into a smirk. But still, he took out his cell phone and placed it in my hand. "Take good care of it. if I see even a scratch on it, I'll punish you, okay?"

I nodded happily in reply. It wasn't every day that Kongpob would give in to my demands. And having settled the cell phone issue, I started grabbing my things and prepared to go home. "See you tomorrow." I remarked, walking out of the door.

Suddenly, he stopped me. "Where are you going? Have you forgotten something?" he said, crossing his arms on his chest.

I looked at him, dumbfounded. "...What did I forget? I'm going home."

"You have to wait for me, so we can go together. I still have something to get from my locker." He said, starting to walk towards the hallway where the lockers were. As he did, he took his sweet time going as slow as possible as if we had all the time in the world.

I followed behind him, annoyed. I looked at my watch impatiently and let out a gasp. "Yah, it's almost 6:30pm. Can you hurry up?" I urged him impatiently as he started rummaging through his locker for something. He still continued to move in a slow pace. "What is it that you're looking for anyway?"

He looked at me with a grin. "Nothing." He responded, still rummaging around in his closet. "I'm just trying to clean my locker. It's been a while since I did it."

--_--

He's gotta be kidding me!!!

"Why are you doing it now? Can't you just do it tomorrow?" I asked angrily, suddenly realizing what he was up to. He wanted to keep me there until the lights would go out and I had to outsmart him before that could happen. "You know, it doesn't look messy at all. Let's just go for tonight and I'll help you with it tomorrow."

"What for, when it's not messy after all? And why are you so afraid of the dark?" He asked me with that devilish smile of his, confirming his evil scheme.

I let out a scoff. "Why are you still asking me to stay here when you already know I'm afraid of the dark?" I asked back at him, before turning around and walking away from him. "I'll just wait for you outside."

He didn't stop me, so I continued to walk. But suddenly, as I was halfway out, the light shut and I was in pitch darkness in the middle of the hallway. My heart started beating wildly as I started to panic. I had no idea where I was because I couldn't see anything. And I didn't want to call for Kongpob either, because he was far from me, from what I recalled. Besides, he would probably just laugh at me.

With tears building behind my eyes, I remembered that I had his cell phone with me. I took it out and searched for my name on his contacts. But there wasn't anyone by the name of 'Arthit' in it. I continued to look, and found my number saved under the name 'Wifey'.

What the...??? That brat!!!

As I waited for Kongpob to answer my call, I prayed silently for him to pick up quickly. But then I could hear foot steps approaching me from behind.

0_0 Could it be...a ghost?

I clutched to the cellphone tighter, after three rings, I felt someone touch my shoulder. Surprised and scared shitless, I shrieked as I turned to see what it was.

"It's just me." Kongpob said reassuringly, his face barely visible from the dim light coming from the cell phone I was holding.

I tried to calm down, breathing heavily. "Yah, do you really enjoy making me so scared even if you already know I'm afraid of the dark!" I shouted at him as tears streamed down my cheeks endlessly.

"I couldn't answer because I was busy looking for you, okay? And if you were so afraid, why did you leave my side in the first place?" He said softly, not really that annoyed as I expected him to be. Suddenly, he raised his hand to my face and gently wiped away the tears from my cheek.

0_0

Did he just...

I stared in shock, frozen as I watched his eyes focus on my cheeks and just rub them gentle, soothing motions. "It's okay, I'm here now..." He whispered ever so softly and my mouth opened in a gasp, my heart yet again beating too fast and too loud, thumping wildly in my ears.

As if realizing what he was doing, Kongpob snapped out of his daze and his eyes locked with my teary ones, just staring at each other in silence. His hand was still pressed against my cheek and it was...unexpectedly warm. I felt safe with him.

"Come on, let's go out." He whispered, lowered his hand and stepped away from me. I let out a shaky breath. I didn't even realize I had been holding my breath the whole time. My damn heart was still racing like crazy, but then Kongpob moved towards me and took my hand in his, before starting to drag me after him.

...

Oh god...oh gosh...

What is this...

My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest and I had difficulty breathing. His hand held mine tightly and it was so warm and calming again, just as it felt before when we were in the exact same situation.

Once again, he saved me from my biggest fear...

He held onto my hand tightly the whole time as he led the way out. I didn't say anything, but I felt myself calm down by the second and my heartbeat slowly calmed down, but still beat faster than normal.

When we finally reached outside, I felt a whole lot relieved to see the light again. And even though it was Kongpob's fault I had stayed inside until late hours, I turned to him and said between small sniffles, "Thank you."

Luckily, he didn't try to tease me this time. Instead, he let go of my hand, just nodded and insisted that we went home. "Come on, it's going to be dark soon."

Being back to normal after my eyes got comfortable with a brighter surrounding, I replied with mock annoyance. "And whose fault is that?" I asked him with a teasing huff.

"Yours." He answered coolly, flashing that annoyingly beautiful smile at me.

My heart made a weird jump inside my chest at that.

Uhoh...

"My fault? Why is it my fault? You're the one who wanted to fix your locker even though it's already more organized than mine." I reminded him with a small smile. This teasing was quite fun.

He let out a bragging laugh. "That's because yours is very unorganized. You should clean your locker at least once a month, you know." He said insultingly, like he was a role model that people should look up to.

"Yah, my locker isn't neat because I use it every day, unlike you who probably just opens it once a week." I shot at him so he wouldn't feel too conceited. "And besides, you're changing the topic. It's still your fault."

He shook his head. "It's yours. You're the one who said you'd go outside first, because you couldn't wait for me. If you hadn't done that, I wouldn't have spent a long time trying to look for you in the dark. And you wouldn't have cried in the dark." He said with a shook of his head, putting the blame on me again.

"But that's because you were planning to scare me!" I accused him, pouting like a kid. "You were slowing down on purpose, so that we'd be left in the dark, weren't you?"

"If I wanted to scare you, why would I go through all that trouble looking for you? I just wanted to organize my locker, so drop it." He said firmly as he took out my cell phone from his pocket and started reading the messages saved in it.

Since there weren't really any private messages there that I couldn't let him read, I decided to let him do it. Besides, it would keep him quiet. Or so I thought. "Why are you afraid of the dark?" He suddenly popped that question.

Hearing him ask that with a hint of seriousness, I decided to answer him truthfully. "Because I don't like it when I don't know what's happening around me. It makes me feel really insecure."

I didn't expect him to console me or anything like that. But I did expect him to at least respect my answer. But instead, he laughed at that. "What kind of answer is that?" he retorted. But just when I was about to get mad, he stopped laughing. "It's not only when you're in the dark and can't see anything that gives you that feeling. Even when you can see things, you can still be quite clueless about it, Arthit." He looked deep into my eyes when he said that, all serious, not a hint of joking evident on his handsome face and I realized he was meaning much more with his words than it first seemed.

I was about to ask him to explain that, because I didn't fully understand what he meant, but then he said, "This is your house. Have a good night, Arthit."

I looked up and indeed, he had already brought me home. Suddenly I felt disappointed to depart him so soon, but before I could even say anything, Kongpob had already began to walk away from me, waving his hand as a goodbye.

Phmph...

Why was it when I least expected him to be nice to me, he would suddenly transform back into his usual arrogant self?

Sigh...

I entered the house, still trying to figure out what he had said earlier about me being clueless, when Kongpob's cell phone suddenly began ringing in my pocket.

My heart made that weird jump in my chest again and I hurriedly I took it out, expecting it to be Kongpob.

But to my horror, it was Jessica.

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