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When I was able to see inside, I caught sight of Nam and Kongpob inside the room. Kongpob was sitting behind one of the tables, looking at Nam seriously as Nam stood in front of him with the same expression. At that moment, I was thinking that they were probably talking about what had happened between them and their relationship. But then I heard Nam speak and her words rendered me speechless.

"What's the matter? You don't believe me? Listen to me, Kongpob. Arthit's not the type who forgives easily. When he found out that Daniel lied to him, he didn't give him another chance to be with him anymore. He even pushed aside his feelings for him. What makes you think he'd forgive you so easily?"

0_0

What the hell is going on?

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Upon hearing those words from Nam, my first response was, maybe I was in a dream, a nightmare. I mean, how could Nam say something like that after those encouraging words she told me yesterday? It just didn't make any sense.

And so, I pinched myself hard to see if I would wake up. But I didn't.

My next assumption was, maybe it wasn't Nam talking to Kongpob right now. Maybe it was actually Jessica and I had just heard it wrong. Opening the door a little wider, the door suddenly creaked loudly, causing the two people in the room to turn towards me in surprise. And when they did, I was able to confirm, it really was Nam.

There was an awkward silence between the three of us for a moment there. I decided to be the one to break it, so I stepped inside the room. "What's going on here?" I asked them innocently, pretending to not have overheard what Nam had just said. Who knew, maybe I misunderstood her.

Even though I had a really bad feeling I didn't.

When I entered the room, I was expecting Nam to cover up for her actions. After all, she was trying to betray me. But no, I was wrong. She suddenly looked at me with a cold expression that said, 'You came just in time.' "Oh, Arthit, I was just telling Kongpob about how we succeeded in making him a complete fool." She spoke with a mocking tone, her tone cold as ice.

As she spoke, Kongpob turned towards me. He looked confused and seemed to be checking my reaction for any sign of assurance that Nam was lying. But I was never good at faking my expressions, so I knew he would see the truth right away. Immediately, he looked hurt and I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I needed to do something, quickly, maybe, just maybe, I could explain the situation to him and...fix it. "What do you mean?" I responded to Nam.

"What I mean is, I've already told him about how we managed to get revenge on him by making him fall for you. He really believes you like him, even though you were just toying with him, isn't that great?" Nam continued in an icy tone, looking straight into my eyes as she was stabbing my heart. Then, she turned her attention back to Kongpob and said in a mocking tone. "What you did for Arthit yesterday was really sweet, by the way. Saying you like him after he lied about you liking you too. Our plan worked perfect."

I wanted to scream. Why, why the hell was Nam doing this???

But before I could speak, Kongpob stood up from his seat abruptly and headed towards the door as if already convinced that Nam was telling the truth. "Congratulations then. You managed to make a fool out of me exactly like you wanted to do. I hope you're happy now." His tone was cold, but his eyes looked so hurt as he gave me one last look before leaving the room.

As soon as he did, I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. "What did you just do?!" I yelled angrily at Nam.

With Kongpob out of the room, Nam's expression turned different, from being cold and confident to unsure and panicking, she looked like she was about to cry any minute. But surprisingly, she answered me with a firm strong voice. "Why are you so worked up about what I just did? Didn't you agree to this when we planned the whole thing?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "That was before, Nam. Didn't you listen to a word I said to you yesterday?" I shot at her as more tears started trickling down my cheeks and I was panicking about the situation. "You even told me I was already in love with him! And that you wouldn't be against us if I continued with my feelings. How could you do this to me?!"

"You said yesterday that you've just now started liking him. If that's really true, then you don't have to worry about losing Kongpob, because you'll get over him easily." She responded coldly, not showing a hint of concern about hurting me, the best friend she claimed to never turn away from no matter what. "Look, I'm sorry for what I just did. I know that I seem like a bad person right now, but you have to understand me. When you first told me about our plan, I asked myself, 'could I really stand seeing my best friend fall in love or even just pretend to fall in love with the guy I loved?' and I realized that I couldn't stand it. It made me feel like I lost Kongpob twice. But then I thought that it's the perfect chance for a revenge and I found myself enjoying every moment you and Kongpob spent together, thinking that in the end, when the truth comes out and Kongpob's really hurt, I'd win for the first time."

Oh my god, Nam was crazy! Ridiculous, evil and just crazy. Feeling absolutely furious by Nam's words, I decided to leave to stop myself from hurting her. Desperate, I needed to find Kongpob and at least try to explain things to him because I really didn't want him to misunderstand this. Kongpob was furious at me, and I wouldn't blame him. If I had been in the same position as him, I'd feel the same maybe even worse because I hated being deceived. But he had to know that what happened these past few days were really sincere. So much had changed since we made the plan with Nam. My feelings had changed and he needed to know that.

I ran from the room and around the school, but I couldn't find Kongpob anywhere. It was as if he had left school. He wasn't in his classroom, wasn't in mine, wasn't in the cafeteria and I was sure that he wouldn't be in the library. The only place he could possibly be was the basketball court. But I had no more time to check because the school bell was going to ring any minute. And so, I decided to find him during lunch period.

When I entered my classroom, everyone was already in their usual seats, including Nam. And the only vacant seat left was the seat I always took, the one beside Nam. Having no choice, I sat beside her without saying a word. Nam also kept quiet and just focused on the class. That was the only good thing about fighting with your close friend, you both still understood each other, so you knew when not to talk and when to talk with each other. But of course, I still felt uncomfortable with her and my mind was preoccupied with my worry for Kongpob, so I was unable to focus on the class.

As soon as the teacher finished the class and the lunch bell rung, I stood up from my seat and hurriedly grabbed my things. I rushed out of the room towards the bathroom and took out my cell phone. There were no messages or calls received. Okay, so maybe I was already expecting that, but I was hoping that Kongpob would do the unexpected, like what he normally did.

Trying to console myself, I reasoned that he couldn't call or send me a message because he was in class. I then dialed my number. I told myself that if he answered, he wasn't that mad at me. But if he didn't, then he was really furious. And after eight rings, I was beginning to think that it was the latter. 'Don't give up just yet. He's probably still in class packing his things so he can't answer the call.' I assured myself as I once again dialed the number. Still, he wouldn't pick up after five rings. About to give up, my finger was already reaching for the cancel button when he finally answered.

"Kongpob! We need to talk. Can we meet in the classroom you were in earlier?" I immediately spoke up in a hurry, afraid that he might hung up if I took time to say what I had to say.

But to my surprise it wasn't Kongpob who picked up after all.

"Arthit?" Jessica spoke instead. She used this annoying tone, as if she had just won against me. "Kongpob's not here right now. He left this phone with me, saying that if you called, I should tell you that he's busy and he can't have lunch with you."

Was Jessica actually telling me that Kongpob was avoiding me? No, no, maybe he really was just busy busy. I mean, he wouldn't be leaving a message for me if he didn't want to talk to me at all, would he? "Is that so? Then would you tell him later to call me?" I replied disappointingly.

She laughed at that. "Yah, you still don't get it, do you?" she remarked in an amused tone and I froze. "He doesn't want to talk to you anymore, okay? So if I were you, I'd stop bothering him."

Thinking she was just provoking me, that she didn't know about what happened earlier, I responded defensively. "Why would I do that when I'm still his boyfriend?"

"You have the nerve to still call yourself his boyfriend even after he already found out your just played him? You're really something else, Arthit. You're probably even worse than your best friend." She shot at me icily.

For the first time, Jessica's words actually got to me, shooting me directly at my heart. If she knew what happened just earlier today, then that meant Kongpob had already told her about it. And remembering how Kongpob said how close the two of them were, he must have probably been very hurt by what Nam and I did to him. I mean, you would only share something to a close friend if it was something that really affected you, right?

But it wasn't just that that bothered me. It was also her other statement. Was I really worse than Nam because of what I did? Yes, it was my idea in the first place. And it was my fault that Nam suddenly decided to betray me, because I told her I was starting to fall for Kongpob. But in the process, I really did begin to have real feelings for him. Wasn't that supposed to void my first intention and prove that this wasn't just a game to me anymore?

Ugh...I really really should have come clean to Kongpob earlier. Then he wouldn't have gotten hurt like this...

"It's funny. A few weeks ago, you were so mad at Daniel for deceiving you. You wouldn't even believe him when he tried to explain that he did have true feelings for you. And yet now, you're in the same situation as him. The only difference is, we both know you don't really like Kongpob and were just playing him, so good luck in trying to ask for his forgiveness." Jessica spoke again before she finally hung up on me.

And then, staring at my reflection in the mirror and feeling the pain and anger grow, I found myself realizing something. All these times, I thought I was battling with Kongpob Suthiluck. All the effort I gave, I thought they were all to fight my own battle with Kongpob Suthiluck.

But I had been completely wrong. It wasn't me who was battling Kongpob after all.

It was Nam, battling Kongpob, using me.

And she had played me well.

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