❤︎

When she hung up, I instantly dialed Kongpob's phone, feeling confident that he was going to pick up this time. After all, it was all an act, wasn't it? He wasn't that mad at me. He was ready to listen to me, right? However, after three rings, he seemed to have rejected my call.

Hurriedly I tried again, but this time, he probably took out the battery or he turned the phone off because it wouldn't ring at all.

And that was when it hit me. May might have been acting, but Kongpob wasn't. He really seemed to hate me now.

And he had every right to.

❤︎

It was amazing how sleep could change a person's mind. Last night, I was so sure that I would never talk to Kongpob ever again. But now that I was getting ready for school, I once again changed my mind. There must be a rational explanation to why he wouldn't answer my calls. Maybe it was too noisy at the party so he couldn't take any of my calls. Or maybe Jessica still had his phone with her. Whatever it was, it couldn't be because he didn't want to talk to me. I knew he would give me a chance to explain everything to him.

And make it right again.

Hurrying to school, I was hoping to catch Kongpob before class and talk to him. And sure enough, I managed to arrive in school 30 minutes before classes started. But I might have been too early because when I checked his classroom, he still wasn't there. However, Jessica was there and looking as gloating as ever.

"You're looking for Kongpob, aren't you?" She sneered at me as she sat beside a girl I never met before. She then turned to the girl and held out her hand towards her. "I told you I'd win, didn't I?"

As the girl placed money on Jessica's hand (probably winning a bet between them), I decided it wouldn't hurt to ask Jessica if she knew where Kongpob was. After all, they were pretty close, weren't they? "Look, I know you think I'm a bad person. But I didn't mean to do what I did to Kongpob, okay? So can you please tell me where he is right now, so I can explain everything to him?" I asked her pleadingly, trying my best to ignore her as she mocked me.

"So something really happened between you two, huh? I knew it, but I just had to make sure my hunch was right." She remarked with delighted eyes.

Wait, did she mean that Kongpob never told her what happened between us? Then if that was true, I really had to talk to him. "Where is Kongpob, Jessica?" I asked again, still trying to stay calm.

She shrugged. "How would I know? And even if I knew where he is, I wouldn't tell you." She remarked provokingly.

"Hey, I'm not here to play games with you. It's enough that you won't let Kongpob answer my calls yesterday. Just tell me where he is." I told her demandingly, starting to get mad.

She raised her brow at me. "What are you talking about? Just because he didn't want to talk to you, you're putting the blame on me?" She remarked, letting out an angry scoff. "As soon as he got his cell phone back from me yesterday after classes, he went home."

Suddenly, the optimism I had when I woke up today started crumbling again. So, Kongpob wasn't even at the party yesterday, nor did Jessica have his cell phone. That meant Kongpob really had ignored my calls. Damnit, I really need to find him quickly. "Whatever, Jessica. I'm just going to leave now." I told her, showing her a plastic smile, similar to the one she always gave me.

Having said that, I turned and walked out of the room, ignoring what Jessica was yelling after me as I headed to the second place where I thought Kongpob would be at – the gym. But to my dismay, he wasn't there either. And so, I tried to call his phone. But he kept rejecting my calls.

Feeling down once again, I decided to give up for now. I told myself that he was probably still at home sleeping, maybe forgetting to set his alarm clock. I would just resume my mission to talk to him later during lunch period. Then, I would be sure that he'd be in school.

As I entered my classroom 10 minutes before the start of class, I was glad to find Daniel sitting there all alone, playing something in his cell phone with the same serious expression he had when I first saw him in detention with Michael. "You're early." He commented, not looking up from his cell phone. "Let me guess, had any special business playing hide-and-seek with Kongpob?"

"How do you do it?" I asked him in amazement as he once again managed to know what I was thinking about. "I was hoping to meet Kongpob. But I guess he's not here yet."

He finally stopped playing with his phone and turned to me. "That's not what you really think, is it? You think he's avoiding you right now, because he's mad at you." he remarked knowingly. But then he gave me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. He usually gets to school late so today's probably no different. And when I saw him yesterday before the party, he didn't look that angry. He just looked tired."

"You think so?" I asked hopefully as I took a seat beside him. "But when I tried to call him yesterday and today, he rejected my calls. Why would he do that if he isn't mad at me?"

He thought for a moment before he spoke again. "Okay, so maybe he is mad. But I guess that's normal because who wouldn't be angry after learning he's been deceived all this time? However, what I told you yesterday might not be true after all. I've thought about it yesterday, and I realized that maybe it's not a bad idea if you really tried to explain everything to Kongpob. Sure, he's stubborn. But judging from all the times I spent with him in the varsity team, I noticed that he wasn't the type of person who gets mad easily. Remember when Michael made a deal with you to not let him play for the basketball game? That was a betrayal, wasn't it? But he chose to forgive Michael after hearing his reasoning, so maybe he'll do the same with you."

I nodded in agreement, once again gaining confidence in talking to Kongpob. "You're right. And besides, it is better to try and fail than to never have tried at all, right?" I replied with a small smile.

Just then, Michael entered the room all smiles. "Hello to you two. Aren't you a bit too early today?" he said happily as he walked over to Daniel's other side and plopped himself down at the seat. "Arthit, where were you yesterday? I was looking for you to apologize about how I acted during lunch period, but I couldn't find you anywhere."

"Oh, I had to go home early and wasn't feeling well to come back. I'm sorry for missing your birthday party." I responded, taking out a small box from my bag. After I turned down May's invitation yesterday, I decided to prepare a gift for Michael, so he wouldn't feel bad towards me for missing his birthday celebration. "Here. Happy birthday. I'm sorry it's a day later."

Taking the package from my hand, Michael looked really excited. "Oh, thank you!" He said happily, opening it to find a beautiful pink keychain inside. "And don't worry, I wasn't that upset that you missed my birthday party. I was thinking that maybe you and Kongpob had plans made ahead so you two couldn't go. Anyway, I'm really sorry for the way I acted yesterday."

After his apology, the three of us continued to converse about different things. But eventually, the first bell rang for class, so we stopped and started focusing in class. Or at least they did. I was still too distracted to do so. I suddenly realized I had no idea what I was going to say to Kongpob if I were to find him later during lunch period.

Should I apologize, say sorry for fooling him? But if I were to say that, that would mean I needed his forgiveness and I was guilty of doing it. But it wasn't entirely my plan and...so much had changed along the way, I didn't even know where to start. Maybe I should just tell him everything, starting from the day I started my mission to ruin his reputation. Then perhaps he'd understand me better.

Having settled that, I became preoccupied with how much more time did I have to wait until the lunch bell would ring and let me look for Kongpob again. My eyes were locked on my watch, waiting anxiously as the minutes hand moved way too slowly. Until finally, the bell had rung and the teacher left the room.

Half-excited and half-nervous, I left the classroom for another search to find Kongpob. I was really excited to find him this time. But as I arrived at his classroom and learned that he wasn't there, I slowly started to lose hope again. After I had literally searched every place that existed in the school (including the library, though it was very unlikely for him to be there), I started thinking he was avoiding me.

But I didn't give up just yet. I continued to look for him during dismissal time, but he wasn't anywhere.

In fact, I tried to look for him for three days more, but every day the result was still the same – Kongpob was nowhere to be found.

"I'm telling you, he's avoiding me." I told Daniel as we ate lunch on the 4th day of 'missing Kongpob'.

He shook his head with an amused expression. We had been going over this conversation since the first day, and every time he would try to convince me that I was just imagining things. It was really strange, considering that he once told me that he liked me. But nevertheless, I was thankful for his support. "Look, he didn't show up for basketball practice either, so maybe he's really not around." He responded for the fifth time.

"Well, it's possible that he's not in the mood for basketball so he just goes home after school. But during lunch period, I'm sure he's hiding from me." I remarked with a sigh. "Maybe I should just give up and wait for him to be ready to speak."

Although I wasn't sure if I had the patience to do that. I was too distracted and anxious without settling this issue with Kongpob.

Once again, Daniel shook his head. "Look, even if he is really avoiding you, you still shouldn't give up, right" he spoke encouragingly. Then he paused for a moment, as if thinking of something. But after a moment, he spoke again. "Okay, so Kongpob's avoiding you. Then you have to make him listen to you even if he doesn't want to. You have to outsmart him."

I raised my brow at him. "What do you mean?" I asked, not getting what he was saying.

"There's a party for the varsity's victory tonight." He replied simply with a small wink. "There's going to be a great sound system as well, I'm sure."

What was the connection of the party and the sound system? So the party was going to be partly dedicated to Kongpob, because he won the MVP award, aside from the school's victory (Even though it already happened a while ago, the school only decided to hold the celebration today). Which meant Kongpob was definitely going to be there to receive his award. But that wouldn't help me at all if he was still ignoring me.

...That was unless I spoke through a microphone. Wait, was that what Daniel was suggesting? "Are you saying I should speak in front of everyone?" I asked him in shock.

He nodded. "Why not? As long as he hears your apology, right?"

"No way!" I instantly blurted out. I was never gutsy enough to stand on stage alone, and now he wanted me to admit my feelings in front of the whole school?

0_0

No way...

❤︎

I guess people in love really do the most stupid desperate things, cause funnily enough, at exactly 6 pm that evening, while everyone was having fun at the gym partying, the loud hip-hop music that was blasting from the huge speakers was suddenly cut off and I was standing on the stage in front of everyone, holding the microphone in my trembling hands. I still hadn't seen Kongpob among the crowd, but I knew he was there somewhere, so I just tried to ignore everyone's presence and think of only him instead.

My whole body trembled in fear as everyone's attention turned to me and the gym became silent.

Oh gosh, now or never... 'If this doesn't work, I don't know what will.' I told myself as I took a deep breath before beginning.

And then, as if all the fear had been washed away, I knew exactly what I wanted to say to Kongpob. "H-hello everyone. I'm so sorry for putting a pause to the party, but I really need to say something. Since Kongpob Suthiluck has been avoiding me for the past few days, I have no choice but to talk to him like this. Look, Kongpob, I know you're avoiding me. And I don't blame you at all. You must be feeling really mad and betrayed right now, and I'm really really sorry for hurting you, but you have to know something. It's true, I did fool you in the beginning. I planned to be your boyfriend in order to take revenge on you for what you did to Nam. But when you told me you didn't really mean to play with her feelings, my reason for being your boyfriend changed over time and I didn't want to fool you anymore. I was really enjoying spending time with you and I...I realized something I have been feeling for a really really long time now. Kongpob Suthiluck, I like..."

But before I could finish, the doors of the gym suddenly slammed opened.

And there he was, Kongpob Suthiluck, standing in the doorway with a clueless expression.

❤︎

Head's up, next part will be the end to this romantic roller-coaster ride! :) Thank you so much to everyone who stuck around till the end! *huggles*

I hope you will enjoy other on-going and upcoming stories :) ❤︎