❤︎

"Nam! Joss!" I called as I approached them. "Have you seen Kongpob anywhere?"

Joss shook his head. "Maybe he's not coming today." He replied like nothing was wrong.

But I felt otherwise. And I was worried.

Could it be that Kongpob took my words seriously last night?

❤︎

I waited for Kongpob by my locker until the bell rang for my first class. But still, there was no sign of him. And although I would usually feel happy when Kongpob wasn't around to bother me, but at that moment, I was truly worried for him.

After all, even if he could be a little insensitive sometimes and I still felt guilty about hurting his feelings.

As the lunch bell rang, I took out my cell phone and was about to call Daniel when someone suddenly entered our classroom and approached me. "Hey, someone asked me to give this to you." A girl who didn't belong to our class spoke, handing me a folded note.

"Who is it from?" I asked, contemplating on whether it was from Kongpob or not. If this was another one of his 'Your present's coming soon' prank notes, I was ready to attack him the moment I saw him.

She smiled. "Sorry, but he said not to tell you who he was. He wants to surprise you." She remarked.

I took the letter from her and said 'thank you'. When she was gone, I slowly opened the note, careful cause it could've been another prank from Kongpob. But instead, what was written was, "Hey, I prepared something for you. Meet me inside the room where we last talked."

Did I just read the note right? Kongpob Suthiluck, the most immature person I knew, actually prepared something for me? How unbelievable.

Excited about my first ever present from Kongpob, I quickly shoved the note in my pocket and started packing my things. Nam, seeing my hastiness, looked at me with a raised brow. "Why are you in a hurry? Do you have some plans today that you haven't told me?" she asked with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah, I'm meeting Kongpob right now. He said he prepared something for me." I replied, trying to sound as casual as possible, while fixing my bag over my shoulder.

Her face expression changed into a happy one. "You're excited about something Kongpob-related? Now that's something new. But okay okay, I won't tease you today since it's your birthday. Don't forget to give me an update later, okay?" She finished with a wink.

I nodded as I started walking towards the door. "I always do, anyway."

Once I was out of the room, I rushed to the room where Kongpob, Jessica and I stayed at when we talked about Kongpob and my almost break-up. But when I reached it, I hesitated for a second before entering. What if he was planning to lock me inside the room in the dark again, like he did last Valentine? My heart was thumping out of my chest and I didn't know if it was because of fear or...excitement.

Hesitantly, I turned the doorknob and entered the room, and immediately the beautiful sound of a guitar filled my ears and was followed by a familiar melody I had once heard before, "Even Though You Don't Like Me, Give Me A Chance" when Michael had sang this song to May.

But this time it wasn't Michael singing.

Nor Kongpob.

It was Daniel.

For a moment, I just stood there unmoving, mesmerized by his voice. But even though I was truly feeling amazed by his singing abilities, I wasn't feeling the message he was trying to portray to me through his song. Somehow, my heart wasn't racing for him even though it should be doing so. Did this mean I didn't like him the way I thought I did?

As the love song ended, he extended his hand for me, holding out a small box wrapped in a fancy wrapping. "Happy birthday, Arthit." He said with a smile, his face glowing.

Knowing that if I took his present, it would mean I was giving him a chance, and realizing how I didn't have any romantic feelings for him after all, I shook my head in refusal. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I can't accept this."

"Why? You aren't doing anything wrong. Just, please take this." He replied, pretending not to understand what I meant by apologizing. But the hurtful look in his eyes showed me that he did understand what I'd meant.

"Daniel, I really can't accept it." I repeated softly.

He shook his head. "No, please do. I'm really sorry for fooling you before. I was stupid then. But don't I deserve another chance?" he remarked, his voice somewhat quivering.

"It's not because of what you did before. I'm not angry about that anymore, Daniel. It's just that... I really can't accept it." I explained, not sure on how I should word it out so it wouldn't sound too hurtful. "I don't think... I like you that way."

He fell silent for a moment. "Is that so?" he finally spoke, his voice so sad and hurt. "I'm sorry for forcing you to like me then. I thought you felt the same way as I did, seeing how you were so mad when you found out I deceived you. I guess I was wrong."

"Don't apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. I also thought that I liked you, since I was really upset when I found out you were just Jessica's puppet. But I realize now that it wasn't like that. I just hate being deceived, that's all." I told him honestly. "I hope that now that we've figured this out, we can still be friends."

He didn't respond to that. In fact, we stood in the longest silence for a while, until he finally opened his mouth. "Of course I want to stay friends with you. I just...I'm so sorry for ruining your birthday."

Upon hearing his response, I couldn't help but feel relieved. "You haven't ruined it. But, thank you for your understanding. Thank you." I remarked sincerely, smiling widely.

❤︎

Daniel and I decided to eat lunch together after that. He had actually cooked simple rice and chicken lunch for me and bought me a big blueberry cheesecake. But even though I was happily celebrating my birthday with Daniel, I was still worried about Kongpob's absence. From time to time, I checked my cell phone to see if he had called or sent me a message.

But there was none.

❤︎

'You're supposed to be happy that he's not bothering you with his pranks on your special day.' I told myself as I tried to concentrate in my afternoon Calculus class. But I just couldn't help but feel guilty for hurting his feelings. Maybe I should call him. Raising my hand as the teacher paused to take a breath, I asked permission to go to the bathroom.

When I got there, I immediately dialed his phone. However, he wouldn't pick up. After the 10th ring, I finally gave up. At the back of my mind, I tried to convince myself that he was probably in class, so he couldn't answer my call. But maybe he hadn't come to school after all?

When I returned to class, I looked really upset and Nam immediately asked me what was wrong. "What's up with you? Just a few hours ago, you were the happiest person in the world. Now you are sulking like this. Did you get into a fight with Kongpob again?" She whispered as the teacher wrote on the board.

Seeing no point in telling her the entire story beginning from the conversation with Kongpob yesterday, I decided to answer her with a nod. "Yeah, we did fight. But I didn't mean to hurt his feelings. Now he's ignoring me." I remarked, also in a whisper.

"Then apologize to him." she advised logically. "He's probably ignoring you because he wants you to apologize."

I was surprised that she didn't get mad at me. I know I had said something simply on impulse. I didn't mean it, but on second thoughts, why would I apologize to Kongpob when he always made fun of me without any apology? That was really unfair. I just nodded at Nam's suggestion and turned back to the teacher.

After class, Nam and I walked out of the classroom together. She was going over with me how I was supposed to apologize to Kongpob. I was so deep in thought that I didn't hear half of what she was saying. Luckily, Joss appeared at the end of the hallway and waved at us when he saw us.

I thought he was going to approach Nam, but instead, he faced me. "Arthit, did you and Kongpob have a fight or something?" he asked, his face completely serious.

"Y-yes, why?" I replied coolly.

"During lunch period, I remembered that we had an important exam today that Kongpob couldn't miss. So I called him and he said he wouldn't come to school. When I asked him why, he said it was because of you." He spoke in a somewhat accusing tone. "I don't like butting in on my friend's business, but I think I need to this time. Kongpob's probably going to fail the class now, because he missed the exam. Please call him and ask him to come here right now. He can still catch up with our teacher and beg her for another chance to retake the exam."

OMG that arrogant brat! How could he miss out on an important exam like that???

I frowned at him. "Why should I call him? He hasn't been answering my calls all day anyway."

"He will if you apologize to him." He assured me.

"No!" I immediately replied. Then I turned away from him. "I'm sorry, Nam. I need to go to the bathroom."

But as I walked away from the two of them, my conscience kept eating me up. So it really was all because of my words huh? He really was that hurt and even refused to come to school...

Ugh how can I fix this?

And so, giving in, I took out his cell phone and called him once again as I entered the bathroom. And for the first time today, he actually picked up my call.

"Hello?" He spoke casually.

"Kongpob." I started, not sure what to say. "You're mad at me, aren't you? I'm sorry about what I said yesterday about not wanting to see you today, okay?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked me calmly, acting all innocent. "Where are you?"

I couldn't believe this. He was playing with me again. I sighed, "Look, I'm really sorry, okay? So please come to school now. You already missed an important exam today, so you need to come and ask the teacher to let you retake it."

"But I'm already here." He answered simply, taking me completely off guard.

Gosh, he just never stops lying, does he? "Stop fooling around. Just get over here, I'll wait for you by the school gates." I said, hanging up.

Then, I washed my face and took a few calming deep breaths before walking out of the bathroom.

But the moment I stepped into the hallway, I was standing face-to-face with Kongpob, holding a precious and very familiar-looking figurine in his hands.

My heart skipped a beat.

❤︎