❤︎

"Yah! You think this is funny? You enjoy making a fool out of me?" I shouted at him angrily.

For some reason, I was feeling so angered and hurt that my eyes started getting teary and my voice quivered as tears spilled from my eyes. "Why are you always so mean to me? If you hate me so much, why did you ask me to be your boyfriend in the first place?"

I felt so unfairly treated, hurt and angry that I just continued shouting at Kongpob, thinking that the more times I did, the more times it would hit him and he would finally understand what he did was wrong and hurt me a lot.

Now, I was never really the dramatic type, but usually in the Asian romantic dramas I had watched, especially Hana Yori Dango, when Makino was starting to get angry at Domyoji because he kept bullying her, and he told her that he was doing it only because he liked her.

I wasn't really expecting Kongpob to be exactly like Domyoji. But at least he could be similar. Maybe he really had other intentions when making fun of me...? However, Kongpob was never what you expected him and his response crashed all my hopes.

"Of course, why else would I tease you if not because I like seeing you angry?" he remarked, still showing a smile on his face.

Hearing his response, I felt so stupid for even thinking a moment ago that this mean person might have romantic feelings for me. Ever.

"You're a really an awful person, Kongpob Suthiluck." I told him angrily as more tears flowed down my cheeks.

I saw Joss elbowing Kongpob as I started walking away to leave them. "Yah, can't you see he's crying already? Just go and apologize to him." He said to Kongpob angrily.

But Kongpob didn't listen because I didn't hear anything more as I left them. And no one followed me either.

Once I reached my home, my tears had already dried, and I was feeling just a little bit better. I knew it since yesterday anyway that Kongpob would ruin this day for me. And despite giving me such a thoughtful and special present, I was right. He still managed to ruin the day for me in the end.

That night, I didn't call him. So what if I broke his rule? Even if I didn't break his rules, he would punish me, so what was the point of pushing myself to do something I didn't like?

The only good thing from my birthday was the angel figurine that I placed carefully on the cupboard next to my bed.

For the first time in a long time, I happily dreamed of my grandmother that night.

❤︎

The next day, as Nam and I were walking towards our first class, we happened to pass Kongpob and Joss. I completely ignored them both.

"Don't tell me you still haven't apologized to Kongpob yet." Nam spoke as we took our seats in class. We were a few minutes early.

"This is different from yesterday morning. I was really worried when he said the teacher wouldn't give him a chance to take the exam he missed yesterday. I even begged the teacher because I really thought he would fail. But then I found out it was just a prank and he was laughing at me again. So there is no way I will apologize to him now!" I explained to her defensively.

She raised her brow at me. "That's it? You're mad because of a prank he pulled on you? Hey, what's wrong with you, Arthit? He's done a lot more pranks to you worse than that before and you never got this mad." She pointed out to me.

It was true that Kongpob had done worse, like how he had lied about an exam and I ran to school in a hurry, only to find out it was closed and it was Saturday. But still, what he did yesterday, it really ticked me the most. "I didn't get mad then because those times didn't hurt hurt my pride and feelings, unlike what happened yesterday." I answered her.

"What's so different about yesterday's prank?" She asked, her forehead furrowing. Then she suddenly lit up and lifted her finger to wave at me accusingly. "I get it now. You're feeling hurt, because now you like him, and it upsets you to see that he's not taking your feelings seriously."

Upon hearing her, my eyes instantly widened. "Yah! Stop saying nonsense. I'm just mad because he made a fool out of me and he's not even apologizing." I told her, my cheeks unusually warm and blushing.

She smiled knowingly as the teacher entered, ending the conversation we had. How could she say something so absurd? So maybe I was expecting Kongpob to have some feelings for me, but that was all because of the plan.

I had to make him fall for me fully, before I could break his heart, right? And besides, I couldn't possibly like someone who enjoyed seeing me mad and was driving me crazy, could I?

❤︎

When lunch period came, Nam and I once again began talking about that jerk. "I'm telling you, Nam. I'm not going to fix things with him. Why should I? He's the one who did wrong. And besides, I don't want to be his fake boyfriend anymore. Who would be crazy enough to be, when he said he liked seeing me angry." I complained to her.

"You probably heard wrong." She replied in disbelief. "Or maybe you got him so angry that he spoke that way. After all, you always hurt his feelings whenever you talk to him."

Hurt his feelings? Me?? Hurting Kongpob's feelings??? Pfft...More like the other way around. He was too arrogant insensitive to be easily hurt by my words. Even when I deliberately try to hurt him, it never seemed to affect him.

"Yah! If there's someone who has hurting someone else's feelings, it would be him. Wouldn't you get hurt if he told you he liked to see you angry?" I insisted.

She laughed at my reaction. It was weird because usually, when I told her these kinds of things, she would get angry. But right now, she seemed very amused by my words. "So you're expecting him to say he likes you instead?" She remarked teasingly.

"Of course." I answered immediately. Then I continued so she wouldn't misunderstand. "That's our plan, isn't it?"

"You know what, Arthit, you're either a very bad liar or a very dense person. It's so obvious that you're falling for Kongpob, because if you're really upset because of the plan not working, then you'd definitely try to patch things up with him to make things work. But because you really got hurt from what he said, you're not doing anything." Nam said, suddenly standing up from her seat and waving at someone, leaving me gaping at her words.

Joss was approaching our table. And behind him was none other than the devil himself, Kongpob.

It was strange how Nam wasn't uncomfortable about that. But I decided not to think about it now. "Nam, I'm leaving now." I told her as I was about to stand. I was hoping to leave before being seen. But Kongpob had already seen me, grabbed my hand and pulled me down with a firm look in his eyes, so I had no choice but to stay.

As Joss and Kongpob took their seats, I took out a notebook and pretended to read it. While Joss turned his attention instantly to Nam, Kongpob, on the other hand, was looking at me with an amused smirk as I ignored him. That arrogant overly-confident brat!

"You're really not going to talk to me?" He asked me after a while.

"Be quiet, I'm studying." I hissed at him as I turned the page of the notebook though I wasn't really reading it.

He raised his brow at me. "You're really studying?" He asked me in awe, taking the notebook from my hands. "Amazing. You can read words upside down?"

Seeing for myself, I realized that the notebook was upside down when I was holding it. Humiliated by that fact, I quickly took the notebook from Kongpob and placed it in my bag. Then I stood up from my seat. "I'll just see you in class, Nam." I remarked, starting to walk away.

"Yah, where are you going?" Kongpob yelled after me from behind.

I turned back to him. "I'm going somewhere you can't bother me." I replied with a glare.

"If you leave now, you'll be breaking two rules and you'll have to take more punishments." He threatened me with that sly smirk of his, holding up two of his fingers.

I turned away again. "I don't care." I replied stubbornly. I started walking away again.

Suddenly, Kongpob stood up from his seat and followed me. "Are you still mad about yesterday?" He asked, walking beside me and looking at me with a concerned frown on his face. Since I only pouted at him in response, he started to bargain with me all of a sudden. "If you stop being mad, I'll give you a surprise."

Annoyed by his childishness, I turned and snapped at him angrily. "Yah! I'm not as childish as you who gets excited over surprises. And why are you even trying to cheer me up? Aren't you supposed to be enjoying the fact that you made me angry?" I told him, shouting. Gosh, Kongpob really had a way to get me so riled up all the time. "Why don't you just leave me alone!?"

"Are you sure that's what you want? The last time you said that, you ended up calling me eight times." He remarked teasingly, leaning closer to me and damn that...that handsome smile of his was...distracting.

No, Arthit! Come on, snap out of it!

Focus!

There he was again, mocking my worry towards him. Let's see if I will ever be worried about him again the next time he gets into trouble. "So you're saying you really didn't answer my calls intentionally yesterday?" I asked, feeling foolish to actually think I hurt his feelings a little. No matter what I did, Kongpob always remained unfazed by me. "You never really take anything seriously, do you?"

Feeling tired from talking to a good-for-nothing jerk, I once again turned away from him and started walking away, hoping this time, I succeeded on hurting his feelings. But I was wrong again, because I could hear his footsteps following me as I turned the corner and entered the bathroom.

Luckily he had the decency not to follow me inside, so even though I wasn't really going to use the toilet, I took my sweet time washing my hands, because I wanted him to stop following me. I breathed in deep and slow to calm myself and counted up to a hundred before I decided to go out again. But when I got out to the hallway, he was still there, standing by the door and waiting for me.

I rolled my eyes, ignored him and just walked on.

"Are you really this blind?" Kongpob suddenly asked me, his tone serious and almost hurt all of a sudden.

"What?" I asked, looking at him with a raised brow, surprised by his sudden seriousness. "For your information, I'm intentionally ignoring you. I did see you."

I was going to say more, but he spoke again, taking me by surprise. "You are still as clueless as before," he spoke in a low husky tone that sent odd tingles down my spine, and then walked up to me until stopping just an arms length away and staring deep into my eyes.

Why was he so serious suddenly???

Why...why did I find it hard to breathe all of a sudden?

And...

...why...oh why was my heart beating so damn fast???

I was rendered immobile by the intensity of Kongpob's gaze and saw nothing but confidence in those captivating dark brown eyes as he spoke the next words. "I like to make you angry...because only then will you truly notice me. Now do you understand?"

And with that, he walked past me and disappeared around the corner.

❤︎