Vegas turned the shower on and Pete's muscles stiffened up as soon as the water hit his skin.
He was standing with his back facing vegas, right infront of whom, the water washed away every tiny bit of make up from his body revealing the numerous scars present on his back.

There were a set of both big and small scars that looked inexplicably painful with them running so deep into his body.
Vegas was dumbstruck seeing that and fell down on the ground, not being able to believe his eyes. His voice was stuck in his dry throat and his eyes had already teared up from thinking about how tough it must have been for his love to go through such terrible times, in many of which he was an accomplice or even the sole reason.

He opened his mouth to say something but no voice came out of it. His breathing was erratic and even though he was pushing himself to get up, his body wasn't listening to him.
Pete looked over his shoulder to glance at Vegas but winced all of sudden because of the water triggering a fairly fresh, untreated wound that he had acquired during his whole escaping saga.

Finally Vegas' body started responding to his commands again after hearing that allowing him to jump onto his feet at once. He grabbed a towel from the nearby hanger and turned off the water before wrapping the towel around Pete's body and hugging him.
He had never been the one to cry easily but couldn't stop himself because of what he had just witnessed. Instead of saying anything, he held onto Pete and started crying.

"Pete...baby...it must have been really hard for you...you are so strong...I don't know even what to say...Pete..." He said in a cracking voice.
Pete was trying his best to not break down but could no longer hold it in anymore upon seeing Vegas cry so bitterly. He turned around and enveloped him in a tight embrace as the tears started rolling down his face as well.
The intensity of his laments kept increasing with each passing second and Vegas held tightly onto him now that his own tears had somewhat subsided.
They grew in such intensity that Pete finally slumped down onto the ground with Vegas sitting right beside him, hugging him still. He was a crying mess with his true feelings finally making their way out of his heart after so many years of trying to limit them inside.

"It was terrible...it was terrible...I was in so much pain throughout...why did it have to be me...it was really scary..." He choked out amidst his hiccups.
His whole body was shivering as he cried painfully and bitterly into Vegas' arms.

"He snatched me away from you...tortured me...saved me everytime I tried to kill myself...it was really painful...didn't even let me die in peace...I tried Vegas...I tried to so hard to die...but nothing came out of it each time...why must it always be me?...why do I not deserve even a slight bit of happiness?...why does he have to always snatch everyone away from me...aunty pha, you, hia waan, he took everyone away from me...why must I still live if my sole purpose is to tolerate everyone's rage and disappointment...is the sole meaning of my existence is to just serve as a rag doll? Is it really selfish of me to want to live in a happy family? To wish for a good life? Why do I have to bear everything...I can't anymore...I can't keep holding on anymore...I no longer am strong anymore...I am tired Vegas..." Pete poured out each word that he had so longed to take out of his heart for such a long while and Vegas said nothing throughout it. He simply kept stroking his head in a way to reassure him that he was there and was listening to him while his one-handed embrace was serving to give support to Pete to let his vulnerable side out.

"It's not selfish of you to want to be happy. You deserve a good life...you are really strong my love...and I know I haven't been a good partner to you up until this moment, but I promise you that I will become someone who'll be able to support you through thick and thin. With whom you won't have to continue to act strong, infront of whom you can let your emotional side out. I love you baby...please live for a while more Pete...please let me heal your scars...let me stay by your side so we can die together of old age...please." Vegas kissed him softly before picking him up and walked out of the washroom.
He gently kept him down on the bed and grabbed a robe from the wardrobe.

"Can I?" He asked Pete and he nodded giving him the permission to change his clothes.
Vegas helped Pete to get dressed in the robe since he did not have any other clothes at his disposal at the moment and he couldn't let Pete sit in those wet clothes since he didn't want him to catch a cold.

Vegas dried out his hair while Pete was still crying even though it had toned down a lot in intensity. After finishing up, Vegas leaned against the bed frame and brought Pete closer to cuddle closely with him.

"Don't cry..." He said as he kissed Pete's eyes.

He wiped Pete's eyes and stroked his skin gently to calm him down.

"Do you want to know what happened in all these years?" Pete whispered.

"I do...but tell me whenever you are comfortable. No need to push yourself any further." He said as he gave him a sweet peck.

"It's fine. I am not pushing myself, I want to get it off my chest. I don't want any misunderstanding to remain between us anymore." Pete said while looking up at him.

"I concluded this after knowing that I he had fixed my marriage with you and I don't think I am wrong. I was raised to live like a proper girl up until I was around 12. Suddenly one day, phaw ordered my education to be stopped and pulled me from the all girls school and forced me to attend an all-boys school, the same place where we both met. During those times, the Teerpanyakul family had done a great job in hiding the personal information of the minors in the family due to which no one had any idea about the school you along with all the other three brothers were studying in.
I thought that it was just another one of his whims but later got to know that around the same time, the news of you coming out as gay had somehow made it to his ears. He had no idea that you were in my new school where we had ended up falling for each other. One day Hikan, phaw's bodyguard, saw me kissing you and informed phaw about it.
Phaw was furious, he beat me up and passed the order to starve me for two days. He then withdrew my name, and threatened me to kill you if I was to continue having any sort of relationship with you.
Neither he, nor Hikan had any idea about who you were but I was afraid that they would find out everything about you and kill you.
I did not want our story to end like Hia's did.
Hia..." Pete recollected his older brother's memories with a dejected face. He could no longer avoid the forlorn stores of his past, they were a part of him afterall. And he could never accept his past completely as long as he did not accept those memories as well.

Vegas kept his hand on Pete's hand and whispered in a calming voice.

"You can stop whenever you feel like it. Whenever it gets too overwhelming. I am right here, I am willing to wait for you, I am not going anywhere, not anymore. We can continue it some other time if you don't feel like continuing anymore. Ok? Don't push yourself too much." Vegas said to him in an assuring tone.

"Hia...phaw once found out about hia's girlfriend, he had different plans for both of us, but was not willing to let us take control of our lives no matter what. He warned Hia to leave his girlfriend but phaw failed to intimidate him with just the threats. Hia was sure that they were just hollow threats until Phaw really got his girlfriend killed one day. Despondent with the loss of the love of his life, he started blaming himself for her death. He regretted not leaving her earlier since then she could've atleast lived, nothing else mattered to him more than that. When he could no longer bear the guilt anymore, he hung himself in his room in the end. I was the first one to find his dead body. I was seven, even though he was six years older than me, we had always shared a really good bond. I couldn't accept his death. With the loss of one son, phaw grew more vigilant with me, my training got stricter along with the daily hits. I blamed hia for my condition, I detested him for leaving me alone, with pushing me into such an unbearable abyss but as I grew up, I began to understand him. And why he did what he did, it was a pity I couldn't follow his steps..." Pete's eyes held a painful smile in them. Vegas was terrified with the thought of him dying but couldn't say his own fears out loud in such a situation.

"Phaw locked me up and no matter how much I cried and begged him to let me meet you for one last time and atleast inform you of the reason for our break-up, he didn't allow me. I was in a despair, I hated myself for not having enough courage to stand up against him, for not being able to find a way out. Until one day, I found a bottle of alcohol that phaw had accidentally left behind after beating me up, I drank all of it. That for the first time in my life, gave me a surge of courage making me break into phaw's room and steal one of his car keys.
It was raining heavily that night and I was still an amateur at driving. I was determined to see you and tried to speed my way to your house but maybe even luck wasn't on my side that night, well it has never been.
The car slipped and skidded in the slippery road and I was met with an accident. Thankfully, a few locals found me and called an ambulance for me, maybe I should've been thankful to them, I was, in fact, but for the kindness they showed to a stranger, not because they had saved my life. For a month or so, I was in a coma and even after waking up, I couldn't remember the events of the past year, I was having trouble remembering, memorizing things and even talking.
During that phase, Phaw decided to send me abroad to study to prevent me from meeting you. But right before moving, I ended up regaining my memories. I couldn't contact you fearing that Phaw was going to find out, thus contacted Tong and Vas ( Pete's former best friends ). I asked them to inform you about the whole situation and they said that after informing, you said that you didn't care about any of it. That you didn't prefer long distance relationships and if I couldn't stay with you, then there was no meaning in keeping it up, so whatever the reason was, since I was moving out of Thailand, you did not care about any of it.
Their words sounded so genuine and were so incredibly convincing that it made me trust it's credibility.

Though years later, I realised that Phaw must've bribed them to convince me with false words and scenarios and prevent me from trying to contact you again when one day, I saw a photo of Tong with his new friends and he was wearing one of phaw's expensive watches, it was nearly the same one, I was sure that he had obtained it through Phaw because the initials engraved on it had the same exclusive design as one of Phaw's watches, that the company created only when ordered by Phaw.
I thought of contacting you but it didn't matter anymore. 'It's been so many years, he must have gotten over it anyway' was what I thought." Pete's voice died out in the end. This was just a part of what had happened years ago and even Vegas had sensed it that there was more to the story but he couldn't stop himself from interrupting.

"They...your friends had told me that you got into an accident and died after 13-hours of its occurance. I didn't want to believe it but they showed me a photo of you in the hospital and somehow managed to convince me. I could not take it, the pain I felt was intolerable, I started blaming myself for your death, that I should've been there for you, that maybe I had done something wrong to enrage the heavens that they decided to punish me by taking you away from me.
I couldn't breathe, I couldn't live. It was unbearable for me, I didn't want to live. But then one day, I saw you near a mall, my happiness knew no bounds for the moment, every thought, every memory I had of being informed about your death abandoned my mind, I wanted to run to you and hug you but then I saw another guy join you. You looked really comfortable with him and in the moment all I could think was the possibility of him being your lover.

I was despondent, infuriated, I stormed out of the place after not being able to tolerate it anymore.  Later I confronted your friends about it only to discover that it was your plan, all of it. I was informed that you didn't want to stay in a relationship but had no idea as to how to deny me that's why you came up with that plan so you could break up with me and get together with your new lover. 'No' had always been a tough word for you, no matter what, you could never deny anyone, I had to do that for you always, so naturally I bought whetever they told me.
The betrayal turned the agonizing pain into unendurable jealousy and hatred.

I got determined to never contact you ever again but destiny played it's role and brought us face to face once again. After living with that terrible anger for years, I finally decided to give it up, the anger and each of the memories I had with you. When you suddenly showed up infront of me and didn't even try to justify your past acts, I thought you didn't remember anything, I thought that I didn't matter to you at all, not even as much to remember me as someone from your past and everything you did to me held insignificant importance to you. This fueled my anger, making me act like I didn't know you are all and take actions I regret now." Vegas elaborated his side of the story.

Years ago, being young in age, the misunderstanding had an even amplified impact on Vegas, hazing up his wit and refraining him from confirming it with Pete. After knowing the truth, Vegas regretted ever not seeking out to Pete but couldn't blame his past somewhat emotionally immature self that was genuinely hurt.

(Writer's thought: Sorry for not posting any memes in the previous chapter coz I was really sleepy while editing that so forgot to add them lol, anyways, here are some memes<3:

Idk why but this reminds me of that "itna badi ho gayi ho, abhi tak biyah nahi hua tumhara?" meme 💀

Me after seeing Vegas do all sorts of bi*chy things:

Anddd that's all for today<3
Damn this chapter's really long °O°
See you in the next chapter<3)