A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Third Person POV

Kao dropped his wet shirt and pants into the hamper inside the bathroom. Then he removed his boxer shorts and dropped them into the hamper as well and then went straight into the shower stall.

He let the hot water restore the warmth in his cold shivering body. When he finished his shower, he realized that he had forgotten to bring in his towel and his change of clothes.

He stuck his head out the bathroom door.

"Rose," he called out softly to the housekeeper.

"Yes?" Rose was quickly at the door.

"Would you please do me a big favor?"

"Yes?" Rose asked expectantly, her voice unable to hide her excitement.

Kao handed her the key to his room which he had earlier fished out of his pants pocket from the hamper inside the bathroom.

"Would you please go inside my room and take out a towel from my dresser drawer and would you also take out a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt and my mustard colored fleece pants from the lower drawer?"

"Of course," Rose replied, taking the key from Kao.

While waiting for Rose, Kao stepped back inside the shower and turned the knob and let the hot water warm his body once more.

After a few minutes, he heard a knock on the bathroom door. He quickly turned off the shower knob and walked towards the door and opened it slightly.

Rose held out the stuff he needed.

"Thanks so much, Rose, you're a sweetheart," Kao said gratefully.

Rose blushed furiously and murmured, "You're welcome" and walked quickly away.

After Kao dried himself and put his clothes on, he stepped out of the bathroom and made his way to his room. He opened his backpack to make sure that none of his textbooks and other school stuff had gotten wet from the heavy downpour.

Before too long, Rose was knocking on his door to announce that dinner was ready,

When Kao arrived at the dining room, Mrs. Namwirote was at her usual place at the table. Kao greeted her and she smiled. She no longer looked as distraught as the previous days. She must have been able to resign herself to the fact that her son would no longer be pursuing his dream of earning a diploma from that well known American university. She indicated for Kao to sit at his usual spot at the table.

She noticed Kao's wet hair.

"If you don't have an umbrella to bring with you to school, you can always borrow one of the umbrellas from the rack that's standing just inside the front door," Mrs. Namwirote offered.

"Thank you," Kao said, "I had forgotten to bring my own umbrella from home."

Mrs. Namwirote pushed the tureen of beef bone soup with baby bok choy leaves in Kao's direction. Kao immediately remembered how Mrs. Namwirote had always served Title by scooping the soup with the ladle and pouring it into Title's bowl. Kao felt silly for expecting Mrs. Namwirote to do the same for him and then feeling disappointed that she did not. Kao felt sure that she did the same for her son. He started to wonder anxiously whether her son was a spoiled brat. He did not want to have to deal with someone like that.

Kao and Mrs. Namwirote were near the end of dinner when the front door buzzed.

Rose immediately left to open it.

Kao and Mrs. Namwirote looked at each other wide eyed when they heard Rose's excited high pitched voice.

In a few minutes, they saw a wet and bedraggled Cooheart standing at the entrance of the dining room.

Mrs. Namwirote almost lost her footing as she quickly stood up and rushed towards Cooheart and hugged him tight.

"You said you were coming back tomorrow and not today! Why didn't you call from the airport?" she scolded him.

"I didn't want to trouble you," Cooheart said softly.

"Don't be silly," Mrs. Namwirote used a scolding tone on Cooheart once more.

The fact of the matter was, Cooheart was feeling guilty about disappointing his mom that he did not pursue his studies abroad as had been planned by both her and him, so he did not want to cause her any more trouble.

"Have you had anything to eat?" Mrs. Namwirote asked.

"I had some snacks earlier on the plane," Cooheart replied.

"Okay, go dry yourself up in your room and come back to the table. Rose is already getting your place ready at table," said Mrs. Namwirote.

"No, wait! Cooheart!" Mrs. Namwirote called out when she walked back to the table and saw Kao and realized that Cooheart's stuff were no longer in his room.

Cooheart went back to the dining room with a puzzled expression.

"In case you have forgotten, as I have just now, your stuff are inside one of my closets in my room," said Mrs. Namwirote.

Cooheart sent a quick glance at Kao who was looking down at his dinner plate, unable to meet Cooheart's gaze. Then Cooheart turned around and made his way to his mom's room.

After Cooheart left the dining room, Kao turned to Mrs. Namwirote, "My offer to be the one to sleep in the hallway still stands."

"No, no, no," Mrs. Namwirote said, patting Kao lightly on his arm, "don't you worry any more about it."

Then Kao remembered that Cooheart's folding bed was still in his room.

Kao took a quick sip from his glass of water and dabbed his lips with the table napkin and set it down. He quickly stood up and excused himself.

He rushed inside his room and pulled out the folding bed from inside the closet. He was carrying it out the door when he met Cooheart in the hallway, already all dry in a fresh change of clothes.

"Thank you," Cooheart said as he took the folding bed that Kao was handing over to him, "I am Cooheart, Mrs. Namwirote's son."

Cooheart held out his hand and Kao took it.

"I am Kao. I'm sorry that my father and I imposed on you and your mom. We were desperate to find a place close to the university and this was our last recourse."

"Don't worry about it," Cooheart said with a kind smile.

"If you wish, I could be the one to use this folding bed and sleep in the hallway," Kao offered.

"No, no, no," Cooheart said, "I'm okay with sleeping in the hallway. You're paying for the use of my room. It's just right that you are the one that sleeps in there. I will be comfortable in this bed I'm sure. I've never used it before but my friend has never complained about it whenever he borrowed it."

Kao was a hundred and one percent sure that the friend that Cooheart was referring to was Title.

"If you will excuse me, I will go and join my mom in the dining room," said Cooheart, "have you finished your dinner?"

"I have," Kao informed him, "but I will go back to the dining room with you to properly excuse myself to your mom."

Together Kao and Cooheart walked back to the dining room where they found Mrs. Namwirote already setting aside the table napkin and getting ready to leave the table.

"Oh," Mrs. Namwirote sat back on her chair when she saw Cooheart and Kao approaching.

"Come and eat, my son, you must be famished by now," said Mrs. Namwirote, "I will stay and keep you company while you eat."

Kao took the opportunity to speak when Mrs. Namwirote paused from talking to her son.

"Mrs. Namwirote, if you will excuse me, I'd like to go to my room now," said Kao.

"Sure," said Mrs. Namwirote, "be sure not to go to bed with wet hair. You don't want to wake up with sniffles or a stuffy nose in the morning."

"I won't," Kao said with a smile and left the room.

Mrs. Namwirote turned to look at her son who was wearing a downcast expression on his face.

"Don't dwell on anything pertaining to your studies right now," Mrs. Namwirote told Cooheart, "it's not the end of the world. You can obtain the same knowledge that you want from our local university. It was just the prestige of holding a foreign diploma that appealed to you and me."

Cooheart nodded, giving his mom a weak smile.

"What do you think about our new tenant?" Mrs. Namwirote asked, referring to Kao.

"I haven't formed any opinion of him yet," Cooheart replied, "so far he hasn't said or done anything to piss me off."

After dinner, Cooheart thanked his mom and together he and his mom left the dining room. Cooheart was pleasantly surprised to see that Rose had already made his bed for him. He went to the kitchen to thank Rose who was already cleaning up. Cooheart felt thankful and lucky that his mom had found Rose. She was a very efficient and reliable housekeeper.

After brushing his teeth and finishing all his evening rituals, Cooheart went over to his suitcase that he had brought back with him from LA. He unlocked it and opened it and took out the gray stuffed koala that he had grown up with.

Cooheart remembered how he was only six years old when his mom gave it to him for a birthday present. The stuffed toy was about as large and as high as him at that time and he always slept with it.

In the middle of the night, Kao woke up feeling thirsty. He got out of bed and quietly walked out of his room, not wanting to awaken Cooheart with any noise.

He happened to glance at the sleeping Cooheart. 

Kao stifled a gasp. There was someone sleeping beside Cooheart.

Kao tiptoed towards him and bent to see more clearly who was lying beside Cooheart.

"What?" Cooheart asked with eyes wide open.

Kao tried to turn away quickly but in the process lost his footing and in the next instant he fell on top of Cooheart and his stuffed koala.