Chapter 22: Kanchanaburi.

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"I want you 

To take off more. 

Than just your clothes" 

-ava-

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| K I R U N |

Mom. I missed her. I missed her so much to allow myself to cry underneath the large Banyan tree in the middle of the market of Kanchanaburi.

Sometimes, I would think how my life would be had she been with us. I was a mommy's boy, I knew that much. Dad always said I clung to her like a bad case of chewing gum. It would be nice to have her around. To talk to her, to laugh with her, to tell her what I feel and to ask for advice. Its not like I don't have people around me to do those with, by all means Isy mom (Carwayn's mother) never let me feel without a mother. But having my mom around would have been different. I remember her features vividly. Green eyes, dark brown hair and a perfect smile. She had a mole right beside her lip and it would highlight when she laughed. I have one vivid memory of hers, at the mountainous area where the afternoon sun shone bright upon her, casting a golden glow from her and her laughing face simply made it look picturesque. That is the only vivid memory I have of hers, the rest are blurry. I tried to save them but they were all blurry. The photographed memories are still with us at the Bangkok house.

I didn't know I had zoned out until I felt Indah slap me with a newspaper. I turned to her and she innocently smiled.

"If you are not going to eat that, by all means give it to me" she remarked and I looked down at my half eaten Fried egg and noodles. I sighed and pushed the dish of food towards her and she looked at me with surprise. I nodded to it and she grinned.

"I am not hungry anyway" I muttered and she shrugged, eating from my plate.

I looked ahead to see a smirking Krystal, chewing on her food.

"What?" I asked her and she chuckled, shaking her head.

The two took forever to finish their foods. By the time they were done, I had gulped down four glasses of sweet milk, two glasses of coffee and a bottle of water. I sure do have a lot water in my body right now.

"I am leaving in 5 minutes. Round up whatever you guys are doing" I told the two devils and they nodded at me.

***

It was 4pm and the afternoon sun was killing me. I told them to round up in 5, they took 15 and still are not here.

"Lets go!" I turned to see them grinning at me.

"Get in. And I hope you both visited the restrooms, got yourselves bottles of water and food because I am not stopping anywhere!" I told them and they looked at each other, their eyes widening.

And that is how they took another 7 minutes to do whatever I had said before. I played random songs on my phone as I browsed Spotify for good music while waiting for them. I heard a knock on the window and I rolled it down when I saw it was the kids, selling something.

"Hey" I smiled at them.

"Do you want to buy flower garlands?" the little girl asked me in Thai and I checked the time. It was past their school time so that was a nice thing I guess.

"How much is one?" I asked her (in Thai) and she held up four fingers.

"Fourteen bhat" I raised an eyebrow at her and she grinned, holding up the garland made up of rare flowers. I smiled back at her.

"Give me two. Not the garland, but the boutonniere" I told her and she handed me two of the beautiful ones. I paid her and she nodded before walking away. I placed the two on top of the console box and turned back to my music. Finally some good music came up.

I tapped onto the wheel as I hummed to the tune of Monster by EXO, a famous KPop band. After three songs, my sister and Indah decided to head back. Finally. I unlocked the car and waited for the two to enter.

"You done?" I asked Indah who took the front seat this time. She held up a plastic full of Fiji Water bottles, with a grin.

"You don't say" I mocked her and she glared at me.

"Okay cut it out" muttered Krystal from behind the seat and I turned to her.

"You tired?"

"Yeah" she muttered, leaning onto the door and shutting her eyes. Immediately, I locked the doors.

"No travel pillow?" I asked her and she shrugged answering it was in the trunk. I heaved a sigh and got off the van. Opening the trunk, I took out her travelling pillow which was, by the way, colored bright yellow and it was along the lines of Chimmy. Lord knows who that is. I got back into the driver seat and threw the pillow at her.

"Thank you" she muttered sleepily.

"Take off your shoes and sleep" I told her, starting the ignition and then pulling out of the parking lot of the province.

Indah shuffled; yet again, with the radio of my Rav4 before settling on some Backstreet boys. As soon as the intro began, I smiled. It was one of my old favorites. She hummed to the song causing me to turn to her. She smiled shyly at me and I was taken back. What the hell?

"What was that?" I asked her and she shrugged, looking away.

"Indah-" I said and she stayed silent. "-Fine"

"You-how long have you liked me?" she asked me and I was, again, taken back by her question.

"What do you mean?" I asked her and she turned to me. I felt her eyes on me, silently observing me.

"I know you K. Tell me. How long?" she asked me and I heaved a sigh, looking up to my rear view mirror to see my little sister asleep.

"A while now"

"A while? Exactly how long Kirun" she asked me and I rubbed my nose with my left hand before resting it on the gear handle.

"Since freshman year" I replied casually as if I was talking about the weather.

"Freshman? And you chose now to tell me. Why?"

"It was instinctive okay!" I replied and she chuckled lowly. It wasn't one of mockery, more of amusement.

"Why are you amused?"

"If you hadn't broken my hand and Ace hadn't entered the picture, you would have never confessed, am I right?" she asked and I shrugged. Maybe. She placed her hand over mine which was on the gear handle causing me to turn to her.

"You could have told me that before" she said just as I turned back to the road.

"And what would that cause? Chaos. You despised me, Indah! If I told you in Freshman year, you'd probably put together a team to assassinate me for all I know"

"You sure about that?"

"Yes. You put a venomous spider in my clothes at the Dojo, Indah. I am pretty sure had I not seen it, I'd be dead by now" Her laugh rang through the vehicle.

"I didn't mean to kill you. I didn't know it was venomous. FYI, I did come back to find it when I found out it was venomous but by then, you already saw it and you were furious" she explained and I shrugged.

"But those aside, why didn't you tell me last year? Or the year before when we have so much time alone that we weren't fighting and were civil" she said and I shrugged again.

"Well because I had started to like you. If you must know, you are not an easy girl to fall for. It was like a hurricane of emotions just rushed through me and a whole lot were still brewing inside, ready to move. At one point, I contemplated my sanity for liking you. Seriously! Especially when you turned all red in anger and would charge at me" I said and she laughed at me.

"I see it was hard for you" she said, in between her laughs.

"No I am serious. When I-"I halted and thought. "-kissed you. It was overwhelming. I didn't know I did that until I was already-" In too deep. Even thought I didn't finish the sentence, she looked like she clearly understood for she went silent too.

"K?"

"Hmmm"

"Stay with me"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean stay with me like this. Always there when I need you" she explained and I shrugged.

"If only I could"

"You can and I know you would"

"You sure?"

"I am. If I wasn't, I won't be here with you. I'd probably be someone's prey. You made me strong and that is what matters" she said and I glanced at her. She looked sincere.

"Strong? What do you mean?"

"You fought with me since day one and that caused people to know that I was strong enough to fight for myself. Truth is I was not. I had entered IUST like an average girl with big dreams and I knew I would be crushed underneath these peasants. But you, you brought out the inner strong me. And I guess that was a good thing"

"I didn't bring out the inner strong you" I quoted and she laughed. "-I unleashed a beast! Had I known, I would never!" she laughed.

"I am the beauty while you sir are the-" she halted and though for a moment.

"I am handsome. I know"

"The beast" she replied and I chuckled.

Looks like Fate finally decided to shine upon me.

***

The ride back to the campus was a short one. Maybe it seemed short because Indah and I talked all the way through while Krystal slept. She had a flight to catch at 9:40pm today and she was still sleeping. I parked in the airport parking lot before getting off and taking off her luggage.

"You wanna shower and change before you go?" I heard Indah ask Krystal who declined muttering that she'd rather go back and shower. She was here for a day and I still don't get why she carried her small luggage bag with her.

"Okay- its 8:13 and my check in is at 8:25 so....."

I turned to my sister and hugged her.

"Bye Krys. Make sure to call me when you get back safe" I told her and she pulled out from the hug and kissed my cheeks before grinning at me cheekily. She always did that to embarrass me. I shook my head at her cheekiness and tapped her head.

"Go"

She hugged Indah and placed a kiss on her cheeks too before whispering something in her ears, causing my Cactus to go red and walked towards the entrance with a laugh. I walked over to Cactus and raised an eyebrow and she shrugged. We got into the van and headed to the campus.

"Thank you" she said, as I parking my Rav4 beside Carwayn's rover in the parking lot.

"Whatever for?" I asked her.

"Saving me from Ace"

I switched off the ignition and turned to her. She looked away from me.

"Its okay. Thank you for today though" I said and she shrugged. I unlocked the doors and she turned to me.

"K-" she said and I raised an eyebrow at her. She stayed silent, as if she was forming words in her head. I stayed idol at my position. It was the first time I showed so much patience to someone. "-I don't exactly-"

"I get it. You don't exactly like me-" I told her and she shook her head.

"I was not going to say that but since you know, okay-" she snapped at me for interrupting her sentence.

"Speak Indah" I muttered, my patience running thin. I had an 8am class tomorrow, for gods sake.

"Argh. Why is this so hard?!" she muttered and I sighed.

"What is so hard?"

"Nothing" she muttered, still thinking.

"Stop the thinking Indah" I told her softly and she shook her head.

"No. I don't get why it is so hard when everything comes easy-"

I kissed her. This time, I meant it. I saw it coming.

| Snippet. |

Kirun never knew someone would mean so much to him. He never thought that apart from his family, the boys and The Huxley's, he would fear losing someone this much. But here he was, his fear of losing Indah driving him insane.

So here the two were, standing face to face in the gardens of the campus away from the yelling people and busy bodies. Just the two of them. As Indah spoke, Kirun could not help but smile to himself at the thoughts of this girl. How oblivious could she be?

"Indah Gesang. Are you sure you are the smartest one in the group?" he questioned her and she glared at him.

"That would be Ayaka, not me. Speaking of which, tell me"

"How does Ayaka-?"

"Long story. Tell me Kirun. What did you mean by them?" Indah was beyond riled up by now and Kirun knew the best way to answer her. So without thinking of the consequences, he whispered 'This' leaning down and capturing her lips with his.

It was an awkward yet slow and gentle kiss, for Indah's brain short circuited and she went still while Kirun gently tilted her head and held it in his hands before he ran his tongue on his lower lip. The shiver that passed through Indah was enough to wake up and as per reflex, she pushed him away before slamming her palm over his cheeks. 

Kirun stared at her dumbfounded. She was the first girl to slap him after a kiss.

"What the-" she was fuming by now. Kirun dared not move, the stinging on his cheek giving him a clear idea of what might happen if he did.

"Indah I-"

By then, Indah was gone. She had ran like her life depended on it. But of course it did. She was kissed. Her first kiss. That too Kirun Arthit of all people kissed her.

"Why are you so cruel to me?" Indah whispered to the sky, talking to the heavens as a single tear slipped her eyes. She lost her first kiss to someone she might never find herself in love with.

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Heyy! :) Update it is. Haha. 

| R C V |

-aalihha-