Set after Episode 6

Arthit hid a smile as the freshmen left the hall. He couldn’t help but be amused at the bitter looks some of them shot him. He supposed it was to be expected - he had just made them squat up and down fifty times. Still, they should be grateful. He remembered his freshmen days, where fifty squats were child’s play.

“Your 0062 is looking at you, Arthit,” Knot whispered into his ear.

Arthit scowled. Since when was Kongpob his? But Knot was right. Kongpob was staring right at him as he left the hall. A small smile played around Kongpob’s lips, which turned into a grin as he caught Arthit’s eye. Arthir glared, but Kongpob wasn’t fazed. If anything, his grin widened, revealing his sharp canines. He only looked away when one of his friends asked something, and soon, had exited the hall.

With a sigh, Arthit relaxed his tense shoulders. Why did Kongpob treat him so casually? Did Kongpob consider himself Arthit’s friend? Arthit shook his head. He couldn’t allow it. He was the leader of the hazing group. There was no way he could be friends with a hotheaded, disrespectful guy like Kongpob.

“Good session, guys!” Arthit clapped his hands together. “Let’s meet again tomorrow.”

The third years dispersed and Arthit was left with Knot, Prem and Bright. They walked through the corridors together, laughing at Prem’s crude jokes. Arthit kept his head down, not saying anything. Kongpob’s grin kept flashing through his mind. What was it that Kongpob wanted? He kept challenging Arthit, seeming to be unhappy with Sotus’s methods, but Kong's actions were soft. His concern when Arthit did the running punishment, the way he brought Arthit’s food to his room, the words he said - “I think your serious face is kind of cute, P’Arthit.”

Arthit shook his head vigorously. He absolutely couldn’t fall into Kongpob’s trap. The boy may be charming but he was just winding Arthit up. There was no way Kongpob could actually like him, and there was no way Arthit liked him back. Kongpob was annoying. His handsome face, his soft and strong voice, his dimples when he smiled. It was all annoying.

“Arthit?”

Arthit raised his head to see Knot, Prem and Bright staring at him. “What?”

“You were walking with a weird smile on your face.”

Arthit swallowed hard. “Just thinking about the competition.”

Luckily his friends bought his excuse. They laughed. “That’s right, we’re definitely going to win this year.”

Arthit smiled, high fiving them. The engineering competition was a national one, and this year, it was their university hosting the finals. The campus had been cleaned and decorated thoroughly to prepare for the arrival of other universities’ engineering students. They would be staying for ten days, which was the length of time the competition finals lasted. Each year group had already picked six students to represent.

Arthit couldn’t wait to get started. His university was going to win. He could feel it.

It was midnight by the time Arthit got to his bedroom. He had been working late for the competition, reading up in preparation. He moved to close his window curtains when he saw a movement in the apartment opposite. Arthit looked closer at the opposite room and his jaw dropped.

It was Kongpob, hanging clothes into his cupboard. Arthit gaped. He hadn’t known his room was just opposite Kongpob’s. What sort of coincidence was this?

Now it made sense why Kongpob had been so familiar with Arthit's room. Arthit scowled. How many times had Kongpob watched him? He found his scowl disappearing as he gazed at Kongpob. The boy was speaking on the phone now, grinning at something the other person said. He had a nice smile.

Arthit slapped his cheek. No, he did not just think that. Kongpob did not have a nice smile. Absolutely not.

He closed his curtains, and for the rest of the night, tried not to think about peeking at Kongpob’s room again.

 The next day was busy. Engineering students from other universities arrived in large busses, and were greeted jovially. Arthit spent most of the day showing them their rooms and assigning other third years to help out. The freshmen mostly kept out of the way, busy revising for their exams. 

The sun had just set when Arthit went to his usual restaurant to grab dinner. With the new students, the place was packed and Arthit had to queue longer than usual to get his pink milk order and dinner. The restaurant was too busy so he sat in the empty stands by the field. He had just started to eat when a raised voice reached his ears.

“I said, give us your food.”

Arthit frowned at the scene. At the running tracks, a group of boys surrounded some freshmen girls carrying packed food – Arthit dimly recognised them as May and her group of friends. The boys wore uniform belonging to Nuat University’s third years. The boys must have come for the engineering competition. The leader of the boys was tall, with long black hair tied back into a ponytail. He was handsome but the cruel look on his face made him ugly in Arthit’s eyes.

“This is our food,” May said quietly. “We bought it. Please buy your own.”

The ponytailed boy laughed mockingly. “I can see that university students here have no respect for their seniors.”

May’s friend, Praepailin, scowled. “You’re not our senior.”

The ponytailed boy’s face changed instantly, from laughing to a snarl. He towered over Praepailin, his friends moving to block May and the other girl’s exit. Arthit stiffened. These girls were his freshmen, and he wouldn’t stand for them being bullied. Especially by someone who wasn’t him.  He started making his way down from the stands but before he could reach them, a smooth voice rang through the air.

“Get away from my friends please, sir.”

Kongpob stood behind the Nuat University students. He had a small smile on his face, but Arthit knew him well enough by now to know that the smile was deceptive. People needed to look at Kongpob’s eyes to know the truth about his emotions.

The ponytailed boy advanced on Kongpop. “Who are you?”

“My name is Kongpob, sir. I’m a first year student in this university.”

“Tell me, Kongpob. Should you not pay your respects to a senior.”

“We should, sir. But you’re not entitled to take my friends’ food. My university seniors would not pick on a group of girls and ask for their food. They would think such actions as pathetic.”

The ponytailed boy snarled and raised his hand. Fear shot through Arthit, especially at the way Kongpob just stood there with daring eyes. He ran to step in between the ponytailed boy and Kongpob. “Stop.”

The ponytailed boy took a step back in surprise. Arthit glared at him and used his most commanding voice. “I am Arthit, leader of the third years of this university. Violence is not permitted on our campus. You are also not allowed to bully our juniors.”

“Arthit?” The ponytailed boy gave him a long look. “We've met before at previous competitions. I am Dusit, leader of the third years at my Nuat university. I assure you we weren’t bullying your juniors. It is normal in our university for first years to offer their food to third years.”

Arthit clenched his fists. Who did Dusit think he was? A god to be given offerings of food? But he calmed his temper. It wouldn’t do to start a fight – the university’s reputation was at stake. “These girls aren’t your third years, Khun Dusit. Please forgive them. They’re only familiar with this university’s practices.” Arthit signalled for May and her friends to leave, which they hurried to do.

Dusit’s friends moved to stop the girls but they backed away at Dusit’s barked command. Arthit stood his ground as Dusit came to stand in front of him.

“You seem to be a good leader, Khun Arthit. But I don’t like people challenging me.” Arthit grunted as Dusit grabbed his chin, forcing him to look into Dusit’s eyes. They were scarily blank, like a snake’s.

Arthit wanted to punch the taller boy but he held back. He couldn’t do anything that would hurt his faculty’s reputation. Commiting violence could get his group disqualified from the competition, and Arthit wasn’t going to sabotage anything that would ruin his friends’ efforts.

“Don’t touch him.”

Kongpob’s voice sounded different. Arthit had never heard Kongpob put so much anger and hatred into each word.

Dusit snorted, and glanced at Kongpob. “Babies should keep quiet while the adults talk.”

Arthit batted Dusit’s hand off his face and took a step back, just in time to stop Kongpob from striding closer to Dusit. Kongpob’s face was set in stone, with his jaw clenched and eyes hard as flits. He glared at Dusit but stayed by Arthit.

“You should go, Khun Dusit,” Arhit said. “Or I’ll call a teacher.”

Dusit looked at him for a few seconds before smirking. “Okay, Khun Arthit. But you should reign your friend in. He has quite the temper.”

Hypocrite, Arthit wanted to say, but he kept quiet as Dusit moved away with his friends. It wasn’t until Dusit was completely gone did Kongpob speak. His gaze was soft again, though his shoulders stayed tense.

“You shouldn’t have let him disrespect you like that, P’Arthit.”

Arthit snorted. This guy was talking about being disrespectful? “Kongpob, we can’t fight with students from other universities. It’ll make us look bad. Keep your head down for the next ten days.”

Kongpob frowned. “P’Arthit, I feel like they are going to cause problems for you.” His eyes shone with solemn concern.

Arthit stared, confused at why his heart had started racing in his chest. He cleared his throat. “Don’t worry about me. I’m your senior and can look after myself.”

Kongpob reluctantly nodded. “P’Arthit, can you please promise me something.”

“Kongpob, I don’t need to promise you anything – ”

“Stay away from P’Dusit please,” Kong interrupted.

Arthit frowned, surprised by the urgency in his voice. “He’s just another student – “

“He likes you.”

Arthit’s eyes widened. “What?”

Kongpob was serious. “I saw how he looked at you. He likes you.” Something like apprehension flickered across his face, making him look younger. “You don’t like him back, do you?”

“What the hell, Kongpob?” Arthit snapped. “Why would I like him? Why would he like me? Get back to your work.”

“Yes, P’Arthit,” Kongpob said. His sudden smile was blinding. “Please don’t forget the pink milk you left at the stands, P’Arthit.”

Arthit watched Kongpob walk away. It was only when his cheeks started hurting did he realise he was smiling. 

The engineering competition started the next day. There was a separate competition for every year group - first years competed with first years, second years competed with other second years and so on. Everyone was given their first task and they had twelve hours to complete it and present to the judges.  Arthit worked with his group on designing a prototype for an efficient washing machine. They worked the full twelve hours without any water or food, but were ready to present to the judges on time. The judges were in a big theatre, sitting in front of the stage as they waited for each university to present and talk through their prototype.

Arthit waited nervously with his group backstage. He saw that the seats were taken by the first and second year students who had entered the competition. They had already been judged, and Arthit was proud to see that his university’s freshman group had won their round. He peered through the backstage curtains to look at who made up the group. It was Em, Oak, May, Praepilin and –

Kongpob.

Arthit’s eyes widened. How had he not known about Kongpob participating? Something like pride welled up in his chest. Of course Kongpob was good in his studies too. Was there anything the boy couldn’t do?

“Your freshman group was good, Khun Arthit.”

Arthit spun around, shocked to see Dusit standing just in front of him. He took a step back. Dusit looked friendly enough but Arthit didn’t trust the grin on the boy’s face.

“Thanks,” Arthit replied shortly.

“My university would be first place in the rankings right now if your freshman group hadn’t beaten us.”

“Tell your freshman group to work harder next time then,” Arthit said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me-“

“I think we got off on a wrong start yesterday,” Dusit said. He walked forward, trapping Arthit against the curtain. “I’m not usually so aggressive.”

Kongpob’s words rushed back to Arthit. “He likes you”. Was that really true? Arthit chose his words carefully. “Khun Dusit, you’re standing too close.”

Dusit leaned his head forward till only a hair separated them. He was even more handsome up close, but all Arthit could think of how wrong it felt. Anger flared in him. Who did Dusit think he was to pin him against a curtain? He shoved Dusit away. The look of fury that flashed across Dusit’s face was terrifying, but Arthit ignored it. He rushed back to Knot, Prem and Bright, thankful that they had been too busy double checking the prototype to notice his conversation with Dusit.

His skin crawled from the encounter with Dusit. It looked like Kongpob had been right. But why him? Arthit glowered at nothing. There was nothing special about his face. Why had Dusit suddenly decided to target him?

No one could know, Arthit decided. Everyone would think him a weak boy if word got out that Dusit was interested in him. Arthit felt nauseous at the thought.

Soon, it was time for Arthit and his group to go on stage for the presentation. Everything went smoothly, though Arthit stumbled on his words when he saw Kongpob flash him thumbs up from the seats. The judges were impressed with the prototype but to Arthit’s disappointment, they only placed second. First place went to Dusit’s team. Which meant that Arthit’s university and Dusit’s were tied for first place.

The second task was announced. They had six days to prepare another prototype. It was going to be a complicated one, Arthit thought with a sigh. But he was sure they could do it. He stayed behind after everyone left to clean up the theatre. Prem, Bright and Knot accompanied him, cleaning the seats mostly. Backstage, Arthit sighed as he picked up an empty crisp packet. The next person he caught littering...he’d sentence them to a hundred laps around the field.

“P’Arthit!”

Arthit turned, ignoring the flutter in his chest to see Kongpob striding towards him. “What the hell do you want?”

Kongpob grinned at him. “My group won the first task for our year group, P’Arthit.”

“I know.” Arthit rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t bad. Do just as well in the next round. Understand?”

“You did well too, P’Arthit. I thought you should have won too.” Kongpob beamed at him and moved closer. Arthit refused to take a step back, which meant only an inch separated them.

“You’re too close,” Arthit murmured. He couldn’t look away from Kongpob’s eyes. They seemed neverending, full of emotions too deep for Arthit to interpret.

“So step back,” Kongpob whispered. He his lips, his gaze flickering between Arthit’s eyes and mouth.

Arthit swallowed hard. He leaned closer a fraction even as his mind screamed at him to back away from Kongpob. He couldn’t do this. Whatever strange feelings he had for Kongpob, he couldn’t act on them. So why was he leaning in?

“Arthit, are you done?”

Arthit jumped at Knot’s voice coming from behind the curtains. “Almost! I’ll be with you in a second!” He hurriedly stepped away from Kongpob, who looked intensely frustrated. 

“P’Arthit…” Kong tried to step closer again but Arthit just moved back. 

“Kongpob, go back to your room and rest. You’ll be busy from tomorrow onwards.”

Guilt stabbed at Arthit to see Kongpob’s face fall. “Yes, P’Arthit. Good night and rest well.”

Arthit watched him walk away with slow steps. Trying to distract himself from Kongpob’s saddened face, Arthit rejoined his friends. He laughed as Prem and Bright whined at Knot to buy them dinner, but couldn’t shake off the crawling feeling of someone’s eyes watching him. 

The days passed quickly. Arthit gave orders for other third years to make sure students from other universities weren’t bothering the freshmen. Luckily, other universities’ students were too busy preparing their own prototypes to do anything else.

Arthit stayed with his group. Their prototype of a small robot that sang lullabies was impressive and sure to win the third years' competition round. He saw the envious glances their competitors shot at their prototype.

Dusit didn’t approach him again, for which Arthit was grateful. But another person also stayed very quiet. Arthit hadn’t seen Kongpob for five days, and he couldn’t understand why it felt like something was gnawing him from the inside. For some reason, Arthit found himself wondering what Kongpob was doing, what he was preparing for the competition, whether he was eating well. Every night, Arthit gazed at Kongpob’s room from his, wishing that the curtains would open, but they never did.

The night before the judging of the second task, Arthit slowly climbed the stairs to his room. It was well past midnight and his group had just managed to finish adding the last touches to their robot. He was soaked from the heavy rain that poured outside. With a yawn, Arthit moved to open his room door when something cold touched his feet.

His eyes widened to see a plastic bag of pink milk in front of his door. Arthit glanced around but saw no one. He picked the milk up with a smile. Only his friends and Kongpob knew he liked pink milk, and it wasn’t his friends' style to leave presents by the doorstep. Kongpob must have bought it for him.

Warmth rushed to Arthit’s face. A strange happiness erupted in him, and he rushed into his room before anyone could see his grin.

Someone was knocking on his door. Arthit opened his eyes blearily, checking the time. It was two in the morning. With a sigh, he got out of bed. The first thing he noticed was that it was still raining. The second thing he noticed was that Kongpob’s room light was switched on. Arthit peered through his window and frowned to see Kongpob sitting at his table, still studying. It wasn’t good for him to stay up so late.

The knocking at his door intensified, as though reminding him about why he woke up. Arthit rolled his eyes. “I’m coming!” He didn’t have to worry about raising his voice. There were only three other boys occupying the same floor as him, and they were on their holiday.

Arthit opened his door with a glower. “What is it – “

He stared. In front of the door was Dusit and another three Nuat university boys. Fear flickered in Arthit, his instincts warning him that this wasn’t a normal greeting. All the four boys were not only taller than him, they were muscular too. A smirk played around Dusit’s lips that made Arthit stiffen.

“Khun Dusit,” Arthit said, “you shouldn’t be here.”

Dusit’s smirk widened, and Arthit decided he’d had enough. He tried to slam the door shut but Dusit’s foot stopped it from closing. Arthit gritted his teeth and put all his weight into closing the door but Dusit and his friend easily shouldered it open.

“What the hell do you want?” Arthit yelled, backing away from the four boys. “Get out of my room!”

Dusit’s face darkened. He stalked forward, towering over Arthit. “You know, I really liked you, Arthit. I've noticed you since the national engineering competition in our first year. It’s a shame you never noticed me back.”

Arthit’s lip curled. He refused to show weakness in front of this arrogant bully. “I think it a blessing that I’ve never had to notice you. Get out of my room now.” He tried to shoulder past Dusit but was grabbed. Arthit cried out as Dusit twisted his wrist, his grip mercilessly tight.

“You don’t go anywhere until I let you!” Dusit yelled. He dragged Arthit deeper into the room. “Aawut! Get the camera ready.”

Arthit tried even harder to wriggle out of Dusit’s grip. “What’re you doing with the camera! Get off me!”

Throwing all cautions to the wind, Arthit punched Dusit right in the eye. Dusit gasped and fell to the ground. Arthit saw how Dusit’s three friends instantly guarded the door, so he went to the window. His hands shook as he forced the window open but his heart leapt to see Kongpob still studying in the opposite room.

“Kongpob!” Arthit screamed, but the heavy rain drowned out his voice and Kongpob didn’t even stir from his reading. “Kong – “

A strong hand clamped over his mouth and wrenched him into the room. Arthit screams were muffled by the hand, and he heard Dusit order his friend to close the window curtains. Panic clenched around Arthit’s heart. He thrashed in Dusit’s grip and kicked at the other boys trying to get near him.

“Hurry! Get him on the bed!”

Arthit gasped as he was flung onto the bed. He scrambled to stand again but a boy decorated with tattoos pinned him down. Arthit snarled and used his forehead to smash into the boy’s nose. He grinned to hear the howl of pain and to see the tattooed boy leap away with blood gushing from his nose.

“You feisty !”

Someone grabbed Arthit’s shoulders before he could get off the bed and slapped his face with enough force to make him see stars. Through his blurred vision, Arthit saw that it had been Dusit. Dazed from the blow, Arthit couldn’t resist as Dusit flipped him onto his front, pinning his hands behind his back.

Arthit tried harder to escape as he felt cold metal circle his wrists. But Dusit managed to secure the handcuffs easily. Arthit let out a stream of curses at all of them, using words he hadn’t even known he knew. Dusit merely chuckled, running an appreciative eye over Arthit’s body.

Tired and panting, Arthit stopped writhing on the bed and craned his head to see Dusit’s face clearer. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of Dusit looking at his exposed stomach from where his shirt had ridden up.

“Dusit,” Arthit commanded. “If you don’t let me go now, I swear my faculty will tear you limb by limb.”

“Only if they know, Arthit,” Dusit grinned. He knelt by the bed, a pair of scissors in his hands. “Trust me, you won’t be telling anyone about this. Instead, you’re going to help us win this engineering competition.”

Fear stuck in Arthit’s throat as Dusit drew closer and the other three boys came to stand around the bed. A single gasped out word escaped his throat, “Kong.”

On the table, the cup of pink milk had spilled.   

Please, please share your thoughts! - anything you liked or didn't like or anything you think I can improve on! It really motivates me to write faster! 

Next chapter will be from Kong's point of view. 

Thank you for reading!