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3:17 AM_
Ring… Ring… Chay was awake, rudely, by ringing from his phone. “Who the fuck is calling at this hour?” He grumbled, upset at the disruption of his sleep. He narrowed his eyes to look at the caller, the light from the screen almost blinding him. Looking closer, almost squinting, ‘K… i… m’—who? A jolt of recognition went through him. He was immediately awake, as if someone had dumped cold water on him.
After the momentary realisation settled in, confusion came to replace it. Wait… why is he calling me? Scrunching up his eyebrows, Chay stared back at his phone with an incredulous expression.
Hesitantly picking up the phone, “Um… hello?”
A few seconds passed and—nothing.
“P’Kim?”
“Chay,” Kim breathed out.
Chay frowned.
“P’Kim, why are you calling me?” He wasn’t happy about getting awoken in the middle of the night, even more so by his ex, if you could even call him that.
“Chay… I’m… hic— sorry,” Kim slurred. It puzzled Chay, taking a moment to pull the phone from his ear, checking his contact, ensuring it was really him .
“P’Kim, are you drunk?” Concern lacing Chay’s voice.
“No, I’m n —hic— not. I just need you to come b-back.”
“ What? ”
“P’Kim—”
3:21 AM_
CALL ENDED.
Chay was frantic. At that moment, he threw their past out the window, anxiety filling him in return. It was just Kim, Kim, Kim! What was he supposed to do now? He didn’t expect something like this to happen on a Friday night!
Fuck it. He wouldn't be able to sleep knowing Kim was out there drunk either. Swallowing a sigh, he took his keys and made his way toward the front porch of the house he owned with Porsche.
He remembered he had to beg Porsche to let him live here; the main house stripping him of the last of his sanity. He couldn't bear to see Kim’s face, any longer would have granted a breakdown.
A part of him returned when he moved back, sweeping clean of whatever he had with Kim to the back of his mind, locked up. Although living here came with the price of being constantly monitored by bodyguards, he’d learnt to ignore that aspect of his life. Porsche insisted on having guards, even when Chay used his infamous puppy eyes on him, stating that the trick wouldn’t work twice.
It wasn’t easy though. Having someone constantly stare at the back of his head whenever he left the house wasn’t the easiest thing not to notice, but wasn’t that hard to disregard once he grew accustomed to it.
Chay then reasoned with Porsche that he needed to learn how to get around without the help of bodyguards, pleading Porsche to let him learn how to ride a bike. A bike made most sense for him to learn. It was convenient to park, small enough, and ultimately, Porsche knew how to ride one.
Porsche was reluctant at first, worried about the risks of riding a bike, offering to get Chay a car instead. Apparently, bikes were too dangerous for Chay, but weren't for him, resorting to Chay to turn to Kinn instead. It worked, obviously.
Climbing onto the bike that Porsche got him for his birthday, he had the destination set in mind. Yok’s bar.
If Kim didn't have any bodyguards around, it wouldn't be smart at a random bar, considering the number of enemies the Theerapanyakul family has made over the years. Making the only logical place Kim would be at–Yok’s.
3:42 AM_
Yok’s wasn’t that far away, allowing Chay to arrive quicker than expected. His mind was running laps, unable to calm down. Taking a step back, Chay rethought this. The question of why? propped up. Why was he doing this? Seriously, why? Was it out of kindness? He didn’t know. He didn’t want to know.
Standing on the pavement outside of the bar, he called Yok first. In the past, Porsche used to work overtime often, most of the time resulting in her calling Chay to inform him. It wasn’t weird that Chay had her number; even regarding her as his second “mom” occasionally. Even after Porsche resigned, they remained in contact.
While waiting for the line to go through, he picked at his fingernails, something he did as a nervous tick.
“Hello? Nong Chay?”
“Jèe Yok, I’m outside your bar.”
“What? Why? Come inside!”
“Mmm,” Chay answered, walking into the bar with a closed sign hanging on the door, ending the call once he reached the entrance.
“Nong Chay! I haven’t seen you in so long! Come come, give me a hug!” Yok exclaimed, spreading her arms wide open, clearly waiting for a hug. Chay had a soft spot for the woman, walking forward to accept the hug with a smile.
“You’ve grown so much!” She said, while ruffling Chay’s hair. Chay was taller, but it didn’t seem to stop her. He hasn’t been the same, but this brought Chay back to his younger self; the more naïve days.
“Now tell me, why are you here? You didn’t visit without a reason right,” Yok accused, pointing a teasing finger towards Chay. He held his hands up, mimicking a surrender.
“Can’t I visit without a reason?” He innocently stated, acting like he just got found out for stealing cookies. They laughed, and the mood dropped.
“Jèe Yok, by any chance is P’Kim here?” Chay inquired.
“You mean Kimhant? The Theerapanyakul?” Chay nodded.
“Why are you looking for him?” Her gaze turned unsmiling.
“It’s… a long story. Just tell me, is he here, please?”
“Nong Chay, you know he isn’t someone to mess with right?”
“He’s… passed out in one of the VIP booths. I’m not gonna question you Chay, but you know better,” With a sigh, she stared at Chay one last time, almost in understanding, before heading to the back to clean up the bar.
Chay could only nod in understanding, taking a deep breath, preparing himself to look for Kim. Shuffling through the VIP booths, popping his head in each one to double check it was empty; until he heard a groan coming from the booth in the back.
There he was, Kim laying on the sofa in the booth shaped in a circle, knocked out.
Taking a cautionary step toward, “P’Kim? Are you awake?” Tapping him to see if he could get an answer. The only sort of response was a muffled groan.
Grabbing Kim’s shoulders, Chay tried to flip him around, so that at least his face wasn’t planted on the sofa. Hair in a mess, makeup smeared all over his face, sweat covering his body, and his leather jacket strewn on the other end of the sofa. Chay could deduce that Kim probably did a gig before getting drunk.
Kim managed his eyes open for a bit, glazed over, seemingly in a drunken haze.
“Chay?” he giggled. Eyes blown out at the new discovery, like a kid who had just seen candy.
The sober version of Kim would never dare to act like this. Chay could probably use this as leverage over him, but he chose not to, placing his focus on getting Kim out of the bar instead.
He didn’t trust Kim to be left alone, the next best choice—to bring Kim back home. Chay wasn’t keen on the choice considering their relationship, but it was a last resort.
Fuck. How was he going to move a complete human being back to the house with his bike? Kim being drunk wasn’t helping.
Whatever. Problems for later-me. Let’s focus on moving Kim first. Turns out, dragging a human being was as hard as Chay had expected. Especially a drunk one. Kim was like an unpredictable sandbag, drifting in and out of consciousness because of the alcohol. He must’ve drank a lot.
Hauling half of Kim onto his shoulder and letting him drape off the side allowed Chay to send a text letting Yok know that they would be gone from the bar. Carrying Kim all the way out to the pavement in front of the Bar and gently placing him on the ground, seated upright against a wall. He now had to figure out how to bring Kim home. A bike would be virtually impossible, a literal death sentence, so…car it is.
4:14 AM_
Flagging down a taxi would be impossible at this hour, so Chay opted to book one instead. Tapping his shoes against the pavement, to calm his racing heart down.
Chay constantly checked his phone, looking up occasionally to check the road. Once the taxi arrived, he opened the car door first, before lugging Kim up and onto the backseat. After successfully getting properly seated inside, Chay shut the car door and strapped the seatbelts on both of them.
4:34 AM_
“Kim, wake up, we reached,” Chay said, while using his elbow to nudge Kim who fell asleep on his shoulder, earning him a groan from a hardly awake Kim.
“Kim, let’s go,” Chay proclaimed, unlocking both their seatbelts before pulling at Kim’s arm, not forgetting to thank the driver.
Dragging Kim out of the car and onto the porch of the house, unlocking the front gate to get in.
“C’mon, cooperate with me please,” Chay mumbled. Triumphantly getting Kim up the flight of stairs and into Porsche’s room (which was used as a guest room after he moved to the main house).
Oomph! Chay heaved as he laid Kim’s unconscious self onto the mattress. Phew. “Done, finally,” Chay muttered, as he tried to check the time on his phone.
4:51 AM_
I… should get some sleep. Looking at Kim’s motionless body, he pulled the blanket to cover him better. He looks… peaceful like this. Trudging back towards the door, he looked back at Kim, sighed and went to the door.
Something tugged at his arm and Chay fell face-front on something soft.
“Stay here,” Kim said, his deep voice reverberating from his chest; the warmth of his breath sending shivers down his spine. Kim’s arms caged him in, hugging him tightly, Chay’s nose sensitive from the smell of alcohol.
Chay was too tired to fight him, allowing himself to relax in Kim’s arms. Reminding him of back then, laying cluelessly in Kim’s arms, naïve and young. He didn’t care what would happen next, cherishing this fleeting moment.
The rise and drop of Kim’s chest made Chay sleepy, fighting to stay awake but failing; worn out from today's events.
9:28 AM_
Ugh. It’s too bright. Blinking to focus his eyes, blinded by sunlight shining through the blinds. Sitting up, Chay groggily looked around, seeing nothing other than pillows and a blanket. What happened? Disorientated, he moved off the bed, sauntering to the bathroom.
On his way to the bathroom, a piece of neon pink post-it caught his eye. That wasn’t there before. Confused, he went to pick it up.
“I drank too much, it won’t happen again.
Thanks.” -Kim.
Chay recalled.