In Every Lifetime

Chapter One

"Oon~ Oon~ where are you~" the sing song voice of Kongpob reverbed through the large Sutthiluck mansion as the little pitter patter of feet followed. The young boy ran around in search of the older child whom he stuck to like glue since birth. Kongpob knew not of friends and the outside world, having been sickly since young.. His life, his world revolved around Arthit, who had endearingly allowed only him to use that ridiculously adorable nickname. To tell the truth it was simply because Kongpob was unable to pronounce Arthit properly and 'Oon' at least sounded nicer than 'Arr'. But seeing the smile that always appeared on the younger's face after the name 'Oon' spilled from the little mouth made Arthit soften his harsh demeanor, accepting his fate.

"Young master Kongpob! You mustn't run around like that!" the worried cries of Kongpob's nanny, Earth, echoed soon after. The young boy ignored her completely as he continued his search of Arthit, scuttling down the hallways to the servants' wing. He squealed as he launched himself full force onto the familiar back he spotted a small distance away.

"Oon! Oon! Oon!" he wriggled around on Arthit's back while the older boy groaned at the sudden weight impact.

"Kong, we've talked about this. You're getting way too heavy for me to carry." he grumbled as he tried to dislodge the arms and legs that have wound themselves tightly around his neck and torso.

"Can you bring me out today? I want to eat haw candy!"

"No. I have school. You have classes with P'Yong in the afternoon."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease~ Na na na?" Kongpob pouted, burying his head into the crook of Arthit's neck. By this point the older boy had given up trying to wrangle him off and was walking back towards the main house with Kongpob still enjoying his piggy back ride.

Earth chuckled, following the pair from behind. Young master Kongpob was only 2 years younger than Arthit but with the way the older one spoiled him, one would have thought that Kongpob was at least 5 years younger. She knew it wouldn't be long before Arthit said yes to Kongpob. It wasn't because he was the young master. Everyone knew that Arthit doted on him - abnormally so in fact. Despite what his mouth might say, Arthit's eyes always spoke a different story.

Setting him down softly on the couch, Arthit turned to look at Kongpob. "No. Your grades have been slipping. What happened to wanting to go to the same school as me? At this rate you won't be able to make it into any school. Let alone mine." Arthit smirked, giving him a gentle tap on the forehead.

Kongpob pouted and sulked. It wasn't his fault that Oon was too smart and made it to the best high school in the province even without the help of his father's special scholarship. He tried, he really did! But studying in the same room with Arthit really wasn't conducive for him. P'Yong had hoped that Arthit's good manners and interest to learn would rub off Kongpob just a little but all it had resulted in was the younger staring at the older child for at least 80% of the time.

So P'Yong now had to keep them apart, much to Kongpob's dismay. He was only allowed to see Arthit for fifteen minutes at two intervals in between his 5 hour lessons from 1 to 5 in the afternoons. At first, Arthit moved back to the servant quarters to continue his studies. But the whining of Kongpob soon spread throughout the house when he exited the study room on his break and realised his precious Oon was nowhere to be found. He then proceeded to refuse all forms of studying unless Arthit was sitting right outside the study room where he could run to his arms during his break. And so the other servants of the Sutthiluck household went about moving furniture for the rest of the day, just so the young master could get to his 'best medicine' whenever he was allowed.

Arthit smiled gently at the small figure sitting on the couch, now hunched over and grumbling under his breath. He could pick up the words "dumb", "mean" and quietly blessed P'Yong for he must be sneezing furiously away somewhere. He looked at him quietly, observing the boy who took up more space in his heart than he was willing to admit.

Kongpob was always a little skinnier than most his age, no thanks to his heart condition. Skinny and lanky- like a monkey, was how Arthit loved to tease him. But it didn't mean that Arthit ever forgot, that Kongpob was not like every other child. That at any point in time, the gods could decide it was his time, and Arthit would never see him again. He shuddered at the thought, pushing it away to the far recesses of his mind as he crouched down to Kongpob's level.

"You have a test today don't you?"

Puppy eyes looked back at him, growing larger with the tiny hopes of what was to come next.

"If you get at least a 80 on it, I'll give you a reward. You know you can't go out but we can go to our spot." he said, while ruffling on the soft hairs of the boy. "I'll bring you the haw candy," he added as an afterthought, remembering it had indeed been quite some time since Kongpob had his favourite treat.

"Really? You mean it?" The puppy eyes were now thoroughly sparkling, full of determination.

"Uh huh. In fact.." he looked around, dropping his voice lower so that only Kongpob could hear him, "I'll let you have some iced coffee jelly too if you score above 85." Flashing him his signature dimpled smile, Arthit watched as Kongpob hurriedly hopped off the couch and made a beeline for the study room.

"I'll make sure to get my reward from you Oon! Just you wait!" he hollered while dashing towards the study, leaving the elder of the two behind, shaking his head.

Standing up and making his way to gather his things for school, Arthit made a mental note to come back early to make the special coffee jelly for Kongpob. What Kongpob didn't know was that his favourite jelly was never store bought but always handmade for him by Arthit himself. Due to his heart condition, Kongpob was never allowed any forms of caffeine but the boy had a strange addiction to coffee from a young age. He had always stood in the kitchen while the adults drank their coffee, sniffing like an addict and pleading with anyone who had a cup in their hands. Of course, he was denied the drink every single time. That was until Master Sutthiluck came back with a bottled blend of decaffeinated coffee just for his son.

This special bottle however, was never made known to Kongpob, for obvious reasons. Instead, Master Sutthiluck had allowed Arthit to take it upon himself to make it into a treat for Kongpob. He had always trusted the young boy's judgement, which was matured beyond his age and watched as he used it to pacify his young boy's temper tantrums or motivate him to do better at his studies. He never once saw the boy as the son of their head butler Rojnapat, but rather, the one blessing in Kongpob's life and genuinely treated him as another son. Arthit Rojnapat had impeccable upbringing and manners, was incredibly intelligent and the only one whom Kongpob would listen to - more than Master Sutthiluck himself.