Stuck on you

Chapter 2

Summary: He dates people for money, half of the times even sleeps with them: no one would want to be involved with someone like him.

He is better off alone.

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FRONGS POV:

Frong  takes his cap off and throws it on the chair next to the duffel bag he uses for the gym clothes. Hair still damp after the shower, he relaxes as he sits at one of the tables of a familiar restaurant and stretches his legs, his muscles sore after the intense work out, but his mind feeling better than ever. He had the whole day off and used it to run a few errands, one of them being meeting up with his accountant to get the overview of his financial situation. His investments, despite not giving back the splendid results he had hoped for, were giving him a decent amount of profit given the unstable economic situation. At first glance it seemed like it still wasn't time to abandon his job: he has to endure it a little longer than planned. He isn't ecstatic about it, his professional goal not involving being a eye-candy at somebody's arm, nor taking off his clothes. But he can't deny  his contentedness because in merely a few years of being an escort he has been able to make almost five times what he would have earned with any regular job. It means not being stuck paying back his family's debts until he is forty. It means he can go back to school and get his degree before he is thirty. It means he still has a chance at succeeding in spite of all the crap that happened following his mom's death.

"Hey, what are you gonna eat?" the waiter, his friend Kao, asks him as he approaches him.

"The usual."

"Coming right up. My break is in ten, I'll keep you company."

He watches as Kao hurries to the kitchen to leave his order before going back to the cashier. He remembers when they used to work here together, the crazy hours running back and forth to serve customers, the walks back to the apartment they shared, sometimes only the two of them on the streets because it was very late at night. Legs so sore they became stiff, paychecks never big enough to pay for everything he needed money for. They lived together for a couple of years but he ended up renting his own place -a smaller apartment he didn't have to share- not long after he switched his profession and started making more money. Kao had gotten a girlfriend around that time and three people definitely made their home too crowded. Besides, being on his own meant he didn't have to evade questions about why he would leave for work at eight at night while wearing expensive clothes and watches. He always cared about keeping his business private, especially since it was temporary and only a mean to archieve a critical financial goal in order to get his life back on track. Someday he would be the one attending those company dinners instead of being paid to be somebody's partner.

He just needs a little more time.

He is about to check his schedule for the week when he sees a familiar figure skate right in front of him and toward the counter inside the restaurant. It isn't until he has taken off his white helmet that he reconizes the guy  who got awarded at the medical event he went to a couple of weeks before. Not only he had looked quite dashing in his dark suit and black tie, but his softer features and cute smile were so in contrast with his stiff posture and the gravity of the topic he spoke of, that Frong couldn't help but become very curious about this  outstanding doctor. His employer of that night had told him he was the youngest doctor of their hospital to ever get that recognition for his article -something about cancer in children, if his memory didn't fail him. He remembers looking at him as he gave his speech, a mix of thank you's to his seniors and a brief soliloquy on his research: confidence radiating from every inch of his skin, eyes glistening as he passionately spoke of one of the cases he treated. What stuck though was the genuine smile on his face as he shared his hopes and how the results of his research could improve patients lives and heal them. A smile that turned into a more awkward one when he had to accept compliments and listen to self-congratulary words from some of his fellow doctors.