Secrets Kept

Hiding A Secret

About 2.5 years before

"What are we going to do?" Arthit asked Kongpob, starting to panic a little. He had just told his partner that they were expecting a baby and explained how it happened. He didn't want his friends to know about his private life. At least not yet, but it seemed they would find out within a few months. He would start to show and they would ask him about it.

"Let's not worry about that until it is a problem. You aren't showing and you probably won't for several months. When that happens, we can figure out ways to hide the bump." Kongpob tried reassuring his boyfriend, but he could tell it wasn't helping.

"It's not just the bump that I need to hide, it's also the sickness. I have been sick every day for the last 2 weeks. Bright and Tutah have started to mention that I don't look well." Arthit sat placing his face in his hands.

"Let's be honest. There is no way anyone will go from you being sick to you being pregnant. Even with a little weight gain later on. They will not even suspect what has happened. Please calm down. From what I remember when my sister was pregnant, you shouldn't stress out about anything. I know that is hard, especially right now, but for the baby, you need to." Kongpob tried using logic to help his boyfriend and this time it seemed to help. Arthit straightened up and took a deep breath. Kongpob took the moment to sit beside him, draping his arm over his shoulder.

"Okay. So, let's just deal with things as they happen. If anyone asks a question, I will just have to think of an answer that will delay them knowing anything." Arthit said, taking another breath. Kongpob nodded and rubbed his shoulder.

Kongpob was trying his best not to panic as well. He didn't know how to take all of this in, but he knew if he didn't remain calm, that Arthit wouldn't.

********

The next next day, Arthit woke up, momentarily forgetting the day before. Well, more like the week before. He forgot that he and Kong were expecting a baby. He forgot about his worry his friends would find out and hate him for it. But that all changed as soon as he opening his eyes. A wave of nausea hit him and he bolted out of bed, heading for the toilet.

Several minutes later, he was in the shower. The nausea was still affecting him and he knew from the past 2 weeks that if he ate something, it would go away. So he hurried to get ready.

5 minutes later, he was dressed and was slinging his backpack over his shoulder as he left his room.

On his way to his favorite food stall, he tried to breathe to keep from throwing up again. He had to keep reminding himself that the doctor said it should go away after the first 13 weeks. He was 7 weeks 3 days along now, so only 5 weeks 4 days to go. He hoped it went away sooner though.

Arriving at the canteen, Arthit went and ordered his food and drink, taking them over to an empty table. Putting his tray and his backpack down, he sat to eat. He knew his friends would join him soon, so he didn't have to rush to eat. After the first bite, he sighed. It didn't help the nausea immediately, but it tasted so good. The other smells in the canteen were not helping the nausea either.

Arthit was startled out of his food daze when a tray slammed down on the table in front of him. This caused him to jerk his head in the direction of the sound. His nausea hadn't gone away yet, so this sudden quick movement brought the feeling of sickness back to his attention. He immediately pressed his hands to his stomach and his mouth, trying to breathe through the feeling. Trying to calm down didn't work, so he shot out of his chair and ran to the closest bathroom, slamming shut the stall door and emptying his stomach of the little he had eaten.

As he rested there on the floor still heaving, he vaguely heard the bathroom door open and close. He tried to be quiet so the person who came in didn't realize what he was doing. He finally stopped getting sick and took a moment to catch his breathe.

Climbing to his feet, he left the stall and went to clean his mouth and hands. Once he felt ready to leave the room, he took a breathe and opened the door.

Approaching the table, he saw his friends sitting there eating their food. Tutah was the first to notice his return.

"Hey, are you alright? You ran off pretty quick as soon as we got here." He asked, as Arthit sat down.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just had to use the bathroom." Arthit tried to smile as he picked up his spoon again. Taking a tentative bite, he looked up to see Tutah watching him. "What?"

"You look a little green. Are you sure..."

"Yes. I am alright. It's not like I'm dying. I have been sick the last few hours, but it will go away soon." He finally settled on telling them a small piece of the truth.

"You're sick? Have you been to the doctor?" Tutah asked, clearly concerned.

"Yes. Don't worry. I'm fine. They said it will go away soon. They did say I might continue to look ill, but I will be fine." Arthit assured his very caring friend as best as he could without being completely honest. This line of questioning was making Arthit very nervous. As they were talking, Arthit had been taking rather large bites of his food. When Tutah nodded and averted his attention to their other friends, Arthit realized that he was almost done with his plate of food and his nausea had gone away.

He waited for his friends to get done before reminding them they needed to hurry to class as it started in 5 minutes. They all ran to get to their classroom and barely made it before class started.

********

5 months later

Arthit sat down at the lunch table carefully with his tray of food, trying to keep his belly from pressing into the table. He was 6 months along now and wearing very baggy clothes to hide his bump. He wasn't that big from what his doctor had said at his last appointment, so he was grateful for that. But his bump did extend out 2 inches from where it had been before, so he wanted to be careful so no one would noticing.

His friends sat down on either side of him and in front of him, just as Arthit's phone buzzed. He picked it up and clicked on the message that had just come in.

'After lunch, could we talk in private. I have a question I wanted to ask you.'

The message was from Knott, who was sitting in front of him. Looking up, he found Knott watching him, so he just nodded. The group ate while talking, chaos being tempted to ensure when Bright reached over to try and steal food off Arthit's plate. Arthit was ready to attack him, when Tutah slapped Bright on the head. This diverted Bright's attention and the two began to argue. It didn't last long, but Arthit was glad it had happened. He was very protective of his food right now. He seemed to be hungry all the time. He had taken to carrying snacks in his bag so he wouldn't get grumpy and start snapping at his friends. Not that it hadn't happened before, but usually not about food. Bright had been the one attacked the most since Arthit had found out he was pregnant, pushing him past his breaking point so many times.

They finished eating and it was time for Tutah, Bright, and Prem to get to their next class. Arthit and Knott had a free hour, so they agreed to go somewhere more private so they could talk; Knott's dorm. During the walk to the dorm, Arthit began to think about what his large quiet friend could want to talk about. Immediately, he thought about the baby.

'Does he know? Is he going to confront me about it? I don't want anyone to know about this yet. I haven't gotten used to the idea. What if he hates me because of this? I can't lose a friend. And if he knows, will he tell the others? Will I lose all my friends?'

The same thoughts kept running through his head until they reached Knott's room. Walking through the door, Arthit was cautious. He knew his friend wouldn't hurt him in any way even if he knew about the baby but he was still worked about what this was about.