Before He Met Bright Vachirawit (Prequel to Bright for the Win)

Chapter 7

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Win's POV

"Are you alright?" my mom asked me when I walked into the living room.

Shit she must have seen me wiping the tears from my cheeks.

"I'm okay," I replied and hated how my voice didn't sound convincing even to my own ears.

I rushed to my room upstairs before she could see my tear stained face.

'Lunch will be ready soon," my mom called after me.

"Okay, thanks, mom!" I said before opening my bedroom door and walking in.

As soon as I got inside my room,  my phone started to ring. It was Pluem.

"Are you okay?" he asked without bothering to say hello.

"Of course I'm okay," I replied. I knew that he didn't believe me.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"At home, of course. Where else would I be?" I replied.

"Well, I thought you might have gone out for lunch with that uncle of yours," I heard him say.

"Uncle?" I got confused. "Which uncle are you talking about? Have you met any of my uncles?"

I heard him chuckle.

"Yes, you introduced him to me just a few minutes ago outside your gate," he replied.

"Hey! He's not old enough to be my uncle!" I protested.

"Well, you said that he was much older than us, that he would be graduating from university soon, while we are just trying to finish high school," he explained.

"Still, that doesn't make him old enough to be my uncle," I insisted. "You're exaggerating."

"Has he invited you to his upcoming graduation day?" Pluem asked.

"His father invited me but I'm not sure that I will attend," I replied. Shit, I didn't mean for my voice to crack, but there it was and Pluem heard it of course.

"You want me to come back after lunch and keep you company?" he offered.

"I would appreciate that," I replied. "We could share ideas on how to go about our school project."

"Yes, we could do that," Pluem said. "See you after lunch then."

Pluem was a kind, discerning, thoughtful friend. We got along so well. It would be so easy to fall for someone like him.

I played a few games on my phone and before long our housekeeper was knocking on my door to announce that my mom wanted me to go down and have lunch with her.

"Why is Dad not here with us today?" I asked as I lifted a kimbap with my chopsticks.

"He had to meet up with a prospective client over lunch," my mom explained.

I didn't comment after that. I was already so used to my dad not being around during meals.

"Was it you or the housekeeper who made this?" I asked my mom as I popped another kimbap roll into my mouth.

"Stop calling her the housekeeper," my mom complained. "Her name is Chariya."

"Sorry," I said. "I'm not used to her yet. You hired her not too long ago."

"Yes, but get used to calling her Chariya," my mom said. "And it was she who made these kimbap rolls so be sure to thank her after lunch."

"Okay, I will, jeez," I said as I reached for my glass of ice cold mango juice.

"By the way, mom, my classmate Pluem is coming over after lunch to help me with my school project," I said. "Is it okay to let him come upstairs to my room?"

"Sure," my mom replied before she took a sip out of her own glass of ice cold mango juice.

The housekeeper appeared with a frosted pitcher of mango juice. I could hear the ice cubes clinking against the side of the glass pitcher.

"Would you like some more mango juice, sir?" she asked me politely.

"Yes, please," I replied. "And you don't have to call me 'sir'. Just call me Win."

My mom fixed me a stare and I remembered just in time before the housekeeper walked away after filling up my glass with the mango juice.

"Oh, by the way, these kimbap rolls taste really good," I said to the housekeeper. "Thank you so much for making them."

My mom continued to stare me down.

" ... Chariya," I added belatedly.

Chariya smiled and bowed slightly before walking away from the table.

Not too long after lunch, Pluem buzzed at the gate.

I told Chariya not to bother to go out because I was going to let Pluem into the house myself.

"You smell of fried onions," I said to Pluem, sniffing his shirt.

"I had a jumbo cheese burger with lots of onion rings for lunch," he laughed. "But don't worry, I brushed my teeth with a lot of minty toothpaste. Come here, smell my mouth."

He grabbed me unexpectedly and made me lean too close and so I ended up with my lips on his slightly opened mouth.

"Aaaccckkk ..." Chariya had come out of the house with a long broom to clear the yard of the fallen leaves.