Me After You ✔

029

Sorry for the late update 😪🖐

Upon reaching home, Arthit hopped into the bathroom, and gave his body and his hair a good wash before changing into a clean dress. Retrieving the Oxford Advanced Learner's English Thai Dictionary from his bookshelf, Arthit gingerly flipped through the pages of the dictionary, and managed to locate a pair of dried flower between the pages of the dictionary.

The dried flowers were now paper thin – their translucent petals only retained bare tinges of slight pink hues, easily laying bare the petal veins for all to see.

Arthit retrieved the plain wooden bookmark which he had just acquired, and applied a thin layer of glue onto the plain wooden surface before gently pressing the dried flowers onto it. Arthit then carefully picked up the plain wooden bookmark, and placed the plain wooden bookmark into a transparent plastic sheet for protection.

With that done, Arthit returned to the school compound and purchased the best mug he was able to find in the school's gift shop before heading to the school's postal office to post the mug to Knott.

Arthit strolled to the guardhouse.

11:50 AM. With the ringing of the school bell, the first year and second year students swarmed out of their classrooms, and spilled onto the fields located within the school compound.

Only a few days had passed since the completion of his exams, but Arthit felt as though he was now leading an entirely separate and different life from the high school students.

Glancing at the road opposite the school compound, Arthit walked down the steps leading towards the exit, and commenced his journey towards the place he called "home". His pace was neither too fast, nor too slow; it was his usual, routine pace. Just as he was about to round the corner, Arthit turned back out of habit, and cast a quick glance at the people milling about behind him.

The trees lining the street formed a lush, green canopy, and the flowers were in full bloom. The youthful students exiting the school compound were in extremely high spirits, their delighted laughter and boisterous energy spilling out from their young frames without restraint.

Arthit continued his journey, crossing the streets when the green man light came on, and stopping when the red man light came on. Quietly plodding along his usual route, it wasn't long before Arthit finally reached a familiar field of wild grass. Gradually coming to a stop, Arthit paused in the middle of the field for a short period of time before continuing on his journey. Walking past the quiet, abandoned factory dormitories, Arthit finally arrived at the the familiar set of shutter doors that barred his entry into the empty, dilapidated house.

Under the thick foliage of the mulberry trees, the lonely swing hung quietly, unmoving.

From now on, the clean, cooling shade afforded by the mulberry trees could only live on as a part of his memories. The countless number of times when the sun set and the moon rose, the mulberry trees, and the small, cramped house – all these formed part and parcel of the home they had shared so intimately; and yet, from this point forth, they would be forced to leave this home that belonged solely to the two of them, and step onto separate, divergent paths.

Arthit ambled up the stairwell, and used his key to unlock the rusty shutter doors. As Arthit hoisted the shutter doors upwards, a plume of dust particles were displaced from the shutter doors and swirled in the air before him. Waving the dust particles away from his face, Arthit stepped into the house before turning around to gently close the shutter doors behind him.

As the house had been void of people living in it for several days now, the humid, damp smell that always permeated the entire house was stronger than before. But, Arthit didn't mind; he liked the humid, damp smell very much.