Lil' Prince

Chapter 9

Kongpob: 17 Arthit: 9

3rd Person's POV
It's been a week since Arthit's birthday and the kid became lively again after he received a gift from his mother and even a hand-written letter as she apologized to Arthit for not being able to attend his birthday because she was busy with her newborn.

Everyone in the household except Arthit knew that it wasn't a gift from the previous madame but was prepared by Mr. Rojnapat himself. He couldn't bare to look at his son's dejected mood that last for days even after his birthday. So, Mr. Rojnapat took it upon himself to pick out a gift and even hired a person to mimic his ex's handwriting for the letter. Luckily, his plan works out for the best and his son was all smiling and happy again.

"Dad." He smiled and looked up when he saw his kid running into his office with a huge grin as he jumped into Mr. Rojnapat's awaiting arms.

"Hello, Oon. How's school today?" Mr. Rojnapat asked as he placed his son on his lap and helped him with his bag. He nodded when he saw Prem and Kongpob entering the office a while later and greeted him.

"I got an A, dad. See!" He exclaimed excitedly as he rummaged through his bag and handed Mr. Rojnapat his papers and Mr. Rojnapat take a look at them.

"Our Ai'Oon is a really smart boy, like his daddy right?" He said and Arthit giggled

"Daddy is really smart." He nodded before jumping out of Mr. Rojnapat's arms, "Dad, can I follow P'Prem later? I want to go to his school."

"No-"

"But daddy, why can't I go?" Arthit pleaded softly as he looked at his father with pitiful eyes.

"Dad, it's okay. I'll take care of Arthit and he'll be fine." Prem tried to assure Mr. Rojnapat as he'd already promised to bring Arthit along with them when they went to pick him up from school.

"Fine, just... be careful okay?" Mr. Rojnapat said as he caressed the boy's hair, "Your P'Prem's school is huge so don't just wander off alone, okay? Listen to whatever your P'Prem say."

After pecking on his dad's cheek, Arthit went back to his room to change his clothes and followed Prem and Kongpob to their high school. Arthit was amazed when he arrived at the school as his gaze wandered around. Both of the older boys were walking ahead, discussing their project as Arthit tried to follow behind them very closely. But he was getting tired of trying to catch up with their long strides and ultimately, he stopped on his step to rest a little. Prem and Kongpob seemed unaware that the younger was left behind as they continued walking to their lockers, busy in their discussion. Arthit, noticing that he was all alone now, decided not to follow after the two and walked around the school compound on his own. Every decoration of the school had attracted Arthit as he would stand for a long time admiring a statue or even just some flower bushes. His eyes glimmered in enthusiasm when he saw a swimming pool ahead and ran almost instantly towards the building when the collar of his shirt was pulled from behind.

"Who are you and why are you here? Non-members are not allowed to approach the pool." Arthit heard a deep voice behind him and turned around when he was able to stabilize himself.

"Non-members?" Arthit asked, tilting his head as he stare at the guy in front of him curiously.

"Yes, this place is restricted for outsiders so please leave."

"Re-restricted?" Arthit repeated the word, trying to make up what it meant when the guy heaves a sigh.

"Where're your parents? Shouldn't you be with them?" The guy asked defeatedly when he saw Arthit still looking around, not paying attention to him and he was starting to get a little annoyed because he was getting late for practice because of this kid. He was about to grab the kid's wrist and lead him to the security office and have them find his parents when he heard Aim's voice from afar.

"Arthit?" The guy watched as Aim ran from the pool towards them while calling out an unfamiliar name and the kid bounced a little on his feet before turning to Aim.

"P'Aim, you're here." The kid said excitedly but Aim was frowning instead.

"Why are you here, Arthit? Are you with Prem? Why isn't he with you right now? Did you sneak away?" Aim pulled Arthit to the bench as he started calling Prem to tell him that he found Arthit after thanking his friend who'd found the younger. Aim had heard from Prem that his youngest brother could be a mischievous and sneaky kid sometimes but he never thought that Arthit would wander off by himself without even informing his brother.

"Arthit Rojnapat!" Prem was furious when he arrived at the scene and Aim tried to calm him down a little when he noticed Arthit's teary eyes.

"Dude, calm down. It's fine now." Aim placed his hand on Prem's shoulder but was swatted away as the latter was glaring at his younger brother with flames of anger in his eyes.

"No, it is not a small matter. Arthit Rojnapat, what have I told you in the car before we came here? What did I say about walking away from us alone? Why didn't you listen to me when I told you so? What would've happened if Aim didn't found you? What if it's a bad guy that'd found you instead?" Prem was really mad this time at Arthit as the latter was trembling in fear as he broke into tears.

"I'm sorry, P'Prem." The younger said between sobs and tried to hug his brother but was pushed away as he cried even louder.

"Prem, calm down. You're scaring him."

"He was the one that almost gave us a heart attack, Aim. He needs to know what he should do and what he shouldn't." Prem retorted but his gaze softened a little when he saw Arthit hiccupping with tears wetting his cheeks as he was still mumbling 'I'm sorry's.

"But still, calm down. You need to talk to him for him to understand and not straight-up yelling at him. He's crying now and he couldn't understand what you're saying." Prem finally agreed with Aim as he and Kongpob brought Arthit back home. Kongpob hadn't spoken anything since they found Arthit which Prem found a little strange since Kongpob was equally worried when they lost Arthit in their school just now. But he could sense that Kongpob wasn't in a good mood either.

After arriving home, Prem explained everything to their father and Arthit was grounded for a week. The kid could only nod his head and accept the punishment after finally fully understanding what wrong he'd done and he felt very guilty.

"I'm sorry, P'Prem." Arthit said as they stood in his room. Prem could only pat his head with a sigh.

"Don't ever do that again, Arthit." Arthit nodded and turned to look at Kongpob who was still glaring at him.

"I'm sorry, P'Kongpob." Arthit whispered, a little afraid that Kongpob is still angry at him. But his fear came true when he heard what Kongpob said next.

"No pink milk for a month." Arthit was left dumbfounded hearing that. Mr. Rojnapat had chosen to ground him instead of taking away his pink milk because he knew how upset Arthit would be if that was his punishment so he opted for the second worse punishment for Arthit.

But Kongpob thinks that Arthit need to fully understand that his every actions have consequences.

So, no pink milk for a month.

"P', just a sip please." Arthit begged when he found Kongpob drinking pink milk right in front of him every day since the commencement of his punishment but was instantly denied.

"No, now do your homework." And Arthit fully learned the lesson after being denied of his favorite pink milk for a month by his P'Kongpob.

A/N:
Finally updating since I'm on my sem break for a few weeks. It's been quite some time since I updated this story so I hope this chapter is good enough. I'll also be editing the previous chapters these few days, just a heads up. Lastly, I'd just published a short story that is already completed and it's called 'Suspicous'. Please do check it out and have a nice day❤️