Marriage Contract

[15]

Kongpob did not have a class the following day, so when he woke up that
morning- with prompting from his biological clock, he noticed Arthit was still asleep, even though around this time, that man would have normally already left for work.

"Arthit ." Kongpob shook the man, "Hurry and get up, you'l be late for
work."

"I'm not going today, stop being so noisy." Arthit  moved and hugged
the lad tighter.

"Is it really okay for you to skip work like this?" Kongpob questioned.

Now peeved by his pestering, Arthit  propped his head up with his arm
and looked at the younger man with displeasure, "Last night you confessed
to me but today you're pushing me to go to work? What is it you really want
to do?"

"Who confessed to you, huh!" Kongpob held his forehead. That was only a
suggestion, wasn't it?

"Dried salted fish."Arthit sneered.

"But aren't you the one who fell for a salted fish?" Kongpob retorted.

"Oh, you've even got backchats now, huh?" Arthit  raised his chin before
asking, "Then, do you know what people courting each other do right?"
"What do they do?" Kongpob asked unabashed and wholeheartedly.
"Date." Arthit stated, before laying back down and hugging the lad once more, "Let's sleep for a bit longer, why do you have to be so troublesome this early in the morning?"

Why does this give me a sort of "With a high risen sun bitterly cutting their
Nights of Spring short; from then on his Majesty no longer attended his morning court" kind of feeling...Kongpob wondered. He then shook the thoughts away, rested his head atop his pillow and went back to sleep as well.

[T/n : Spring night (late night rendezvous) bitterly cut short by sunrise, from then on the king no longer attended his morning court. [A basic
interpretation by me, poems are tricky]
This is a line from the poem "t: The Song of Everlasting Regret" by Bai Juyi() in 806BCE. The poem is about the Tang Dynasty Emperor, Xuanzhong, and his Imperial Consort, Yang Guifei (She is one of the Four Great Beauties of Ancient China btw). The emperor favoured Yang Guifei so much that after she became his consort he would "never again attend a
morning court" after their late night rendezvous-
So you could see the comparison kongpob is making when Arthit ditches work after their night of confessions --I mean "suggestions"]

Later that day when the two rose again, it was already ten in the morning.
Arthit  went to wash up first, while Kongpob went to change his clothes.
After Arthit  was finished, he was able to go wash up too.
Done with cleaning himself up, he returned to the bedroom to the sight of a
missing Arthit . Alerted by a sound from outside the bedroom, he then went out to investigate only to find Arthit  in the kitchen, still wearing his pajamas.

"Are you making breakfast? I can do that." Actually, Kongpob was scared the
man would burn the pot, so he went over to help him at once.
Arthit, paying no mind to the other man, turned off the stove before pouring the contents of the pot into a nearby cup.
It was milk.
The man then placed the used pot into the sink, his back still facing Kongpob
as he spoke, "Drink the milk, we'll head out for something to eat in a little
while." Kongpob took the cup of milk and began drinking it.

The milk had just a bit of sugar added, giving it a faintly sweetened taste,
which so happened to be just how he preferred it. Slipping down his throat,
the warm liquid flowed into his gut, making the that place nice and warm,
and gave him a very comforting feeling.
"Aren't you going to drink some?" Kongpob asked while cupping the drink
within his hands.

Arthit put the washed pot aside, then turned to face the lad. Moving towards him before lowering his head to lick the traces of milk that stained the shorter man's lips, declaring, "Now I drank some. Tastes good."