Lil' Prince

Chapter 35

Kongpob: 25 Arthit: 17

3rd Person's POV
Arthit ended up staying over at Kongpob's place for 3 days until he finally picked up the phone call from Mr. Rojnapat.

"Dad?" He hesitantly said into the call, afraid that his father would start lashing out at him for leaving home without notifying his family.

"Oon... I," Mr. Rojnapat halted, being silent in the phone for a few seconds before continuing with a huge sigh of relief, "I'm glad you're okay."

Arthit's tears started streaming down his cheek, he could feel his father's relief after hearing his voice and he felt very remorse for letting his family be so concerned about him. "I'm so sorry." He spoke, hiccupping softly as he wiped his tears away.

"It's okay, Oon. Just... come back when you want to, okay?"

Arthit nodded his head for a moment before remembering he was on a call and answered, "I'm coming back home today, dad. I'll be back by midnight. Can you pick me up at the train station?"

"Sure, honey. Go have fun with your P'Kong before you come back, we'll talk more when I pick you up, okay?" After bidding goodbye to Mr. Rojnapat, Arthit looked up from his phone and found Kongpob peering into his room by the door. The man jolted in surprise when their eyes met and he instantly stood still, smoothing his shirt awkwardly as he cleared his throat.

"So, wanna head out for breakfast soon?" Kongpob asked and Arthit chuckled a little, looking at the former scratching his head.

"Sure, P'. I'll get change and we can go." Kongpob nodded his head before leaving, almost slamming the door too hard as rushed away in slight embarrassment. After a while, Arthit came out all dressed up and Kongpob took his keys as they went on a small trip cafe hopping around the city. Arthit was fairly surprised to see Kongpob walking around with no bodyguards since it was their first time going out after Kongpob became the Alpha King.

Their first stop was a cozy cafe with vintage decor. The strong scent of coffee lured Kongpob in and Arthit followed in even though he wasn't a coffee connoisseur. But by the smile from Kongpob when he sniffed the aroma of the freshly brewed coffee he ordered, Arthit knew the Alpha King enjoyed it fairly much. As they sipped their coffee and iced cold water (since Arthit didn't want to have coffee), they shared a few conversations and Arthit discovered that he really liked to talk to Kongpob as he found his words oddly wise and humble at the same time.

Their next stop was chosen by Arthit as the younger was tempted by the fruity scent of a raspberry tart wafting from a bakery cum cafe. He pulled Kongpob into the shop promptly and the latter laughed at the younger's cute antics towards his favourite foods. At first, Arthit wanted to treat Kongpob to some pastries but soon remembered that his wallet was empty as he forgot to bring cash when he got out of the Rojnapat's residence and the shop doesn't accept card payments since it's a small bakery run by an old lady. Kongpob ended up paying for both Arthit's raspberry tart and his croissant, leaving Arthit carrying the bags of pastries with flaming cheeks. Arthit felt a little embarrassed and mostly upset with himself for forgetting to bring cash and letting Kongpob pay for most of his meals these few days. Sure, as the Alpha King, Kongpob is exceptionally wealthy and prosperous but he felt bad for troubling Kongpob even more.

"Hey, it's okay. You can definitely pay me back later if you feel bad." Kongpob comforted as he noticed the younger's bubbly chatters seemed to fade away and he was looked at the table with knotted brows.

"I'm really sorry for troubling you so much, P'. These wouldn't have happened if I didn't act so rashly. I should've asked Dad what actually happened, should've been more considerate of him and I shouldn't worry all of you. He did so much for me and I'm acting like a brat." His shoulders slumped as he whispered all of his thoughts that had been going about his mind these few days. Even though his father had lied to him, he knew that his intentions behind all this was because he loved him too much. He knows that Mr. Rojnapat was afraid that he would be dejected if he knew the truth and his father did so much for him. He felt like he was just a disappointment to him. He should've been more mature and handled this situation more calmly.

"Mr. Rojnapat would never think of you like that, nor your P'Prem or even me. I know the truth about your mom was too sudden and too unbelievable to you, and I know that you handled it kinda poorly. But you are still so young. Sure, mistakes have been made but you must own up to it. Apologize on your part for your rash decisions and I believe Mr. Rojnapat will too for the white lies he'd made for years. Have a calm discussion with him and he'll tell you everything." Kongpob petted his back to console him and the younger felt so much better listening to his advice. He felt like Kongpob was that 'someone' who could understand him, giving him the right advice and pushing him when he needed that little encouragement to do the things he knew were the correct thing to do but was just too scared or confused.

"P'... I... I understand now. Thank you." Arthit answered, his eyes glistening with tears.

At that moment, Kongpob became the 'someone' that he cherished and valued immensely in his life. As his P', Kongpob guided him through thick and thin, like a bright light shining on his path; As his friend, Kongpob listened to him and that is all that matters to him.

'But what about someone more than a P' or a friend?' He was momentarily breathless as that thought emerged but he quickly shook it off.

More than a P' or a friend...

Kongpob is his family then.

_______________________________________

"P', thank you so much."

He thanked Kongpob again after they finished dinner and Kongpob drove him to the train station. The two of them had been hanging out for days but Arthit felt like it was just a blink of a second since he'd really enjoyed Kongpob's company. Kongpob nodded his head softly as he helped the younger with his backpack.

"P, you should come back more often. P'Prem would like to meet you soon." Arthit said with a soft smile and Kongpob chuckled slightly before looking at him with a sly smirk.

"Is it Prem that wanted to see me or was it you?"

Arthit's heart skipped a beat hearing Kongpob, especially with his cheeky smile after his question, but decided to retort, "I was just thinking that you'll be bored being so high up as the Alpha King."

Kongpob shook his head and his soft chuckle with a gentle ripple of amusement danced in the air, "I'll come back soon, okay? Maybe next month but I still have a few things to be done."

Arthit looked down at his feet as he hummed a little to Kongpob's reply.

"Your train will be here soon and I should get going." Kongpob ruffled the younger's head before jokingly saying, "I'd put off a lot of work just to accompany our little prince Ai'Oon here."

Hearing his words, Arthit glared at him with annoyance, slapping off Kongpob's hand that was on his hair.

"Bye, kid." But before Arthit could say anything, Kongpob left and he could only stare at his back as he walked away. Heaving a tender sigh, he picked up his feet and boarded the train, finally going back to his home after hiding away for a long time from reality.

A/P:
Hello, a very late Happy New Year to everyone. I've been wanting to pick up writing again for so long but school got in the way and I was sick for more than a week after New Year's, finally recovered though. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to write more. Also, I've been thinking about putting 'Feeding The CEO' on hold. I'm not abandoning it, I just wanted to finish this story before moving on since I thought I could handle updating two books when I uploaded that story (but that's not the case anymore especially with me joining my professor's project at university, I'll be even more busy in 2024). I'm starting a new semester in a week, so I'll try my best to update. Thanks for reading, take care and have a nice day❤︎

Oh, and is our little Arthit starting to fall for a certain P'? 👀👀