The Second Chance [Kongpob/Arthit]

Chapter 25 : The Calm Before The Storm

Kongpob was running late, which was unusual for him, only, P'Ran had held him back, tasking him with training the new recruits. N'Dao had been asked to retake the training and Kongpob was finding it a challenge to get through to her.  

It was May's birthday and Aim had organized a party for her, they were always over the moon for each other, Kongpob found it sweet. He parked at the sushi restaurant, taking the steps two at a time. 

"Ai'Kong!"

Aim greeted him cheerfully, a slightly buzzed Oak to his left. Kongpob hadn't seen much of his friends from the first year, he had switched to economics soon after and apart from Aim, he hadn't stayed in touch with any of them. May smiled sweetly at him, he remembered her briefly from the cheer meetings.

"Hello - this is for you, happy birthday May."

Tew [A/N : I'm sticking to this spelling], who was in the middle of a rather animated story, turned his head on Kongpob's arrival. 

"Hello, Ai'Kong. Do you remember us, you just disappeared after the first year?"

Kongpob felt guilty, he honestly couldn't remember the cheerful person in front of him, it had been so long. He scratched the back of his neck, smiling awkwardly. Tew seemed to understand his situation, laughing pleasantly. 

"Oh, hey. It's okay, I'm just teasing. I'm Tew, by the way."

Kongpob spent the rest of the evening, listening to their stories, chuckling ever so often. Oak's spectacles rode up his face as he got progressively more drunk. Aim turned to Kongpob when there was a lull. 

"Kong, wasn't P'Arthit searching for a new job?"

"Yes, he's still looking, he hasn't got any offers yet."

Tew cleared his throat.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, only there's a position for an engineer at our company. Isn't that right, Ai'Oak?"

Oak was too out of it to respond, he raised a hand in acknowledgement. Kongpob enquired excitedly.

"Really, Ai'Tew? Would you mind forwarding me the details - here's my number."

"You're still in touch with P'Arthit?"

Tew asked distractedly as he keyed in the pertinent information for Kongpob. Aim offered Kongpob a sympathetic look, who hesitated, unsure of how much he wanted to divulge. 

"I met P'Arthit in the context of my most recent case and we - let's say reunited."

Tew gave him a confused look, before getting distracted by Maprang, leaving Kongpob to wonder about the state of his relationship with Arthit. Their relationship seemed to be going backwards with the declarations of love and forever, coming before the discussion of what they were to each other. Kongpob sighed, taking a swig of his beer.

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Arthit looked up from his laptop, he had spent most of the evening moping, watching movies. So far, all his job interviews had been unsuccessful, and to top off things he had submitted his resignation letter in the morning. Knott had begged him to reconsider, but Arthit had stuck his ground. 

Knott couldn't risk looking for a new job, considering the precarious situation at home. He had been bothered by the sudden appearance of the money for the surgery. Kongpob had tried to trace the money back to its source only to hit a dead end. Since, it wasn't an official case, he couldn't ask the IT department to investigate.