SOTUS: First Weeks and Friends

Chapter 3

Thursday is Arthit's favorite weekday because he has no morning classes. His earliest class starts at 2 PM, leaving him with more time to sleep. But today, he can't do it because he's expecting Knot to drop by his room.

"Hey, Arthit." It's Knot's favorite greeting to him.

Arthit is still in his sleepwear, with hair looking like a nest of sparrows. "Come in."

Knot goes straight to the only chair available. They don't have anything particular to do. Knot already went to the gym earlier this morning, and he still has a few hours before their class starts, so he decided to visit his best friend.

"How are you, Arthit? I noticed you're quite happy these days. When will you tell us about the girl?"

With him randomly smiling at times, always checking his phone, and keeping a new hairstyle, it's not difficult to see the changes in Arthit after he dated Kongpob, even if they just became official a week ago.

"I..." Arthit doesn't know what to say. Actually, he has a lot to say. He can say that he has no girlfriend but a boyfriend, and that boyfriend is Kongpob. He can come out to his best friend right now. However, he just woke up, and he cannot just gather all his courage to say everything now. 

"What girl?" That's all he says.

He stands up and grabs his towel, ready to take a shower. "You can watch the TV if you like." He walks past Knot and enters the bathroom.

Knot, having nothing else to do, just decides to turn the TV on. "Arthit! Where's the remote?"

"In the drawer, I think! Top drawer!"

"Who keeps a TV remote in a drawer?" Knot mutters.

Knot opens the top drawer. "It's not here!"

He looks around, and there are other cabinets. So which top drawer? Instead of asking again, which requires too much effort from him, Knot just opens the top drawer of every cabinet in the room.

"Gotcha." He finds the remote in the cabinet near the bathroom. Something in the drawer catches his eye when he grabs the remote. It's a gear necklace. 

"Whose gear is this?" He asks himself. "It's definitely not Arthit's."

He remembers the night at the beach when Arthit asked Deer the meaning of the gear: "If you ask someone to take care of your gear, it means you ask that someone to take care of your heart."

Knot looks at the engraved number on the gear, "59."

The sight made Knot form a conclusion in his mind: a freshman confessed to Arthit, and he accepted her. But the question is, why is he not telling him anything?

Knot tries to list the female freshmen in their faculty. "Nong Praepailin? Nong Maprang? Who's that other one? Nong May? Don't tell me it's the girl that hyperventilated!?"

Before he lists the other juniors he knows, Arthit steps out of the bathroom. "Ai'Knot, I thought you would watch the TV?" He finds Knot holding Kongpob's gear.

"Knot..."

"What is this Arthit? You're hiding secrets now?" He's not really mad, just disappointed.

"Knot, it's not like that. It's—"

Before Arthit can complete his sentence, his phone rings. Arthit runs towards it. Knot crosses his arms while exhaling a big sigh.

"Hello?"

"P'Arthit, are you busy?" It's Kongpob. "I'm sorry, but I don't have anyone right now." There's a pause. "I'm at the basketball court, and I think... I sprained my ankle. I can't walk, and—"