Baby, Baby?

Forth

He was Forth Jaturapoom Jamornhum.

A young man; an engineering student, electrical to be exact, who was admired by a number of girls. His gang once said they had to glare at every single girl who approached them with a card or a love letter for Forth, just to make them stop.

Well, the number did lessen over time. Most of them preferring to admire Forth from afar.

Forth Jaturapoom Jamornhum was related to the word 'untouchable'.

You can watch him, but you can never hope to get to his heart. You can't even break in to his circle. Simply because, he didn't seem to care about pretty much everything.

If it was not supposed to be his business, he'd rather turn a blind eye to it.

Not that Park and Max would allow him to remain detached, as they were the exact opposites of him. So Forth usually found himself at their sides in those street fights they got themselves into.

That, or the head hazer side of him had got a better hold on him.

Even with Pern, it was not Forth who initiate their first conversation.

They got acquainted through a friend when Forth was going back and forth at the cafe, where Pern used to meet her best friend every week. And yes, it was that friend who introduced them to each other.

Forth could remember vividly how strong Pern seemed as she calmly relate her life experiences to him at their nth meeting. How the young woman told him that if it hadn't been for the baby, she would have lost her mind already.

"You don't know how strong this little pea inside my womb made me feel. I feel the need to be as strong as I can so that I could protect my child from the harshness of the world."

And Forth realized he had fallen for the strong woman he got to know. He wanted to be strong for her too. They could be stronger together.

So why am I feeling this way?

Forth let the question filtered through his mind. His eyes laid on the two people who matter the most to him right then. He could not imagine his life without them. His heart seemed to be out of sync with the beat.

He sometimes felt like it was too fast, and sometimes it was too slow.

It had never been like that with Pern. Not to this extent.

So what is this?

Forth could not forget how he felt when Beam told him about his past. His eyes were stinging as he held the guy close to him. His stomach churned. His heart dropped like a stone and his chest hurt, especially when Beam cried.

He felt like if he ever let go of the medical student, he might lose him forever. That was why Forth held onto him. And why he always checked on Beam ever since.

Beam expected anger from him, but Forth was only angry at those who hurt him. Not at the guy himself. Beam expected disgust from him; but the only thing he found disgusting was the fact that Beam's family didn't even bother to listen to his side of the story.

Never had he felt so towards anyone but Beam Baramee.

So what is this feeling?

"Are you dating him?" Lam once asked him during one of those lunchtimes when Beam was too busy to join them.

Forth frowned slightly in confusion.

"Who? Beam? No," Forth stammered, focusing on his food.

Park, Max, and Tul were nowhere to be seen. Yet.

They told the two of them to go ahead, claiming they need to submit something for the hazing activities. Forth could not bring himself to care as he was not notified about anything. They would do so if they needed him to be there.

Lam is here with me anyway.

Lam clicked his tongue.

"I didn't say who, yet you seemed to have someone in your mind already."

Forth rolled his eyes at that. Lam always teased him, it's better not to argue.

"Okay, change of question."

Forth turned back to his best friend with a bored look. What now?

"Do you love Beam Baramee?" Lam asked, crossing his arms on his chest.

His food was left to cool, forgotten as he keenly watched Forth's reaction and every move. It seemed he wanted to get an answer from Forth, either verbally or physically.

Forth truly felt like he was being stripped naked.

"What kind of question is that?"

"A 'yes or no' question," Lam was quick to retort.

He then continued, "because you seem stupid enough to answer me subjectively."

Usually, Forth would have smack or choke Lam by this time since he did not like to be called names. But he was too taken aback by the question.

Do I love him?

"I love everyone equally," Forth muttered, at last.

He finished his food before he stood up to put his food tray away. He tried to ignore Lam's snort as he stepped away.

Do I love him?

Forth asked himself again. He blinked at the sight that somehow stole his heart.

There, on his bed, were Beam Baramee and Davin Jaturapoom. They were fast asleep, holding each others' hand. Beam was on his stomach, his head near Davin's knees. Even from meters away from the queen-sized bed, Forth was melting at the cute and soft sight.

How could Forth Jaturapoom be this affected by Beam Baramee?

He was not sure, himself.

He turned off the ceiling lights. Letting the bedside table lamp light up the room as he figured that both Davin and Beam could have nightmares.

He stepped closer to the bed, laying down on the other side of Davin, facing the peacefully sleeping medical student.

Forth just realised that Beam had never laid down on his bed before. To be honest, Forth thought he might be mysophobic. He would have continued to think so if Beam hadn't told him about his past.

While it appeared as if Beam was easy to read on the surface, there's so much going on with him that getting an accurate read on him was somehow difficult as well. Oh my god, I sounded so weird...

"What are you doing to me?" Forth whispered under his breath as he stared at the different features of Beam's face. At his nose, his rosy cheeks, his ears, the thick eyebrows, and the softly fluttering eyelids when he sleep.

Forth mentally caught himself, blinking rapidly before he buried his face against the sheets. He groaned softly in consternation. His heart was beating too fast this time, his whole body heated up.

"Why am I being like this?" Forth muttered again, though he might had given up trying to find an answer.

He finally called it a day, and closed his eyes. Unconsciously deep in his sleep, he grabbed someone into his arms.

[ proofread by @patriciathawmte ]