One Month

The trip-ping

Ram and King didn't see each other for the next few weeks, mainly due to their busy schedules. The exam session was coming to an end now and their friends were busy planning a trip.

They decided to go to a lakeside resort and do some camping there as well.

Ram's friends used his mother as their cover in convincing him to join them. King didn't give it much of a thought and agreed when Mek asked him to come along.

King was fond of nature, plants in general and camping sounded like a real good change of environment to him. He anyway needed a break from the busy life of university. He knew if he stayed back then he'll only end up in the library daily.

They decided to leave early in the morning so Bohn was the one who picked up Mek, Boss, Duen and Tee while Frong, King and Phu were picked up by Thara. Ting and Tang were dropped by Tang's mother.

King noticed that almost everyone arrived but they were still not leaving so he decided to ask Thara about it.

"P'Thara who are we waiting for now?", King asked but before Thara could answer him, a car stopped infront of them.

A foreign lady got out of the car and Ram's friend immediately ran to her and greeted her. Seeing the juniors so familiar with the lady, others went forward and greeted her as well.

"Mom these are our seniors, P'Thara, P'Tee, P'Frong, P'Bohn, P'Mek, P'Boss and P'King", Duen introduced them to the lady.

"And this is Ram's mother", Duen added and seniors smiled at her.

Ram's mother was the one who came to drop him off to the mini bus they booked for the trip. By the time they arrived Ram has fallen asleep in the car.

Due to the commotion outside, Ram woke up and got out of the car wearing a hoodie and his hair all over the place. His face red because of morning breeze and nose extra red because he was running a low fever. Not that he'll tell anybody about that.

Ram was yet to see King who was trying hard to hide behind Bohn and Frong who were not aware of the boy hiding behind them. King didn't know how to face Ram after what went down between them in the last couple of months so he decided to hide instead.

He missed Ram, so much that he almost went to the junior's dorm thrice but he controlled himself everytime and never knocked the junior's door.

Ram walked upto his mother and waiid at the seniors.

"Mom these are.....", Ram started to introduce the seniors.

"Thara, Tee, Frong, Bohn, Mek, Boss and King", His mother added and as he caught onto the last name, he glanced around but King was nowhere to be found.

"P'King is not here mom", Ram added softly.

"But...there he is", Ram's mother pointed and Bohn moved away revealing King who felt too exposed to Ram's eyes.

Their eyes met for a few seconds before they tore them away from each other reluctantly.

"I didn't see him before. My eyes are still sleepy I guess", Ram said laughing deliberately for his mother not to get any ideas about the two.

"You really need to go for so many days?", Ram's mother asked when everybody else started loading their luggage on the bus.

"You're the one who's forcing me to go", Ram said almost wanting his mother to drag him away from there.