Prime Minister's Son

Chapter 7: Sarawat has a crush on you?

"Tine we got the photographer. You can come out---.

Tine?"

Mil was looking down at Sarawat and me with utter confusion. I honestly had no idea how to explain this whole situation to him. But before I could even think of anything, Sarawat distanced himself from me and his cold, emotionless face which I had often seen in news was back again. Mil's presence had obviously raised alarms in his head.

Sarawat fixed the creases on his shirt and spoke up. "Uh. Sorry, we were cramped in here and I lost my balance. You said you found the photographer? Did you find the pictures?"

Instead of responding to Sarawat, Mil looked at me. "We found the photographer and we also got the camera from him, Tine. The pictures have already been deleted and I have the memory card with me, which will be shortly destroyed. We can leave now"

"Oh, that's—that's great then" I looked at Sarawat waiting for him to say something else, anything else. We only met one patient and I was hoping to meet the others. But he didn't say anything, and I couldn't read what was in his mind either. The room was filled with light, I could see his face clearly, but for some reason, he became an even more obscure figure to me. Like he wasn't the same man who just laughed out loudly with me a few minutes ago.

"Then, I guess I'll leave. Good to meet you Sarawat."

"Good to see you as well, Tine. Give my regards to your mother"

When I sat back inside the car, I finally loosened buttons on my shirt and closed my eyes for a few minutes — replaying the whole day in my head. Sarawat was a whole different person when it was just us stuck in the closet — The Sarawat everyone else sees doesn't even come close to the person I met today in that dark closet. May be it was just his way of protecting himself and his life. I wonder who else gets to see Sarawat's true self..

I opened my eyes and shook my head to bring myself back to reality and texted Sammy.

Tine[12:23pm]: Send an anonymous donation of 2 million from my personal account to the Guntithanon's hospital

Sammy[12:24pm]: Do we need to keep it anonymous? Putting your name out there will help with PR

Tine[12:25pm]: This isn't for PR, Sammy. Keep it anonymous. Just let them know we'd like the majority of the donation to be used for a patient called Bee. She's 8. You should be able to find her information in the hospital records

Sammy[12:25pm]: Will get this done today

Coming back home, I plopped on the bed, still in the same clothes I wore to the hospital because I could smell Sarawat on me and for some reason, I didn't want to separate with that feeling just yet. I closed my eyes hoping to rest a bit, but my phone kept buzzing continuously. Probably news alerts from the event, or Sammy's feedback about what could have been better. For now, I didn't really want to care.

But just as I was drifting into a deep slumber, Pear opened my room door with loud thrash.

"Tine, why is Sarawat looking at you like he'll pounce on you the moment he gets a chance?"

I sighed deeply and sat up on my bed. "First of all, lets maintain some privacy in this house. Can you at least knock on my door before coming in uninvited? "

"Obviously not. Now tell me why Sarawat looks like he wants to kiss you in this picture?"

"He doesn't, Pear. You are reading too much between the lines. May be the paparazzi just took pictures from a different angle."

I opened my phone to see all my pictures that were already going viral on social media. In most pictures, we were smiling at each other, selling the whole best friend story. I scrolled through the comments and most of them were pretty positive. I guess, Sammy's idea worked after all.

But there was one picture that really caught my attention. I was looking down at the hospital brochure in front of me and Sarawat was just looking at me and smiling — It wasn't the usual cold smiles he gives to the media. It looked genuine.

"See, that is the picture I am talking about Tine! He is smiling at you like he has a crush on you"

"It's just a picture that captured a small instant of time, Pear. May be he was smiling at the brochure I was looking at, feeling proud about the hospital. He did build the whole hospital on his own you know."

"No, he definitely has a crush on you. This tabloid picture says it all"

"Pear, we go on fake dates all the time and the media buys it because they see what they want to see. And Sarawat is straight. There were so many rumours of him dating models and actresses"

"He is not straight. My gaydar never lies Tine"

"What about the time you tried to convince yourself a straight girl was really into you?"

"Hey! We promised we would never bring that up. But I swear, I am right this time"

"Pear. You need to stop with your crazy theories and let me sleep. Or else, I won't go on anymore fake dates with you and you won't be able to date any girls behind your parents' back"

That trick shut Pear right up. It always worked. Pear wasn't ready to come out to his parents yet, or the world — because that would put everyone's attention on her, given her father was a prominent politician. So we go on fake dates once or twice a year just to make everyone wonder whether we were really dating or not.

"Fine. I am going for now. But I am not giving up on my theory just yet. I believe too much in it." 

Pear finally left my room, but I couldn't go back to sleep anymore. I kept looking at the pictures with Sarawat. There were hundreds of them floating online with the headline: Royal Best Friends: Sarawat and Tine

Sammy[01:12pm]: Good work today, kid. Getting good response already

Sammy[01:13pm]: Make sure to take some pictures with Sarawat at the next event so we can post it on your social media

Calendar Invite from Sammy

Event: Youth Summit 2020
Location: Bangkok University
Agenda: 20-minute speech and meetup with university students
Time: 10am, three days from now
Attendance: Absolutely Compulsory

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A/N: Do you believe in Pear's theory?

Next chapter, Sarawat and Tine meet again. There are french fries involved and that's all I am going to say