Prime Minister's Son

Chapter 16: You look good tonight

"They kiss the person right in front of them"

Tine's POV

The house was still empty when I got back. It was almost 6 and the house staff would probably be back in a few minutes. With all the quietness, Sarawat's words were still ringing in my ears louder than ever,  but I tried to ignore all those feelings and box them up.

Instead, I headed towards mom's bedroom, propped on her bed beside her, and hugged her tightly.

"Merry Christmas, mom"

"Morning baby. How did I get so lucky to see my son's face this early in the morning? Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Of course. I just wanted to hug you — and apologise for last night. I-I am really sorry for overreacting"

Mom hugged me back so tight, I almost couldn't breathe. "Its okay, baby. I should learn to control my anger around your father, too"

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I really want to work on your reelection campaign. I know I don't have the experience, but I'll take any position available. I just want to help and learn anyway that I can"

Mom thought about it for a little while and finally spoke up.

"The only position that you can get in the campaign without any experience is as in intern, Tine"

"YES. YES. I'll take it!"

"Okay, I'll put you with rest of the interns. It will be a lot of grunt work, but you'll learn a lot. More importantly, I want you to get along with the interns and learn more about their lives. Some of them are scholarship students from the top universities in the country and they haven't had an easy life. Understand their struggles. Understand their problems. That's how you get better at politics"

"OH MY GOD. I'll do my best. Thank you so much mom" I kissed mom on the cheek and was about to leave her room when she called me back.

"Tine, I'll be busy today, but please have breakfast with your father today. He was pretty sad last night when you left dinner"

"I know. I will mom"

Next stop was the guest room where dad was staying. We hashed out our differences, and had a great breakfast together before he finally left for Singapore. He wasn't that happy I'll be knowing that I will be working as an intern in mom's reelection campaign, but at least I was working — and that was enough for him, for now.

A part of me wanted to text Sarawat about how much his advised helped me sort the issue with my parents, but I decided against it. I had told Sarawat a lot about my personal life night, which I never do with new people that I meet and I was still feeling very embarrased about it. I couldn't understand why I poured my heart out though — may be it was the starry night, the quietness of the beach, or just Sarawat.

Instead of dwelling too much about it, I focused all my energy towards interning in the campaign and finalizing all the finer details for the New Year's party with Sammy and Pear. We spent days making sure things were just right. Everything was mostly done, theme decided, clothes finalized, and Sarawat had RSVP'ed for the night — although he still hadn't texted me or called me since he left me at the house. Not that I cared, but it was just a fact that lingered in my head for a bit too long.

Finally, it was the last night of December, Pear and I were standing at the entrance of the banquet hall, ready to greet our guests. While the Residence is on the east side of the premises, the Prime Minsiter's Office is on the west, which also has numerous banquet halls where we often host officials and digniteries. The New Year's Party is usually held in the big banquet hall overlooking the garden so that we can see the fireworks display at midnight. Although we usually dim most lights of the garden and close off its entrance so the guests wouldn't go there. Nothing against the guests, but the gardens are pretty carefully manicured and we wouldn't want drunk people to mess with it.

Our guest lists included actors, international models, sports stars, businessmen, and basically anyone under 30 who had made a name for themselves through their work.

We made all our guests submit their cellphones when they went through the security, so there was no way for any pictures or videos to leak from the party — and that was the fun part of it. This was one party of the year where we could truly let lose without worrying about anyone capturing our most embarassing moments.

The entire hall was slowly packed with people -- some enjoying drinks, and others dancing to the year's greatest hits. I looked at my watch, it was 10pm, and most our guests were already here. But there was one person who still wasn't here and my eyes kept going towards the entrance.

"Why do you keep looking at the door?" Pear walked up to me and handed me a champagne.

"Ah. No. Nothing. Just making sure everyone is having fun. I am not drinking yet. Where's—where's Fong?"

Pear looked around. "Last time I saw him, he was trying to flirt with some model. Oh look, your best friend is here"

I looked up in an instinct and saw Sarawat enter the party with Phukong. He was wearing an all-black suit and somehow, even his understated suit looked so much better than my velvet green blazer that I had finalized after weeks of discussions.

"What's with that big smile? Are you that happy to see Sarawat?"

"SHUT UP, PEAR" 

Sarawat hadn't found me in the crowd yet, but I was looking right at him. Taking in a few seconds to just stare at him without caring about what he would think. Then, he finally saw me, our eyes met, and he smiled back at. My heart grew and I felt all warm inside. I walked up a few steps to meet him.

"Hey! You made it!"

"You invited me. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

I looked at Phukong who was scanning the whole party floor trying to search for something.

"Hey Phukong. How are you?"

"Good. Good. Where can I find some liquor, Tine? It doesn't feel good being sober on New Year's eve."

"Oh. Yeah. I guess you are right. Go straight and take a right turn"

"Gotcha! Nice party, by the way" Phukong started walking away when Sarawat called him out.

"Phukong, you better control yourself tonight"

"I will try my best brother" Phukong gave a flying salute to Sarawat and disappeared into the crowd, leaving just me and Sarawat standing there, in front of each other. I didn't have to look around to know there were a lot of eyes on us. With so much going around in the press about us, it was obvious for people to be curious about us.

I had spent so many hours with Sarawat alone, but being here at the party, with so many people around us made me only made me more nervous.

A pop song started playing in the background and the volume of music increased, which brought many to the dancefloor and most of the people stopped paying attention to us.

Sarawat moved his lips, I could see he was trying to say something, but I couldn't hear him at all.

"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU" I tried to yell and mimic with my hands to make him understand.

That's when Sarawat pulled me closer, hugged me tightly and whispered in ears. "You look good tonight, Tine. Like, really good."

I felt his breath over my neck and for a few moments, everything went blank. I couldn't hear the music, I couldn't see anyone else around us. I could only feel Sarawat and the butterflies in my stomach. Dammit. Phukong was right, I really can't get through this New Year's sober.

I yelled back at Sarawat. "LETS GET SOME SHOTS!!!"

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A/N: The next chaper is one of my favourites in this whole story. I am so excited about it!!

Thank you for all the amazing comments you guys, I really appreciate it. I'll definitely reply to each one of you soon. My anxiety makes me feel overwhelmed when I have too many pending messages or emails, which makes things a bit difficult for me ❤️