Risking The Hate

Chapter 7: My boyfriend has a short temper

"Because I specifically told May to keep me as far away from you as possible. Looks like she really ended up listening to me for once." I took the keys from the hotel receptionist and started following. But Sarawat, incessantly, kept following me on my path.

"After refusing to watch a movie together with me on the plane and then declining my very sweet offer to share a room together, the least you could do is get adjoining rooms Teepakorn." Sarawat huffed. "Wait, may be we can still share a room and just give up the other one..."

"NO! For the last time Sarawat, why would two grownups share a room when we could just have our own rooms that the company is already paying for?"

That's when I saw his signature smirk again which I had started to hate. "You know.. The fact that we are two grown ups is exactly the reason why we should be sharing a room,"

I rolled my eyes and pressed the button for the elevator. "Bye Sarawat. I am too tired to even talk to you right now. Just go to your room and don't bother me for the rest of the day."

I decided to sleep till the afternoon, and then finally get ready to attend the conference. I was supposed to speak in the evening, but I still needed to be there to network with people, talk to them, and support the other speakers. I was representing the company, of course.

When I went down to the hall where the conference was happening, Sarawat was nowhere to found and I breathed a sigh of relief. I approached all the people that I faintly knew one by one, introducing myself. Surprisingly, most of them already knew my name, even though I had only been in the industry a few years. Well, it was possible because the company's brand was just too big to ignore.

After a few hours, I finally took a seat in the last row pretending to listen to whoever was speaking on the stage currently. But in reality, I was revising my speech on my phone. Going over all the cliff notes one more time, I could feel the nervousness setting in when I felt someone take the seat next to me.

"Why are you nervous? You are going to do great."

I looked at my side and realized it was the devil. "I am not nervous. And where were you?"

"Ah, just overslept. And don't lie to me Tine, I can literally see your hands shaking as you scroll down the phone screen. You are playing with your ring again, and you keep adjusting your tie — which by the way is already perfect."

"I—I am not nervous.." That's when Sarawat put his hand over mine and I could feel the warmth covering me. "It's going to be okay, Tine. I know you prepared a lot for this. Plus, don't forget you are an ace at this. I have seen you give out so many amazing speeches at college."

I huffed. "You have no idea how many nights I had to stay up just preparing those speeches. I hardly had a week to prepare this one. I didn't even think I would have to be at this conference because I thought I'd be in Tok—"

"Tine, its your turn next. Lets get you mic-ed up shall we?" A staff member came by and whispered in my year.

"Yes, let's go."

As I stood up, Sarawat pulled on my suit sleeves. "Don't worry, you got this okay? If you get nervous, just look at me. I'll be right here looking at you."

He was smiling at me and I couldn't help but smile right back at him.

As I made my way to the stage, I could feel the nervousness set in. I took to the centre of the stage, trying my best to hide my nervousness.

"Good—good evening, I am Tine Teepakorn..." There were bright lights focused on me and I could feel everyone else's eyes on me, which only added to my nervousness. But that's when, I finally noticed Sarawat standing at the very back of them, waving and smiling at me.