Secrets Kept

The Reveal

Arthit walked into class Friday to find Bright pestering Prem about something, Tutah trying to get Bright to back off, and Knott sitting back watching the drama.

"What's up? Ai'Bright, why are you pestering Ai'Prem?" Arthit asked, putting his bag next to his chair before sitting down. Before Bright could say anything, Prem spoke up.

"He thinks I am hiding something. Or someone. But I'm not." Prem directed the last part to Bright.

"But I saw you..."

Arthit interrupted Bright.

"Hey, even if he is hiding something, it's none of our business until he is ready to tell us."

Bright looked over at Arthit to stare at him for a moment.

"Okay. Sure. But now I want to know what you are hiding."

"Actually, I wanted to meet up tomorrow with all of you and Kongpob. We have something to discuss with you. I mean, Kong and I have been talking about our next year interning and him being in his second year." Arthit said, using the excuse he and Kongpob had come up with the day before.

"Sure, I don't have plans for tomorrow. Where are we meeting?" Prem was the first to respond. Knott and Tutah nodded their agreement.

"I will be there. I want to know what you're hiding." Bright said with a smile.

"Let's meet up at Starlights." Arthit named the Cafe with private rooms that wasn't far from campus that Kongpob had suggested.

His friends nodded as the rest of the class walked in to find their seats. Class was about to start, so they all got settled in their seats, pulling their books out of their bags just before the teacher arrived.

********

The next day, Arthit meet Kongpob outside his building. Mounting the motorbike, they made their way to the Cafe. They would be about half an hour early, so they could get settled into their private room.

The host at the front knew to send the others to that room.

Arthit had decided to wear one of his own form fitting shirts instead of one of his hoodies or one of Kong's shirts so that he could see who notices the baby bump first. He had also worn a coat, so that at one point he could stand up to take it off in order to give his friends a chance to see his baby bump.

Arthit was normally so skinny that with the bump being as big as it was, they would notice it. He was already leaning back a little to keep his balance. His friends were around him a lot so he would be a little upset if they didn't.

They planned to use normal conversation and the food as a bit of a distraction to give them time, but Arthit had a feeling that Bright wouldn't go for it. He had told Kongpob this so he was warned.

After 20 mintues of waiting, Knott walked in alone.

"Hey! How are you two? So, you got a private room for us? Why?" He had to asked as he moved around the table to grab a seat across from Arthit. Kongpob smiled.

"That's on me. I wanted us to have a good time without others interrupting or judging. I hope that's alright?"

"No. Not a problem. I understand." Knot opened his mouth again to say something else, when Tutah and Bright walked in. They all greeted each other as the new comers chose seats on either side of Knott. Just as they got settle, the last member of their group entered the room.

"I can only assume that this private room situation is your doing, N'Kongpob?"

Kongpob nodded as Prem sat next to Arthit. Before anyone could say anything else, the server came into the room to hand them the menus and to take down their drink orders. That done, the gentleman left the room again.

"So, you wanted to talk to us about something. I think you said something about next year?" Tutah immediately asked, obviously very curious about what was going on.

"Well, yes. But let's wait to talk about that until after we order our food at least. The waiter will be back soon and I don't want him over hearing us." Arthit suggested. Bright opened his mouth to argue this, but the rest nodded their agreement and began perusing the menus, which made Bright sigh and do the same.

About 10 minutes later, the waiter returned with their drinks. He took down their food orders quickly before leaving the room again.

Arthit could see his friends were getting a little impatient to know what this was about.

"Hold on. Before we start talking, let me take off my coat. I am getting way too warm in here with it on." Arthit stated, pushing his chair back and standing.

As he proceeded to take the coat off, he was silent. He made sure to turn this way and that to give all of them an opportunity to see the bump. Arthit saw, from the corner of his eye, Prem look down and jerk back with a look of surprise. With a grin, Arthit glanced at Kongpob.

"Ummm. Arthit?" Prem said in a very tentative voice. When Arthit turned to him, Prem continued. "Don't take this the wrong way, but have you gained some weight?" He looked at Arthit from the front now, "It's just that you have a belly now and I know you didn't..." this was as far as he got before Tutah gasped.

"Oh my!! Are you trying to tell us that you're... Pregnant?" Tutah asked hesitating on the last word, clearly excited to find this out. He was also bouncing in his seat.

Kongpob smiled, looking up at his partner who was clearly trying not to blush.

"Yes, I am." He said a little tenetively before sitting down. Kongpob took the coat from Arthit and draped it on the back of the chair.

"Wait, how far along are you? How long have you known and not told us?" Knott asked, leaning forward onto the table.

Arthit took a moment to look at his friends before answering. None of them were looking disgusted or repulsed at what they had just learned. They were also all still in the room. So that was a good sign. Maybe they wouldn't abandon him because of the babies.

"I am 11 weeks along and let me just say before you ask, Bright. We didn't intend for this to happen. This wasn't done on purpose. We just.. forgot when Kong got drunk after the freshy games. Is that enough information for your nosiness?" Arthit asked, having turned red in revealing this. But he knew Bright wouldn't leave it alone until he knew.

"For now, yes. I don't think you can say anything else on this topic without combusting." Bright said and got hit on the head for it by Knott.

Before anything else could be said, the waiter knocked and entered with their food. Getting things settled on the table took about 10 minutes, but eventually the waiter left, closing the door again.

"This is so exciting!! You must have had a few scans by now. Unless... you just found out? You never answered my question. How long have you known about this? Why did you hide it from us?" Tutah was stopped from his litany of question by Prem.

"Calm down. He can't answer questions if you don't stop talking." The normally hot-headed man held up his hands in a gesture that matched his first words.

"Thank you, Prem." Arthit looked from Prem to Tutah. "Yes, I need you to calm down and let me talk. Are you ready to listen?" He only waited for Tutah to nod once before continuing. "Kongpob noticed about 3 weeks after the end of freshy week that I was getting very... emotional. At random things and times. So, realizing what could be happening, we went to the doctor not long after that. It was confirmed that day; I was expecting our 2nd baby." Arthit glanced around, his gaze landing on Kongpob last. "At first, I wasn't sure how to felt about it. I was happy, but I was, and still am, scared."

Kongpob reached over to take Arthit's hand before he took up the story.

"He kept having moments of doubt as to how you all would react and how my friends would deal with this and then our parents. I was sure that at least one of you would a be..." Kongpob wasn't able to finish his sentence.

A/N: I am stopping here. I am sorry for this cliffhanger, but I have made this chapter too long with what else I have written. So it shouldn't take too long to get the next one out.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.