Me After You ✔

029

Seating himself before the table, Arthit sprawled across the tabletop and gently caressed Kongpob's guitar, his entire mind filled with the memory of the fleeting glance which Kongpob had cast at him when Knott shoved him into Kongpob's interrogation room.

Arthit retrieved a small knife from his belongings, and, on this very table where the two of them had spent countless hours seated across one another, carved the following words into the surface of the table in a slow and forceful manner:-

P' Kong, when I grow up, I will return to protect you.

And, with a gentle puff, Arthit caused the tiny wood shavings to scatter along with the wind.

Clambering up the window sill, Arthit hopped out of the window onto the small cement ledge, and slowly made his way up the emergency stairwell onto the rooftop. There, he gazed at the city that lay beneath him, as well as the various railway tracks that led into the distance.

The sky was an unbroken sea of blue. Seating himself on the cement ledge at the edge of the rooftop, Arthit hugged his knees to his chest, and began to enjoy the cool breeze that brushed his cheeks from time to time.

The peaceful silence was finally broken by the familiar screech of the train. As the train chugged past, the heavenly scent of freshly baked bread began to waft from the alley into Arthit's nostrils.

Heaving himself off the cement ledge at the edge of the rooftop, Arthit made his way to the emergency stairwell and begun his descent. This time, however, Arthit did not return to the quiet and tiny apartment. Instead, Arthit used the emergency stairwell to climb onto the walls surrounding the abandoned steel mill. Standing atop the high walls, Arthit could feel his legs starting to tremble. Expelling all stray thoughts from his mind, Arthit took a deep breath and, without a moment's hesitation, leapt off the walls, and landed onto the ground beneath him.

A sudden jolt of pain shot up from Arthit's feet, and began to permeate his entire body.

Stumbling slightly to steady himself, Arthit paused momentarily before slowly making his way to the bakery, and purchased two loaves of freshly baked coconut bread.

Arthit sat himself down at the entrance of the bakery, and munched on the two loaves of coconut bread in an unhurried manner, until he had completely ingested every single crumb of coconut bread.

Finally, Arthit straightened himself up and stood under the warm glow of the afternoon sun. Tilting his head upwards, Arthit looked at the windows of the house that belonged to his male youth, his one and only guardian angel and simply stared at them for a long, long time.

At long last, Arthit lowered his head, and gradually walked away from Kongpob's house. As he walked, he raised his hands and used the back of his hands to rub his eyes in a forceful manner. There were, however, no tears that escaped his eyes.

There was no longer anything left to cry about.

......

When Knott laid eyes on Arthit at the court hearing, he was taken by a huge surprise.

Only a few hours had passed since he last saw him, but Arthit had already trimmed off his long hair, his luscious locks falling gracefully on his forehead. His hairstyle now sported short hair that barely covered his earlobes.

Knott immediately turned to look at Kongpob, who was seated at the other end of the courtroom. As Kongpob had been remanded in custody, his hair had also been, in accordance with prison regulations, shaved to an extremely short length.

However, strangely enough, even though the two youths were now both present in the same space and area, there were no interactions, no exchanging of glances, and no eye contact between the two of them. It was as though the both of them were entirely foreign strangers.