So You Like Me Too (FortPeat AU)

☁Chapter 20

☁

FLASHBACK

Peat grew up in a very strict family. His father was a very strict martial arts instructor and has never shown him a smiling face from his childhood itself. Peat was an understanding child, so he had never disobeyed any word of his father, except for two times. The first time was when he had fought for Fort. On that day, he was punished to stand in the horse stance for half a day in the courtyard. And the second time was also for Fort. They separated in their ways the year of their graduation. In that year, Fort took the exam in a distant city. 

Separation was a painful thing. Although he hasn’t had any communication with Fort for so many years, he just needed to have a look at him from afar. But in the future, even a little hope can’t be fulfilled.

And during that half a year of separation with Fort, he came out of the closet with his father. And he did it because Noeul told him that Fort liked boys. He doesn’t know why he did it at that moment. But at that moment, he just wanted to make himself dignified and become a person in the same world as Fort.

On the summer vacation of his senior year, he was thrown out of his house by his angry father. With a wounded body he went to find Noeul. Noeul saw that his shirt was soaked in blood and he was choking with sobs, "Peat, is it worth doing this much?"

Peat held the passbook which was secretly slipped to him by his mother and a house key while not knowing what to do. Noeul followed him to the new house. After reaching there, Peat turned on the lights and said, "I just… I just want to wait till the day I get the courage to meet him again and tell him that I like him. I just have myself and I don’t have any ties or worries. I know the chance is really low. And I know that maybe I won’t have the chance to meet him ever again in my life. But I just want to do something for him and something for me too."

He thought for a moment and asked, "Noeul, am I being delusional?"

Noeul’s eyes were red. He just wanted to go and hug, but he didn’t dare to touch him, "No. You do so much for him. Maybe he will know about this someday."

"Will he come back again?"

"Yes."

"So is it okay if I wait for him?"

"Yes."

Peat took his mother’s passbook and completed his graduation while working part-time. And after he graduated he rented a small store. The business could be neither considered as bad nor as good. And there was nothing much special about the store either. It was just that it was adjacent to an office building. He thought that if Fort had graduated, would he be so good that he would become a great elite? He should be working in a building like this too. So does this count as getting closer to him?

He was having an uneventful life and he would occasionally sneak back to see his parents. But his father no longer wanted to recognize him.

Every day, he repeated this day after day. He thought that his life would be spent like this. He didn’t know whether he would still be able to love Fort being regardless of everything like this in his next life too. Perhaps he will think about saying his feeling in his next life. He really can only wait for his next life.

But on one morning, Fort came in with the ding dong of the wind chimes to ask for a cup of latte.

It was like his life had brightened up again.

TBC