A Single Reason Why.

Rationality Slipping

The first thing he felt was emptiness. He slowly opened his eyes just to flinch and shut them back again. It was then that he felt the beginnings of a headache. He forced his eyes open anyway. He felt something else when he looked at the other side of the bed. It was warm for some reason. Sky recalled fragments of what happened last night.

He was drunk but somehow managed to stumble towards his room. He remembered falling on his bed and blacking out completely. He couldn't remember anything after that. But he could feel the lingering uneasiness he felt every time he had dreams about his past. But this time was somehow different.

This time he didn't wake up screaming and shivering as sweat soaked his sheets and tears rolled down his cheeks. He felt grateful for whatever the cause was. He rarely had a full night's sleep. Today was probably the first time in months.

Sky smiled to himself feeling somehow better than he did in a long time. He glanced around for his phone and found it neatly placed on the nightstand. He wondered how he was able to put it that way in his drunken state. Something felt off. But he stopped thinking about it as he dialled the nanny's phone. She picked it up quickly as if she was expecting it.

"Hello, Mr Sky. Iris is still asleep in my room. Do you want me to bring her to you?", she asked. Sky felt guilty that he had gotten drunk and had left his child in someone else's care. He felt like he had failed as a father for the first time. He had never been this irresponsible about Iris as he was last night. Drinking without even thinking about her.

He tried to push past the guilt and replied, "Just take care of her for a while longer. I'll shower and come get her from your room in a few minutes". "You don't need to hurry Mr Sky. I get paid for taking care of her and so I will. Please don't make it sound like I'm doing you a favour every time you ask me to take care of her", she said in a monotonous voice and hung up.

Sky was surprised at her sudden outburst. She rarely spoke more than two lines. He wondered what was the cause of her outburst. Everything was becoming so strange these days. His life didn't feel like a routine with slight complications here and there like it used to.

P'Pai was probably one of the reasons, he thought. And just then Kom sent him a mail. Sky opened the mail to find his schedule for the day, he had three conferences that would keep him busy till the evening, a small meeting with the workers at the orphanage he was helping and.. great, a meeting with P'Pai's team in the meeting room of the resort. Just when he was thinking of the devil.

He knew something would happen. It always did every time they were around each other. He braced himself anyway and got off the bed, getting in the shower to get ready for the day. He picked a light blue shirt for the day. Putting it on, he tucked it into his light brown trousers. The weather was warm today so he decided to leave the jacket and just rolled up his sleeves as he put a Rolex from his collection on his wrist.

Iris was wide awake and on the verge of tears when he got to the nanny's room. He picked her up and made funny faces and sounds to make her smile but she continued to whimper. He knew she was hungry so he asked the nanny to prepare some milk. The nanny got to work when Sky's phone rang in his pocket. He got it out of his pocket using one hand as he used the other to gently rock Iris to calm her.

It was Rain. "Yo Sky, let's have breakfast, just the two of us. P'Payu left saying he wanted to meet someone he knew from work. I want to talk to you", said Rain, his voice sounding concerned. Sky knew it was going to be about last night. But as much as he wanted to avoid this conversation, he didn't want to leave Rain hanging out by himself.

This day was already getting stressful, he thought as he said, "Yeah I'll be down there in a few" and hung up. The nanny handed him the milk bottle and Sky walked downstairs to the restaurant in the resort that served breakfast. He saw Rain waving at him and so he walked towards Rain and took a seat opposite Rain. He cradled Iris as he began feeding her the milk.

He looked up towards Rain and asked, "Did you order the food?". Rain nodded, "Yeah I did. And till it arrives let's talk about what's up with you". Sky knew he couldn't avoid it now, Rain was dead serious. He just shook his head and said, "Everything is as it used to be. Just that every now and then P'Pai keeps popping up like last night. I'm ignoring it". Rain frowned at that, "You know ignoring the problem wouldn't make it go away right?". It was scary when Rain made sense.

"I don't know what else to do. I'll just have to wait till this deal is over. Once we are done we won't have to see each other again. He'll be on his way and I'll be here doing my job and watching Iris grow up", he said as he watched Iris finish the milk in the bottle. He smiled at her and lay her on his shoulder, gently patting her back to make her burp. They changed the topic and started talking about the places Rain and P'Payu had visited yesterday.

Prapai was waiting in the meeting room of the resort as Thanya briefed him on the matters they would be discussing today. Prapai didn't pay much attention to what she was saying. His mind kept drifting off to last night's events. He had left at the break of dawn as he didn't know how to face Sky yet. He had laid Sky gently on the bed after detaching himself from Sky. He placed a pillow under his head and covered him with the comforter.

He stared at Sky for a good while, savouring his delicate features, the way his eyelashes brushed his cheeks and the way his chest moved to the rhythm of his shallow breaths. He didn't know what to feel, so he stopped thinking altogether at this moment only thinking about what was in front of him. He knew once he walked out of that door he'd be confused about what he was feeling.

He finally turned around to leave. And he was right. He was so confused about what to feel, this whole situation put him in a dilemma. He felt his feelings battling inside him. He still didn't know what to do as he looked towards the door in the meeting room waiting for it to open and for Sky to walk in. The thought made his heart race.

Sky walked in with Iris in his arms and the nanny and his assistant walking behind him. He rocked Iris a little before handing her to the nanny. Prapai couldn't deny that seeing Sky with Iris made him feel warm. Sky turned to the associates in the meeting and his expression turned cold as his eyes met with Prapai's.

Sky took a seat just beside Prapai as no other seats were available at the round table. Their knees brushed as Sky took his seat. Both felt electricity run through them at the contact as they did every time they touched these days. The meeting began. Prapai sometimes caught Sky glancing at him through the corner of his eye.

He couldn't deny the tension that hung thick in the air between them. The rest didn't seem to notice it but Sky bit his lip every time he wasn't speaking to other associates. But Prapai noticed, he could feel a few drops of sweat drip down his spine even though the AC was turned on.

The meeting finally ended and Prapai got up just to take a seat on a nearby couch. He didn't want to leave yet. He knew something was about to happen. His assistant looked at him in confusion. He just asked her to leave as they were done for the day anyway. He assured her that he could drive himself to the resort. She then left without a single question and so did all the other people until Sky and Prapai were the only ones left.

They locked eyes. Sky knew what he was about to do was wrong in every way possible. He needed to remember all the things that happened in the past and walk out of that door. Right now.

But it was almost like he was possessed. He thought something was mixed in the air as he felt his thoughts getting more muddled with each breath. Or maybe it was just P'Pai, he had his jacket off and the shirt hugged his body at all the right places, outlining his thick arms and toned chest muscles and abs. But the most intoxicating were his eyes that stared back into his sending shivers down his spinal cord.

He knew this would lead to more pain but he didn't want to stop himself right now. He couldn't stop himself even if he wanted to. Sky felt his rationality slip as he popped one of his buttons and slowly walked towards P'Pai...