To Love or To Lose

Chapter Twelve

Arthit felt like a shell at work. Kong had taken him to work and for the entire ride, Arthit had his arms wrapped around Kong's waist, holding tight. He almost never wanted to get to work because then he wouldn't have to let Kong go. And when they did finally get to Ocean Electrics, Arthit reluctantly let his boyfriend go.

"Bye P." without saying anything else or even giving Arthit one of his smiles, Kong sped off. Arthit could only stand there dumfounded before he turned and walked like a zombie into the building. He saw Mild waiting for him at the front but he just outright ignored her and got into the elevator. He didn't have the mindset to talk to anyone now, especially her.

Even when John was deliberately trying to bait him, Arthit didn't respond, much less look at him. Instead, he just accepted the extra work and worked away on his computer silently.

"Arthit?" P'Earth prodded at his arm gently.

"Hm?" Arthit snapped from his daze and looked at her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he lied. "Just didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Oh," she nodded but Arthit could tell she didn't believe him. "It's lunchtime now, you shouldn't work through it. Get some food to perk you up."

Arthit didn't even realize so much time had passed. He nodded and packed up his things then walked with P'Earth.

"What's really wrong?" she asked, knowing well that Arthit was never usually like this even if he did look tired.

Arthit thought for a moment. Earth was always calm, never nosey, and she was older. If anything, he felt that he could trust her.

"I had a fight with my lover," he admitted lowly. "Well...not a normal fight. We're just not good right now."

"I'm assuming if you were talking about Mild, you would have just said her name since the rumors are going around. I guess then you're not really dating her?" Earth asked.

Arthit shook his head. "I just didn't feel like answering to those stupid rumors. Why is it anyone's concern who I'm dating?" Arthit shook his head.

"I understand what you mean," Earth nodded.

They entered the canteen and got their lunch.

"Let's go sit outside. Less noisy," Earth said.

Arthit followed her blindly. Once outside, Arthit looked around, thankful that Mild wasn't there yet. He wasn't sure how he'd handle her yet. When he and Mild sat down, they started eating quietly before Earth spoke again.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Earth asked.

Arthit sighed heavily. "Me and Mild went out yesterday. Just dinner and drinks. Mild got pretty drunk and I didn't even realize how bad it was until it was too bad. I wasn't sure where she lived and she was the one that drove us so I didn't see a choice but to drive us back to my place. Mild was pretty...reckless with being drunk. I didn't know that my lover was waiting for me at my apartment so they saw all those...reckless things Mild was doing to me. Let's just say I'm on thin ice with my lover right now."

"Does your lover think you were being unfaithful?"

"Thank goodness they don't. But—I hurt them P'Earth. No matter if I was cheating or not, the entire situation hurt them. We spend every weekend together and this weekend, we can't be together because my lover doesn't want to see me." Arthit pushed his food to the side and placed his head in his hands, trying not to cry.

Earth reached over and rubbed his arm. "It'll be okay Arthit. Just think, your love may just need time to process this all. Especially if they're hurt. Just because they want space, doesn't mean they want to leave you. But in all relationships, sometimes space is necessary."