hate between us

Chapter 1: Always

   Khaotung-10. First-13

Khaotung liked it when First came over.

It didn't happen all the time, only when First's father had meetings with his own parents. Those days felt different. The house felt louder, busier, filled with people who spoke in careful voices and stood too straight. Guards appeared in corners where they usually weren't. Doors stayed closed longer.

But First was there, and that made it better.

Khaotung was ten, sitting on the floor near the stairs with a small wooden car pushed back and forth between his hands. He wasn't really playing. He was waiting.

He heard First before he saw him quick footsteps, familiar, careless in a house where most people walked like they were afraid to be heard.

"You still have that?" First asked.

Khaotung looked up. First stood at the bottom of the stairs, already grinning, pointing at the car. He was thirteen ,three years older, a little taller, a little louder, with scraped knees and a confidence that made adults sigh.

"It's not yours," Khaotung said.

"I know," First replied easily. "That's why I like it."

Khaotung pushed the car toward him anyway.

First dropped down beside him, sitting cross-legged on the cool floor. For a moment, they just played quietly, the car rolling between them. Around them, the house moved voices echoing from the dining room, the clink of cups, the low murmur of men talking about things kids weren't supposed to understand.

"That meeting is taking forever," First said, flattening his back against the stair rail.

Khaotung nodded. "They always do."

He glanced toward the dining room. The door was open just enough to see his Father and First's parents seated at the long table. Papers were spread out. Guards stood near the walls, faces blank.

Khaotung didn't like those meetings. They made his stomach feel tight, even if he didn't know why.

First followed his gaze, then shrugged like it didn't matter. "Come on."

"Where?"

"Outside," First said. "Not far. Just the garden."

He held out his hand.

Khaotung took it without thinking.

They slipped through the side door, past the familiar stone hallway and into the garden behind the house. The grass was neatly trimmed, the trees tall and old, their branches spreading wide like they'd seen everything already.

They didn't go far. Just to the space near the fountain, where the sound of water covered their voices.

First picked up a stick and started drawing shapes in the dirt. "Bet I can run faster than you."

"You can't," Khaotung said, immediately defensive.

"I can."

"You cheat."

First laughed and took off anyway.

Khaotung chased him, shoes slipping slightly on the grass. They ran in circles, breathless and laughing, until Khaotung tripped and landed hard on his hands.

First stopped instantly.

"Are you okay?" he asked, serious now.

Khaotung nodded, even though his palms stung. First crouched in front of him, inspecting his hands like he knew what to do.