My Man

Chapter 3

Arthit's POV

My temples were throbbing with an unbearable headache and I was desperately trying to stop the room, which I was in, from spinning. Once I got out of the bed and managed to get myself to the restroom successfully without cracking my head open on the floor, I sprayed some water on my face to wake up more. As the blurriness lifted from my eyes from the splash, last night's events started to come back to me slowly.

If dealing with a hangover the next day after you are thoroughly wasted was hard enough, then add to it an ex-boyfriend with a split personality and a long last best friend who had sprung out of the blue. My day was going to be fan-freaking-tastic, I thought with a sigh as soon as I entered the living room and spotted Prem sprawled out on the couch. Justin was lazily skimming through a magazine from the love seat opposite to it.

"Good Morning" Justin offered in almost a whisper on seeing me, sensing that I must have a splitting headache after last night's drinking binge. He was considerate enough to lower his voice as I might not be ready to deal with loud noises early in the morning. I gave him a smile at his concern and frowned after a second as I suddenly remembered something. "Were you awake the whole night?" I asked him even though I somehow guessed that he should have spent the entire night on the love seat watching over Prem.

After I called out Prem's name, in the alley yesterday when the whole gang fight came to an end, Prem was mirroring the exact reaction I had on seeing him after so many years. Justin looked confused on seeing our shell-shocked faces. However, being the smart guy he is, he must have at least gathered that we knew each other before as I have called Prem out by his name. Justin remained silent giving us time to gather our thoughts but both of us did not move a muscle.

We didn't get much time to keep on standing in the middle of the street and reeling back on the good old days, as we heard a drunk Jason stumbling behind us to see what the hell was taking so long for us to have disappeared from him.

"You know this guy?" Justin asked breaking the silence as none of us had attempted to talk. I gave a feeble nod in agreement and replied through a soft gasp, "An old friend".

That's all he needed to know because the next moment he was rushing us into his car to get away from the scene. Prem still appeared to be in shock and was not able to comprehend what was happening around him. The police siren sounding a little far away and getting closer by every passing second was the only push we needed to get the hell out of the place as soon as possible.

When we reached Jason's apartment, since it was close to the club than mine, Justin had managed to drag Jason and Sarah to the master bedroom as they have completely passed out. I would have helped, but I was not in a better state either. Moreover, I was busy gawking at the man sitting in my living room with a tissue pressed against his nose which was losing its original color to turn into an alarming red as blood soaked through it.

My mind didn't register when Justin gave Prem the tissue to staunch the bleeding for time being. Or when he came back with a first aid kit to attend to his wounds, cleaning them up and plastering the gash on his forehead. I was standing in a corner watching everything unfolding before me silently without a word. My mind was in a clutter right now hazed with alcohol and the thousand questions racing through my head about Prem were not helping in any way. I could neither understand them myself nor could I voice them to make him understand what I was saying.

Prem was still silent except for the occasional painful moans when Justin cleaned his wounds. Even after Justin was done, none of us tried to start a conversation. "All right then. All of us had been through one hell of a day. Let's sleep on it and we can talk about it tomorrow morning" he said deciding that no one could manage a proper conversation in our current state.