Fluke bit his lips nervously as he stood in front of the private ward door.
Ohm held his hands and little squeezed them as a form of encouragement. Fluke nodded at his boyfriend before knocking on the door.
They entered the door after getting affirmation from inside.
“You guys are here,” Mist said putting away the folded towel.
Mist had been taking care of Fame in her family’s stead as Fame’s father had banned her mother and brother from visiting her.
“How is she today?” Fluke asked in a low voice eyeing his friend who lay motionless in the hospital bed.
“Normal. Hadn’t had any fluctuations since last time.” Mist whispered back. “You guys have a chat. I will wait outside.” Mist stepped out of the hospital room leaving the couple with Fame.
They walked over to Fame. She was awake. Her eyes were wide open staring at the ceiling of the room.
Fluke knew that in her current condition, she could hear and see everything happening around her but couldn’t respond to them or move from her position.
“Fame…” Fluke called out gently. “How have you been?” Fluke moved a few bangs of hair from her forehead with a smile. “I am sorry that I couldn’t visit you these days. My schedule was too full and I couldn’t get any free time to come here.”
Ohm stood by and watched Fluke talk to Fame smiling ear to ear. It would be a lie if he said that he was not jealous at the scene. Fluke had never used such a tone with him. Ohm was sure that if Fluke ever spoke to him like that, he would make sure that the younger won’t be able to walk for a week.
Fluke could feel Ohm’s burning gaze burrowing the back of his head as he held Fame’s hand and talked to her. For the time being, he decided to ignore his boyfriend who was close to throwing a temper tantrum at him for holding hands with Fame.
His attention was currently concentrated on Fame. He was trying to ease her up before breaking the big news to her so that her vitals would remain normal. For patients in her condition, the chances of having cardiac arrests are higher if provoked. Hence, he had to proceed with caution.
He spoke continuously for over an hour, leaving the sulking Ohm all by himself. When he felt that Fame was ready, he stood up from the stool next to the bed in which he had been sitting for the past hour and walked to Ohm who was sitting on the couch, pouting.
“P’ Ohm” Fluke held out his hand.
Ohm stood up and took his hand.
“Fame, today I want to introduce my boyfriend to you.” Fluke took a deep breath. “Fame, this is Ohm Thitiwat Ritprasert, the love of my life.”
Fluke was trembling as he spoke. “We hadn’t been together for long and not many people know of us as a real couple. We wanted you to be one of the few people who did.”
Ohm slowly rubbed Fluke’s back.
“I know this is too much to ask from you but I really hope you will give us your blessings.”
Neither of them noticed the slight movement in Fame’s eyeballs.
“Noo, can I have a word with her, alone?” Ohm asked in a whisper.
Fluke nodded wiping the tears that were flowing down from his eyes.
Ohm took the seat near the hospital bed and waited till he made sure that Fluke had gone out of the room.
“Fame…” Ohm called out. A sense of shame engulfed him as he looked at the young girl in front of her. “I know that a mere apology will not be enough to get forgiven for what I had done to you. I never imagined things to go this far either.”
Massaging his temples, he continued. “Maybe if I hadn’t been a stubborn coward, none of this would have happened. Fame, do you know why I decided to get engaged to you? Others may think that I decided to get engaged to you because I felt that Fluke wasn’t interested in me but the truth is that I agreed to the engagement because I saw how differently Fluke treated you. For him, you were one of his close friends, but from my point of view, you were special to him. I couldn’t help but feel incredibly jealous about the way he cared about you. I wanted to separate the two of you. If he couldn’t be mine, he shouldn’t be yours too. That was my mentality then.”
Ohm glanced at Fame’s face.
“Not just you. My own Nong itself. I myself had no idea what I would have done to her if Fluke had actually been interested in her. Wicked. Right?” Ohm sighed. “What to do? I can’t help it. My Noo is just so sweet and beautiful that I wouldn’t let anyone else in the world have him.”
The current Ohm was way different from the one that had stood beside Fluke a few minutes ago.
“You know what? I really hate the idea of having him come here to visit you every now and then. I mean it is not his fault that you were stupid enough to try to take your own life. I don’t know why he feels so guilty about the whole matter.”
Ohm’s eyes turned sharp and the aura emitted a deadly aura.
“But that simple act did manage to garner a lot of attention. He has been spending way too much time with you. That is why today I am here. I am here to let you know that Noo is taken. He is mine. MINE.”
Ohm leaned in closer to Fame’s face looking directly into her eyes.
“You better stay away from him. If you don’t, I can’t guarantee that your dear Mae and Nong will be safe. Am I clear?” Ohm flashed her a creepy smile.
The machine that was attached to Fame started beeping loudly, indicating the change in heartbeat pattern.
This alarmed Ohm. He pressed the emergency button and rushed to the door.
Fluke who was standing outside the room talking to Mist was surprised to see a bunch of doctors and nurses rushing over.
They greeted Fluke before going inside. Fluke followed them in.
“P’ Ohm, what happened?” Fluke asked as he watched the doctors in confusion.
“I have no idea Noo. I was talking to her about us and suddenly her heartbeat and blood pressure became irregular. So, I pressed the emergency button.” Ohm said with a panicked expression on his face.
“Bring the defibrillator, the patient’s having a cardiac arrest.” Doctor A said climbing on the bed to do emergency CPR.
The nurses hurried to set up the device.
“Khun Fluke, Khun Ohm, you should wait outside. Please.” One of the interns said as he pushed the two out of the room.
“She is going to be fine, Noo.” Ohm tried to encourage his panicking boyfriend. No one noticed the small smile on Ohm’s lips as he acted as if he was really concerned.