Happy reading.
For the first time, Khaotung wanted to play soccer after gym class.
So excited. The boys scramble to get Khaotung as a member of their team.
Joong even uses his position to get Khaotung. While Louis confidently uses Khaotung's guilt from two days ago and asks him to join his team.
"But I'm his little friend," said First. Who was currently on Joong's team.
"I'm sick of seeing you," Khaotung retorted and then preferred Louis' team which had Dunk as well as Pawin on it.
"Damn you, you think I like seeing you every day?" Asked First as he took a step towards attacking Khaotung playfully.
After that, the game started more seriously.
The winner would get a treat from the loser, Joong's team who really liked freebies looked much more excited than Louis' team. Especially since the Khaotung being contested had below average abilities. Only in Pawin they pinned their hopes of victory.
Every time Pawin put the ball in the back of the net, he was showered with hugs and praise, with Dunk even kissing the top of his head a few times. Once again, Pawin had never felt this valued at his old school.
It looked like Pawin would be very sad when the long vacation came around, as they would rarely get together like this.
"Pawin, I will take refuge behind your little back!"
"I will protect you!" Pawin shouted back at Dunk.
"I'll cover you too," Pawin continued to Khaotung who stood beside him.
"That's funny." Khaotung responded, then ran after the ball that First was holding.
Pawin's smile disappeared after hearing Khaotung's response, why did he feel that Khaotung didn't like his existence.
The game got more intense in the last minute, and Khaotung finally showed his skills by breaking into the goal guarded by Marc.
When Marc was booed by his teammates Khaotung was paraded around like he was the one who had scored the goal in the first minute.
Again, it made Pawin jealous. No matter how little Khaotung did, he was always responded to very excessively by his friends.
The game was won by Joong's team. The excessive celebration was only to celebrate Khaotung's success in putting the ball into Marc's goal, not to celebrate the team's victory.
As agreed, they will now go straight to the caffe where they usually hang out to enjoy the treat from Louis' team.
"Let me treat you guys, how about it?" Pawin took out his ATM card in the caffe parking lot.
"No need, we'll share it equally." Khaotung refused, he then took out his wallet and was ready to take out a few bills, but was prevented by Pawin.
"It's okay Khaotung, I'll do it."
Pawin's decision was apparently also supported by Dunk and Neo, they didn't have any more money so it was better to just agree to Pawin's kindness.
But Khaotung felt that wasn't right, why should Pawin pay for everything.
"Come on in, come on in." Dunk embraced Pawin and Neo to come inside the caffe, following Joong's team who had already chosen seats.
---
Khaotung seemed to be annoyed again, he saw how Pawin was praised all the way for bearing all the costs of his team's defeat to treat Joong's team, even Pawin's own team was treated but Khaotung was not. He insisted on paying for his own drink.
The gathering this time seemed to be focused on Pawin, after Pawin invited them for a vacation to his family's villa in Phuket.
Although all his friends seemed to be focused on Pawin and his family's wealth, there was a First who didn't care who was sitting next to Khaotung, busy playing a game.
"How did you do this?"
"Kill your opponent."
"Like this?"
"You're so stupid."
Khaotung who had been annoyed turned to First, this kid was playing the game for the first time while Khaotung was already a pro.
Every time First failed to perform an attack, the two of them would laugh silently, completely uninterested in the talk of their classmates who were still talking about Pawin.
Pawin saw that too, how First was more interested in Khaotung than him.
"What game are you guys playing?" Asked Marc, this time it was Khaotung who took over the game on First's phone.
"I'm playing this too, we should play together." Marc then praised how Khaotung could defeat some of his enemies well.
First and Marc's excitement attracted the attention of the others, Joong and Dunk.
They began to surround Khaotung, who looked like a professional playing the game.
Again, Khaotung naturally became the center of the kids' attention.
They easily forgot about Pawin and were busy praising Khaotung with something that Pawin also did not expect, Khaotung could make everyone come to him without doing anything.
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After school, Khaotung went straight to First's house to play with Manaw and his 5-year-old brother, while Manaw himself was currently in the 3rd grade of elementary school, a boy who was just as naughty as First when he was a child.
After playing with Manaw and his brother, Khaotung went inside First's house with a limping leg.
He don't know, maybe it's because he's not used to using his legs more often, not warming up enough before playing soccer at school earlier.
"What's wrong with you?" Asked First as he came down the stairs, he was just about to go down for play with Manaw and Khaotung, but his friend was in pain on the sofa.
"My leg hurts," said Khaotung as he put his feet up on the sofa.
"That's why you exercise so much, you idiot."
First then put his phone away on the table and sat down on the sofa, first lifting Khaotung's legs and placing them on his thighs.
"These are your veins in shock," First explained as he began to gently massage Khaotung's legs.
"It's really tense, you'll have trouble sleeping tonight."
"Heal my leg~" Khaotung whined, not wanting to have to stay up late because of the pain in his leg.
"It's really cool that you wanted to play earlier, huh?"
Khaotung was used to being accompanied by Joong whenever the kids in his class went to play soccer, but today Joong's leg had healed and he was able to go back to playing soccer. Feeling lonely at last, Khaotung tried to play too and forgot to warm up.
"I don't like Pawin."
First then raised his head, looking at Khaotung who hadn't finished his sentence.
"He uses his money a lot."
First nodded his head, it was fine for Khaotung to dislike Pawin's personality, he had every right.
"You? Don't you like it?"
"Me? I like it," First replied.
First had no problem with Pawin's royal personality, the kids in his class didn't find it a problem either, they were happy. He said they rarely spent money to hang out when Pawin was around.
"Don't show your dislike so clearly, you can't make someone change just because you don't like them."
"Who would want to make him change?" Asked Khaotung irritably, he pulled one of his legs to hit First's shoulder, completely ungrateful.
"What about Marc? Do you like it?"
Khaotung just shrugged his shoulders, not really paying attention but Marc's existence didn't bother him as much like Pawin's.
Come to think of it, that Marc would be his other best friend seeing how he acted towards Khaotung.
"You're going to cheat on me?" Asked First again with dramatically.
"I already cheated on you with Joong," Khaotung retorted. Besides First, it was Joong whom Khaotung would look for if this boy was of no use.
"He's handsome too," Khaotung continued.
First looked at Khaotung with a look like he had just been betrayed. In all the time he had been friends with Khaotung, never once had the boy complimented his face, this Marc had not been called handsome by Khaotung for a month.
"You never called me handsome like that."
Khaotung shrugged his shoulders again and lowered his legs from First's thighs.
"You're not handsome," Khaotung retorted.
---
"Hey, Louis."
Louis had just returned from the convenience store on his bicycle, when he was called by Marc, he just hanging out front of his house.
"What?" Asked Louis while bringing his bike to the gate of Marc's house.
At first Marc made small talk asking about tomorrow's lesson, then continued to ask about Khaotung.
Pawin had just made a group chat without Khaotung in it and he expressed his feelings that Khaotung didn't like him.
Louis looked surprised, he didn't know anything because after school his cell phone was on the charger, until now he didn't even bring his cell phone.
"Only Khaotung is not included?"
Marc wasn't sure, so he took out his phone and showed the group chat that Pawin had just made an hour ago.
The two of them realized that First was not included too, but there Pawin was only talking about Khaotung.
"What's wrong with him?"
Marc shrugged his shoulders, he didn't know either. Marc had never felt that Khaotung resented his presence as a new student, but Marc did begin to sense the discomfort Khaotung felt towards Pawin since the day Louis was accidentally hurt by him.
"But why? Pawin didn't do anything and why does Pawin think that Khaotung doesn't like him?"
"You don't know if Khaotung refused Pawin's treat earlier?"
Louis shook his head again, but was surprised to hear Marc's explanation.
Marc told Louis because he was worried about Khaotung, Marc felt that if indeed Khaotung had a dislike for Pawin, Pawin should not have made a group chat without Khaotung in it.
To make matters worse, Neo and Dunk and even the other kids began to demonize Khaotung in the group chat.
"Joong is there too, right?"
Marc nodded his head, Joong was there but he didn't say anything in the group chat, just silently reading every message someone sent in it.
After that, Louis left Marc's house to look at the group from his own cell phone.
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Today was the day that Joong's class was supposed to collect last week's English assignment, but most of them had forgotten to do it, and some of them didn't even remember that they had the assignment. As if he was familiar with his friends' habits, Khaotung took out his assignment book and asked them to copy the assignment by making mistakes in several questions at random, so that the teacher would not be suspicious.
Khaotung's kindness like this was clearly welcomed by the friends, including Joong who could not remember having an English assignment as class president, probably because there were too many assignments given.
"You haven't, have you?" Khaotung asked Pawin who stood holding his assignment book.
"Just copy mine, and make some mistakes," Khaotung continued.
Pawin then saw how the kids gathered at Joong's table and fought over one of Khaotung's books. No way, if Pawin did the same thing what difference would he make to those kids? Pawin wanted to be Khaotung.
"No, I'll do it myself," Pawin replied and sat back on his stool.
"It will be collected in the first hour of class, can you do it?" Khaotung asked again.
"Whether I can or not, as long as I try to do it myself, I'm fine." Pawin gave Khaotung a sweet smile. "You've worked hard on your assignment, I feel bad if I have to copy it."
Khaotung chuckled, if the stupid kids here had thoughts like Pawin, how peaceful his school life would be.
"Alright, just do as you want."
Khaotung went to check Joong's desk and cursed at those who could not do even a little bit of the assignment, Joong was the one who received the most cursing from Khaotung, second to Louis.
Khaotung, Joong, and Louis were famous as the three future hopes of this class and Khaotung was disappointed that Joong and Louis were just about to destroy that title, sad.
"Ah, First. You didn't do the assignment?" Pawin realized that First was the only student who had not gathered at Joong's table.
"If Khaotung does his schoolwork on time, then so do I."
Pawin chuckled, forgetting that First and Khaotung didn't just stick together at school but outside of school as well.
Pawin became more and more jealous of Khaotung, he had everything including First who was always by his side no matter how annoying he was.
----
As Khaotung suspected, Pawin could not complete the assignment and was the only student to get a deduction.
His friends immediately regretted Pawin's decision to refuse to copy Khaotung's assignment, never once had they received a grade deduction so far because Khaotung had always helped them.
Khaotung and First were not in class, only Louis and Marc were watching as Pawin continued to be berated by Neo and Dunk for his stupidity in refusing Khaotung's kind offer.
Pawin wanted so badly to scream, cursing them like Khaotung.
So what if he didn't get a grade? After all, it was a good thing that Pawin didn't cheat on his schoolmates' assignments in unison.
"It's okay, I feel bad if I have to accept Khaotung's offer." But that was all Pawin could say with a sweet smile on his face.
"Are you guys hungry? I'll buy you lunch," Pawin continued, he wanted them to change the topic as soon as possible.
Khaotung and First were already in the cafeteria, their order of instant noodles already gone.
First then suddenly laughed, remembering how since this morning he had been paying attention to the class especially to Pawin and Khaotung.
Khaotung had sparkling eyes despite his frowning face whenever talking to his friends except for Pawin. First found it adorable, how Khaotung looked at Pawin with cynical eyes and tried to talk to him as little as possible.
First had never seen Khaotung that cute.
"I was wondering all this time. Why none of our classmates hated this attitude of yours, now it seems you've gained an enemy." Furthermore, the First explained that he had been watching Pawin and found that Pawin was also giving him the same look as Khaotung.
"Good, so we don't have to get any closer, I'm sick of it."
First then tampered with Khaotung's head, it was really annoying to see Khaotung who was always so easy-going, now having to hate and be hated by someone.
But First wasn't worried. Anyway, Khaotung was a child who could get through everything well including fighting with Pawin.
It would be fun if someday Pawin and Khaotung decided to hit each other.
Not long after, the class came to the cafeteria for lunch which was again bought by Pawin.
Joong who saw First and Khaotung already finishing their lunch immediately swore, why didn't they wait for them;he whined.
"Did you pay for that order?" Pawin asked First and Khaotung immediately shook their heads.
"Then let me pay for it," replied Pawin.
"No need, I'll just pay." Khaotung quickly cleared away the bowls he and First had eaten from.
Pawin once again tried to persuade Khaotung to let him treat him just once, Pawin had not treated Khaotung once so far.
"I have the money, that's why I want to pay for it myself," Khaotung replied, still adamant in refusing Pawin's offer. First who saw this could only smile, Khaotung was stubborn.
"Come on Khao, it's only instant noodles." Neo finally complained, perhaps waiting too long for Pawin talk to Khaotung while he was hungry, wanting to eat immediately.
"Just like you said, it's just instant noodles. I can still pay for it."
"You don't like Pawin, do you?"
Khaotung stopped his footsteps that were about to go to the instant noodle shop, then turned to look at Dunk who had just yelled at him.
It seemed that everyone was looking at Khaotung, as if waiting for his answer including First, he was the only one who knew if Khaotung did not like Pawin.
"You guys like Pawin so much because he spent a lot of money on you, right?"
Khaotung's question sounded like a fact, it was.
Dunk couldn't even reply to Khaotung's argument.
Khaotung then looked back at Pawin.
"Hey, Paw." He called.
Pawin turned to Khaotung.
"At the previous school, did you also treat your friends with money to keep them around you?" Khaotung asked, which immediately made Pawin freeze in place.
"My friends would stick with you even if you didn't spend much money on them, but because you give them freebies almost every day, they stick to you like glue, right?" Khaotung then walked back to the shop, ignoring his friends' curses.
"That means Khaotung is calling you sycophants. Right?"
After saying that, Neo and Joong immediately joked about fighting with First. Why was Pawin the only one here who felt that both First and Khaotung's words hurt him.
TBC.