The sun shined over the sky of the Karbi island. It was the summer vacation again. Many new visitors arrived on the island to spend their summer holidays.
The children of the neighbourhood were all gathered on the luscious lawn in between the orchard. Not simply, but for attending the wedding ceremony of their leaders. The two little boys aged nine and twelve had managed to win over every single kid in the neighbourhood making a big group of friends despite the fact that they were merely visitors for the vacation.
Among the bunch of happy kids, the happiest was the little girl in the princess dress sitting in the middle of the crowd. She was happy because her biological big brother was going to marry her favourite brother, whom she called P' Bubba, as the latter was a bundle of joy.
She smiled gleefully watching her brother and P' Bubba standing on the platform holding hands.
"P' Tu, make it quick." The little girl poked the chubby kid who was acting as the priest.
Tu didn't dare to disobey the little girl. She was the princess of the group and the only little sister of their leader.
He nodded profusely. "Now the groom may kiss the bride." Tu imitated the priest from the wedding scene in the movie he saw.
The shorter kid on the raised platform wearing a white veil playing the bride, smiled and stood on his tippy toes to press his lips against the taller kid who was playing the groom.
The taller was taken by surprise by the action. But he didn't push the shorter away. Having been raised by his grandparents in Texas, the taller boy had seen many people kissing on streets and he never thought that it was a big deal.
Especially when the one kissing him is his favourite little brother who seems to understand him very well. it wasn't an actual kiss but a peck on the lips.
He remembered his mother telling him once that if two people kissed each other, that meant that they loved each other. He was happy that the younger kid kissed him, which meant that the younger loved him.
He also loved the fact that the younger gave him all the attention he had longed for and also helped him find friends in the neighbourhood.
The taller kid wrapped his hands around the shorter one's waist, supporting him as he stood on his toes. He didn't want the younger one to lose balance and fall down.
The two boys smiled at each other.
"Now, I pronounce you husband and wife," Tu announced, concluding the wedding ceremony.
The little girls watched the two boys on the raised platform with jealousy, most of them wishing to take the place of the shorter kid and be the bride of the dimpled boy who had managed to capture their hearts on their first meeting itself.
The girls uniformly hated the shorter kid for taking away their prince charming from them. they felt like the shorter kid had done some witchcraft on their prince so that he was enchanted like that.
"P' Bubba, now you are also my Phi." The little girl squeaked clapping her hands in happiness.
The shorter kid looked at the little girl. "Yes, princess. I am never going to leave your Phi's side."
"It's already evening, we should go back home." The taller kid disliked the younger being close to his sister.
The shorter kid nodded and bid the two siblings goodbye, running back to his home.
As the shorter kid entered his home, he saw his father sitting there. The kid was excited to see his father was home early.
"Dad." The kid ran to him in excitement. But what happened next caught him off guard.
Smack.
The sound of the hard slap echoed in the room. The kid lost balance and fell to the ground as his father hadn't held back his strength while slapping him.
He touched his stinging cheek as tears of pain rolled down his eyes. He looked up at his father whimpering.
"What on earth did you do today?" his father was fuming. "What on earth is this?" he forcefully took off the white veil from his son's head.
He glared down at his son. "Are you a girl to wear something like this? You are a boy. A boy. Remember that. you are supposed to be someone's groom, not someone's bride and that someone should always be a girl."
The little boy shivered hearing his father yell.
The man growled at his son. "You should marry a girl and only a girl. Don't disgrace me and our family by even thinking of marrying a boy."
He massaged his aching temples. He couldn't let his only child do something that he felt was unbearable.
"You have already splashed mud on my name today. Go upstairs and pack your bag, you are going back tonight." He ordered.
The boy couldn't stop his tears. he was unwilling to leave. He had promised the siblings that he would come back and play with them tomorrow. "But Dad-"
"Enough!" the man yelled. "Don't test my patience. Go upstairs and pack. You are never contacting those two kids again."
The little boy got scared. He had no option but to obey his dad.
✨✨✨
In the air-conditioned room of the apartment in Bangkok.
The young man's eyes flew open. "why did I dream of that again?" he muttered, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
He checked the time and saw that it was already morning. He tried to get up but his boyfriend's hand around his waist prevented him from doing so.
He glanced at his sleeping boyfriend. He couldn't ever get tired of watching his boyfriend's handsome sleeping face.
A lot of people envied him for having a handsome, rich and caring boyfriend. His love life might seem like a fairytale to others. A fairytale in which he happened to be the princess.
He gently took his boyfriend's hand off him and tucked the latter in properly. He didn't forget to kiss his boyfriend's cheeks. He got off the bed quietly and headed to the washroom.
Looking at the washroom mirror, he tied up his long mint-colored hair. His whole body was sour from the previous night's activity. No matter how much time had passed after he started the relationship, his body still had a hard time coping with his boyfriend's stamina.
He could clearly see the red and purple marks on his body as evidence of his boyfriend's passion. He was used to such a sight every morning he woke up next to his boyfriend.
As he did every day, once he was done freshening up, he started using colour correctors and concealers to hide the marks on his visible body parts. He made sure that all the marks were completely covered before getting out of the dressing room.