Prem's POV
"Prem? N'Wad?" Mom calls through the door, "Come eat." I hear a thud behind me and look to see Wad has fallen off the bed. Again.
"You ok," I ask as I walk around the bed to help him. Wad looks up at me, and I frown. "You didn't rest, did you?" Wad slaps away my hand and stands up on his own.
"Of course, I did, P...," Wad begins but is cut off when he yawns.
"Liar," I huff, "Why not?" Wad scratches the back of his neck and shrugs, but before he can answer, the door swings open, revealing my mom.
"What is with you two?" Mom frowns, "It is getting cold."
"Come on. Let's go before she comes back," Wad nods and follows me out the door to the dining room. I gape when I see the table. How much did my mom cook?
"Are we having guests?" I question, pulling out the chair to sit down. Wad pulls out the chair next to me and sits.
"No," Mom smiles, "I don't get to cook for you often, so I guess I got a little carried away. I didn't know what you liked, N'Wad. I hope there is something here you like."
Wad looks at the table and smiles, "I am sure I can find something, Khun..."
"Call me, Mom," she cuts him off before he could finish.
"O-o-ok," Wad stutters as he looks at me. I shrug as I am filling my plate.
I hum when I take a bite of my mom's Chicken Khao Soi. Geez, I miss my mom's cooking. I grin when I see Wad nodding his head after he had tried my mom's Green Papaya Salad. I was curious about how it compared to his mom's. She is a fantastic cook, too.
"N'Wad, you are Prem's nong?" Dad asks. Wad puts his utensils down before he answers.
"Yes, sir," Wad replies politely. "He was one of my hazers." My dad motions him to continue eating.
"What was he like during hazing?" Mom questions.
Wad swallows before he answers, "He was a total jerk to..." Wad panics, "I mean, he was very strict with us." I notice my dad has a small smile.
"I am sure my son was a jerk," my dad laughs, "He has grown a temper since going to university."
"Dad!" I groan, "How can you say that in front of him?"
"Not like it is a lie," Mom snarks. Why are they ganging up on me in front of my boyfriend?
"That's true," Wad hums as he takes a bite and then chokes on it when he realizes what he had said. I pat his back and hand him a glass of water, glaring at my parents. That is it. I don't care what they say. I am tired of this weirdness.
"Mom. Dad. I am dating N'Wad," I state firmly and realize I probably should have checked to see if Wad was taking a sip of water before I blurted that out since he is now choking all over again. When he calms down, I look at my parents, who have said nothing since I told them I was dating Wad.
"Are you ok, N'Wad?" Mom asks, concerned.
"I-I-I am fine," Wad stammers, looking from my parents to me and back again.
"Mom. Dad. I. AM. DATING. N'WAD," I restate slowly for them.
"WE. KNOW," my mom and dad answer just as slowly. What fvck? How?
"How?" Wad breathes out.
"His father came to our house," my dad explains. "With some other boy. The boy was just creepy, wasn't he, dear." My mom nods at my dad.
"My father and a boy?" Wad looks at me, and I can tell he is about to panic. I place my hand on his thigh under the table and squeeze it.
"Mom, I don't care what that man told you," I begin, "But N'Wad is not whatever they said." mom shakes her head dismissively.
"N'Wad's father made us watch several videos of you and N'Wad that the boy had on his phone," my father explained.
"Videos of us," I look at N'Wad. "What were we doing? Where were we in the video?" We rarely do PDA. The only exception would have been Hua Hin, and we did very little in public even there. Who the hell filmed us? I would have noticed that bastard. So who did he get to do it?
"All of them were either at the university or a surrounding street, from what I could tell," Mom answers, "If N'Wad's father weren't ranting that you seduced his son, it would have been hard to say you were more than a close senior and junior."
"Don't worry. We figured out that they were just trying to cause you two trouble," Dad smiles, "Like we would believe you would force anyone into dating you. He kept raving that you were using your seniority to terrorize this poor boy. And that boy that was with him said N'Wad had issues. Some senior harassed him in the past and that you could easily manipulate N'Wad because of the scars from that trauma."
N'Wad had stood up from the table at the last statement and was clenching and unclenching his fists.
"The senior who harassed him was that freak!" I shout at my parents as I stand up. "He did horrible things to N'Wad! And father? Ha! That man abandoned N'Wad and his mother for a mistress and that bastard kid."
My mom stands and walks over to N'Wad and turns him to face her. She reaches up and grabs his face.
"N'Wad," she takes a breath, "I am going to admit we were shocked when we found out our son liked men." Wad looks at my mom, and I see his eyes brimming with tears. "We listened to your father and that boy, but what they said doesn't change how we see Prem. Or you." Wad takes a ragged breath.
My dad gets up and circles the table placing his hand on Wad's shoulder. "We talked to your mom after he came, N'Wad. I don't know how that man thought, giving us your mother's contact information would benefit him."
"You are such a brave boy," my mom says. A tear runs down her face. Wad reaches up and wipes the tear from her cheek. "Thank you for loving our Prem."
"You don't want him to break up with me?" Wad hiccups.
"No, son," Dad replies. "Prem would kill us if we did that. You know his temper" Wad gives a watery chuckle as he nods.
"Besides knowing our son, he would never do it," Mom smiles at Wad, "We set too good of an example of how you are supposed to love someone. Right, dear?" My dad grins at my mom. "We would never make our son give up someone he loves." My dad looks at me and smiles.
"Dinner is getting cold," Dad says, "I know my wife cooked all of this, hoping to impress you. So we shouldn't let it go to waste."
Wad smiles before he hugs my mom, "Thank you." Wad is rarely touchy with other people because of his scars, so I am shocked he hugged my mom.
"Stop it," Mom playfully shoves him, "You are going to make me cry." But I can tell by the look on her face she felt his scars. I give her a weak smile when she looks at me.
"You already did," I say as I pull my mom into a hug. "Thank you. I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad." I add, looking over at my dad.
"Yeah. Yeah," my dad laughs. "Everyone loves everyone. Now let's eat."
"Are you sure I should sleep in here?" Wad whispers in the dark. "What if they think we are doing something?"
"Wad," I snort, "Where do I sleep when we go to your house?"
"Oh," Wad breathes, "My room." He sits up and looks at me, "You don't think my mom thinks we do that there, do you?"
"Go to sleep," I sigh, pushing him back down. "We will talk about this later." Wad rolls over, grumbling, and I chuckle under my breath. Seriously. Did he just think about this now? I move over, wrapping my arm around his waist and settling in behind him. I feel him adjust himself to me and still. I hold him as I wait until he falls asleep before I gently get up.
Walking into the kitchen, I find my parents sitting at the table whispering.
"Is he asleep?" Mom asks, and I nod.
"He didn't rest this afternoon, so he was exhausted," I tell my parents. "Any questions?" I know they are bound to have some. Wad does tend to create a lot, even for me, who knows most of the answers.
"What do you expect us to ask, son?" my dad looks at me. "He has obviously been treated horribly by everyone but his mom."
"He has," I agree, "But he has me now and a good group of friends."
"What do your friends think of you dating a guy?" Mom quizzes. "I honestly don't think your bunch would be bothered, but you never know these days. And I will hate to have to go beat them."
"Mom!" I laugh, "They don't mind. Everyone likes N'Wad. And his friends support us." I am not going to mention that Arthit and Knott are also dating some of Wad's friends. Not my story.
"That is good. You also remember that loving someone means to treasure them," Mom glares at me. "You better not forget how we raised you, or I will beat you, too."
"Yes, mom," I grin, "I know that I need to treasure him. Trust me, I know that well."
"That is good," Mom pats my hand, "I like him. I can't wait until he relaxes around us."
"Why didn't you give me a heads up?" I scowl at my parents, "Do you know how freaked out we were? I am surprised N'Wad didn't faint at the station when you were there to pick us up."
"What? I told you to bring him," my mom replies innocently.
"Really, Mom," I give her a 'what the hell' look. "You are going to go with that?"
"We wanted to see how serious you were," Dad puts in. "But the moment I saw you kiss him behind your mom's SUV, I knew how serious you are about him." What the hell! My dad fvcking saw us! I wonder if I should tell Wad. Probably not. He would freak knowing about it.
"They kissed behind my SUV?" Mom gasps, "I didn't see that."
"Don't worry, I got a picture," my dad pulls out his phone and shows it to my mom. I facepalm myself as my mom and dad coo over a picture of me kissing my boyfriend. This has got to rank as one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Whose parents do this? Mine. Apparently.
"Care to tell us about the bandage on the neck?" My mom asks. "Was he the student involved in the incident the university informed all the parents about? We were told that there were no injuries. That didn't look like no injuries to me."
"What did the university tell you?" I ask, "My friends and N'Wad's were all there, so we weren't called into the assembly when they explained it to the other students."
"That a student from one faculty had attacked another student from another faculty due to an ongoing dispute," my dad explains.
"Ha. Ongoing dispute. Nice way to put it," I snort, "That nong and several others kept beating up N'Wad. The nong in question went too far and got expelled. So the guy tried to kidnap him and held a knife on him," I explain.
"Kidnap him? Knife?" My dad raises his voice, and my mom slaps his shoulder. "That sure as hell wasn't what we were told!"
"We took care of it," I tell my parents, "Like I said, the guy is expelled from school. He is also in custody and will be prosecuted." I am not going to tell him how close I was to losing Wad that day.
"Any reason he picked N'Wad," Mom questions.
"Yeah, you met him," I growl. "That 'boy' who came with N'Wad's father is the reason. He is also why N'Wad was beaten up."
"That boy seemed off. He acted weirdly possessive of N'Wad. He made it sound like you took him away from him," Dad begins, "And his father is a piece of work."
"They are both sick in the head, in my opinion," I agree. "N'Wad is his half brother, and they mutually hate each other. But we are making sure they don't bother N'Wad. I can't believe they came here. I guess P'Dean got my information somehow at school."
"Just keep them away from N'Wad," Mom pats my hand before she gives me a look that only spells trouble, "Are you going to tell me why you are sharing a dorm?"
"How do you know that?" I gape at my mom, and that is when it hits me, "P'Dean told you?"
"Yes," Dad frowns, "Is that a problem?"
"Yes," I growl, "That means he knows where N'Wad is staying. I moved him in with me so..." Shit! Where are we going to go now? Should I see if he could stay over with a friend until we finish this? Geez, I hate that idea of him not being with me.
"Prem!" my mom says, shaking me, "Do we need to talk to the university? We could request a dorm change for you."
"No, I think we can deal with it," I smile at them. "If it gets bad, we will bunk with friends."
"You will tell us if you need help?" Mom questions. I nod.
"I better get back before he realizes I am gone," leaning down kissing my mom on the cheek. "You should go to bed, too, Mom." I laugh when I stand up.
"What's so funny, son?" Dad asks as he stands.
"Nothing," I say, "I just remembered I said the same thing to his mom one night at her kitchen table. Night, Mom. Dad."
I walk into my bedroom and smile at the déjà vu. Wad is sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for me. I sit beside him and wait for him to talk.
"So...," Wad trails off as he plays with a string from his frayed sleep shorts. I reach over and grab his hand. Turning it palm up in my lap, I trace circles on his palm.
"So...," I mimic him. Ugh. This boy should not pout like that. I lean over and give him a quick kiss. "They love you because I love you. And Mom told me if I don't treasure you, she will beat me."
I stand up and offer my hand. "Let's go to sleep," I smile. "I am sure Mom has a lot for us to do tomorrow, and I am curious how much she will cook for breakfast."
Lying down, I pull Wad in tight and begin to hum as I stroke his hair.
"I love it when you do that," Wad mumbles as he snuggles against my chest.
"I love having you next to me," I smile into his hair. I wait for sleep to find us thinking our moms are right. He is something to treasure.
2608 5-18-19
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