CHAPTER 11: OPEN MIND
This guy keeps drifting in and out during the cab ride.
I periodically glance at his face, which is no longer handsome now, whenever it feels like he's being too quiet. I grab a hold of his arm trying to check his temperature. I'm doing this to also let him know that I'm right here with him and that I'm not leaving him.
He's burning up so terribly that I can't help but tell him this. "Let's just go see a doctor." But of course, no matter how much I semi-force him, beg him, plead with him, or threaten him, he insists on telling me what he told me 15 minutes ago. "It's okay, I'll be fine after I get some rest." Do I look like a fucking nurse to you? T_____T
I keep shaking my leg impatiently inside the taxi while telling the driver which turn to take. Soon enough, the light blue taxi parks in front of my house.
"Not as fancy as your place, hope you can sleep here." I tell him sarcastically. But what I get return is faint laughter. He doesn't have enough strength to insult me back, I know that much. Haha.
I run into Ma and Pa in the living room when I carried Phun inside. What should I tell them?! Their son brought a guy home. Ma and Pa can't possibly think the same ways as the people at Phumipat Mansion do, can they? Hahaha...
"Hi, Pa! Ma!" I'm being a good kid even though I'm dying to rush to my bedroom. (I'm scared that Phun might die on me.) But I had to pay proper respects to my parents for the safety of my assets (as in my allowance).
"Did you have dinner yet, Noh? Eh? What's wrong with your friend?" Ma is the first one to notice something is wrong. But she asks so loudly that Pa turns around and look too. "Who's that you're carrying?"
"He-hello..." Phun pitifully greets them. He's so sickly yet he bothers being so polite, honestly. I think this to myself as I see him weakly raising his hands to pay respects.
"This is my friend. He's too sick to get home. Can he spend the night?"
"Quick, take him upstairs so he can lie down, I'll bring some medicines." Isn't my ma so adorable? Actually, everyone in this house is very kind. Otherwise, Ohm, Keng and the rest of the guys wouldn't visit so often.
Once I get the green light, I hastily carry Phun upstairs and head to my bedroom.
"Sleep here. Sorry the bed isn't as big as yours." I help Phun, who is almost comatose at this point, get on the bed. He looks a lot more comfortable now that there is a mattress supporting his back.
He mutters his thanks softly but I'm not really paying any attention. I'm too busy checking the air conditioner so that it'd help with Phun's current body temperature. I constantly keep an eye out on him so that the room doesn't get too cold.
Due to his high fever, he is clawing for my comforter as if it is a priceless treasure. Sigh. He really should have taken a better care of himself.
'Knock knock.'
"Come in."
"I brought the medicine for your friend. He has a fever, am I right?" I smile wide when I see the bottle of water and the medicine bottle. "That's right. I'll have him go thank you once he wakes up."
"That's alright. So who is this? I've never met him before. Did you let his family know yet?" My ma usually only see that bastard Ohm, that asshole Keng, and the rest of the losers. Someone with a good reputation like Phun has never been to this house. I do feel sorry for her.
"He's a friend from school, Ma. His name is Phun. He's sick so I carried him here. I was about to call his family to let them know." I answer her while looking at the person on the bed who is sleeping soundly. I let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Change his clothes and wipe him down with a wet towel, sweetie. He can't be comfortable sleeping like this." She tells me before she leaves my room. Oh, right. I completely forgot about that. I really shouldn't let him sleep in his jeans like this.
I glance at the guy who is dozing off on the bed before I walk over to grab a bowl, a small towel and a set of clean clothes.
"Phun. Phun. Phun! Wake up and take the medicine first." It took a while before I could shake him awake. I give him the pill and some water, then I let him go back to sleep. He looks terrible. I guess I can forget about making him wipe himself down on his own.
"Wanna wipe yourself down first? You won't be comfortable sleeping like this. I'll help you." I nag him while I take off his shirt. I had a really tough time taking it off. (So you're not even gonna do this yourself either?) At last, there's a shirtless guy laying on my bed. His chest is moving up and down. It's hard to tell whether he has fallen asleep again or he has no energy left to move.
I end up not saying much, instead I wring the soaked towel and wipe him down. I start from his sickly pale face that has started to get some colors back, and then to his slender neck which is having a hard time trying to make noises.
I stare at Phun's face as I move to his long arms. He's not burning as hot as when he was in the taxi. He's still very warm though. I switch back and forth between his neck and both his arms before moving on to gently wiping his chest.
I soak the towel in water and wring it once more before I go back to meticulously wiping down his chest since he has roamed and sweated his way around Siam. I just want him to feel comfortable. It seems that he tenses up when I get to his stomach.
"Ah..." The fuck did he moan for?!
"Why the fuck are you moaning?! You're making this weird." I yell at him and push down on his stomach hard enough that I can feel his muscles. He lets out a soft chuckle.
"You got me feeling nervous." Maybe he's not so sick if he can talk back to me.
"It's about to get worse. Take off your pants." I bluntly instruct him as I throw the towel into the bowl of water. Phun snaps out of his daze and widens his eyes.
"Huh?!"
"Why the hell are you so startled? Are you gonna sleep wearing your jeans? If you're feeling better now then you can take them off yourself. Unless you want me to do it for you?" I scold him with my hands on my waist. I can look threatening at times, haha. I stare at the guy whose face is still in shock. I shake my head before I move in and start unbuttoning his pants and pulling down the zipper.
"Yo!"
"Why are you being so damn demure around me? I promise that I won't tell anyone if you have a small one. Well, except the music club members, the student council members, the rest of the 11th graders, and your girlfriend's friends at the convent." Doesn't that sound nice? Hahaha. Naturally, Phun is holding on to his jeans as if this is the last precious item he has left.
"We-we don't really need to do this."
"What the hell?! We're both guys here! Quit being so annoyingly self-conscious! Just take it off! Take it off! Take it off! Take it off!" It isn't like a sick patient can fight against a healthy guy like me. I don't need to use that much strength to pull his hands off the jeans and pull off his last piece of clothing.
Get your mind out of the gutter! I didn't take off his boxer or anything!
"Just don't get a boner while I'm wiping your legs down, I can't handle that." I remind him ahead of time before I wring the towel and go back to cleaning him up. I hear him laughing, it seems he can finally relax. I can't help but feel elated since I won against him over something today.
I leave to take a shower after I finished with Phun to freshen myself up. I had already turned both our phones off so that he can sleep without any disturbance.
I begin to think about the stuff that has happened so far as the water run down on me.
Phun and I have actually known each other for a long time since our school starts from middle school all the way high school. So it's not that strange for us to have seen each other ever since we were little kids. (Phun wasn't a handsome kid though, hahaha.)
From what I can recall about Phun, he's a really nice person. It's not a stretch to say that he's pretty much perfect. He's tall, handsome, smart and comes from a rich family. (This is beginning to sound like a slogan.) He's known for his good behavior. He's talented when it comes to music, sports and languages. He basically has everything. More importantly, his girlfriend is so stunningly beautiful that people can't help but talk about her.
The strangest part though? For someone who is irritatingly perfect, I have never heard anyone spoken ill about Phun at all. Nobody seems to hate him. There isn't anyone out there who is bitterly jealous of him.
I used to think about this often, back when I haven't gotten to know him. I wondered why, since us guys tend to have huge egos. It's tough for us to see others who are doing better than we are. There are people who just hate someone else's guts and fights break out. However, this has never happened with Phun. Everybody trusts him and he has so many good friends surrounding him.
I have always been so curious about this. I finally know the answer thanks to the past few of days.
It is because Phun is more than someone who is perfect. For me, I can see past all these so-called perfect skills that he has. In the these last three days, he has proven to me that his perfection is actually simply him being a good person without ever boasting about it to anybody.
Phun treats everyone around him with great care and pure intentions. I can see it by the way he treats Aim, the way he treats me, and the way he treats those around him. He can be such a smart ass at times, but he's someone worth keeping around rather than kicking to the curb.
Now that I'm closer with Phun, I no longer question why everyone seems to like him so much despite the fact that our school has a bunch of guys who are cooler than him.
Those eyes that are filled with courage and sincerity is the answer.
Phun is truly more than just all those things.
I see that Phun is sleeping soundly when I step out of the bathroom. He's wearing the new set of clothes that I brought for him.
I place my hand on his forehead and notice that he has cooled down a bit. It seems that he's still freezing though, I can hear him mumbling in misery.
"I'm gonna turn off the lights now." I normally don't sleep this early. But if I were to ditch this sick person to sleep by himself while I'm off playing DotA, then wouldn't that make me a really awful person? ^^"
I try to listen to his reply, but I can only hear him muttering something unintelligible. I assume he's giving the permission for me to turn off the lights, haha. So I turn off all the lights in my room, leaving only the moonlight shining through gaps of the large balcony door. There's enough light for me to see Phun's face.
I can't help but wonder what he's thinking right now because he's furrowing his brows. A small grin forms on my face as I reach over to rub his back gently, hoping that this might help a little.
"Mmm..." He lets out a soft cry when I touch him before he curls himself up even more. I grow weary since the air conditioner is set so high, it's working as a heater at this point. Goddamn this guy.
"Cold..." This is his catchphrase as of late. I chuckle softly before I lie down on the bed.
I watch as my friend continues to shiver. After a few moments, an idea pops into my head.
I grab his arm and put it across my body. I expected his surprised reaction. He stares at me with questions in his eyes.
I grin at him. "Aren't you cold? I'm willing to be your heater for another night." We're friends, this is not such a strange thing to do, right? (Although, I've never done this with Ohm. Crazy people never get sick. Ohm never even had a cold. Sometimes I wish he'd get sick just so he'd be a little more quiet.)
Phun seems to be surprised by what I told him as well. His hand is shaking a little, but I don't exactly know why. "I...I shouldn't. I don't want to be a burden to you." Um, isn't it a little too late to be saying that, buddy?
I sigh at his stubbornness before I lean over and place my head on his warm chest. Then, I wrap his body with my arms. "Yeah, you're totally being considerate. Didn't your fever go down when you held me this afternoon? You might as well do the same tonight. It's Saturday tomorrow, you'll get plenty of rest." I tell him as I get my head closer to his chest. It seems like Phun is still unsure whether he should treat me as his personal heater.
"I...I don't want you to get sick too."
"I'm not some weakling, I wouldn't get a fever so easily like you do."
"It wasn't that simple, you drenched me in that damn shampoo."
"Be quiet and go to sleep." Why does he want to argue with me? Does he have that much energy? I'm getting pretty sleepy myself, so I nudge at him as a reminder that he needs to rest.
After a while, Phun's body is less tense. He slowly and reluctantly places his arms around my body.
I lay there against his heated body while being completely still. But then, I can feel that someone decides to embrace me with all his might.
In this moment, I don't know for sure what it is we're really doing. I only know that I want to hold him, no matter what the reason might be.
We listen to each other's heart beating in unison under the soft moonlight.
"Sweet dreams..."
"Good night."
