Chapter Text
Pat stood up and walked towards the stairs, wai'ing his parents and sister as he made his way up to his room. As he entered his darkened room, he looked across to Pran's room. The lights there were still dark.
'He must still be reconciling with his parents,' Pat thought as he shrugged off his shirt walking towards his bed with only the moon lighting his way. He slid to the floor, and put his head in his hands. He'd run out of tears for now, heart broken as he'd looked at Pran re-entering their homes, their reality, and leaving the beach and their love behind.
Pat knew Pran would never have been truly happy separated from his family, and Pat loved Pran too much to take him away from them forever.
He sighed as he picked up his phone, and re-inserted the SIM. Messages from Pha, Korn and Chang lit up the screen with dozens of missed calls from his parents. He ignored them all and scrolled to Pran's name, 'just a friend', texting him for one last time as he thought about how happy Pran finally was with his mother and father, 'I hope you're well my friend' Pat typed, 'I hope you find all the happiness you deserve.'
Pat's heart was too full of pain to sleep, he picked up Pran's friend shirt tucked under his pillow, hidden away from his parents eyes and tried to smell any of Pran's left over scent. But it was gone. Subsumed by whatever laundry detergent Pat's family used.
Sighing, Pat stood up and surveyed the darkness in front of him and across him. He knew he wouldn't be able to live like this anymore. Not after knowing the love he and Pran shared. He knew he couldn't go back to just looking at the boy in the window and live his life without feeling his heart break.
Pat made up his mind, taking only essentials from cupboard for a few days and silently crept down the stairs, walking pass his sister's room. He slipped a letter under her door, telling her not to worry, and that this was the only way forward that he could see and that he loved her.
As he slipped out of his front gate and past Pran's house, he saw them then- mother, and son, curled up around each other on the couch with Pran's father standing protectively behind them. Pran looked at peace finally, Pat thought pulling tightly on the strap on his shoulder and swallowing thickly around the lump in his throat as he walked on a silent witness to Pran's family reunion, waiting for a bus to take him back to their dorm.
The first light of dawn was streaking through the sky as Pat sat up in the bus, still hazy from the ride and the impromptu nap. He got out of the bus and headed for Pran's room. There he erased himself and his presence from Pran's life, knowing it wouldn't help Pran to see the detritus of their lives together when he returned.
Only when he was done, and in his own room, did Pat allow himself a moment to cry silently for all that he had lost. The pain almost overwhelming him as he tried to breathe through his tears. Wiping away his tears, Pat looked down at his phone, 7:05am. Normally, Pran would be waking up and going about his routine while Pat slept on. Today, there was only silence. There were no messages asking where he was, no concerned queries from his parents or sister. For all they knew, he was asleep in his room.
He swept his thumb over Pran's name on the screen, his messages hadn't been seen yet. Pran was probably still with his parents, or exhausted from the emotions of the past week and needed time to heal and find himself again. Nodding to himself he continued to clean up the pieces of his life in his dorm room, clearing the space for Pha to live freely without him.
Closing the door behind him, Pat looked at the door to Pran's room and said softly, 'Goodbye, my friend'.