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Arthit calls him on Monday as scheduled and he’s coughing during the call.
“Have you got some medicine, my love?” Kongpob asks as he strains at the screen to look for signs of a fever.
“Yes, it’s just a little cough. It’ll be gone soon.”
“No more symptoms?”
“No, Kong, now distract me, tell me your news!”
They talk for a while and Arthit doesn’t seem to cough much, so Kongpob supposes that he’s fine.
By the end of the call, his boyfriend teases him as always, “Please, P’Arthit, I want to hear you say it!”
But Arthit ducks his head and won’t be swayed.
After they hang up, Kongpob’s phone beeps.
I love you, Kongpob.
When they next talk, it’s Wednesday. Normally, they wouldn’t call again until Friday, but Kongpob’s schedule has changed and he has a free hour between his afternoon and evening classes, and Arthit should be back from work by now..
His call is answered by his Phi, but he isn’t at home.
“Where are you, P’Arthit?”
“Oh, Kongpob. I didn’t expect you to call today.”
“I had some free time. Where are you? That’s not our room.”
“No, no. I just came to the clinic. P’Earth said I was coughing too much and disturbing her work, so she dropped me here earlier.”
“And, what’s wrong?” Kongpob knows he sounds panicked, but how can he not be? Arthit is four thousand miles away, of course he has a right to be worried.
“Ahh.. I’m just waiting. They did a chest x-ray to check my lungs but I’m sure everything is fine. I don’t have a fever or anything. Just that damn cough!”
“Can we stay on the line until you get your results?”
“Kongpob, don’t worry! I’m sure there’s nothing wrong, I’ll text you when I know.”
“But phi!”
“I will text you, Kongpob. You have class. Go and study, that’s why you’re all the way over there after all!”
“Okay, Phi. But I expect a text.”
“When I know.”
“When you know. I love you Phi.”
Arthit doesn’t reply but he gives Kongpob a small smile as he hangs up.
Late Wednesday night, Kongpob’s eighteen calls and twenty-four text messages have gone unanswered and he’s fretting in his room.
He’s scared there’s something seriously wrong and his lover is hiding it.
He’s also scared that P’Arthit did something silly like leave his phone at the clinic, and that he will be teased for the whole of the next year for the amount of messages he’s left.
But he doesn’t know what to do.
It’s late and he doesn’t know who to message without worrying them.
So he falls into an uneasy sleep, cursing every mile between China and his home.
Thursday morning, there’s no change, so he rings P’Earth. He has her number from his time as an intern, but he hasn’t spoken to her, except through P’Arthit for a long time.
She answers on the eighth ring, “Kongpob? What? Do you know how early it is?”
He doesn’t so he apologises profusely but asks her not to hang up.
“Please, P’Earth, have you heard from Arthit? You dropped him at the clinic last night and I haven’t heard anything since?”
She sounds sleepy as she replies, “Just a second, let me check my phone.”
There’s an electronic tap tap tap and then she comes back on the line, “Nothing, Kongpob, I’m sorry. I’ll tell him to call you when I get to the office, okay?”
“Yes. Thank you. Thank you, P’Earth and I’m so sorry for waking you.”
He wants to wait for her call, but there’s a lump in his throat and his stomach feels too queasy, so instead, he calls his mother.
She’s an early riser and he often speaks to her when she’s just awake.
“Oh Kongpob, my son, how are you?”
“Mae? I..”
“You sound troubled, what is it? How can I help?”
“I’m so worried, Mae. I spoke with P’Arthit last night and he was at the clinic because he had a bad cough and he promised to tell me what happened after he spoke to the doctor but I’ve heard nothing.”
There’s a pause on the other end of the phone as she thinks about what to say.
“Perhaps it was late when he finished and he didn’t want to wake you, my child? He’s probably still sleeping, you always said he likes to sleep late.”
“Yes, but.. they were doing a chest x-ray.”
“It’s normal for a cough. Were there any other symptoms?”
“Nothing mother, just the cough, he said.”
“Well, it’s early. Give him time to get in touch. Which clinic was it?”
When they hang up, Kongpob does not feel any better. In fact, his stomach feels like it’s full of stones and his heart is beating rapidly.
His instinct tells him something is wrong.
“Mrs Rojnapat?”
“Oi Kongpob, it’s so early! Arthit always tells me you wake him for work, I can see why!”
“Arthit? Have you heard from him?”
“Well yes, he called last night, why?”
Kongpob sucks in a deep breath, “Is he okay?”
“He had to stay in the clinic, they wanted to monitor his breathing because his cough is so bad.”
Kongpob’s heart leaps in his chest, “Mrs Rojnapat! Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Oh Kongpob, he was adamant we didn’t bother you. He said that you would worry and you’re too busy to worry.”
“I… what? No, he’s wrong. I’m never too busy for him.”
When she speaks again, he can hear her smile over the phone, “And that’s why he loves you, Kong. But really, his father and I are heading up there soon, we’ll tell him you called, okay?”
“And get him to call me?”
“Of course, love. Don’t worry! He’ll be fine.”
He’s in his lecture on Econ 10 when his phone blares in his bag.
Every head in the lecture hall twists towards him as he grabs it, apologising loudly in Chinese to his teacher as he swipes to answer it.
He doesn’t even make it out of the lecture hall before he’s sobbing.
Allie, his closest friend, reaches him first, hands under his armpits as she props him against the wall.
“What is it?”
“P’Arthit.”
“Is he okay?”
“He’s sick. I have to go.”
“Stay there, let me get your things.”
He hears Allie explaining to their teacher and then she has his bag and is guiding him out of the door.
He lifts the phone to his ear as they stumble down the corridor towards the exit and their dorms.
“Mae?”
“I rang the clinic and they told me he needs a ventilator. His parents are there with him.”
“But, I.. what do I do?”
“I’ve booked you a flight.”
It’s a mad scramble to the airport, only a stop at his dorm for his passport. And then he’s on the plane in the blink of an eye, Allie sending him off.
The whole seven hours he fiddles with his things. Packing and repacking the meager belongings he’d thrown in his bag. Starting to listen to a song and then being reminded of Arthit and having to stop so he doesn’t break down in public.
He taps out message after message on his phone, some downright angry, some pleading, some loving, some in pain.
Of course, he can’t send any, but they sit in his drafts as a reminder of his feelings as he flies towards his home.
He’s at the clinic, ten hours after his mother’s call, stumbling blindly inside as he asks for Arthit’s room.
“And your relationship to the patient?”
“My boy.. my fiancé.” He says firmly and the nurse gives him a soft smile and leads him inside.
The room is full, a doctor, a nurse, Arthit’s parents, his own parent’s all clustered around a bed.
Kongpob fumbles open the door and staggers inside, straight to where Arthit it.
His lover is sat upright, a mask over his mouth, but he’s awake and he was listening to the doctor, that is until Kongpob falls into his lap and hugs him tightly.
The parents all take a step away, but the nurse gasps in surprise and the doctor suggests that he hugs him a little bit more gently since the patient is still on oxygen.
So Kongpob pulls back, eyeing his lover, who is the perfect picture of surprise. Eyes wide, jaw dropped.
“Kongpob?” His voice is muffled by the mask, but he still sounds like Arthit.
“Phi, you didn’t call me!” He lightly hits his shoulder, even as he swoops down to kiss Arthit’s cheeks in turn.
It’s a testament to his surprise that Arthit doesn’t push him away and simply lets him lavish him with love even with their parents and two strangers present.
When he’s happy that he’s kissed every part he can, Kongpob pulls back, holding Arthit’s hand tightly in his own and sits on the edge of the bed while the doctor finishes his update.
When he’s satisfied he knows all he can about his Phi’s condition, he turns back to him.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again, Ai’Oon!”
“I won’t.” Arthit promises.
Kongpob turns to the parents who are still averting their eyes, while they chatter in the corner. “You all heard him promise right?”
“Yes, Kongpob,” they chorus.
“Kongpob?” Arthit asks, squeezing his hand.
“Yes, Phi.”
Then Arthit looks between Kong and his parents before he reaches up to lower his oxygen mask, “I love you, Kong.”
Kongpob lets the smile fill his cheeks as he bends closer and presses a soft kiss to his mouth, “I love you too. Now put your mask back on!”
“Young love,” Arthit’s mother sighs.
“We were young once too…” Kongpob’s father replies, squeezing his wife’s hand.
“Enough, parents, don’t ever let him do that to me again!”
“Never, Kongpob!” They agree.
“And you,” Kong moves so that he is hovering over his lover, “I want to hear I love you at the end of every call. I need…”
Arthit reaches out and pulls Kong against his chest as he cries, “I love you. Only you and I will tell you whenever you want, Kong.”
“You better,” Kongpob snuffles, “Now, I have twenty four text messages for you to read!”