Destined Mann-er - Part 2

Prapit watched Akat eat. It was the same as twelve years before. He revered his food and relished it. When it was very good, Akat cried. Tonight, he saw a tear drop trickle down his cheek as he immersed himself in the joy of eating Prapit's food, just like that night twelve years before.

He felt his heart swell with happiness. It was true that he hated cooking, but even he did not mind it if it was only for Akat.

He cursed himself for letting Akat go. It was a lapse in judgment. He swore to himself that he would never repeat that mistake again.

When Akat finished his food, Prapit quietly took his plate and went to do the dishes.

Akat said nothing as he watched Prapit from behind. Prapit would not accept his help even if offered, so Akat did not bother. But he knew Prapit hated working alone, especially in the kitchen, so he kept him company.

Prapit could not help but smile. Though Akat glared at him, his actions showed how much he cared.

"Come, let's go to sleep. You and I are going to have a long conversation tomorrow."

"Soliloquy, you mean," Akat commented monotonously.

Prapit burst out laughing, which made Akat want to smile too. Prapit had a sense of humor that synced with his own.

Prapit noticed Akat's smile, barely perceptible, but there. Okay, he wasn't very angry.

Akat put a blanket and pillow down. To his surprise, Prapit pushed them back up. "You'll sleep next to me."

Akat looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

Prapit looked tired. "I don't want to argue. Either we both sleep up or we both sleep down. Which is it going to be?"

Akat quietly tucked himself into the mattress.

This was the first time Prapit was letting him sleep on the same bed. Within seconds, he had fallen asleep. Prapit turned off the lights and lay next to Akat, facing him.

He took in Akat's profile. Two years he had completely lost touch with Akat. It had been his own arrogance. He had pushed Akat into a corner. But he didn't know that Akat, once determined, would not back out. He swore he wouldn't ever go behind Prapit, and he had kept his words.

Those two years were torture to Prapit. He had always been forgiven. For the first time he realised, Akat's anger was not something he'd ever wanted to experience.

There was a message on Akat's phone. Who was it who was texting at this time?

Prapit grabbed Akat's phone. What was the password? Was it still Prapit's birthday? He tried. It did not work.

Had Akat gotten over him to the level of even removing his birthday? It was like he had thrown every memory of him.

Prapit took Akat's thumb to open it. It was that stupid teacher.

"Hey Akat, are you doing okay? Prapit seemed crazy mad. Text me when you see this message, I'm worried about you."

Prapit replied, "My boyfriend wouldn't hurt me, don't worry. I will text you once things are sorted."

He then carefully deleted both the messages.

There, now he that bugger would not try to approach his boyfriend. Okay, boyfriend to be.

He lay back thinking. If only, two years back, he hadn't acted like an idiot and kissed another guy in front of Akat, none of this would have happened.

No point beating himself about it. He was an ass who had been afraid of commitment, afraid of being in love, afraid of becoming some one he was not. Knowing fully well, what Akat felt for him, he had done what he had done, to prove a point to Akat.

But the moment he saw Akat's face, he forgot what he was trying to prove.

It was too late, everything had changed in a matter of seconds. For the first few weeks he had tried convincing himself, that it was exactly how he wanted it to be.

After that, he felt he was losing his sense of reality, his mental balance. He was becoming a madman.

Initially he surrounded himself with work. But when even that couldn't take his mind off Akat, he let Chakri handle everything as he withdrew into his own shell.

Sometimes, he drank himself into a state of oblivion, sometimes he stayed up all night staring at Akat's diary, one from his school days which he read every time he missed Akat.

He would then weep throughout the night like a baby.

Uncle Maran could not tolerate this anymore.

He gave Prapit the ultimatum. "You have two things you can do. One, find him and claim his heart. Two, drown in self pity and lose the most important thing to you. You have three seconds to decide. Choose one, I will stay with you and cheer for you. Choose two, I will leave you. I cannot bear to see this wreck that you have become. So what is it? One... two.."

Prapit laughed at the irony of his own trick being used against him. One, he replied, before uncle Maran concluded.

Well, uncle Maran was right. He had never been a quitter.

He made one quick call, "Chakri, give me some more time to get my shit together. Then I'll take over."

"Yes Boss! We'll look forward to having you back."

Prapit smiled. Now all that was left for to go to Ekatweep and sweep Akat off his feet.

He did not consider two important things

Akat would get over him, Akat would have someone who will love him.

It came as the biggest shock to his system when Akat got into a boat and ended up in Mann.

Wait, why did he go to Mann? He had no relatives in Mann, he had cut ties completely with the island, so why was he going there, after all this time?

He stealthily followed Akat all the way to the house at the base of the hill.

A young, handsome, geeky looking guy walked out. "Sen!" He screamed excitedly as he rushed to get Akat's trolley into the house.

He stood outside the house, absolutely shocked. Who was this guy? Why did Akat stay in his house?

He stood outside the house for some more time. After a while, the lights turned on in the first floor. He could see both the geek and Akat stand next to the window facing the road, both excitedly yapping.

After a while, they withdrew, leaving him completely lost. Please let him not have gotten over me, he silently prayed.