Chapter 32: Chapter 31: Almost Caught
"Five thousand baht!" Joong grumbled as he parked his car in the garage later that afternoon. "Bloody five thousand baht!"
He turned to look at Dunk, who was all but passed out on his passenger's seat, grumbling something illegible under his breath as he struggled against the seatbelt from time to time.
"Who on earth drinks alcohol worth five thousand baht that too at three in the afternoon?" Joong threw up his hands in exaggeration when he saw Dunk make a swatting motion with his hands as if he was merely shooing away a fly.
"Seriously?" He couldn't fathom the extent of Dunk's audacity. "Now you're shooing me away? You know, this makes me want to buy a tub full of alcohol worth another five thousand just so I can drown you in it!"
But Dunk merely turned to the other side and settled against his seat as if he was having trouble sleeping and Joong was the reason behind it.
Joong slammed his hands on the wheel, before he recoiled from the sting and let out another stream of curses at his own stupidity. "Ai Hia oye!"
But when he turned to the side to look back at Dunk's red face and the way he kept on shifting uncomfortably, he realized that Dunk really wasn't at fault. He was just drunk as a skunk and completely out of it.
Joong sighed heavily, leaning back in his seat. "What do I do with you now?"
As far as Joong was aware, Dunk was a model student with the best behavior and a clean record. Then what could've possibly happened that had led him to do something this stupid in the first place? It wasn't like him at all, and it made Joong feel even more worried.
Yes, he occasionally did drink with his friends or sometimes was even forced to attend Joong's parties, but he had never seen Dunk just out and about, in the middle of the day, getting wasted out of his mind.
"So…what really happened to you for you to get this wasted today?" Joong asked, even though he knew he wasn't getting an answer.
Reaching over, Joong brushed back the hair from his forehead, especially ones that were long enough to get into his eyes. But when his hand touched Dunk's forehead, he realized that he was burning up.
"Shia!" Joong unbuckled his own seatbelt before reaching forward and checking Dunk's temperature with the palm of his hand. And as he had expected, it wasn't a mistake, Dunk undoubtedly had a fever.
Getting out of his car, Joong rushed over to the passenger's side door, and started to unbuckle his seatbelt so he could get Dunk out of the car and into his house. But as soon as he unbuckled the seatbelt, Dunk fell forward, and Joong caught him in the nick of time before he could fall off the seat.
Dunk slumped against his form, his body heavy and hot from the fever. Joong carefully lifted his arm to place it around his shoulder and debated if he should make him walk all the way up to his room, but decided against it. So he picked Dunk up in his arms bridal style and slowly began to make his way inside the house, which should be thankfully empty at that moment.
He strained under Dunk's weight, wondering why he seemed heavier than before, since Joong had lifted him once before. But he realized that Dunk must be really out of it as he kept groaning softly, his head kept falling back from his arms.
"Hang in there." Joong whispered as he kicked his car door shut and made his way inside. The hardest part for him was to get his door open, but somehow, he managed to do that without dropping Dunk and supporting his legs on his raised knee as he momentarily freed one arm to unlock the door.
Finally, once he was inside, he kicked the door shut and made his way up to his own room on the first floor, before placing Dunk gently on the bed. Glad that the weight was finally off of him, Joong massaged his hands for a second as he looked around his room for something that could help him elevate Dunk's fever. He remembered having a few fever meds in his cupboard, but since Dunk was extremely intoxicated, he was weary if he should be giving him any pills at all, or just wait until his fever went down.
"How do I help you when you're in such a state?" He sighed as he plopped down on the bed beside Dunk, checking his temperature once again. But the fever hadn't gone down, and he seemed to be sweating a lot.
So he turned on the AC on full blast and covered Dunk up with his blanket, before taking out a cooling pad from the first aid kit and placed it on Dunk's forehead, carefully moving his hair out of the way.
He wasn't really afraid of getting caught, but he was afraid that he might not be the right person to take care of Dunk. But now that he thought about it, he realized that he hadn't immediately taken Dunk to his own house like the last time. Instead…he had brought him home.
Why had he done that in the first place? Wasn't the best case scenario in such a situation to take him back to his home so he could get proper treatment?
But something had stopped him from doing that. He wasn't sure if it was the fact that he had been dead drunk at three in the afternoon or that he was out and about without anyone accompanying him…but whatever it was, Joong just knew that taking Dunk home wasn't the right option, at least not at that moment.
But he had to do something to get his fever down anyway, so he got up from bed and went searching inside his first-aid kit, so he could get the thermometer and measure Dunk's temperature. But when he couldn't find it anywhere, he cursed out loud, wondering where he had misplaced his thermometer.
However, going into one of his sibling's rooms to get a thermo wasn't an option. If they found out he wasn't the one with a fever, the situation could escalate.
"Wait…there's one down in the spare bathroom, isn't it?" He suddenly remembered. "I could just get that!"
Getting up, he carefully opened the door to his room, and could immediately hear movements downstairs. Someone was home, and if he had to guess, he would say that it was none other than Fourth, considering how he could hear him hum a song from the kitchen.
"Fuck!" He cursed, stepping out of his room to head to the stairs so he could see where Fourth was.
But before he could peak any further, someone else stepped in through the door and caught his eye.
"Ow…Phi Joong? What are you doing sneaking around?" Pond called out to his brother and Joong could've slapped him right then and there. Because his loud, husky voice, drew Fourth's attention from the kitchen and he too came to stand at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at Joong with his eyes full of curiosity.
"Who's sneaking around in their own house?" Joong snorted, trying to dissipate the situation as he strode down the stairs. "I was wondering what you were cooking in the kitchen, so I was about to call for you."
"Oh? You didn't order takeout?" Pond frowned, exchanging a look with Fourth, who kept silent and waited for the water to boil so he could cook his noodles.
"No, I wanted to save money." Joong shrugged, still reeling from the huge dent that had been left in his pocket all thanks to Dunk. "What are you making Fourth? Make one for me too."
"Me three." Pond added. "I'm starved!"
This time, it was Joong's turn to frown at Pond just as Fourth grudgingly went back to the kitchen while muttering something about his siblings treating him like a servant.
"Pond, didn't you just brag about going out on a date?" Joong raised his eyebrows. "Then what happened to lunch? Got stood up?"
"Hell no." Pond grumbled. "But Phuwin had to leave early."
"Early? Why? Did something happen?" Joong had just come to the table, taking a glass of water so he could have a sip, when Pond answered his question.
"Chai, Phi. His older brother, Phi Dunk is missing."
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