19

Chapter 19

A moment passed before Yuuko asked, confused, "Wait, are you talking about us? You're calling us?"

Phichit simply grinned widely and responded, "Yeah!" then, noticing the shocked expressions on the two teenagers' faces, explained hastily, "Sorry! Sorry! I didn't realise that you weren't aware that I was talking about you, I just kind of assumed-"

Before he could finish speaking, however, Phichit was cut off by Victor who spoke quickly and urgently, "No! Don't apologise! We should've known. You're our friend and friends call one another. I guess it slipped our minds."

Yuuko nodded and added, "Yeah, Phichit, don't worry about it!"

Phichit looked visibly relieved to hear Yuuko confirm what he had said and smiled gratefully towards them, thanking them silently. After a couple seconds of silence, he cleared his throat and glanced around anxiously, "Umm, is it okay for me to talk now?"

Victor furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and questioned, "Why? What happened? Is everything alright?"

Phichit nodded his head frantically and mumbled, "I need to talk. But first things first: I need everyone to calm down." He turned towards the rest of his companions and asked, "Do you mind if we wait outside a little while longer? It'd be nice to discuss this somewhere more private."

Everyone, including Yuuko, simply nodded in agreement and Victor and Yuuko led them back over to the waiting area. Phichit thanked them once again and sat down, placing the phone he was holding onto the coffee table. As soon as he was seated, he picked it up and started to dial a number. As soon as the line connected, he began to speak.

"Hello, Mr. Chulanont," he greeted.

The man on the other side of the line replied, "Oh, hi there, Phichit, it's good to see you. How was your trip over here?"

Smiling happily, Phichit replied, "It was great. Thank you for inviting us and asking me to join your trip."

He paused for a brief moment.

"I just wanted to ask you about a couple of things, though...about Yuuri…"

He trailed off slightly as he saw Yurio stiffen in shock. "Yuuri, you mean...the one who got in touch with you yesterday?" Mr. Chulanont asked hesitantly, concern evident in his voice. "Is something wrong?"

Phichit gulped nervously. "Yes, actually…," he muttered quietly.

Mr. Chulanont frowned. "Well, what did he want? Did anything happen?"

Phichit looked hesitant but slowly answered, "There was nothing out of the ordinary." He sighed and continued, "But he asked to speak to someone important and I guess you must think that the person he's referring to isn't you because that's not really the case..."

"You mean you haven't seen him since he left? Then what was the reason behind his request?" Mr. Chulanont interrupted impatiently.

"I'll tell you what happened, I swear...but maybe you should sit down for this, okay?"

"Okay. So, Yuuri called this morning..."

Once Phichit finished telling Mr. Chulanont what had happened, there was silence on the other end of the phone as Mr. Chulanont seemed to consider what Phichit had told him carefully.

"What does your sister think about this?" He wondered aloud.

"She doesn't seem very upset about it," Phichit admitted. "I didn't expect her to be too concerned by this either, to be honest, but I'm glad that she's not bothered by it. In fact, I'm quite surprised myself because it looks like the only thing that'