MONSTERNEXTDOOR, Chapter 29: A Coin Has Two Sides, But Ultimately, It’s Still The Same Coin.
The light filtering through the curtains touched my eyelids, making me slowly blink awake. Even though the room didn’t face east, just a little light was enough to wake me. The first thing I saw was those beautiful, deep brown eyes already looking at me. Phii Godt gave a faint smile while placing his hand on my cheek, gently stroking it until I nestled my face into his warm palm. His slender fingers traced my skin before he wiped the sleep from the corners of my eyes, causing me to squint.
“Good morning.”
His distinctive deep voice was still etched in my heart as on the first day I heard it.
“Good morning.”
I greeted him with a sleepy voice and buried my face back into the pillow. Now that the term was over, from having to wake up early every day, I just wanted to spend more time in bed. Lying spread out on the bed is the happiness many university students dream of, not having to rush anywhere. Phii Godt’s hand moved to gently ruffle my hair.
“Wake up later than me… are you sleepy?”
I’m not that sleepy; I went to bed early last night. I just feel embarrassed when I wake up and see him lying next to me, so I hide my face with the big pillow, that’s all.
The smell of my shampoo that usually clings to the pillow is now mixed with the scent of his cologne, and I’m starting to get used to it.
“Today I’m helping out downstairs in the dorm. They contacted me last night.”
“Oh, what kind of work?”
I asked the person next to me out of curiosity.
“A birthday party.”
“Oh.”
“Such a good ‘oh,’ acting all grumpy like a cat, but you can’t be a cat, because you’re a turtle, little Diew.” After he finished speaking, he ruffled my hair again and pressed his nose to the top of my head before pulling away. His actions made my lonely heart beat so fast I felt like I could melt into the bed.
I’m never used to Phii Godt’s touch.
It’s warm, yet it can be irritating too. In summary, it’s a mix of warm annoyance, but I just love this irritating warmth so much.
The tall guy moved off the bed, stretching lazily beside it a few times before walking into the bathroom, leaving the bed slightly sunken. My hand moved to touch where he had just risen from, the warmth of his body still clearly lingering on the bed. I looked up at Smile, who was lying with his head and tail reversed not far away.
He’s so warm, isn’t he, Smile?
Phii Godt has a high body temperature, probably from playing sports, so when you’re next to him, you feel this constant warmth, like he’s a heater emitting heat continuously, sometimes even too hot.
“Diew, come brush your teeth, then we’ll go downstairs for some fish porridge.”
“Is the shop open today?”
My feet touched the floor before I walked into the bathroom, picking up the toothbrush from a pink Hello Kitty cup and sitting down on the toilet lid. Phii Godt squeezed some toothpaste onto my brush.
“It’s open, why would it be closed?”
“Isn’t today… a day off?”
“Today is Tuesday.”
“But, Phii… it’s closed every Tuesday,” Phii Godt furrowed his brows at me, probably because he doesn’t eat rice porridge often so he doesn’t know which days it’s actually closed. Most of the time, he sticks to just Korean barbecue and sushi.
“Really?”
“Yeah, the rice porridge place… is closed every Tuesday… the sukiyaki place is closed on Sunday.” After saying that, he stuffed the toothbrush into his mouth.
“So what should we eat then, Korean barbecue again?”
“Uh, whatever is fine.”
“What did you say, little one? I couldn’t understand.”
Pulling the toothbrush out of his mouth with foam all over, he said,
“Korean barbecue is fine.”
“Aren’t you tired of it?”
I shook my head slightly at the person in front of me. I’m someone who can do the same thing for a long time, eat the same food for months without any issue. Plus, just a few days ago, the uncle at the Korean barbecue place told me they had a new menu, so I thought about taking Phii Godt to try it. We hadn’t had Korean barbecue for three or four days now.
After finishing brushing my teeth, I spat out the water and grabbed a small towel hanging on the rack to hand to Phii Godt, who was washing his face after brushing his teeth. I took another towel to wipe my mouth.
“The uncle said… there’s a new menu too.”
“A new menu? Is there braised pork? I want to eat braised pork.”
“Not braised pork… but it’s Korean barbecue… with crispy pork and tofu.”
The person in front of me made a hissing sound when he heard the word “crispy pork.” After all, Phii Godt loves pork.
“Why do you… like pork so much?” I smiled slightly while looking at him through the mirror, busily dealing with his messy hair, before he turned around and stole a kiss from me unexpectedly. After the kiss, he gave a big, pleased smile, clearly happy about teasing me.
“I also like eating mice, you know.” [1] Thai word for rat is Nuu but it is also used in conversation as a pronoun for a younger person, so in this case nu means Diew
I raised the back of my hand to cover my flushed face. What a bad personality!
“And today… what time will you be done with work?”
“I’ll help out at five, finish by six, just for an hour.”
“Only… an hour?”
“Yeah, I actually wanted to refuse, but I couldn’t because my nephew requested it.”
“Why… did he request you?”
“Because he’s taken with how cute I am.” After he finished speaking, he poked my cheek. I didn’t feel cute at all.
“Go then, go.”
I pushed the tall guy out of the room. The area around the dorm was quite quiet, except for the chatter of the owner’s grandchildren, because it’s the school break, while everyone else had gone home. Phii Godt and I were stuck at the dorm because his parents were traveling abroad. As for me, I couldn’t go back to Phuket due to the storm that had hit Phuket for almost a week.
We stood ordering kuay teow (noodles) at a cart with no one around in the early morning. The good weather made me take a deep breath, the aroma of pork bone soup from the noodle stall still being the signature scent in front of the dorm, which anyone passing by would try at least once.
“What do you want to eat?”
“I’ll have… crispy pork and tofu kuay teow, please.”
“Two of those then, but in one bag, just a little morning glory, please.” Looks like you really hate morning glory, huh?
“Oh. Not wearing your Ultraman mask anymore?” The old man asked the one whose eyes were sparkling with interest in the crispy pork in the display case.
“No, uncle. Why? Do you like it?”
“Yeah. It adds color, the kids around here like it. But why wear it?
Isn’t it uncomfortable?”
“I can handle being uncomfortable, but I can’t stand making others uncomfortable.” After he spoke, he turned to pat my head, ruffling my hair with satisfaction until it stood up in all directions. I couldn’t even get annoyed at him; he always had some trick up his sleeve that left me speechless.
Just these simple words, I don’t know why they made me feel embarrassed.
After buying the kuay teow, we had to take it back to the room to eat. Besides the noodles, I also stopped by to buy some sushi for the afternoon, so we wouldn’t have to go down to make anything else to eat. As for dinner, Phii Godt said he would bring something back after he finished work.
I watched the person who refused to pour the Korean barbecue into the bowl because he was too lazy to wash it. Even though I said I would wash it for him, Phii Godt still mixed the rice with the barbecue in the bag. The person in front of me looked so happy with today’s new menu, both in his expression and the sparkling look in his eyes. I smiled as I watched him keep saying how delicious the crispy pork was, melting in the mouth. It’s rare to find a place that fries pork so well – not tough, not hard, not too greasy, and the fried tofu complemented it well. No rancid smell, not too hard to chew. In conclusion, the uncle’s new menu was now my favorite.
From now on, he probably wouldn’t ask for anything else. The Korean barbecue uncle would surely get money from Phii Godt every morning. “Eat slowly, I’ll steal it,” he said, trying to snatch my fried tofu. I quickly dodged.
“I’m angry!”
“I’ll make it up to you.”
“Make up how?”
“Make uuuup.”
“No way!”
Our daily routine remained the same. I still lived in the small square room with young-master and Smile, while Phii Godt would go out to meet friends or work because he can’t stay still. By evening, Khun Godzilla would barge into my room, and we’d spend time doing this and that. After that, we’d go to bed together, except on the days when Phii Godt was forced to go out drinking. He wouldn’t enter my room because he didn’t want it to smell like alcohol.
Phii Godt said my room had a smell he liked, one that made him feel at ease, aside from his own perfume scent which he sometimes brought in. He didn’t want other smells to cover it.
And the smell he liked was just my shampoo and body wash.
That’s why Phii Godt liked to nuzzle my hair often.
If he liked the smell that much, why didn’t he use it himself?
Phii Godt doesn’t like to use my personal items. It seems like he has a habit of still being considerate of the room’s owner. That’s why he bought his own shampoo and soap to keep in my bathroom, in case his room was occupied by friends. He would come over to shower, eat, and sleep with me.
I once spent some free time just looking at the items in the bathroom, which usually didn’t have much. Now, there were Hello Kitty cups, two toothbrushes, two face towels, different shampoos, different soap brands, and even cute Hello Kitty stickers that Phii Godt got from fans, sticking them here and there, making everything look cute and lively.
Besides the bathroom, looking around the bedroom, on the bed besides Smile lying on his back, there was also a cute blue Godzilla toy that he had bought from a Japanese store, even though he initially rejected the name “Godzilla”. Eventually, Phii Godt grew to like it so much that everything around him turned into Godzilla.
There are also Phii Godt’s bag, the plant-themed figure he ordered. I don’t know why he had to place it in my room. He said if he put it in his room, he was afraid his friends would break it, especially Phii Ton who has clumsy hands. Then there are his oversized T-shirts mixed in my wardrobe, the small Godzilla keychain he bought to pair with my turtle keychain because Phii Godt likes small, cute trinkets, like the wind chimes he once bought for me. Oh, and there are also three or four One Piece comic books on the study desk.
No matter where you look, there’s a hint of Phii Godt everywhere, as if he’s always here in this room.
He doesn’t leave any space at all, this chaotic person.
But I love it, I love this chaotic essence of him.
My world has become much brighter because of it.
…
After ten, I slowly got out of bed, not knowing if the birthday event downstairs was over yet. I switched from lying down listening to music to sitting at the foot of the bed reading a book, while chatting with young-master who was pacing in his square box.
“Young-master, next week we’ll go back to Phuket, okay?”
I gently stroked young-master’s shell.
My grandfather called me in the evening, saying he would come to pick me up to go back to Phuket next week. Initially, we talked about me flying back alone, but since he had business in Bangkok, he decided to have an intern driver come to help.
“When we go back this time, I’ll find a friend for young-master, okay?”
I know young-master isn’t lonely because we’re always together, but I want to get him a friend because I think having friends isn’t a bad thing.
Young-master would have someone to chat with.
“Or does young-master want a little brother?”
Knock, knock.
Before I could talk more with young-master, there was a knock at my door. I was a bit surprised because looking at the phone screen, Phii Godt should have been done with work by now, and since he has a spare key to my room, why would he knock?
Since there’s no peephole, I had to get up to open the door. When the door opened, the first thing I saw was…
A tall bear mascot holding a pink balloon.
From the height…
Phii Godt…
“Why do you look so shocked? I’m cute, aren’t I?” After saying that, he twisted his body like a jam roll, looking insanely beatable.
The tall bear handed me a pink balloon. I slowly took it before Phii Godt squeezed into the room. He took off the mascot head, revealing his dark hair, grabbed a strawberry Pocky from the table, put it in his mouth, and mumbled about forgetting the room key. Then, he turned to face me as I was examining the bear head on the table.
Memories from old days rushed back.
‘Did you see the balloon in front of the room? I used it to make amends.’
I remember questioning where he got that balloon from that day…
“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to let it float away in front of me, that’s cruel.”
“The one who used it to apologize should have punctured it in the room, what’s your heart made of?”
“Such a lonely turtle, so cruel.”
I remember how he complained when I let the balloon he gave me float out of the room…
‘Wish me luck on the exam, okay?’
And only now did I remember that the tall, slender bear mascot at the birthday party under the dormitory, with the look that seemed to say, “Hug me, hug me,” was the same mascot Phii Godt was wearing today.
I blinked rapidly at the bear taking off his costume, the tall person walked closer to me. From standing apart, now Phii Godt was so close that I could feel the warmth from his body.
“To be honest, I just remembered this myself.”
“Last birthday party. Someone small said, ‘Wish me luck on the exam, okay?’ and then came up to hug me.”
My lips tightened, my face felt hot and I couldn’t hide it.
It was true.
He was that bear.
We hugged before we even met face to face.
Honestly, if I hadn’t seen this bear mascot today, I would have almost forgotten about it. The memory was quite vague because back then, I was focused on memorizing exam questions. I only knew that the bear was as tall as Phii Godt, was warm like him, and the embrace was just as wide, no difference at all.
“We’re so bad, I stole a hug from you first. Not fair.”
“I didn’t know that…” I didn’t know that you were the bear mascot that day. I didn’t even know how tall you were back then. I didn’t know your embrace would be this warm. I didn’t expect to see you at that time.” And then… didn’t you recognize me?”
“I couldn’t remember. Back then, we had just made an agreement, so I didn’t think I’d see just one face. Plus, it was hot, I barely paid attention to who was who; I was just annoyed. All I could think about was, ‘I want to smoke,’ and ‘When will this end?’ Everything in front of me was just a blur.” And then he laughed softly.
That’s right. If I look back, that was the period when Phii Godt was trying to quit smoking cold turkey.
Phii Godt’s hand rested on my cheek, caressing it gently as if I were something very precious to him. His other hand wrapped around my waist, pulling me close until there was hardly any space between us.
“But I remember that the person in my arms back then was this small, this delicate, and smelled this good.”
After he spoke, his prominent nose nuzzled into my cheek, rubbing back and forth as he often does, making me squirm and pull away.
“Thank you for allowing me into your world.”
“Thank you.”
Phii Godt’s lips pressed against mine, slowly and tenderly, to the point where I accidentally let go of the balloon, which floated up to stick to the ceiling. Hundreds of clouds seemed to envelop my body whenever he kissed me, with the faint scent and taste of strawberry from the Pocky he once said he didn’t like but later couldn’t do without. His breath tickled my nose, his warmth spreading over my body.
I love having him here.
When he pulled his lips away, Phii Godt broke into a wide, happy smile, accompanied by our laughter once again in the small square room, again and again, as each day passed.
This small square room where our story was beginning to be recorded.
The scent of memories just starting, and no matter how it ends, I won’t regret having met him.
Because at one point, I’ll remember that my little world isn’t just mine anymore.
The man named ‘Lonely,’ the man who was human, an introvert, who always lived alone, alone, happy in his own private world, content with doing things alone,
Today, he’s not lonely anymore.
Ever since the day I met Khun Godzilla, the chaotic one next door. No matter how many days or months pass, no matter how annoying, grumpy, whiny, or easily offended he might be, Phii Godt is still someone I want to be with, through ordinary days, special days, days when I feel like hugging someone, days when I feel lonely.
Phii Godt taught me many things, including how to open up to someone new in my life, how to accept differences and broaden my perspective, how to let go of old prejudices, and how to respect fellow humans.
Phii Godt taught me that the world outside isn’t as scary as I thought, and having friends isn’t as bad as I thought.
Our world, it’s like a coin with two sides. It depends on which side of the coin we choose to look at, but that doesn’t mean the other side is always bad. We just need to adjust our viewpoint. Try looking from a different angle, and we’ll see…
That the other world, the other perspective, is just as beautiful.
Thank you, the ever-busy Khun Godzilla next door.
Khun Godzilla, who tried to enter my world with understanding and patience.
Khun Godzilla, who is the opposite kind of person from me.
An extrovert human, trying to understand this introvert human.
Even though we are different, having you in my world has been the best gift.
Godzilla’s mission to invade my world.
Mission complete.
And I hope you all find your own Godzilla one day.
“By the way… have I ever told you… that your eyes are like youngmaster’s?”
“Is this supposed to be romantic?”
“They’re beautiful eyes.”
“Crazy, they’re a man’s eyes, how can they be beautiful?”
“Phii Godt!”
“Hehe”
:: THE END::
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