NORTHHOWMUCHISYOURLOVE, Chapter 10 part 2
“Are you still alive?”
“Yes.”
“Are you doing well?”
“I’m good.”
“Not drinking alcohol anymore?”
“No.”
“Dog looks down, you see, I told you.” Nao said as if he had been waiting to add insult to injury, “I knew it, how could you handle hearing ‘can we start anew’? It’s going nowhere.”
“So, she really wants to get back together?” Kyu asked.
“He said she wants to start anew.” Skater answered instead.” Start anew with the same person. “ “What the hell.” I said. “She still loves you? “
“No, she didn’t say that. “
“Then what’s it about? “
“Well…at first, she seemed worried about Temp, like she still had feelings, but then she said she wanted to talk to me, which confused me, the bastard. “
“Maybe he just wants to keep you as an option. “
“As a backup, because right now, she still can’t cut ties with Temp. “
“So you; my friend is going to be a backup? “
“What did you tell him? “
“I said it’s not going to happen, that this is better.” I answered as I had told Ja earlier.
“That’s pretty decisive. “
“But why are you looking so down? “
“Feeling shaken? “
“You; my friends, say a lot, but I’m tough. Otherwise, my liver would be the one getting hard. “
“You’re not drinking anymore, huh? “
“Last time you got drunk like a dog, you ended up with a boyfriend. “
“Shut up.” I cursed at Skater once before we talked a bit more and then parted ways. I headed straight back because there was nothing else to do at the university.
Easter: North
Easter: Ja came looking for you!?
Huh?
North♣: How did you know that? So quickly.
Easter: Skater told me.
North♣: I told you. Good at talking too much.
Easter: Why did you go then?!
North♣: Nothing really. North♣: Hardly talked at all.
Easter: Don’t hide it.
Faster: Tell me, tell me.
North♣: There’s absolutely nothing, man.
North♣: Heard you’re studying?
North♣: Just focus on your studies.
Easter: No, I want to know, I can’t even study because of this.
Easter: What did you talk about?
Easter: Did she come to our faculty?
Easter: What did she say?
I decided to ignore Ter’s chat and instead scrolled to find Tiger’s chat. I’d explain everything to Ter when he gets back; it’s better that way. Speaking of chats, I haven’t talked to Phii Johan in almost a week. Probably because he’s been busy, as I’ve heard Ter complaining that Phii Hill hasn’t had time either. But even if he were free, why would he come to talk to me?
North♣: Tiger
North♣: Are you free? Please respond.
Less than ten minutes later, Tiger responded to the chat immediately.
Tg.: What?
Tg.: I’m not free.
Tg.: For you.
North♣: Tiger
North♣: I’m suddenly feeling uncomfortable.
Tg.: Why?
North♣: It’s like I’ve been holding someone’s secret for a long time.
North♣: But I can’t keep it anymore.
North♣: It’s suffocating. North♣: I think I need to tell you soon.
Tg.: What’s so suffocating?
Tg.: It’s not even your business.
Tg.: Come on, what’s up?
North♣: Can you call?
Tg.: Sure.
North♣: Nao.
Tg.: I’m here.
Tg.: I can go talk on the balcony.
North♣: Okay, pick up.
And with that, I quickly dialed Tiger.
(What’s up?) As soon as he picked up, he spoke with an annoyed tone, probably disturbed while spending time with his wife.
“I want to ask. “
(What?)
“About those guys, Temp, that we had issues with. Did you do something about it?”
(…)
“Why are you silent?”
(How did you find out?)
“Ja, my ex, came to see me earlier. She told me about his boyfriend being transferred. At first, she hinted it was because of Phii Johan, but then your name slipped out too. The more I think about it, you’ve never let anyone who messed with Nao off the hook, have you? “
(Oh, so the one named Ja told you, huh?)
“Oh, yeah, Ja said those guys told her to come ask me.”
(You should have asked him, not me.) “It’s easier to ask you.” I said from the heart. Asking Tiger seemed much simpler than trying to get something out of Phii Johan, who, besides not giving me an answer, might even curse me back.
(I’m too lazy to tell. Can I not tell it?)
“That’s funny, just tell me.”
(When did you become so curious?)
“Just curious, is it hard to tell?”
(Not hard. Just don’t want to. What should I do? I’m really not in the mood to tell.)
“Tiger.” I lowered my voice to jokingly threaten him again.
(Heh, every time you call me that, you’re threatening me. I’ll give you the short version, don’t tell Nao, okay?)
“Okay.”
(The day Nao came back to the room with a split lip and eyebrow, I was really pissed. No matter how much I tried to get it out of Nao, he wouldn’t say who did it, but honestly, it wasn’t hard to find out. I wanted the CCTV footage from that day, but when I went to the shop, they said someone had already bought it.)
“…”
(It was your Phii Johan. So I had to go look for him.)
“Go look for him? Do you know him too?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise while asking. Tiger never told me he had met him or knew him; he never showed any reaction when we talked about him.
(A little, I met him back when I used to race.)
“You used to race too?”
(Back then, sometimes we’d run into each other at the track. Who wouldn’t remember a black Bugatti that beautiful?) “Have you ever raced against him?”
(Yeah, he’d call me a brat to my face, but he’s good, I’ve even ridden in his car before.)
“You have?”
(He’s really good at drifting, truly top-notch.)
“Yeah, really.” Phii Johan is really good at driving, even if he doesn’t know much about these things, but from my experience riding with him, whether in a car or on Ter’s bike, I can say he’s the best. The best, right to the edge of hell.
“And you didn’t say anything about knowing.
(Was it necessary?)
“Huh. “
(Back to the point, when I went to confront him, he said it was already cleared up.)
“Cleared up how? Aren’t you explaining this too briefly? “
(You’re being too nosy. Initially, I wanted the camera footage to force them out of the uni.)
“Hey, but I started it that day. “
(That day was that day, I don’t mind, the issue was they wouldn’t end it. He said they had agreed to settle it. They broke their word.)
“So, Temp got kicked out?”
(Yes.)
“How did you know? “
(I just knew. And Tim too, he hit Nao first that day.)
“Oh, so you dealt with Tim, and Temp was handled by Phii Joe? “
(Exactly.)
“And about transferring them, how did you manage that? “
(They had a bad record, so it was easy. Are you satisfied now? Why all these questions?)
“Just transferred? You didn’t do anything else, right?” I asked, secretly thinking there might be more to it. Judging by how scary Tiger can be when he’s angry.
(Uh, just a little hammer to his precious arm, I did.)
“You did what? “
(The right arm, he used it to hit Nao eight times. Saw it on the camera.)
“Shit…”
(If he’s right-handed, then he’s in for a rough life from now on.)
“Damn. You, that’s too harsh, isn’t it?”
(Well, he did it to Nao first. He’ll get better soon.)
“Ha, where does one grow an extra arm, huh, you tiger. You did that?”
(Grow what? I didn’t cut off his arm.)
“Oh.”
(Just break it and it can heal. In a cast for a few months, but I didn’t do it like I would have because of the Temp issue. You’re wrong. You attacked first. If Temp had attacked first, he might have ended up in full-body casts.)
“Enough, why do this?”
(Are you scared or what?)
“Honestly…yeah, it’s scary, both of them.”
(Well, in my case, you’d call it great love.)
“So, Nao got hit first? At first, Kyu said Nao hit Tim first.”
(No, no, he hit Nao first.)
“Ah, you are looking out for him, but he doesn’t even know.”
(Hehe, and you, if no one tells you, you wouldn’t know.)
“How would I know?”
(And have you realized you like him yet?)
“What?”
(Phii Johan and you.)
“What? I don’t.”
(You don’t, but the other one, he’s going crazy.)
“…”
(Silent, are you embarrassed?)
“Embarrassed about what?”
(Pretend you don’t know. You’re not stupid, are you, North? Seriously, if what I’m saying is true, would you still say he doesn’t have feelings for you?)
“…”
(Answer me, you bastard.)
“Yeah, yeah, I understand. So what, I…”
(Don’t like him?)
“Yes. I haven’t thought about it. We’ve just met, and he’s never said he likes me or tried to court me. How could he like someone like me, that’s a whole other issue.” I said it according to my thoughts. It’s true what Tiger said…I’ve felt at times that there might be something, but as I’ve said, I don’t want to overthink it.” I don’t want to overthink, especially about love. “
(Right, someone like you. You don’t think about anything all day.)
“Hey, now you’re insulting me. “
(But if he decides to make you think, you’ll be thinking all day for sure.)
“How so? “
(I don’t know, just saying. Anyway, I’m off to hug my wife.)
“You’ll just get kicked back by him. “
(Worth it. Oh, one more thing, I’m not that close or familiar with him, but I think you should be cautious. I’ve only told you this much, and you’re already saying he’s scary.)
“Cautious about what? “
(Everything you can think of.)
“So, you don’t know? “
(Yes, I don’t know, and I don’t care about you. I’m off, bye. And don’t tell anyone, including Ja, be careful.)
“Careful about Ja?”
(Be careful with Phii Joe.)
“Why? “
(Figure it out yourself.)
“Ah, okay, okay. “
I kind of understand what Tiger is getting at. If Phii Johan really likes me…uh, why does saying it like this make me embarrassed? I feel like I’ve just swallowed a frog or something. It makes me look self-absorbed, doesn’t it? Yeah, that’s right. If he knew Jaw came to see me at the faculty, he probably wouldn’t be too pleased, judging by how he dealt with Temp’s situation…
Does he really like me?
And why would he like me?
When I think about it like this, it just leads to more questions without answers. Better to go back to not thinking about it at all.
Ding!
Dong!
Oh man, Ter! Why the barrage of messages now? Ever since I talked to Tiger. I quickly opened the chat, typed out a response to hopefully end it, so he’d stop messaging.
North♣: Yeah. She wanted to get back together, are you happy now?!
Johan: ?
Damn.
Wrong chat…
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