NORTHHOWMUCHISYOURLOVE, Chapter 21 part 2
Phii Johan went to Boston…
He left since yesterday evening; I couldn’t go to the airport to see him off because of my exams. I heard he finished his exams earlier, and Phii Joe didn’t say much about it. Judging by the travel time, he should be arriving soon. He went with his father and several other people from the company, with Phii Arthit on the same flight, though Phii Arthit planned to travel alone for a few days before returning.
Fourteen days, huh…I figure we won’t talk much like before because of how busy the work will be, plus if he has free time, it’s better he rests.
Phii Prang told me that Phii Johan talked to his father about work, proposing to work in Boston. If successful, he wouldn’t have to work this hard anymore, just assist occasionally, and focus more on his studies because medical school is getting tougher. And Phii Prang mentioned that importantly, it’s because of me…
‘The person who truly matters to Phii Johan is the one who gets his time,’ that’s what Phii Prang told me. Honestly, I didn’t want him to reduce his work because of me, but as Phii Prang said, now he needs to focus on his studies, and after graduation, he can work seriously. I agree with that. Continuing at this pace would definitely be bad. Just studying medicine is already overwhelmingly hard.
As for when he’ll give me his time, let it be after work and studies.
“North.” I turned around at the sound of my name being called while I was walking down from the building after just finishing my midterms. This time, the exams were really over. I saw Tiger following behind me. We were now separated from other friends, and I was about to head back to my dorm too. My motorcycle had been fixed as well.
“What’s up?”
“I need your help with something.”
“Huh, what is it?”
“Nao, man, I’m going crazy here.” Tiger said with the most serious face, “Do you know about Nao streaming games?”
“Streaming games?” I raised an eyebrow, repeating his words. Oh, right, Nao had mentioned wanting to try it because it seemed fun, and he already likes playing games. I fully supported him at that time, believing he’d do well at it. “He’s done it?”
“Yeah, he’s been doing it for a while now. You didn’t know?”
“No.” I shook my head, “Just found out now.”
“Oh, he said he wasn’t going to tell anyone because he was embarrassed, but since we’re roommates, I found out.”
“So, he’s really doing it.” I said excitedly, “Wow, that’s cool, I want to see.”
“Listen to my problem first, this is why I’m asking for your help.” Tiger said seriously again, looking quite uncomfortable. “I’m already dead, man.”
“Go on.” I turned to listen intently.
“Can you talk to Nao? Tell him to stop.”
“Huh? Why?”
“A lot of people are hitting on him. As soon as they see Nao’s cute on stream, they start donating like crazy, those bastards. I’m not happy at all every time he does his show.” Tiger explained, genuinely stressed. “At first, I supported him because I saw he liked it, but now it’s just not possible anymore.” “Oh, but how can we make him stop if he likes it?” I asked back. “North, you don’t understand my feelings. Please, I’m really going crazy here.” “Alright, alright, I’ll try. But what should I say to him?” I said. Although I didn’t really want to help much, I understood Tiger’s feelings. He’s protective of his own, and Nao is my little ship too, T^T
“Say whatever you need to.”
“Then just ask Nao not to turn on the camera and not to talk to too many people commenting.” I suggested, thinking this would be the best middle ground. Suddenly asking him to stop would likely upset Nao, and it would hurt his feelings too.
“Yeah, yeah, that works.”
“Okay, but how should I approach it? Wouldn’t it be weird to just tell him without any context?”
“Just come to our room tonight, watch Nao’s game stream, and then quietly give him the heads up.”
“Alright, I’ll go change clothes and then head over.” I said excitedly, eager to see how Nao streams his games. I then rushed back to my dorm, changed quickly, and went straight to Duennao and Tiger’s room.
“Nao, hey, I’m here!” I stood at the door, knocking a few times before Tiger opened it. I’ve visited here several times; it’s quite a spacious room. Nao was sitting in front of the computer, and Tiger flopped down on the bed.
“North, come in!” Duennao waved me over. I hurried to sit beside him.
“Wow, are you on live?” I leaned in to look. Nao was live streaming a game, chatting a bit in the chat about his gaming channel. Nao mentioned he wanted to try streaming for fun, found it interesting but was shy, so he hadn’t told us yet, but now that I knew it was okay, because he planned to tell us after streaming for a while and wanted us to try playing together. He already had nearly ten thousand followers, which was impressive given he hadn’t been streaming for long. “Yep.” “Wow, that’s cool.” There were over two thousand people watching the live, the numbers at the end were slowly increasing, and the comments were scrolling up continuously.
: Who’s that, a friend?
: Cute friend, looks just like Duennao.
: I miss Khun Sua, Sua, where are you?
“Say hi to the viewers, introduce yourself.” Duennao said, now it seemed like I was part of the live stream.
“Oh, hello, my name is North.” I said, feeling quite nervous. There were lots of comments interacting with me, making it feel like I was truly talking to the audience.
“Help me read the comments. Right now, I can’t play and watch the comments at the same time, I’m not used to it yet.” Nao said, before turning his attention back to the game.
“Uh, okay.”
: You play so well, I want to be good like this too.
: Review the new tank character a bit.
“Nao. They said to review the new tank character.” I read the comment out loud.
“I’ve tried playing it and I don’t think it’s very good yet, too thin, but I saw Sua playing it well. Not sure how he does it, I’ll try changing the gear and review it again next time.”
: Tiger so much, lol, bring him on camera a bit.
: Miss you, Tiger.
“Tiger, there are people saying they miss you.” I said, “Do you want to come live too?” “Uh, at first, Sua joined the live, Sua, come here.” “Nah, I’m lazy.” “Oh, not helping at all.” Nao dragged out his words. I turned to see Tiger sitting on the bed, leaning against the wall with headphones on, eyes glued to his phone screen.
: Play the game I sent you, please, I want to see you play.
“They said to play the game they sent, what game is it?”
“What game? You’re kidding, right? They sent a horror game. I’m scared. Can I not play it?” Duennao shook his head, looking slightly grim, while his eyes lingered on the game for a bit, probably finishing up the current session.
: Your friend’s there, what’s there to be scared of? Let’s play together.
: ♣♣♣, want to see, cheering, 100 bits.
“Thanks for the 100 bits.” I read out, smiling. Even during streams like this, people donate or cheer with bits. A hundred bits is about fifty baht, which is nice, earning money this way.
: Aw, so cute, why are your friends so cute too?
: Play the horror game.
Seeing many comments asking Duennao to play the horror game, Nao had to play it, with me sitting next to him. The chaos ensued when we played horror games together, we’d be screaming until we were nearly dead.
“Shit, Nao, don’t go there, that’s a warp point.” I said, shaking Nao’s arm in excitement, both of us losing our minds. The game was really scary, we were arguing about it.
“Oh shit, I’m stuck, I’m stuck, can’t move.”
“You’re trapped, Nao. Run around, it’s coming!”
“It’s chasing me, it’s chasing me!” The chaos was real, comments kept flowing in. Why do people enjoy watching others get scared so much, T^T? But there were genuinely a lot of comments complimenting Nao’s cuteness, which made me understand why Tiger likes him.
“Phew, let’s take a break.” Nao let out a big sigh before locking the character in the bathroom to hide from the ghost. This spot was safe as long as nothing popped up.
“I can’t handle this anymore. Whoever sent this game is so cruel.”
: It’s safe to hide here, but if you stay too long, it’ll appear behind you.
: Check the left side, there’s a lot to collect over there.
“I looked earlier, there was nothing there.” I protested a bit, as there were many comments just messing with us, telling us to go here and there where ghosts were always waiting.
: North is so cute, do you have a channel? I want to follow.
“Ha. Me? No, I don’t have one.”
: Start a channel then, cheering, 100 bits.
“Thanks for the 100 bits, but I probably won’t start one. I’ll just come to play often.”
: Come often, bring Sua too, I miss him.
: FC Phii Tiger, the handsome and kind senior.
“See, Sua, people are asking for you. Why don’t you come?” Duennao turned to ask, there were indeed many people asking for Sua. I guessed they were mostly girls. After all, our faculty’s moon has fans even in Duennao’s gaming stream.
“No.” Tiger said in a not-so-pleased tone.
: Does Tiger have a girlfriend? He’s so handsome, and he’s the faculty’s heartthrob, right?
: I love you, Sua, I’m about to cry, I want to see you so bad: w: ready to pay. “Sua doesn’t have a girlfriend.” Duennao answered the comment. “You can try to woo him. I’m rooting for him to get a girlfriend too.”
Err…Are you okay with this? T^T
I turned to look at Tiger, who was sitting there playing on his phone with his earphones in, seemingly uninterested in what was going on here. Or was he just pretending not to hear? Suddenly, my phone notification sound went off, and I checked it immediately.
Tg.: Bastards…
Tg.: I’m about to cry.
North♣: Hang in there, buddy.
Tg.: And I asked you to stop him, why did you come to play too? My boy is getting all the attention.
North♣: Well, they like it because Nao’s stream is fun, right?
Tg.: You’ll see, those bastards haven’t come yet.
North♣: They haven’t come? Are you watching the live right now?
Tg.: Yes.
North♣: Then why not play with us?
Tg.: That’s my business.
So, Tiger is just there, not joining in even though we invited him, but he chooses to wear headphones and watch us stream from behind. What’s that about?
Guitarrr: Live early today, just got out of class, Cheering, 1,000 bits.
Guitarrr: Did you bring a friend? The friend is cute too.
Tg.: See that, what a scumbag.
North♣: What?
Tg.: Yeah, just watch. “Thank you, Phii Tar, for the thousand bits.” Duennao said, as I was too busy with my phone to thank for the cheer bits. Phii Tar? That means this person must be a regular follower and cheerer, so Nao remembers him.
Tgkljhgtyuik: Cheering, 1,000 bits
“Oh, thank you for the thousand bits.” I read the comment. But what does this name mean? It’s like they just slid their fingers across the keyboard.
Tg.: You bastard. Who told you to read it?
Was that you?!!
“Phii Kant, thank you.” Duennao said with a smile. Phii Gant? Who’s that? Is it Tiger? Why call him Phii Gant?
“Is his name Kant? How did you know?” I asked.
“Hmm. He often cheers with bits. He’s been following since the beginning, so I asked for his name. He said to just call him Kant, so I call him ‘Phii’ because I think he’s probably older.”
Oh…
So, the sweet Phii Kant in the background of Duennao’s stream is actually the jerk sitting behind us!
Tg.: He even calls me ‘Phii,’ so cute.
Tg.: My heart, I’m going to die.
Tg.: Damage, +9999999
His hands were typing away messages to me, but his face was completely impassive. I turned to look at him, pursing my lips tight, trying my hardest not to laugh. Don’t laugh, North, don’t laugh. Otherwise, the secret will be out for sure.
Damn, holding back laughter until my stomach hurts.
North♣: And why does it have to be Kant?
Tg.: It’s my real name. Oh…Tiger’s real name is Kantanith. So he just let us call him Kant. That’s awesome, Duennao probably doesn’t know, there must be a hundred thousand people named Kant.
Guitarrr: Today was so exhausting at school, Nong Nao, you really heal my heart, I feel better now. Thank you, cheering, 1,000 bits.
Tgkljhgtyuik: What the hell are you, cheering, 5,000 bits.
Guitarrr: Here you are again, why do you always pick on me?
Guitarrr: Cheering, 5,000 bits.
Tgkljhgtyuik: Cheering, 10,000 bits.
Guitarrr: Cheering, 25,000 bits.
Tgkljhgtyuik: Cheering, 50,000 bits.
Guitarrr: Cheering, 50,000 bits.
Tgkljhgtyuik: Cheering, 75,000 bits.
What the hell is this…
“Uh…Nao. Look at the comments for a moment.” I called out. This is just ridiculous. What are these two doing, competing to pay for Nao? Nao has set his stream not to show on-screen how many bits people are cheering, you have to look at the comments to see it, because he said it was distracting, but he’d change the settings once he gets used to streaming.
“What’s up?”
“Here.”
“…”
“Hey! Thank you both so much, I’m so happy, but don’t fight, okay? Love each other.” Duennao said, sending an embarrassed smile towards the camera. He must be at a loss too, just like I would be. Two thousand five hundred bits is like over a thousand baht. And the latest cheer from Tiger was seventy-five thousand bits, which is about thirty thousand baht.
Damn, why are they so rich?
Guitarrr: See, Nong Nao said not to fight.
Tgkljhgtyuik: Then you go away.
So arrogant! Yet he still asked me to talk to Nao. I turned around to see Tiger just staring at his phone, keeping a poker face, but I’m sure he’s fuming inside. Whenever someone messes with Duennao, he gets like this, but he can’t show it openly.
Captain…fight him…
Tg.: North. You, you said you’d help.
Tg.: Damn person.
North+: If you’re mad at someone, don’t take it out on me. What did I do wrong? T^T
Tg.: I told you to stop him, not to play along.
North♣: It’s super fun though.
Tg.: Stop talking for a bit.
Tg.: Normally, Nao doesn’t chat with comments as much as you do. Because of you, more people are watching.
North♣: Isn’t it good that more people are following?
North♣: Nao won’t have to steal dog food from in front of the dorm to eat anymore.
(Read)
Tiger stopped replying to the chat. After a while, he walked out, looking quite angry. Why does he look so scary, TT? It seemed like he was on the phone. I turned my attention back to the game.
…
“Phii, where are you?”
(Don’t get too familiar, you brat.)
“Phii Johan, where are you?”
(Boston, why?)
“Did you just arrive?”
(Yeah, I just got off the plane. What’s up?)
“Have you seen what I sent you, in the chat?”
(No)
“Go check it out.”
(Can’t you just tell me?)
“Go look first, it’s about your wife.”
(What’s this about?)
“It’s North, he’s streaming games with Nao.”
(I know. Why did you let this happen?)
“I tried to stop it, didn’t I? At first, I asked North to help stop Nao, but then they ended up having fun playing together. There were so many people donating bits.”
(Tell him to shut down the stream.)
“I was going to do that at first, but if Nao wants to stream, he’ll find a way anyway. You should stop your wife first; she’s been chatting a lot with the commenters. Plus, North is naturally talkative, and now the audience is growing.”
(Alright)
…
: Does Nong North usually play games? He should play with Nao more often, they’re both cute, and they have great chemistry, cheering, 50 bits.
“Me? I usually play, I play with Nao.” I answered the comment, because I talk a lot and get along with others easily. When we interact like this, it’s fun, it feels like I’m helping Nao make money.
: Here’s some money for snacks, my little one, so cute, both scared while playing a horror game, Cheering, 100 bits.
“I told you I’m scared.” Duennao said, glancing at the comment, “Everyone keeps sending me horror games.”
: Oh, I’ll pay for Nong North, I’m going to grit my teeth and add bits, can I flirt with you? Please let me flirt with you, I’m investing a lot here, want to be with you, give you a head pat, Cheering, 10,000 bits.
“Thank you, but you can’t flirt with me.” I said with a smile to the camera.
: Cheering, 200,000 bits
: Can’t stay still for a moment, huh?
: If you want anything, come get it from me.
Two…two hundred thousand bits!
Suddenly, I felt a chill when I saw this comment, both from the amount of money and from what was written. My smile faded instantly. Even though they didn’t specify who, I think I know who it is.
“Nao, one moment.” I said before standing up from the chair and going to sit on the bed next to Tiger.
“You’ve gone silent, huh?”
“…” I didn’t respond before a chat notification popped up.
Johan: What are you doing?
North♣: Phii, T^T. I’m just helping Nao with his game stream.
Johan: How about I deduct money for every time you smile at someone else?
North♣: No, please don’t, T^T
North♣: If you don’t like it, I won’t do it anymore.
Johan: Good.
Johan: So why did you go there?
North♣: I just wanted to play with Nao.
Actually, at first, I was really excited to see my friend doing something this cool. So I just wanted to come watch, but then it turned out to be quite fun. Johan: Really?
North♣: Yes, Nao is also earning extra income from this.
Johan: Do you want to do it too?
North♣: Huh?
Johan: Send me a video. I’ll pay a hundred per second.
Johan: Now.
North♣: Video? Of me?
Johan: Quick, I’m about to go to work.
“Tiger, what’s this about?” I asked, showing him my phone screen. Tiger glanced over slightly.
“Just take a video of yourself, what’s confusing?”
“And why should I?”
“He wants to see your face, and hear your voice too, but he probably doesn’t have time to call you. A video can be watched later, and it’s quick to view.” Oh. I nodded in understanding. I’ve seen people do this before, like a video for someone you can’t meet in person, and you can’t call because you’re not free. It’s similar to sending a picture, but this is a video because it has sound.
“So, what should I do?”
“Just film and talk, say you’re working hard or something. Go out to the balcony, it’s too noisy with the game sounds in here.”
“Okay, Tiger, come with me.” I said, pulling Tiger along. I felt too shy to film by myself, so I asked Tiger to hold the camera for me.
I tried to speak but ended up laughing several times out of embarrassment. I’ve never done anything like this for someone else to watch before, and the person watching would be Phii Joe too.
“He’s already rushing you.” Tiger said, looking at my phone. “A hundred per second, huh. If you film for one minute, that’s six thousand.”
“Wouldn’t that be weird? I’m not brave enough to film, I’m too embarrassed.”
“Yeah, annoying. Just film it, he’ll like it.”
“Tiger. You bastard.”
“What? I’ve recorded it.” Tiger said, holding up my phone. I took a deep breath to calm myself before I heard the click of the recording starting.
“Uh…so, Phii Joe, go work hard. Sorry about the gaming stream, and please be careful not to get sick with a cold over there. Uh…and also.” I paused because I couldn’t think of what to say next.
“I miss you, I’ll wait for you to come back.”
Tiger stopped the video and handed my phone back to me.
“That was nice, I wish Nao would say something like that to me too, I’d pay three hundred per word.” Tiger said, letting out a small sigh of frustration.
“You already pay Nao a lot, with all those bits you cheer for him.” I said, before deciding to send the video. I’m not sure if it’ll be okay, but honestly, I didn’t know what else to say and couldn’t bring myself to watch it again because I was embarrassed, T^T.
“Did you record it for a long? You only recorded for twenty seconds, that’s a hundred baht per second, so just two thousand baht.”
“That’s enough.” Can we not say “just two thousand”? That’s a lot of money to live on. Plus, with the change I’ve saved in my pocket, I feel a bit guilty for keeping it. Maybe I should find a way to return it, right?
North♣: You have sent the video
(Read)
Read, but no response. He must have gone to work, right?
‘Account x676457x, You have received a transfer of 66,000 baht’
!! “Tiger…” I called out his name, showing him my phone screen. Why did I get sixty-six thousand…you said two thousand, “You said one hundred baht per second.”
“Oh, I remember now.” Tiger looked at my phone screen for a moment before his face showed that he just realized something.
“Remember what?”
“Not one hundred baht per second, but one hundred dollars per second.”
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