NORTHHOWMUCHISYOURLOVE, Chapter 9 part 2
“Just let them be, sometimes the praise is over the top.” Seriously, in others’ eyes, Phii Johan might be handsome, rich, good at studying, and good at work, but for me, he’s just an incredibly self-centered, scolding, and threatening debtor. “If fans knew, they’d probably retreat in droves. Try having a girlfriend and treat her like he treats me, you’ll see how rare it is to find someone who can tolerate him.”
“Does Phii Joe know that you’re being talked about like this? “
“Yeah, forget it, stop thinking on my behalf, I haven’t even thought anything yet.” I said, wondering how to make it clear that I really wasn’t thinking about anything. I didn’t want Ter to blame Phii Joe; he did nothing wrong. I didn’t want them to have bad feelings towards each other, better to blame the person for being an idiot.
“Who’s coming? That white Benz is blindingly beautiful.” Phii Ya said, looking towards the shop front. Phii Hill had arrived to pick us up. So, Ter and I said goodbye to Phii Ya and got into Phii Hill’s car, with Ter sitting in the front passenger seat and me in the back.
“Why do your eyes look red?” Phii Hill’s first question made Ter jump, and indeed, there was no escaping his observant eyes.
“Uh, I was about to cry.” Ter said quietly.
“Why would you cry?”
“Phii Joe.”
“What did Joe do?” Phii Hill asked sharply, which made me jump in surprise. Don’t you dare, Ter, Phii Hill is scary when he’s angry, and you know it, T^T
“Phii Joe did something to North.”
“What did he do?” Phii Hill asked, looking at me through the rearview mirror.
“Ter, you…there’s nothing, Phii. Ter’s just overthinking.”
“What are you overthinking about? Can you tell me?” Why is Phii Hill’s voice so gentle now? Sigh, I’m melting into the seat.
“I was just scared that North would overthink because the page was posting really harsh stuff. It wasn’t like this when I was dating.” Ter finally spilled everything.
“Oh, the page posted pictures of Joe?”
“Yeah, with North, have you seen it yet?”
“Not yet, I’ll check it out.” Phii Hill said, letting go of the steering wheel with one hand to reach over and pat Ter’s head, “Don’t cry, brave one.”
Ugh…
As for the page stuff, I wouldn’t cry over that.
I’d cry out of jealousy, this couple is always sweet from start to finish, this kind of love is what’s really enviable.
“Why are Phii Joe’s fans so intense?” Ter asked.
“Joe gives hope to everyone, that’s why.” Phii Hill answered, “But it’s calmed down a lot now.”
“True. If he’s still talking to others, he should stay away from my friend.”
Uh huh, Ter…
“Yes?”
And Phii Hill as well…
“So, do you think too much about it? “
“Oh. No, not at all. Didn’t think about it at all, Phii. “
“That’s good.” Phii Hill said only that before a beautiful car pulled up in front of the regular restaurant we often visit after work. Once we got to the table, we ordered food as usual. After a while, Phii Hill’s phone rang, seeming like someone was calling. Phii Hill glanced at the screen, sighed slightly, and excused himself to take the call.
…
(Hill. Have you picked him up yet?) “You called just to ask that? Normally, you’d just message me. “
(I’m working, too lazy to type.)
“Didn’t you say you were taking a break? “
(It’s urgent. So, how did it go? Did you pick him up?)
“Yes. “
(What are you eating today?)
“Noodles, at the usual place.”
(What’s your heart made of, eating noodles every evening?)
“He wanted to eat it. “
(Can’t say no to your wife, huh?)
“Exactly. “
(Go eat something nice for a change, have some mercy on the money in my card.)
“He won’t go, what can I do about it? Stop transferring money, you beast. “
(Hurry up and use it, when will the money run out if you keep eating just noodles?)
“How can I spend it all? Buy him a car with that much money? “
(Go on, ask if he has a driver’s license yet.)
“Funny.”
(Who’s funny? Ask, what model do you want? Not the big one, that’s dangerous.)
“The kid probably knows how to drive.”
(Can you teach?)
“A bit less, he’s good at spending money, that’s the only thing he’s good at.”
(You’re killing me, does your wife do laundry often?)
“Yeah. Have you seen the page yet?”
(No, why?) “My boyfriend is going to cry because of you.”
(Huh, what did I do now?)
“They posted your picture, probably you with him, imagine what your fans think.”
(…)
(Damn it.)
(And how is he now, okay?)
“It looks okay, he’s not overthinking. It’s fine because he doesn’t think about you that way.”
(Ass.)
“So what now, my boyfriend is overthinking instead.”
(I’ll handle it myself, the page admin likes to stir trouble, it’s annoying.)
“What about the comments?”
(Yeah, I’ll deal with it.)
“Plenty of girls in the lineup.”
(Working on it.)
“Ter said not to mess with his friend if you’re still flirting with others.”
(Understood.)
“So you have chosen him? “
(Yeah…I’ve chosen him for a long time.)
“Good. “
“In your messed-up life, you should get serious about someone. “
(Yeah.)
(Always scolding.)
“Try being gentle sometimes, can you do that? “
(That’s my limit. That’s all I can do for now.) “What about the part-time job? Ter won’t even tell me that North has been secretly working. Seems like they really don’t want you to know. “
(Yeah. If they don’t want me to know, I won’t know.)
“Should I get him to watch over things? “
(No, change it to dad’s underling instead.)
“Sounds more believable to go and wreck a shop than to watch people. “
(If it can be done, it’s been done.)
“Up to you then. “
(Don’t go telling your boyfriend.)
“If I were to tell, I would have told him long ago. “
(Yeah, good person.)
“Anything else? “
(Spend all the money.)
“With this much money left, and you still have the audacity to dock his pay? The money in the card you gave me, it…”
(Use it quickly then.)
“Um, I’m thinking.”
(What?)
“Why do I have to go through all this trouble for someone like you?”
(The word ‘friend’ is the only thing keeping us together.)
“End this.”
(No can do, I met your dad the other day.)
“Why did you meet my dad?”
(To do business with your dad.)
“So I can’t escape you, huh?”
(Got it.)
“Sigh, fine, I’m leaving.” (Okay.)
…
“North…Can I ask you something?” Phii Hill asked as soon as he sat back at the table. I, who was chewing a mouthful of meatballs, looked up at him.
“Yes?”
“Do you want anything right now?”
“What? Uh, want something, what do you mean?”
“Like a car, a house, a condo?”
“Wait, why would I want something like that?” I almost choked before quickly swallowing and responding, why ask something like this out of the blue?
“Nothing, just asking.” Phii Hill shook his head slightly before starting to eat the food he had just ordered, “Do you want to stop anywhere?”
“Can we stop at a bakery?” Ter asked.
“Sure, we can do that.” Phii Hill turned to give Ter a kind smile before asking me, “How about you, North?”
“No, thank you.” I said, feeling a bit shy. I didn’t feel like having sweets like Ter.
“Really? “
“Yes.” I nodded to confirm my answer. Not sure if I was imagining it, but Phii Hill seemed to want me to buy some snacks like Ter does, it’s happened several times.
It seemed like Phii Hill let out a small, exasperated sigh before looking up to ask me again.
“How’s it going with Joe’s debt? “
“Uh. It’s going well. I haven’t paid back a single baht yet.” I said with a forced smile.” Is he asking for it back? “
“No, and how are you counting this? “ “Phii Prang, the secretary, is the one handling the counting. Phii Johan just deducts. “
“Ah, I see. He probably doesn’t even remember how much North owes, does he? “
“Oh, is that so?” Two hundred thousand baht is nothing to him, T^T
“And about the deductions? “
“He deducts at every opportunity. Sometimes I don’t even know why he’s deducting. It’s like he wants the money, but at the same time, not really. “
“He doesn’t really want the money anyway.”
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows in response to his statement. Phii Hill didn’t reply and stood up to go pay the bill. I followed along with Ter.
“Hey, North, look at this. They shared it.” Ter nudged me and showed me his phone as we were walking back to the car.
—Shared Post
Urgent Announcement! The Cute Boy page of our university is gone, including the admins’ personal Facebook accounts. No one knows the real reason (though we’re sure there’s something behind it). Right now, the admins are very upset because all the photos and good memories we’ve worked hard to create are gone. Not sure if we can recover them, but if we decide to create a new page or anything like that, we’ll let you know. Oh no, I can’t tweet about our husbands anymore.
“The page is gone, this must be the karma from bad mouthing you.” Ter said. I just agreed with him. Starting a new page might be good. And if they’re smart, they’d change the admins too. Phii Pin is good, she’s nosy, always sneaking pictures, sometimes it’s just ridiculous.
“Phii Hill, that page is gone.” Ter told Phii Hill as soon as he got into the car.
“Really? “ “Wow, that’s great, the comments bashing North are gone too.” “That’s really good, isn’t it?” “But I don’t know how they disappeared.”
“Someone with money to spare probably paid someone to do it.”
“Hmm? That person must not like the page either.” Ter said, clearly relieved and happy, he’s been overthinking on my behalf and now he’s relieved for me too, you’re really a good person.
Once we got back to the dorm, I dropped my bag onto the table and flopped onto the bed as usual when I came home tired, and today was another tiring day.
“North, I wanted to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“What do you think about Phii Johan? You guys talk a lot, meet often, he picks you up and drops you off, you’ve slept together, he even lends you his clothes.”
“Why are you asking out of the blue? Usually, you’re just teasing.”
“Just asking, after what happened today, I’m not okay with it, it’s like you’re being attacked when you haven’t done anything.”
“You’re overthinking again.” I answered, shaking my head, “I don’t care about being bashed. What can they do to me?”
“And all the times I teased you, I didn’t tell anyone else, I just wanted to tease you a bit. You don’t overthink when I tease, right?” Ter said with a stressed face, furrowing his brows as if he might cry, here we go again, he’s quick to cry, why so sensitive about stuff like this? Well, I guess it’s a good trait to care about others’ feelings.
“Yeah, I don’t overthink. Even if you pair me up with some random person, I won’t get mad, okay? If you cry again, I’ll throw away your lens.”
“North, why are you so cute like this?”
“I’m not comforting you, go die.” “See, you’re making someone blush.” “Goosebumps, you animal.” I said, sighing. I really don’t like this kind of drama. “But Phii Johan isn’t involved with anyone anymore, you know. Maybe he likes you, picking you up and dropping you off like this, lending you clothes, giving you money. If he really does like you, what would you do?”
“…”
I paused for a moment, to be honest, there have been times when I’ve secretly thought about it. I mean, it’s natural to think about it with all these signs, but I’ve chosen to not pay much attention, just like with Phii Tharn’s case. I don’t want to find an answer. I don’t want to think about it and give myself a headache.
“I really don’t know. Honestly, I never really thought about it. “
“Why? “
“I truly don’t know what to do. I don’t want to overthink, I mean…I’ve just had my heart broken. You know, and I also don’t like cluttering my mind with too much. It’s not exactly that I’m not ready for someone, I just can’t explain it. “
“That’s very confusing. “
“Exactly. But if I really like someone and I’m sure about it, I’m not a complicated person. I’d be good to them, make them understand. “
“Romantic, huh? “
“Yeah, I’m that kind of romantic guy. But right now, it’s just day by day, I guess. Some days I still think about him. “
“North…”
“I know, I know, it’s not about anything else. Just when I think of him, it pops into my head, but it’s weird, as soon as I think of him, the next person I think about is Phii Johan. It’s like my mind is reminding me I’ve got this huge debt hanging over me, and it’s also a reminder that my big problems come from thinking about him too much, but I don’t blame him. “ “So right now, it’s…? “ “It’s what?” I repeated, not understanding. “Your heart, how is it? “
“I don’t want to think about it. Just letting it be. “
“Isn’t that too easy going? Someone else would be going crazy with worry, especially with someone like Phii Johan always hovering around. “
“Hovering? That’s an interesting choice of words.” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“And the question I asked earlier. If Phii Johan likes you, what would you do? Do you have an answer now?” I furrowed my brows at Ter, why ask the same thing multiple times? Haven’t I given an answer already?
“Are you trying to stir things up again? “
“No, this one is serious. I want to know where my ship is heading. Will it sink or what? Is there even a chance, or are you not okay with it? “
“If he likes me? “
“Yeah. “
“Hmm…Well, I wouldn’t do anything, what am I supposed to do? “
“Sigh. I shouldn’t have asked you.” Ter said with a sigh, “So, what do you think Phii Joe thinks about you?”
“Should I have some sort of enlightenment about everything? Why do I have to be asked these things?” I said, feeling annoyed. Why do I have to deal with these questions?
“Guess, you can tell when Phii Tharn likes you, right?”
“Who wouldn’t notice? He’s been patting my head so much I’m nearly bald.”
“Yeah, right.” Ter said, letting out a laugh, “So, any guesses?”
“Well, sometimes I think, but who flirts like that?”
“Do what?”
“Curses at me like I’ve burned his house down.” “Maybe it’s their way of flirting, the aggressive type.” “Well, then, what if Phii Hill cursed at you like that?” “I’d be startled.”
“Exactly.”
“But because it’s you, if someone approached you subtly like Phii Tharn, you’d probably just keep them in the friend zone. Maybe this is a new flirting strategy.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know, but I want to know, what should I do?”
“Reduce your curiosity, maybe your life would be happier.”
“Wow, you’re being mean now, are you influenced by Phii Joe?”
“Crazy, that’s just me.”
“So you’re going to keep being clueless like this? Regarding Phii Joe’s fans, and Phii Joe himself?”
“Yeah, whatever happens, happens, damn, you’re making such a fuss about me.”
“It’s because I care, as a friend.”
“Alright.”
“Annoyance.”
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