SOUTHBESIDETHESKY, Chapter 38: Shining
Tonfah
After the short trip, celebrating Phoon’s birthday in Japan, which only lasted a few days, we returned to Thailand because we didn’t have much time. We had to continue studying. I think it must have been another good period for Phoon, not only did he get to see his mom but also travel with friends.
That day, after spending the whole day sightseeing and taking photos, riding the Ferris wheel, and ending with a celebratory meal at a restaurant, we returned to Thailand the next day. Phoon had been busy editing photos and the birthday video for several days, and he wouldn’t let me see it beforehand, saying he’d show it all once it was complete.
Looking at my watch, it’s now past ten at night, and today was another day with classes until late. I told Phoon to eat something first; believe me, it’s not a good feeling, not having time to even be together like this, especially when there are classes early tomorrow morning too.
I opened the door to the room slowly, set my bag down, and scanned the room for the person I missed all day. I saw Phoon slumped over the desk, asleep. I tiptoed over carefully so as not to wake him, opening the screen where he was editing the video. I couldn’t help but smile as I secretly saved everything he hadn’t closed before shutting down the computer. Then, I gently lifted him from the desk and laid him on the bed.
He must have been sitting in front of the computer all day until he was exhausted. I closed the bedroom curtains and turned on the bedside lamp before heading to the bathroom to shower and change. When I came out to check the kitchen counter, there were a couple of dishes wrapped in plastic, probably left by Phoon for me.
Because he’s just so sweet like this…
I unwrapped the plastic, heated up the food, served some rice, waited for the dishes to warm up, then had my dinner, and placed the dishes in the sink.
I peeked in to see if Phoon was sleeping soundly, and when I thought he was, I closed the bedroom door and went to make some coffee, preparing to study for the night.
In truth, my life before dating Phoon was quite ordinary and boring. Days were spent studying, nights reading, and then studying again the next day, with free time also dedicated to reading. It was just this cycle. But after having a boyfriend, some things changed, like bringing color to my otherwise mundane days.
I often study until late at night; it’s a habit I’ve had for a long time, even before getting into medical school, and now even more so. Usually, Phoon would sit and watch TV or listen to music on the sofa to keep me company while I studied until he fell asleep.
Actually, there’s something that’s been on my mind a lot lately, even before I took Phoon to Japan, because during the midterms, I didn’t perform well. I don’t know, can I call myself not good? I thought I had studied as hard as I could, but when it came to the actual exam, there were several questions I couldn’t answer.
That’s just how exams are. There’s no way you can answer everything given the difficulty and standards of the exams. The higher the year, the harder the subjects get, probably because I’ve never had so many unanswered questions before, which made me feel bad. My scores were as expected; I knew from the exam that my marks would be around this level. Even though everyone said I did well, even the best among them, it still wasn’t good enough for myself.
It’s really hard to overcome this habit of putting too much pressure on myself, and when my parents said they thought I could do better, it only increased the pressure. They weren’t really pressuring me, but as I’ve said, it’s an expectation, thinking I should do better, believing I should be like this or that.
Sigh…thinking about it won’t change anything, better to focus on the present. I concentrated on the study sheet in front of me for over an hour until I had to rest my eyes from exhaustion, letting out a sigh as I felt tired.
I got up from the desk and walked to the storage shelf to look for old study sheets. While searching, I found an old cigarette pack.
Oh, I totally forgot about cigarettes. I haven’t smoked for months now, and I didn’t smoke often before, so I didn’t think about it much. When I picked up the pack, I saw there was a post-it note stuck on it with the message:
‘Don’t smoke often, I’m worried.’
Typhoon
I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the message on the post-it. Phoon must have found it while cleaning and thought I was still smoking, but he didn’t ask or say anything about it.
I peeled off the post-it and stuck it on the back of a notebook to keep before throwing away the cigarette pack. After finding the study sheets I needed, I went back to reading. Almost an hour later, I heard the bedroom door open slowly. I turned to see that the person who had been sleeping was now awake, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he walked towards me.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
“Yeah, what time is it?”
“Almost midnight.”
“Oh, I didn’t even know when you came back.”
“Today, I got back at ten in the evening, and I saw you slumped over the desk, asleep.”
“Oh, why didn’t you wake him up? I haven’t even showered yet; he’ll stink.”
“He seemed fine to me.”
“No, he should shower first,” Phoon said before going to grab his clothes and disappearing into the bathroom. He came out after about ten minutes in simple pajamas, “I’m up now.” “How can you sleep after showering like that?”
“I’ll get sleepy soon. What time will you read until tonight?”
“Probably until about two in the morning.”
“Oh, then I will go back to editing the video. Phii Fah you didn’t peek, right?” “No, I didn’t look.”
“Okay, don’t let me catch you cheating.”
“Yes, yes,” I couldn’t help but smile at the look on his face, “Give me some encouragement for studying, please.” My words made him slowly come closer, and he kissed my cheek.
“Susuna!”
“One more.”
“…” Phoon slightly frowned before leaning in and kissing my other cheek. When I said I wanted encouragement, I meant a kiss, but this was fine for now. I smiled contentedly, and Phoon walked away with a slightly red face, sitting back at the computer desk, putting on headphones to continue editing videos and photos.
…
Typhoon
Having had a nap and a shower, I was now wide awake, focusing on video editing for a while. Then I remembered that tomorrow was the day the exam results would be announced, which made me anxious.
It’s five fifty-five now.
Just five more minutes!
I quickly opened the exam results website, but it was down, oh, damn it, it happens every year! I stood up in agitation, almost unable to sit still, trying to calm myself down when I noticed Phii Fah was seriously reading.
I refreshed the page while keeping an eye on the time, and as the seconds ticked by, I got more and more excited, feeling all tense! My heart pounded intensely when I realized it was midnight, and while trying to load the website, my hands were shaking all over. I was so excited I could almost explode, but I had to stay quiet!
“Come on, load!” I whispered to myself. This ‘load’ meant the exam results, come on, load already! How long will this website take to load?
It’s loaded!
I held my breath as the white website slowly loaded.
I passed!!
“Arghhhhh!!!” I accidentally shouted out loud, startling Phii Fah, who was reading and quickly turned to look at me.
“Phoon! What’s wrong?”
“Phii Fah, aaah!!!”
“Uh, what’s up?” Phii Fah quickly got up from his chair and came over to me.
“Uh, I, I, oh, argh, I passed, I passed, I got into the photography program, I passed!” I shouted with joy until it was almost incoherent. I looked at the website again for reassurance, and Phii Fah rushed to look at the screen too, showing signs of happiness as well.
“Congratulations~~” Not waiting for Phii Fah to finish, I jumped to hug him out of joy, unable to contain myself. Phii Fah looked a bit confused at being suddenly jumped on, but he quickly caught me.
“I passed, oh, I, this…I!”
“That’s great, congratulations, I knew you could do it.”
“Thank you for believing in me, I did it! Yay!” Before Phii Fah gently set me down, I was nearly overwhelmed with joy. All the effort and studying for months wasn’t in vain; I finally got to study what I wanted! Phii Fah gently patted my head, looking at me with affection.
I grinned back at him immediately.
Now, I had to show off!
I quickly grabbed my phone to call everyone. The last person I chatted with on LINE was Ter. I called him right away. It wasn’t long before the call was answered.
“Ter!!”
(What!? Why are you so loud!)
“Aren’t you asleep yet?”
(You bastard. Not just when calling out names, your voice cracks the whole sentence. Still watching Phii Hill read, and what?)
“Me! Passed! Got in!”
(What?)
“Passed, you asshole, got into Photo!”
(Holy shit, congrats, man, that’s great, let’s celebrate tomorrow.)
“Yeah, we have to celebrate, can’t miss it now.”
(Yeah, yeah, so have you told anyone else yet?)
“Not yet, you’re the first. I’ll call to brag to others now.”
(Heh. Nothing else, right?)
“Nothing else. Just wanted to brag about passing.”
(Okay, good night then.)
“Good night.”
I immediately scrolled through my chats to find Foam, calling him on LINE. He answered not long after. Of course, I called him with that cracking voice like I always do when I’m excited or upset, and he teased me about it. I told him about passing the exam, and he got really excited, congratulated me, and said we should celebrate together tomorrow, sounding just like Ter. We only talked for a bit before hanging up because he was actually sleeping and had to wake up to answer my call.
Then, it was North’s turn, I guess.
“Man, th-th-th!!”
(Why’s your voice cracking? What’s up?)
“Aren’t you asleep yet?”
(-fuck, I’m playing games.)
“I see. Didn’t know.”
(So, what’s up?)
“Me! Passed! Got into! Pho! To! Now!”
(Really? Congrats, I knew you’d make it.)
“Yeah, let’s celebrate tomorrow.”
(Okay, okay, we’ll plan it. I’m going to play some games now.)
“Addicted to games. Not sleeping, huh?”
(Playing games while waiting for Phii Jo to finish studying.)
“Oh, well, goodnight then.”
(Goodnight.)
After hanging up with North, the last person to call was Daotok.
“Daotok!”
(…Your voice sounds excited, which means something must have happened.)
“I passed the photo exam!” I didn’t shout as loudly as with the others because I didn’t want to yell at Daotok.
(Really? Wow, that’s great, congratulations. You’re a smart cat, no surprise there.)
“Yeah, let’s celebrate tomorrow.”
(Celebrate?)
“Yeah, are you coming? I’ve already made plans with everyone.”
(I probably won’t make it, sorry, I’ll give you a gift later.)
“Why? Are you not free?” (Well, yeah.)
“Come on, Dao never comes to celebrations, come on, it’ll just be for a bit.”
(…)
“Pleaaaase.”
(…Alright, then tell me the place. We’ll meet at the restaurant.) “Okay! And why are you up so late? Don’t tell me you’re working again.”
(Then we won’t tell.)
“So, you’re working, huh?”
(Yeah, yeah.)
“Okay, okay, good luck. Sorry for bothering you, get some rest.”
(Yeah, sweet dreams, cat.)
“Sweet dreams to you too.”
And with that, the mission of calling everyone to brag, I mean, to share the good news about passing the exam, was complete. I turned back to smile broadly at Phii Fah, the joy still not fading.
“I might even get honors, heh-heh.”
“Yes, you can do it.”
“I will do my best, as a student of yours, I won’t let my teacher down!” I said with a strong voice, making a respectful gesture, which made Phii Fah smile slightly at my antics.
“If you go to study, I will probably only be able to tutor you for free outside of school. But for photography and stuff like that, you should already be good at it.”
“Yes.” And with overwhelming joy, I hugged the person in front of me again. Phii Fah hugged me back.
Now I have done it, Fan.
I’ll have to tell this good news to Mom, Aunt Nuan, and Aunt Prae too!
…
Tonfah
Today was supposed to be a day for the juniors to get together for a celebration; they had already booked a restaurant thinking everyone would be free on Saturday, but we ended up having make-up classes. So, I dropped Phoon off to hang out with his friends in the morning, thinking why not. We were supposed to go out for dinner together in the evening. Staying alone in the room in the morning would be quite boring.
I dropped him off at the mall because Phoon said they might eat and watch a movie there, hoping they would stay at the mall and not go causing trouble anywhere else.
It seems Phoon has noticed that I haven’t been feeling too great recently, so he’s been trying to stay close, being more affectionate.
Even though he’s usually quite clingy, it’s because Phoon knows I’ve been studying hard, and telling me not to stress out is something easier said than done. Normally, Phoon takes good care of me, from preparing meals, getting things ready, cleaning the room, doing everything he can.
“Fah!”
“What?” I turned to ask a female friend who approached me during the break.
“Can you explain this part? No one in our group understands it.” “Oh,” and then I explained the content to her, adjusting the professor’s words a bit to make it easier to understand. “Oh, okay, thanks,” she said with a smile. I smiled back courteously, “Oh, Fah, is the person you post on Instagram really your boyfriend?” “Yeah, why?”
“Nothing, he’s cute, is he your junior?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s really cute. We were just talking about how cute your boyfriend is, he’s so adorable.”
“Oh…thanks.”
“I want to meet him in person. What department is he in?”
“He’s about to enter the Photography program.”
“Oh, I’ll go check him out later, his Instagram is full of pictures of you.”
I didn’t say anything, just smiled, before she talked a bit more and then walked away.
“Jo,” I called out to the person sitting next to me.
“What?”
“Have people ever complimented North on being cute?”
“Sometimes, why?”
“Do you like it?”
“No.”
“Then it’s not weird, right?”
“I don’t know,” Jo said, “The point isn’t whether it’s weird or not, the point is I don’t like it.”
“Hmm,” I let out a small sigh. Even though I wasn’t too pleased with people complimenting Phoon like that, when I thought about it, isn’t it good that people think my boyfriend is cute? They’re just complimenting, it doesn’t mean anything more.
If just seeing a photo makes people say Phoon is cute, does that mean when Phoon enters the new faculty, there will be even more people?
“Hill,” I called out.
“What?”
“When Phoon was studying vet science, did a lot of people like him?”
“…Why suddenly ask?” Hill raised an eyebrow, looking slightly puzzled, “Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Uh, Ter told me there were quite a few, both seniors and peers.”
“Quite a few?”
“Uh, that’s what I heard.”
“How many people?”
“Don’t know.”
“How did they flirt?”
“Don’t know.”
“And what did Phoon say?”
“He probably rejected them.”
“Probably? Why probably?”
“…”
“Were they just flirting, not chasing him aggressively, right?”
“No, they didn’t.”
“Well, that’s good,” I sighed in relief. Even though it’s in the past, if someone had done something bad to Phoon, I would definitely feel uneasy.
“When he enters Photo, there will probably be people liking him again,” Hill said.
“Yeah,” I shrugged slightly, not too concerned.
“People are looking at your boyfriend, do you like it?”
“I don’t like it, but what does it matter if they look?”
“…”
“Phoon only looks at me, that’s all.”
“Fuck, that’s really annoying,” Jo said, bursting into laughter, making me laugh too, “So, you’re saying Phoon loves you a lot?”
“No. Not saying that, but it’s true.” I teased them just for fun, and indeed, they got annoyed.
“A new level of bragging,” Arthit teased, “I thought Hill and Jo were annoying enough, but you, Fah, take the cake.”
“And what about you, Arthit? Don’t you have anything to brag about?” I countered. “Huh? Me?”
“Yeah. Nothing?”
“How could there be?”
“Someone you’re talking to?”
“My dad still doesn’t talk to me these days.”
“Hasn’t he unblocked you on LINE yet?” Jo asked, laughing. “Yeah, tell my dad to unblock me on LINE, you have his LINE, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, my friend’s situation is pitiful.”
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