SOUTHBESIDETHESKY, Chapter 39: Ten and Million
Since today we planned to celebrate together in the evening, but the doctors had classes, we decided to hang out in the morning first. Right now, there’s me, North, and Ter, who were dropped off by the doctors, playing at a cafe in the mall waiting for Daotok to join us to watch a movie. Foam said he’d only come in the evening because he didn’t want to be out in the sun.
“It’s taking forever,” North started complaining.
“Dao drives so slowly,” Ter said, “I saw him once, driving 30mph.”
“Shit, when will he get here?”
“Drive safely, man.”
“Like you’re riding a bike.”
“And you’re really going to watch that movie?” I asked again for reassurance, as North had volunteered to choose the movie himself. Of course, someone as afraid of ghosts like North would choose a horror movie…I don’t quite understand why, but it seems he likes them because they scare him, given his vivid imagination compared to those who don’t watch them.
“Yeah, I’m serious.”
“You’ll scream your head off in the theater again,” Ter said, shaking his head lightly.
“What. Who’s screaming? Me? That’s a laugh, Ter, you’re the one who screams.”
“Oh, we’ll see.”
“Aren’t you scared?” I asked.
“I am scared.”
“Then why watch? You’re scared of ghosts but still watch horror movies, that’s weird.”
“Well, if you’re not scared, what’s the fun in watching? Horror movies are only fun if they scare you.”
“…Yeah, that’s true,” I nodded in agreement, furrowing my brows at him, “Did you tell Dao about watching a horror movie?”
“I told him, and Dao said he’s fine with it, he likes watching them,” Ter said.
“See, you’ve found someone with the same taste.”
“Dao gets along with you like a house on fire.”
“Has Dao ever not gone along with us?” Ter said, “Even though he doesn’t like celebrations. Just a little coaxing and he agrees to come.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” I nodded in agreement, because usually, he always refuses when we invite him out. This time, we tried coaxing him, and Dao agreed more easily than expected. If Dao had refused again, I wouldn’t have pushed further; he really doesn’t like celebrations or crowded places, especially if there are people he’s not close with.
And if we invite him like this, will Dao feel uncomfortable? Oh no, I was just thinking about getting him out of his room to meet us, forgetting that he might feel uncomfortable.
Not long after, Daotok arrived, sat down next to me in the shop.
“Have you booked the movie yet?” asked the new arrival.
“Ugh, another half hour.”
“Oh, it’s a horror movie, right?”
“Yeah,” I replied, “Ugh, Dao, tonight. It’s okay, right? There will be some doctors there, so you won’t feel uncomfortable, will you?”
“…Well.”
“If you feel uncomfortable, it’s okay, I’m sorry. We forgot to consider this. We won’t force you.” “Does the cat want us to go?”
“Of course, he must want us to.”
“Hmm, then we’ll go. It’s fine, we’ve talked about it with all the fans before.”
“Okay,” I smiled at the person sitting next to me, before Ter ordered more snacks to kill time and forced Dao to eat some too.
“Dao, this is delicious, really, try it.”
“Ter says everything is delicious.”
“Hey, but this one is really good, try it.”
“…” The person next to me. I didn’t respond, then picked up a banana samosa, chewed it slowly, and started to frown, which made Ter look worried right away.
“Not tasty?”
“Well…it’s alright.”
“Have some more, a lot.”
“Is this fattening me up or what?” North spoke up, grabbing some from the plate to eat, “Not wanting to be fat alone, huh, need company to be fat too?”
“Shut up and break that samosa!”
“See, pretending to be tough.”
“Actually, with the new semester starting soon, I miss the beginning of the first year,” I mentioned, remembering, “It’s almost your anniversary with Phii Hill, isn’t it?” “Hmm, yeah,” Ter nodded.
“Time flies, huh. I remember the first time I knew Phii Hill was flirting with you were like…shit.”
“Shit, because Phii Hill is friends with Phii Fah?”
“Yeah,” I nodded and let out a small laugh, “Back then it was like, shit, the world is so damn small. When I went to find you at the star moon pageant, I got lost with Foam and then Phii Fah was the one who picked me up. At that moment, I almost had a heart attack, especially when I found out he was friends with Phii Hill who was hitting on Ter.”
“I sensed something was off from that moment,” Ter said.
“Really?”
“Yeah, your face looked like you were about to cry.”
“Oh, come on,” I frowned slightly, feeling annoyed, “I thought I was pretty smooth.” “You, Phoon?”
“Yeah.”
Then we chatted for a while until the movie started. We had seats right in the middle, sitting in order: me, North, Ter, Dao. At first, when the movie started, it wasn’t so bad, but as it went on, the movie’s atmosphere got scarier and more tense. I started to curl up bit by bit, pulling my legs up to hug them.
“Uhmm…” North?
What kind of noise is that?
“Don’t…don’t do that, don’t ‘uhmm’.”
“…”
“!!!” As soon as the ghost in the movie appeared, North was so startled that he pulled me into a tight hug, before the popcorn in his hand spilled all over me.
Sticky.
“!!! Why did you pinch me?” North whispered softly because I had just pinched his arm.
“It’s sticky, did you buy the popcorn just to pour it on me?” I whispered back.
“Sorry, I was startled.”
“…” I let the person who suggested watching the horror movie hug my arm, or rather, squeeze it, to the point where I think the blood flow was cut off, because I’m not really scared of ghosts. Just startled by some scenes. Turning to peek, I saw Dao also getting hugged by Ter.
What in the world is this…
When the movie ended, the person next to me, who finally let go of my arm, felt indescribably relieved as we walked out of the theater.
“Man, it wasn’t scary at all, you reviewer.”
“Really, North?” I teased back while showing him my arm full of red marks, “Did you bite my shirt too?”
“Heh,” North gave a sheepish smile while lightly scratching his head.
“Damn, my sleeve is full of your saliva.”
“Heh.”
“Still laughing your ‘heh’?”
“North is such a scaredy-cat,” Dao chimed in.
“Ter was hugging you too, wasn’t he? Why don’t you say anything about him?”
“He wasn’t hugging, just hiding. Ter is just normal, but North is super scared.”
“…Uh, so what? Everyone has something they’re afraid of!
Everyone is scared of ghosts!”
“I’m not scared.”
“I’m not really either,” I replied.
“Liar, how do you watch a horror movie without getting scared?” “The director tries to make us scared,” Dao explained, “Just think that there’s a camera following the actors, and it’s not scary anymore.
Ghosts have to have makeup, and everything else has to be edited, props and all.”
“Ah, that’s it, how can it be fun then?” North mumbled unhappily,
“Your heart is numb to the ghosts now.”
After that, we went for lunch because the doctors had classes all day, making us stay here all day too. At noon, during the break, usually Phii Fah would call me, and today was no different. We talked for a while before hanging up, and I noticed Phii Hill and Phii Jo also called Ter and North.
“Everyone looks so much livelier after talking with their partners.”
“Don’t you have anyone you interested in?” Ter asked teasingly, and Dao shook his head slightly.
“No.”
“It would be nice if someone took care of you,” I added.
“Oh. I already have someone to take care of.” “Who!!” the three of us asked in unison.
“Should I tell you?”
“Just give us a hint!”
“He’s very important.”
“How important?”
“The whole world.”
“Wow, he’s as important as the whole world? Are you kidding?”
North started to tease. I exchanged an embarrassed look with Ter, while Daotok just smiled casually, not showing any embarrassment despite what he just said, “Why are you so romantic?”
“Romantic, huh?”
“Yeah, he would be embarrassed if he heard that.”
“But he doesn’t seem embarrassed.”
“Oh, why so cold?”
“Yeah, he’s pretty cold with me, but even so.”
“Wow, I want to see his face.”
“I have a picture.”
“!!! Show it! Show it! Let’s see!” we said loudly enough to startle Dao, who then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
Are you really going to show us? Why so easy? And why haven’t you mentioned him before, like Daotok? And he’s cold on top of that!
What kind of person could be as important as the whole world to Daotok!!
“Here.”
“!!!”
“What…what is this?!” “Uh, handsome, huh?”
“Shit! Why show me a picture of a cat?!” North exclaimed immediately because the picture Dao just showed us was of a black cat.
“This is him, my important person.”
“It’s not a person, it’s a cat! How can a cat be an important person?
You should say it’s an important cat.”
“It’s equally important!”
“Hey, you spoke loudly for the first time!” North looked surprised. I was also quite surprised because Dao’s sentence earlier was a bit louder than usual, I emphasize, just a bit. Normally, Dao speaks softly and slowly.
“Is Jon ca—, this person?” Ter asked.
“Uh, this is Jon…my whole world.” This guy is a cat slave…
Oh, that’s why they said he acts cold.
“So, don’t tell me that all this time at work you’ve been…”
“Uh, I have to buy the best food for Jon.”
“Holy shit, working until you end up in the hospital just to buy food for a cat,” North whispered to me. I couldn’t help but laugh at Dao; it was kind of cute.
So, it’s like we can go hungry, but the cat must be full…
“And why does it have to be Jon?”
“Actually, his name is Jachornsak, shortened to Jon.”
“What kind of cat has the name Jachornsak?” North whispered to me again, almost making me burst out laughing. Dao always likes to give fancy names to everything. Like the cat doll he gave me, it’s named Supaporn.
Oh…buying cat dolls because he likes cats, huh?
“Is the reason you like to call me ‘cat’ because you like cats?” “Exactly. That’s why I love cats so much,” Daotok said happily, which explained why he called me “cat” instead of my name every time. That’s why.
But why do you look so cheerful?
I’ve never seen him smile this wide before…Because he was looking at Jon’s photo, huh? Wow, the power of cats is truly something. “Oh, so when you said you were saving to move to a condo, it was for…” Ter asked, as if he just remembered.
“Yeah. I’m going to take Jon to live with me, the dorm doesn’t allow pets.”
“Oh,” we nodded in understanding. It explained why Daotok was so hardworking, why he had to work hard every day. It wasn’t just for the car payments, but for Jon’s upkeep too…
“So, where are we heading next?” I asked, checking the time and realizing it wasn’t time for the celebration yet.
“Why not karaoke?”
“Sounds good,” North quickly agreed, since he loved to sing.
“Fine by me,” I said.
“Let’s do it,” Dao said, before we headed to karaoke. Neither I nor
Dao sang; I didn’t sing because I’m not much of a singer and I’m shy. Dao just listened, while North practically monopolized the microphone, occasionally passing it to Ter.
“Damn, Jon!” North, walking beside me, exclaimed, looking over at Ter and Dao talking about cats. When it comes to cats, Daotok becomes a different person. I was still taken aback seeing Dao so cheerful, “I’ve never met such a true cat servant.”
“Same here, it seems like he’s dedicated his life to serving cats.” “Yeah, working so hard, I thought he had debts, damn, it’s all for the cat.”
“He seems to have clear goals, though.”
“At first, I thought he was secretly dating someone, oh well, all that anticipation for nothing, talking like it’s a person, somehow I feel outdone by it.”
“It’s kind of cute, calling the cat ‘Mister.’ and me ‘cat’, it’s all so confusing.”
“Yeah,” North laughed, before we went outside because Phii Fah was coming to pick us up. We noticed the sky was overcast, “It’s going to rain, it was sunny this morning.”
“Definitely Jon’s power,” I teased, and North laughed again.
“Dao, what are you going to do, ride your motorcycle here?” Ter asked the person next to him.
“I’ll go ahead first.”
“Is that okay? What if it rains on the way?”
“It’s fine, see you at the restaurant.” Then Dao quickly went to the motorcycle parking area. Not long after, Phii Fah’s car arrived and parked, then he lowered the window and told all three of us to get in. “Hill and Jo are already at the restaurant; it would be too much trouble for everyone to come together.”
“Oh,” North and Ter said in unison from the back seat, and the luxury car moved away from the mall area. I kept looking outside, hoping it wouldn’t rain. Let Dao reach the restaurant first, because riding a motorcycle in the rain is very dangerous.
We got to the restaurant before it started to rain, finding Dao already sitting there, along with Phii Hill and Phii Jo at the same table, plus Foam.
“Isn’t Phii Arthit coming?” I asked.
“He said he had some business. He asked me to tell you he’s happy you passed the exam.”
“Oh,” I nodded slightly before sitting at the table. Just then, it started raining outside, “Good that we came before it rained,” I said, turning to Dao, who nodded slightly in response.
We went to fetch various dishes and brought them back to the table.
Since I’ve known Ter, I’ve been eating at BBQ buffets a lot more often, celebrating every little thing with a BBQ. When we returned to the table, there was alcohol there too.
“Did you order alcohol too?” I asked Phii Fah.
“North ordered it.”
“Heh, I wanted some. Haven’t had any for a while,” North said with a smile before pouring some into his glass and then asked Phii Jo, “Do you want some?”
“Sure,” Phii Jo nodded slightly.
“Phoon, Ter, Dao, Foam?”
“I’ll have some,” Foam said, handing his glass to North. I hesitated a bit since it had been a while since I drank, then turned to ask Phii Fah for advice.
“Go for it. It’s fine, I told you I’ll take care of it.”
“…Oh, North, please give me some.”
“Ter, want some?”
“No.”
“Ter, want some?”
“No.”
“Ter, want some?” North kept repeating the same question until Ter furrowed his brows at him.
“Hey, you, I said no.”
“Are you my friend?”
“Damn,” Ter swore, feeling cornered by the question, before he had to reluctantly hand his glass over to North.
“Dao, are you my friend?”
“Who is North’s friend?”
“Oh, so it’s Dao.”
“Joking. I rode a motorcycle here, how could I drink?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. Then never mind,” North said before raising his glass. We raised our toast with him, “Cheers, Typhoon passed the exam, yeah!!”
Our celebration then turned into ordering more and more alcohol, and this place had so much that we started to wonder if it was actually a bar. But after looking closely, we understood; the shop next door was a bar, probably they had some arrangement.
North was quite the drink mixer, very skilled at it, which might prove true the saying that engineers are good at getting drunk. Looking at how well North mixed drinks, and importantly, no one stopped him.
After a while, Ter was the first to show signs of being drunk; his face started turning red all the way to his ears, his eyes began to glaze over.
“Mix more!”
“Why are you shouting?”
“North! Bring the alcohol!!”
“Already drunk and still so fierce.”
“Hurry up!!”
“Yeah, yeah,” North had to quickly pour more alcohol for Ter. Normally, Ter is the kindest saint among us, but why does he get so aggressive when he’s drunk?
“Am I too slow for you? Huh? Am I too slow?”
“Oh, oh, calm down. You’re a fake saint, aren’t you? Your true nature comes out when you’re drunk,” because of the slow pouring, Ter ended up pulling North’s ear.
“Shut up! Try me!”
“You’re the big shot now, huh? Oh, Phii Hill, stop him, please! My ear is going to come off!”
“Ter, come here,” Phii Hill pulled Ter close without being able to resist, and Ter was flailing around so much that he had to be held tightly.
“Uh, I love you Phii Hill the most.”
“…” And then the whole table went silent with Ter’s words before he fell asleep in Phii Hill’s embrace, his aggressive behavior having dissipated.
Referring to himself as ‘I ’, why am I feeling embarrassed?
“Next, Phoon.”
“I think the one pouring is starting to get drunk too.”
“I’m not drunk.”
When Ter gets drunk, he’s the noisy type. I wonder what type North and Foam are.
Time passed by, and Foam started to slump over the table, drunk. It seems we’ll have to call his roommate to pick him up. Dao took care of calling them. I noticed North was also looking a bit dazed.
“Why are you so good at holding your liquor, Phoon? I thought I had a pretty strong tolerance.” “I’m starting to feel dizzy too.”
“Want to have a drinking contest?”
“Let’s do it.”
“…”
Phii Jo and Phii Fah raised their eyebrows slightly, looking at each other, seemingly waiting to see what the two of us, who were starting to get drunk, would do next.
Phii Hill excused himself to take Ter back home. By now, Foam had passed out, leaving just me and North.
“Phii Jo, can you mix some for us?” North said, pushing everything in front of him towards Phii Jo.
“Is that a good idea?”
“Jo’s got a heavy hand,” Phii Fah remarked.
“It’s fine,” I answered, “Just make two glasses the same, that’s enough. This is a battle of honor, isn’t it, North?”
“Yes! Phii Fah, don’t stop us.”
“You’re both drunk already.”
“What should we do?” Phii Jo asked.
“Just go along with what the younger ones want.”
“Okay,” Phii Jo responded, before he started mixing drinks for us to compete. I wasn’t sure why we were doing this, but at this point, my mind wasn’t very clear anymore, whatever, everything goes. I downed my glass in one go, and North did the same. When I was younger and more rebellious, I used to drink a lot, which made me somewhat resilient to alcohol.
“You still want more?” North asked, his voice slurred.
“Yeah, you?”
“Chill, just saying.”
“Why can you drink so much?”
“Back then, I used to drink with the old man next door every day.”
“You’ve been an alcoholic since you were a kid?”
“Told you, since I was three.”
“You’re full of crap.”
“One more glass then,” we clinked our glasses together. I let the bitter-sweet taste flow down my throat one more time, before the image in front of me started to blur, but I could still see that North had passed out.
“…”
“Yay! I won!” Overjoyed at winning, I stood up and raised both my hands, but because I was drunk, I fell back down, only to be caught by Phii Fah.
“Yes, you’ve won,” Phii Fah said. Unable to fight the heaviness of my eyelids, I closed my eyes, “Let’s go home, Jo.” “Yeah,” Phii Jo responded.
“Uh, Dao.”
“…”
“Dao,” I called out softly.
“Phoon is calling you,” Phii Fah said.
“Oh, what’s up, cat?”
“Foam?”
“His friend came to pick him up.”
“Uh, Dao, get back safely, okay?”
“Uh, okay, see you, congrats on winning.”
“Obviously,” I gave a thumbs up without looking, before feeling myself being lifted, hearing the sound of a car door opening, Phii Fah placed me on the seat and fastened my seatbelt. I let myself drift off to sleep until I felt myself being laid down on a familiar, soft bed.
“Uh…” I groaned in my throat when I felt uncomfortable.
“I will wipe you down in a bit,” he said.
“No, don’t leave,” I waved my hand around before my hand was grasped.
“I’m just going to get a cloth, be right back.”
“No. Don’t leave me.”
“…”
“No matter how good someone else might be, don’t leave me,” I mumbled in a slurred voice, trying to push myself up, but Phii Fah pulled me into a hug first.
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you overthinking because you’re drunk?”
“I am not the best person, but I truly love you Phii Fah, loves you a lot, has loved you for a long time. No matter who comes along, I never cared, if it’s not you, it can’t be anyone else. Even if you don’t choose me, for me, it’s still only you Phii Fah.” “I know, I promised I wouldn’t go anywhere.” “Really?” I asked to confirm.
“Yes, so why are you overthinking now?” Phii Fah asked in a deep voice, then gently stroked my head.
“I saw…on a page.”
“A page?”
“Someone said that I am not right for you Phii Fah at all.”
“…Oh.”
“I don’t care how others see it, but I am afraid that one day someone more suitable for you than me might come along.” I spoke out what had been swirling in my head almost all day, trying not to think about it but unable to suppress the fear. I didn’t really want to voice it out because it might make me seem overly insecure, but with the alcohol coursing through my body, I ended up saying everything.
“Others have no right to decide who I am suitable for. I, Fah, will choose for myself who I want by his side.”
“…”
“And if that person isn’t you, then it can’t be anyone else.”
“…”
“As my partner, don’t look or pay attention to anyone else. Just look at me and that’s enough.”
“Uh, I only look at you. Didn’t you know?”
“I knew already.”
“I love you, more than anything in ten universes and a million galaxies!”
“Thank you, love you too.”
“…”
“The most in ten universes, a million galaxies.”
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