MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 62: Can I stay with you?

[Bohn]

“Bohn, Bohn, hey!”

“Hmm.” I furrowed my brows, closing my eyes tightly as I tightened my hold on what was in my arms. That’s definitely Bom’s voice. What’s he waking us up for so early in the morning, we were just about to sleep, I only got to sleep at one in the morning, doesn’t he have any sympathy?

“Bohn, if they’re this quiet, they must be sleeping deeply.”

“Then open the tent and wake them up, it’s just a regular zipper, isn’t it?” That was Boss’s voice. I remember it well. But what are they doing at my tent?

“Yeah, but I…I’m afraid to open it and see something.”

“See what?”

“Something like…what couples often do, you know.”

“Like ‘foreplay’ or something?”

“Damn, Boss, what kind of words are those? What do they mean?”

“They’re getting it on.”

“Then I guessed right. Merk, you wake them up. Tell them we’re leaving.” “Just open it then…” Merk, you sound sleepy too, don’t you? Your voice doesn’t sound any different from mine when I’ve just woken up. I bet you were forced to get up too.

“Zzt!”

“Hey!!”

Everyone outside screamed in surprise when Merk unzipped the tent open. The sunlight from outside shone in, forcing me to shield my eyes with my hand. I’m awake now, damn it…but it seems I’m not the only one waking up.

“Ugh…Bohn, my eyes hurt.” Duen pulled the blanket over his head, not visible anymore, and grabbed one of my arms to hug tightly, like a cranky cat…making a sound of annoyance in his throat.

“Jackpot…”

“You hit the good stuff.”

“I told you not to open it, look what you’ve done.” Tee hit the arm of the person next to him. When I looked outside, I saw everyone was there…I heard they were about to leave. “Leave” meaning going down the mountain?

“Are we going back to Bangkok already?” I asked but didn’t get up to talk to them properly since I was being held by some cat that wouldn’t let me move.

“Yes.”

“Why so soon? We just got here last night.”

“There’s supposed to be a storm coming or something, so the forest officers don’t want us to be in danger.” What kind of storm, it’s ruining my happiness, damn it.

“Uh, when are we leaving…” Can’t we go down the mountain in the evening? My legs still hurt; if we walk now, it’ll hurt even more.

“In about an hour and a half.” That’s still some time; there’s enough to apply some muscle balm and rest a bit more.

“Oh, I’ll go out in a bit, let me wake Duen up.” It looks like Duen won’t wake up easily. Actually, he usually wakes up easily, but he used up a lot of energy yesterday, so he doesn’t want to get up early. Even someone lazy like me woke up before him.

“You and Duen look exhausted.”

“Oh, Phu, it’s normal, isn’t it? Good weather, alone with your boyfriend in a tent…I bet last night was intense.”

“I told you to be loud. We like it.”

“Duen didn’t want anyone to hear, so I was gentle.”

“Damn, Bohn…you bastard, Bohn.” Wow, how are you awake? And you’ve got the energy to raise your fist to hit my shoulder, even if it’s not hard…his eyes are red, poor thing, but mine are redder because I’ve only slept for a few hours…damn, all because of you, with all the hugging, moaning, and that last touch you left, I was awake all night, just wait, you think because you’re a fool, I wouldn’t dare to sneak some sleep?

“Then we’ll wait at the water tank. Don’t take too long, you guys.” The people outside waved goodbye before leaving, not forgetting to zip up the tent for us.

“Ugh…why did you wake up before me?”

“I couldn’t stand your snoring.”

“Did I really snore?”

“Huh, I was kidding.”

“Wow, I knew it. Me, snoring? You liar…yawn.” He rubbed his eyes. Are you still going to sleep, man? The sun is almost above our heads.

“Wake up, let’s go shower.” I sat up, pulling him by the waist to follow, but since he was still weak, he leaned and buried his face into my shoulder. “No more waterfalls, I’m tired, lazy to walk.” Uh, I’m also lazy. Those guys must be bored if they didn’t say they’d wait at the water tank before leaving.

Yesterday, I checked it out; it’s a large steel tank full of water. To shower, you have to buy water from the seller, it’s not expensive per liter and it’s up to international cleanliness standards (?)

Bihn tried drinking it. He said, “Uh…I feel like I’m about to be enlightened, I’m turning into Father Bihnlee, the lover of the forest. The water flowing from the tap is so clear it hurts my kidneys, the taste and smell make me want to poop…all because I’m moved by the Dharma of this tank’s water.” You’re exaggerating. Frang didn’t go into such a rant after drinking it.

“Uh…morning kiss.” I touched my lips to his lips gently. I didn’t want to pull away so soon, but he pushed my face away. What’s that about? I’ve never gotten a morning kiss from you, only morning kicks. Can’t it be a long one for the first time?

“Uh…I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”

“Whatever, I don’t mind.”

“You might not mind, but I do. I’m going to shower.” With that, he ran out of the tent. What was that?

I followed him out to find that almost everyone from the camp was up, getting ready to shower and change. Wow, so we really slept in late. But what can we do? They said we were leaving for Bangkok tomorrow.

“I swear, Bihn, stop it…”

We walked for a bit and encountered a group of macaques. They weren’t dressed like yesterday, but I think they looked a bit less mischievous, like a softer version. If I had to compare, it would be like Coke versus Pepsi, different but not by much.

Bihn and the gang, wearing checkered sarongs of various colors, looked like a parade of unemployed fathers. The more they stood scratching their bellies, the more they looked like they belonged there, honestly, Boss looks good in comparison.

“You’re here, newlyweds?” Always teasing, huh? But forget it, I’m in a good mood today, do whatever you want, I’d rather go shower with my wife. “Strange, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“Why are you both walking so awkwardly? Bohn, doesn’t your butt hurt?” Bihn, you’re a real mood killer.

“Fuck you, how could I be hurt?” Why wouldn’t I know what he’s thinking?

No, little brother, your brother will never be the bottom, it’s always BohnDuen, not DuenBohn.

“Oh, I thought you’d be the bottom, twist of fate, huh? Duen, does your butt hurt?” You should become a journalist.

“Hmm? Just a little, but it’s not that bad.” Duen gently rubbed his own butt, while Bohn muttered. If I didn’t know what this was about, I’d think deeper, because last night he kept tossing and turning, saying the place was unfamiliar, and the mattress was thin, so his butt hurt. That’s what happens when rich kids have never slept on the floor.

“Damn…”

“I told you Phii Bohn is the top.”

“Damn, did I guess wrong? I thought Duen was always the top.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions, they might be a reversible couple. There are plenty of those nowadays.”

“No, BohnDuen don’t switch roles.” I slapped their heads in turn to bring them back to their senses and to assert my position, stop thinking, you damn kids.

It didn’t take long for us to finish showering, with about an hour left, we asked Ting to take photos for us, and she was happy to do so. She said, ‘Photography is the life and soul of King…it makes my heart bloom with happiness. If I get to photograph ten handsome models, oh, maybe that basket I just finished weaving really has some magic. Shared, I should weave something else, what could it be…breasts, maybe? Just in case they appear,’ uh…

“Nong Phu, Tang, move, me and Merk are doing our pre-wedding shoot, dear, come here.” The mischievous wife bumped into the junior and senior who were standing in front of the camera. What kind of rivalry is this?

“Why steal the shot? Tang is having a moment with code junior.”

“Let them ship, Phu, let’s go over there, my dear.” Thanararit pushed his junior by the shoulder to walk with him. Of course, if they’re together, the goal is nothing but…

“Go for it, there are a lot of girls there, the forest loves it.”

“Wow, your legs are so beautiful, Tang gives you a full ten, no deductions.”

“I think…the boobs are a bit small, bro, not much to grab.”

“But I like cute ones. I don’t need big boobs, they have charm in their own way.” Stop it, you guys are really perverse. By the way, where did Duen go? Not coming to take pictures with his boyfriend? He didn’t get kidnapped by a grizzly bear, did he?

“Bohn, look at this worm, it’s so cute.”

“Hey!” I shouted in surprise when I turned around to see my lover. I wasn’t shocked to see him, I was shocked by the round thing on his finger. Where did you get that from?!

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…let it go, its parents must be looking for it.”

“Are you…scared of worms? Huh?” He gave me an evil grin. I’m not scared, but back when I was in first grade, damn Bihn put one on my pillow, and when I woke up, I was so shocked I nearly passed out. After that…well, I’ve been scared, damn it.

“I’m not scared, I just don’t like them.” I crossed my arms and looked away. I didn’t want to see that green thing hopping on my boyfriend’s finger, eww!

“That’s what we call being scared, you bastard Bohn, huh.”

“Hey!!! Don’t you dare, ah!”

You can probably guess what happened. Of course, Duen chased me around with the worm until I was out of time, so mean. I shouldn’t have shown my fear!

“We’re going back, huh…I don’t want to go, I still want to play at the waterfall.” Duen looked out the window of the bus, as the forestry department seniors came to say goodbye.

The descent from the mountain was much easier than the ascent. We hardly had to exert any effort walking down, just a little sweat and in no time we were back at the park office. It turned out we got back home much earlier than planned, which was a shame since we only got to spend a few hours up there before coming down.

“Did King leave already?”

“Yeah, I kind of miss him.”

“He went to visit his grandma. She’s not dead.” I watched my friend’s back as he left. His grandma came to pick him up. At first, the teacher didn’t allow it, saying it was his responsibility and duty. I don’t know what King’s grandma said to make the teacher agree to let him go.

“Uh. Do you want to sit on the outside or by the window?”

“Window.”

“Then take this neck pillow.”

“Yawn…I’m sleepy.” After agreeing, he used the neck pillow, this bastard likes to sleep with his neck bent, waking up with a sore neck. So, I bought him a neck pillow from the souvenir shop.

“Sleep then. I’ll wake you when we get there.” I positioned his head to lean on my shoulder. He resisted a bit but couldn’t fight my strength, so he sighed in annoyance before giving in.

“Did you buy this for me? I didn’t see it when we came.”

“Yeah, I got tired of hearing you complain about your neck, Bohn.”

“Then I won’t say thanks, since I didn’t ask for it.”

“It’s your business. I did it because I wanted to, not expecting anything in return.”

“I won’t thank you, but I’ll return the favor later, I don’t like owing anyone.” “Heh, you bastard.” I adjusted his head, so damn cute.

I looked out of the car window, damn, it feels like we just got here, why does it feel like we’re back so soon? But whatever, because I’ve done what I intended to do…create good memories with my lover. I don’t know if it’s a good memory for him. If you ask me…I can confidently say it was a very good memory.

Duen told me he loved me for the first time.

“Heh.” I smiled, turning to look at the person who just fell asleep, mumbling something with a jabbing sound. Hungry? We just had breakfast from the park before leaving, he ate two plates. I wonder where he stores all that food.

Squeak!!

Bump

“Ouch!”

“Hey, are you okay?” I lifted his head to check, concerned. The driver turned the car abruptly because a motorcycle cut him off, and the old driver yelled at the motorcycle rider very loudly.

“Just a little, but I’m fine.” The other gently rubbed his head, which was red. Of course, with a sound like that.

“Damn, go back to sleep.”

“Uh-huh.”

If I laughed, he’d definitely curse me out…hold it in, Bohn. Even if his red head and grumpy face just now looked like a child, ha ha.

…

“Duen. We’re at the university.” I nudged the shoulder of the person next to me. I don’t know why, but the road was very clear today. So, we arrived at the university earlier than expected. Why does everything seem to be faster than it should be today?

“Huh? Really…uh.”

“Don’t go back to sleep.”

“…yawn.”

“Wake up early, I’ll take you out for food.” I pinched my lover’s nose playfully. Everyone else had already gone home, leaving just the two of us on the tour bus.

“At Hia Ta?”

“Hia Ta’s place.” I heard Hia expanded the shop, so we should go support it…I lied, Hia renovates his shop all the time, but I’ve never visited. The reason I want to go today is to show off my boyfriend.

“Uh.” The sleepy cat nodded reluctantly, understanding. Seeing that, I carefully helped him off the bus.

“Lift your leg…leg, damn it! Duen!”

“Uh uh.”

“You just keep saying ‘uh,’ move your leg! Hey, watch out for collisions!”

Now it’s a question of whether I’ll introduce my boyfriend at Hia Ta’s shop or at the temple.

 

[Duenhaw]

“Will you spend the break at my condo?”

“Do you want me to?” I tilted my chin to look at him; he nodded eagerly, and I felt a little sorry for him when he said that long sentence back then.

“Uh, I want to be with you.”

“You’re very straightforward. No, I’m too lazy to go, I want to stay home with Daonuea.” After saying that, I took the last bite of rice. We really did eat everything. I’m not sure who between us ate more…or maybe it was both of us?

“What?”

“I said wait a year.”

“Yeah, yeah, I can wait. You’re so cruel.” Bohn muttered without much conviction. I was about to say something more when a loud voice interrupted.

“Uh…sorry to interrupt your happiness…tonight I’m going to confess my feelings to my girlfriend.”

There were cheers and teasing when he said that. The guy on stage seemed to have graduated, looking cheerful. His gaze was fixed on a girl with glasses at the front table. Squeak ddddd

“I…I’m not very good at speaking. So, I’ll sing to express my feelings, it might be bad, please bear with me for a moment…P.S…I’ll skip straight to the chorus.” I gave a playful smile. He turned to say something to the musicians, then turned back with an embarrassed smile to the girl with glasses. They look good together.

You are my true love. I’m willing to give up everything just for you.

Like fate has brought us together, you and I as one.

Let us walk side by side from now on.

Only you can make the world stop spinning, just by looking into my eyes.

Only you can stop my heart right here, right where you are.

You alone, just you, are all I need.

I will do everything, with my soul and heart.

That’s how I will love you, no matter when or where.

My whole heart belongs to you alone.

The song sung by the person on stage made everyone in the cafe quiet to listen. I love this kind of voice so much, it’s not particularly beautiful, but the singer puts their feelings into the song. That woman is incredibly lucky to have such a good boyfriend. No, I should say, from now on, she’s going to have a great husband.

“Bohn.” I called out to my lover while picking up a flower from the plate, looking at the rose…thinking about the time when I gave him flowers every day.

“Hmm?”

“Why did you make me give you flowers when we first met? Did you…like me already?”

“No, I just wanted to tease you.”

“Couldn’t you tease me in another way? Why did it have to be flowers?”

“Honestly, at that time, I didn’t know how to tease you, I just wanted to make things difficult for you, but after we argued about buying flowers from the street kid, I got the idea, ‘Hey, I’ll make you buy as many as you want.’ Genius, right?” Hearing that makes me want to punch something.

“…You bastard.”

“Thank you.”

“…”

“And this…”

“Bohn.”

“?”

“Can I stay with you?”

Did I make the right decision doing this? At first, I didn’t even want to sleep over at Bohn’s. It’s not that I didn’t want to, I’m just a private person. I rarely leave home, and even staying over at a friend’s requires a lot of thought. But now…I think I want to be with him, with this idiot.

“What’s the answer?”

“Of course, I’m so happy, everything today seems to go by so fast I’m shocked.” He grabbed my hand, his face adorned with a smile. You’ve been smiling a lot lately, Bohn.

“Huh?”

“?”

“Is it okay…I haven’t told my parents about us yet.” Every time I think about this, it’s stressful. I don’t want to stress my parents with this. Should I not tell them…No, that won’t do. I’ve already fallen for this idiot. Damn it! It’s all because of you, you bastard! Why did you have to make me love you?

“We can wait until you’re ready, I’m not in a rush.”

“But if you could choose, when would you want me to move in?”

“Today. Now, this very moment.”

“Then you go ask my dad.”

“When should I go? We can go right now if you want.” I was joking, but he took it seriously…

“My dad is tough, you know.” I pretended to threaten him. Though he might look rough, his heart is all fluttery, sir. He’s very sweet when he’s with…his wife, haha.

“…”

“He’s an air force officer, he even slapped a kid who tried to hit on Daonuea…do you have anything to fight my dad with?” I’m lying, he’s never slapped anyone except those who bullied his kids.

“I have nothing to fight with…but I love his son. Even if it’s just me, I’ll fight.”

“…”

I looked down and smiled under the table, is this a line from a shoujo manga protagonist? I should’ve rolled my eyes, why am I smiling, why is my heart beating, why am I happy, why am I blushing!!

“What are you smiling at?”

“I bent down to pick up a burned mushroom under the table, and when I found it, I smiled.” Don’t ask if he believes it…it’s all part of the act. He’s been teasing me with his smile the whole time we were in the cafe, and even now, in the car, he’s still doing it.

“So, you’re really moving in with me, right? Not like last time, okay?” His face was so funny, like a sad dog, ha ha ha.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“To buy stuff for the room, want anything more? I don’t spend much time at the condo, I’m not sure if the furniture will be to your liking. You like green, right? Let’s buy a green bed.” The other changed our route from my house to somewhere else…if I’m guessing right, it must be HomePro, wait a minute.

“Are you crazy? No way.”

“Why not?”

“You’ve got enough stuff. I can live with whatever. I’m not that fussy.” I’ve even slept in the forest. Why wouldn’t I be able to sleep in a fancy condo?

“Don’t you want anything?”

“Nah.”

“And your stuff?”

“Just need to get some clothes from home.”

“No need, you can wear my clothes, loose shirts, sexy…” Bohn raised his hand in a lewd gesture, your eyes are so wide open, you bastard!!

“Ew, you pervert!”

“Ha ha ha.”

Damn you!!!

 

MY ENGINEER CHAPTERS HOME

MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 61: Wrapped in Fog, Embracing the Cold. Watching Stars On the Mountain

[Bohn]

“Finally, the day has come!! The day we conquer Phu Sot Dao!!!”

“Huh.”

Boss raised his hand above his head with a determined look, others did the same. Today we will climb Phu.

“You sure you can do it, fool? If not, you can stay at the bottom.” We haven’t climbed the mountain yet, but we’re about to start walking up. Almost everyone is here, (except for Phii Sao who had to say goodbye because of asthma). Even though I’d like Duen to come along, health comes first.

“Do you see me as some delicate, small-framed girl…no, I’m a sturdy, strong man. Just walking up the mountain like this, easy!” I know you’re not a delicate girl, but you’re foolish, what I’m scared of is…you walking clumsily and rolling down the mountain.

“Well…okay, then. If you get tired, I’m not carrying you on my back, just so you know.” Such scenes happen often in dramas…seriously. Even though I love Duen, I definitely won’t carry him up there.

“Come on, I can roll up the mountain, ha ha ha.” Roll up the mountain? I can understand rolling down the mountain, but how do you roll up?

“Everyone ready? Let me warn you, the distance is very far. If we start now…we’ll reach the pine clearing at the top of the mountain just as it’s getting dark. It’s not a short distance. If anyone can’t make it, don’t force yourself.” Phii Sun, at the front of the line, shouted, the pine clearing is the place at the top of Yod on Phu Sot Dao.

“If no one turns back, then…follow Phii Yod. We’ll reach the top of the mountain together!” His words…somehow ambiguous. If someone else said it, I might think it’s vulgar, but since it’s Phii Sun, he probably just means what he said.

“Ba!”

“Walk, let’s walk, our Theamuang Tingtong is shining bright.” What kind of song is this? It sounds familiar, like from the sports day in grade 8, right?…But it’s not Theamuang Tingtong, every time I hear the group name, I feel like vomiting, it feels like getting stabbed in the appendix or something like that.

“My hands are cold, brr.”

“This ‘sunlight that isn’t hot,’ what is it, getsunova or something? I’m cold, you bastard!” The weather is as cool as they said, probably because we’re at a high altitude and the nature here remains lush. The trees spread their branches like a canopy, so we don’t feel the heat at all.

I just listened to a lecture; to reach the pine plateau, we have to go through five hills. As they said, the names of these hills are quite soulcrushing: the first is ‘Send Relatives Hill,’ the second is ‘Defeat the Masters Hill,’ then ‘Bamboo Grove Hill,’ ‘Tiger Leap Hill,’ and finally ‘Death Hill.’ It’s really disheartening, damn it.

“Duen, look at that butterfly, it’s beautiful…I’ll take a picture.” The only girl in our group, Tingting, lifted her camera to photograph a dark purple butterfly. Yeah, it’s really beautiful.

“Aren’t you tired, carrying all that, Tingting?” Duen grabbed his friend’s bag; it’s really big. Looks like she brought a lot of stuff. I only brought a little because Phii Yod said that Yod’s peak is two thousand meters above sea level. We’re definitely going to die, King…

“It’s heavy, but I can manage.”

“I believe you. You’re tough.”

After walking for a while, we started to feel the meaning of ‘tired.’ Even though the sun doesn’t reach us and the air is cool, we’re still sweating. Everyone began to take off their jackets and tie them around their waists. I did the same.

“Let’s take a break.” Thank you for being considerate…

“Oh, my legs.”

“Phew, I’m tired.” Bom slumped down on a log. No one cares about getting dirty anymore. We haven’t even reached the first hill yet; how much longer do we have to walk?

“Phii Yod, phew…how much longer until we reach ‘Send Relatives Hill’?” It’s like King read my mind. Even though he’s panting, he looks happy, smiling all the time. King is like that, he loves nature. Since we’ve been here, he hasn’t picked a single flower or leaf, while Tee has been pulling grass out, creating holes. I don’t know what’s wrong with him; when he’s idle, he likes to pull grass for fun…

“Not long now. Just four hundred meters.” Not long…

…

“Help me…I’m going to faint. How do the porters manage to walk up and down here every day?” Porters are people hired to carry tourists’ bags and luggage, with prices depending on the weight of the items they carry.

“Exactly, my legs are killing me. Just two hundred meters and I feel like

I’m dying, my body is drenched in sweat…let me wash my hands for a sec.” After saying that, he walked to the small stream. Boss…be careful not to slip, you must be crazy wearing flip-flops to hike. We tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen, he said, “I want the cool wind to seep into my toe crevices and rush past my ingrown nails, so my nerves know I’m on Phu Sot Dao.” damn, maybe you should take off your shoes when we get there.

After ten minutes, our camp group started walking again. Phii Yod was still walking as if nothing had happened, how does he do it?

“You leech.”

“Are you okay?” He looked out of breath, so I walked over to check. Not for any reason, just worried because he doesn’t exercise much, and recently he hasn’t been out much, I’m afraid his body won’t adjust in time.

“I’m fine.”

“Sure?”

“Yeah, trust Phii Duen.”

“Okay.”

“And you, are you tired?” We looked into each other’s eyes, sweat dripping down his clear cheeks all the way to his neck, would anyone mind if I dragged him to wrestle in the bamboo grove?

“A little, can I hold your hand?” I moved closer to my lover, it’s hot but I want to be next to him.

“…What if I say no?” With a sarcastic smile, are you turning evil now, Duen?

“I wouldn’t care anyway.” I grabbed his hand and held it, pretending to be aloof, ignoring the protests from the other side.

“Then why ask?”

“Sometimes I want you to agree willingly.”

“–”

“Keep it light, friend.”

“Just now, the bamboo shoot was green, but why has it turned pinkishpurple now?”

“Yeah, the teak tree I was looking at too, what’s happening!” You don’t have to act that much, Tang.

“Maybe…there’s someone falling in love around here, too sweet, isn’t it? Ask your heart.”

“Check it out. Look at their hands, Bohn, are you afraid Tang will steal your little doctor or what?”

“Hey, can’t you walk on your own? No need to hold hands, or is Bohn, our friend, secretly disabled, with hidden hernias or something?” I didn’t respond because I was tired, but instead of quieting down, seeing me like this only made them tease more. Only King didn’t tease or complain. She said she had made peace with it, so she just wanted to stay silent. Poor thing, really.

“I’ve reached the top of the mountain, yeah!!!!!!”

“Uh…Nong Boss, this is just the first hill.” Phii Yod went over to nudge my close friend who was standing on a rock, shouting so loudly it echoed through the forest.

“I know, sir, but I wanted to say it now in case I die, so I won’t have any regrets. My calves hurt, husband, give me a massage, my legs hurt!” After saying that, he walked to his quiet husband who was resting on a nearby rock.

“…No. You should massage me.”

“Useless husband these days! I bought you at a high price, Merk, massage me, now!” Bought a husband…?

“You’re the one who’s useless, what kind of wife doesn’t massage her husband?”

“Jeez!”

Let them be, haha.

“Bohn, if I die, tell Daonuea that I hid money in my underwear drawer, urgh.” The speaker slumped his face onto his arm before lying down on the grass.

“Very tired?” I sat down beside him, gently placing a wet cloth on his face. The sun was starting to reach us, making Duen’s face red.

“Just a bit. Aren’t you tired?” The person lying down lifted the cloth to look at me.

“I’m tired.” I admitted it like a man. Not just tired, but extremely tired. This is just the first hill, and we still have four more to go. Reaching the pine plateau isn’t even Phu Sot Dao, we still need to walk further to reach the real mountain top. The pine plateau is just a rest and camping spot. I’m really grateful that the seniors had mercy on us to only go up to the plateau. “Lie down and rest, they gave us ten minutes.” Duen pulled me down to lie with everyone else. Phu was already asleep.

“I won’t sleep, or I’ll be too lazy to walk later.” That’s me, when I’ve just woken up, I don’t want to do anything. If I’m going to sleep, I want a long sleep. I don’t like dozing off; it’s annoying.

“Suit yourself…I’m going to sleep, can I borrow your lap?” After saying that, he scooted over to rest his head on my lap, which was now stretched out instead of crossed. Is this being sweet or what?

“Sure, I’ll wake you up later.”

“Great.”

“Your nose is beautiful. Did you get surgery?” I poked the high nose of the person below, so beautiful it was enviable. Daonuea has a nose like this too, but since she’s still young, it’s not as noticeable.

“Fuck you, my nose is natural, given by the heavens.”

“Sure, sure.” I brushed it off before looking at the others. They’re really asleep, how do they do it? If you flew a drone over, it would look like a battlefield full of corpses, ha ha.

Huh…

I bent down as I was pulled by the hand, the person below pinched my nose to make me look at him. If you want me to look at you, just say it nicely. There’s no need to be so forceful, Duenhaw.

“And did you get surgery on your nose? It’s obviously done…if we have kids, will they have a flat nose?” The other pursed his lips before poking my nose, using such cute words, ‘if we have kids.’

“Originally, the kids will definitely have high noses, heh.” I rubbed my nose against the one below, and Duen laughed, lightly patting my forehead.

“Hope they get more of my genes, I’m scared if they get too much of yours, they’ll turn out like shit.”

“That’s harsh.”

“It’s not harsh, I’m telling the truth.”

“Then if they get your genes, they won’t turn out like buffaloes?”

“That’s really harsh…”

“It’s not harsh, I’m telling the truth, heh.”

“You’re good at teasing, bastard, I’ll hit you.”

“They’re going to have kids together, you guys…”

“I heard they already have two. Still want more? Me and Merk don’t even have one yet. Where are they rushing to?”

“Take the uterus, I; Ting am offering it.” Uh, um.

Time passed slowly. We walked, rested, until finally…we reached the last hill, ‘The Death Hill’. I have to say, I’m extremely tired. Now I just want to shower and sleep. Others look like they can’t go on either, Boss and Tee aren’t even joking around. Who would have the mood for that, so tired.

“Hiccup, just a little more, juniors! You see mountain top, don’t you? We’ll get to rest soon, yay!” Phii Sun raised his hand high, everyone’s sweatsoaked as if they’d fallen into water somewhere, hiccup.

“I can see it clearly, but why does it feel so far away!”

“The path…phew, it’s steep, you bastard.”

“Damn…I’m tired.” I turned towards the voice; Duen was standing with his hands on his hips, looking at the mountain top. I told him not to sleep. Since he woke up at ‘Send Relatives Hill,’ he’s been looking dazed until we reached the last hill.

“Can you manage?”

“Why? Are you going to carry me? Come on, carry me, I’m so tired.” He walked over to climb onto my back, trying to get up…I’ll kick you if you do.

“Dream on. Even though I love you, I’m tired too.” “Fine, then why ask?” Duen pouted.

“No reason. If you’re tired…I just want you to know that I’m tired with you.”

“…I’m touched, bastard.”

“Huh huh.” I grabbed his hand and held it. I might not be as romantic as movie heroes, but I’ll be a simple, everyday hero. No need for big gestures. This is enough to make the heroine embarrassed.

“I…phew. I don’t have the energy to tease anymore, you bastard. Take over, Bom, phew.”

“Phew, I can’t either, let’s leave them be.” I agree, let me be for a day or two, friends, I’m not bored, but I want you to save your energy for walking. If you collapse, I won’t help you.

It’s tiring to get here, but looking back makes me feel less tired. It feels like I’m embraced by the mountains, and today I’ve felt truly loved by nature.

‘Conqueror of the Pine Plateau pf Phu Sot Dao’

“You bastard!!!”

“I…really, really, made it! Yeah!!!!!!”

“Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, sang pala bai ya wai ta tao!!!”

“What does that mean, Boss?!”

“I’m so damn tired!!”

“Why are your sentences so long?!”

“I don’t know!! I just know that now I’m happy!!!” As the sentence ended, laughter broke out. I’m so glad we finally reached the pine plateau where Phu Sot Dao is! Damn, when we were at ‘Death Hill,’ I thought it would take ten minutes to get here, but no, it took almost half an hour.

Damn tired, very tired, but also very happy.

“Juniors, let’s set up the tents first. After that, you can do whatever you want. It’s the season for the Himalayan cherry blossoms. Anyone who wants to take photos, please go ahead, I’m going to sleep first…hiccup.” Phii Sun shouted. By Himalayan cherry blossoms, he means those purple flowers, right? They’re not just one tree, there’s a whole field of purple. Just the pine trees alone are beautiful, but combined with this flower field, it feels like we’re not in Thailand anymore.

“Bohn, let’s go see the flowers!”

“Hmm. Not sleeping? You said you were sleepy.” I held him back, he said he couldn’t go on and wanted to sleep, why does he suddenly want to go see the flower field now?

“I’m not sleepy anymore. I want to walk and see the flowers, let’s go.” In the end, I followed him to the purple flower field. Up close, they’re even more beautiful, it feels like a reward for our effort.

“Duen, don’t run.”

“The shape is strange, isn’t it? But it’s beautiful in its strangeness…let’s set up camp here.” Duen turned to talk to me, his face full of happiness. I’d like to do that, but…

“No, there’s no space here. We need to set up our tents in the open area.” There’s no space here, Phii Yod said the forestry department doesn’t allow camping in the Himalayan cherry blossom field because it would damage something, I didn’t catch all of it.

“Damn, what a pity.”

Not long after, I had to drag Duen to set up the tent. It’s not a communal tent now. These are small tents, Phii Sun said two people per tent. Of course, I’ll be sleeping with my boyfriend. Others paired up as they pleased, twelve people made six pairs perfectly, finally…I am going to get to sleep one-on-one with Duen!

“Let’s go shower, you guys…is there a waterfall?” King looked around for a waterfall, stroking his chin.

“There’s the Crystal Waterfall, Phii Yod said we can bathe there, but there’s also a water tank behind the tourist rest area, he said we can choose where to bathe…what do you guys want, where should we go?” If we go to the waterfall, we’ll have to walk a bit further. Not many people would go, they’re too tired. But trust me, these guys will definitely choose the waterfall.

“It’s decided then!! Let’s go to the waterfall.” I told you so…

Once we had our goal, we prepared our stuff to go shower. The forest officer said there’s not much water, so bring a bucket to scoop. Good thing I bought one before coming, otherwise, it would have been bad.

“Let’s go, you guys!!”

The speaker raised his stick before walking forward. We stood watching him go, no one else followed yet, Boss is still Boss to the end…

“Are you really going to wear that outfit, Boss?” Merk hugged his arms while looking at his wife. I thought I was chill wearing a tank top and boxers, but Boss, you take chill to a whole new level.

“Yes! Why… is it too sexy, my love? No worries, I promise not to look at anyone but myself.” The speaker walked back to his husband, striking a pose of fake embarrassment. Help…

“Huh, it’s not sexy…”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s ridiculous!!” We all said in unison. Look at him, this is the mountain top place. It’s starting to get dark, and the temperature must be below seven degrees, which is very cold, almost freezing enough for frost to form on eggs, but look at how my friend is dressed…he’s wearing a plain purple shower cap, red rubber shorts with a Songkran water-playing pattern, and flip-flops. Boss…I have no words.

“Whatever, let’s just go. I feel like I’m going to die if I don’t shower.”

“Okay, as you wish…”

We let Phii Yod lead the way. The path wasn’t too tough; we reached our destination after a short walk. The water was scarce, just like they had said, and as expected, no one was here except our group, haha.

“There’s a path leading up to the top of the waterfall too, you can go up but be very careful. Are we sure we can find our way back?” Initially, Phii Yod was going to stay and watch us, but seeing he had a lot of work, we decided to go back on our own.

“Yes, sir.”

“Then I’m off, be careful, kids. Nice outfit, Nong Boss, haha.” Before leaving, Phii Yod went over to Boss, who was sitting in the waterfall. Your pose is so sinful, Boss, squatting like an old man, one hand holding a bucket, the other with a parrot soap bar. I’ve seen your boxers, Boss, please stop.

“Thank you, sir…See, my outfit is amazing.”

“Don’t believe him, I still can’t see the beauty in your clothes-”

“Bihn, you bastard. We’re here to play in the water!”

Whose voice was that? It sounds familiar, like my brother’s voice. Oh, I’m going to faint. I should’ve told you that’s Bihn with his friend, Singh. I shouldn’t have let you study in this faculty. Back then, I thought it would be his happiness, but now I know I was wrong…I shouldn’t have sent you to study with this group, they’re a disaster waiting to happen.

Want to know why I said that?

Just look at them!

He has five friends, Singh, Gel, Kal, Noi, and Thap. If they stood still, they’d look like a decent boy band, but the moment they move, life changes. Just look at them now as an example. They’re dressed similarly; Bihn tied a small towel around his chest like an ancient person, showing off his ugly belly, wearing elastic rubber pants below, and a shower cap on his head. The rest are dressed the same, only differing in color.

What is it with tying your pants so long between your legs? I hate it!!! I can’t stand it!! Gel, you’re handsome but what are you doing!! What did you stuff into your chest!! Are those fake boobs? They’re bigger than a Premier League championship ball, you bastard.

Kal, your name suggests wealth, can’t you act like a gentleman a bit?! What’s with bringing a whole bunch of bananas, what are you trying to do, make a snail? Where did you cut them from, not from the park, right…you’ve been gone for so long because you went looking for bananas?! Noi, you’re so good at teasing, Thap…I beg you, can one of you just be normal? You don’t have to be smart, just not like your friends.

“Damn, I suddenly see Phii Boss looking better.” I think the same, Duen. I think Boss has had it tough, meeting these guys makes my best friend look mild in comparison.

“We’d like to shower with you, Phii Boss.” Gel went to sit next to my friend’s wife, grinning happily before making space for them to sit comfortably. There’s barely enough space, and they’re still fighting over it, you guys. When they sit together, it looks like a group of housewives waiting for their husbands to finish playing cards, so many colors and patterns on your sarongs.

“Kal, can I have a banana?” Gel waved for his friend Bihn, the more I look, the more I want to wash my eyes. Kal, if you’re going to be that low, just drag them all, make it a path, you bastard.

“No, Phii. I don’t want to get punched by Hia Merk.”

“He won’t punch you, it’s just one banana, I want to eat it.” Do you know what your junior is thinking, and you still play with him, you jerk?

“Really can’t, Phii. I’m sorry for doing this, here!” …That kid peeled the banana and shoved it into my best friend’s mouth hard, damn, Boss might choke to death on that banana. I was about to run over to check but stopped when I heard something from Boss…

“Ugh, oh.”

“Duen…let’s go somewhere else, staying here is corrupting us.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him to follow, this is the way up to the waterfall. Tingting’s group has already gone up to the third level. I caught a glimpse of them laughing down at us, they must have seen my brother’s friends, haha.

“I think so too.”

“Where are you two going? You can’t go anywhere!!”

“What’s your problem, Bihn?” I put my hands on my hips, looking at the demon who, seeing that my boyfriend and I were about to escape, quickly climbed up to us at high speed. I remember I never had a monkey for a brother…

“I want to talk to my brother-in-law.”

“Brother-in-law…what kind of brother-in-law, he’s your sister-in-law.” I was about to say, ‘Your father’s brother-in-law,’ but then I thought, no, that’s my dad too.

“Bohn, you duck-faced bastard.” The person next to me lightly hit my shoulder. Well, it’s true. You can’t control me; just look at our size difference. Even if you could, I wouldn’t let you.

“Whatever, you guys have to stay for my interview. Hello, viewers. You’re now with me, Bihn, the not-so-dark but very daring host. These two are our special guests, Bohn, who’s not slender but very tough, and Dr. Duen, the fool with a dazed look who gets cramps like an old lady. In this segment, we’ll revisit the embarrassing and funny moments of that day.” Why are you winking, are you a shrimp? And what’s with using a banana as a microphone, Bihn?

“Wow, I’ve been waiting for this moment, the host is so beautiful he could break hearts and underwear.” The kid ran over to the edge of the waterfall and started wiggling around. How much are you getting paid for this?

“May I interview you?” My brother, who now goes by Bihnnlee, walked over with a banana to my mouth. Did you already take a bite? There are still teeth marks, you bastard, don’t think I don’t know. Ew, there’s even saliva.

“No, we’re going to shower.”

“Come on, this is my show, broadcasting live worldwide.” In your imagination, this show has a name longer than the distance between Chiang Rai and Saturn.

“No, Duen, let’s go.”

“Play along, it’s funny, haha.” I think Boss’s virus has spread to your brain. Oh well…I’m sorry I made you like this, I shouldn’t have trusted Boss at all.

“…”

“Did you hear that, Bohn, who’s not slender but very tough, Dr. Duen, the fool with a dazed look who gets cramps like an old lady, they want to be interviewed.” The host smiled at me before biting into the banana. Oh, just from the description, I’m about to lose my mind.

“Duen, I’m all sticky, I want to shower…”

“You’ll shower after this, come on, play along.”

“Na.”

“Damn…ask away.” Hearing that, the audience from below and above started clapping and cheering with joy…damn it. Just one ‘pretty please’ and I’ll do anything…Seriously, is it some kind of spell? Whenever it comes out of his mouth, it’s like a binding incantation, I can never refuse.

“First question…where did you two first meet?”

“The university’s public park.” That’s where I first met him. I never thought there’d be someone like this hiding in the university; it’s strange how he’s been so invisible for so long, his skill at avoiding people is truly maxed out.

“Ooh, so romantic!” The audience made admiring sounds before nodding and smiling. Everyone sat on the ground, turning to look at us on the second level, it felt like being surrounded by a troop of baboons somehow.

“How did you two meet?”

“Your sister-in-law was sunbathing by the pond, I felt sorry for him, so I went to help, but he screamed, calling me a pervert, so crazy.” Thinking about it makes me laugh. If I hadn’t felt the urge to be a good person back then, I wouldn’t have gotten punched, but…if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have met the guy next to me.

“I was shocked at that time! Try being in my shoes, waking up to see some stranger who looks like they’re about to kiss you. If you didn’t punch him, I’d slap him myself.” The other protested, face turning red. He wasn’t this red before, I remember when we first started dating, he only turned a little red, and that was because others were teasing, not because of me.

“Yeah, yeah.” I messed up his hair until it was a mess.

“Interesting, interesting, next question. Who hit on whom first?”

“I hit on him first.” Why don’t you answer, Duen? I didn’t want to answer these questions. Weren’t you the one who wanted to play with Bihn?

“How did you do it? Can you explain, please? We’re very curious.”

“Just…normal courting, you know, going out, dates.” It might be normal, but it wasn’t ordinary. What wasn’t ordinary was the person I was courting. I had to make a huge effort to communicate with him. I’m really good at making Duen agree to be my boyfriend, how did I do it?

“And who asked to be in a relationship, kha?” Actually, you don’t have to use “kha” when you speak, I got goosebumps, Bihn, your chest is so punchable, the balloon knot sticking out is so ugly.

“Me.” After saying that, I looked up at the sky, which had started to turn a light orange. We should hurry up and shower and get back to the pine clearing. Otherwise, we’ll definitely get lost in the forest since no one brought a flashlight.

“Damn, you did everything first, didn’t you? Are you the one who’s clingy or what, such a strong start.”

“Yay.”

“It was Duen who was clingy, giving him flowers every day and even agreeing to go everywhere with him.”

“Phu! Clingy your father.” The person being talked about showed his middle finger to his best friend, your face is red again, Duen.

“Please elaborate on this, may I invite our special guest, Pha Rueang Fueng Fu Shabuu, to explain? Did Doctor Duen really do that?” As the host finished speaking, Phu jumped down from the third level. Hey! Even though it’s not that high, there’s moss there, you could slip and crack your head, turning into a waterfall ghost, and I wouldn’t know.

“He really did that. Don’t believe me? Ask anyone in the faculty; everyone knows, even the teachers.” What he’s saying is true. The janitors, the cafeteria vendors, the street sweepers, everyone knows. How could they not? Duen comes every day.

“Wow. Are you flirting with my brother, Duen?” Bihn nudged the person next to me. How did you guys get so close? I had no idea about this.

“Shut up, I’m not flirting with him. Bohn told me to do it.”

“Oh, and what does the groom have to say about this?” Suddenly, we have another host. Where did you get that banana from, Phu? I’ll guess it’s from the usual suspect, Kal.

“That’s about it, I don’t want to say much.” It’s a long story; if I tell it now, it’ll be dark by the time I finish. So, no one understands my need to shower?

“Alright, alright, let’s move on to the second question out of eighteen…” Is that too many? Did you really plan for that many questions? If Buhn were here, what would happen?

“What do you like about each other? Both of you have to answer.”

“Bohn, let’s go shower, stop playing.” This is the perfect excuse to escape. Sorry, Nong Duen, this is a question Phii Bohn has wanted to hear for a long time.

“Don’t rush, you said you wanted to play along.” I held back the other person, and our friend knew his duty, helping to keep him from escaping by holding his shoulder. Good job, Phu, I’ll buy you a drink later.

“Well, I don’t want to now, see, it’s getting dark. What if a grizzly bear shows up? How would we escape?” What would a grizzly bear be doing at Phu Sot Dao was picked?

“No, no, Bohn, what do you like about Duen? Can you tell us from the beginning how you started liking him, when did you realize you liked him?”

“I like his innocence, his straightforwardness. He’s not quick-witted, I like his good nature, how he loves kids, how he cares for those around him. At first, I thought he was funny, kind of a rare find on this planet. I didn’t think much of it back then…but as time passed, I started feeling something special, began to see him as cute and worth protecting, even though Duen isn’t small or slender. When did I realize I liked him? I don’t know, I just knew I liked him when I already did. Now I love him, and I still don’t know when I started liking him.”

“Urrghhhhhhh, confession of love.”

“My friend here…”

“My brother!!…Alright, and you, Duen, what do you like about Bohn?” I turned to look at the person next to me. This is what I’ve been waiting for.

“…I, let’s stop this, it’s getting dark, let’s shower.”

“Don’t change the subject. Phu, hold him. I won’t let go until you talk, you bastard.”

“You damn annoying people!” After saying that, he covered his red face with his hands, embarrassed as hell. He just admitted he likes me, I

confessed my love to you earlier.

“…”

“Bohn is embarrassed too, look, his face is black!” Bihn poked my cheek with a banana, do you want to die, little brother? But whatever, I’ll allow it today.

“Just wait…tell me quickly, I’m not rushing you. I just want to hear it.” The first sentence I said to the host, the second one I turned to say to Duen.

“I…am embarrassed, damn it. I won’t say it!” The person being pressed looked sulky.

“Tell me quickly. If you only say it when you’re alone with Bohn, he’ll wrestle you.” What do you think of me, I’m a gentleman, right? Heh.

“…Bohn is okay. Not bad or anything.”

“That’s it?” I shouted, I went to all that effort to speak at length, and you say just ten words? Is that even a sentence? Oh, whatever.

“Yeah, let go now.” Duen nodded, trying to free himself from our threeperson hold. The others were watching like they were at the movies, and Gel was really into it. Watching while eating bananas, it’s more exciting than watching Star Wars.

“No, spit it all out. We want to know your feelings, keep poking him until he tells.” Bihn ordered, pointing his finger, and the accomplices complied, raising their hands in a salute before starting to punish the stubborn one.

“Damn- hahaha.”

“Will you tell?!”

“I, argh, hahaha.”

“Tell quickly!”

“I give up, hahaha!” Finally, you agreed to say it, I thought I’d have to use pliers to pry open your mouth.

“Okay, let him go slowly, don’t think about running away. There’s over ten of us. You don’t want to feel like a criminal running from SWAT, right?”

“Yeah, you damn bastards, why threaten me…you think you’re so clever.” Bohn muttered, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“So, what do you like about my brother?” I crossed my arms, looking at my lover with a smile. The other ran his hand through his hair in frustration. You really don’t want to say it, do you?

“How should I say it?”

“Say what you feel, it’s easy.”

“Bohn…he’s good, okay, how should I say this…at first when he said he would court me, I thought he was hallucinating from studying too much, so I didn’t pay much attention. But when he actually did what he said, I started thinking seriously, wondering if it was a prank or a bet with his friends. Coupled with the rumors about him, it made me distrust him. But as we got to know each other better, I realized he was sincere. Bohn wasn’t just playing around, haha…damn, this is embarrassing. Back then, I didn’t dislike him, quite the opposite, I really respected his effort. He said he wouldn’t court anyone else but me…and he did what he said. He said he would study hard…and he did. He was willing to read for exams even though he never did before, willing to do things he hated just to make me proud. Besides that, he always took care of me, took care of every little detail, picked me up, dropped me off, helped with everything, was always by my side…you’d be crazy not to love him, you bastard.” …help me.

“I love you too.” I leaned down to touch his cool lips gently. I didn’t do more than that. My heart was beating so hard, like it might burst out. Since we’ve been together, this was the first time I heard ‘I love you’ from him, felt like a mission accomplished somehow.

So happy…

“You bastards. You didn’t see us at all, did you? I was wrong…you get tackled no matter where you are, Duen. Okay, friends, let’s disperse. Let’s go shower, let the couple have their moment.” After that, they really did disperse. Everyone went up to the top floor, pretending not to see us. Good.

“Were we old rappers or something?”

“…”

“You spoke a lot, are you thirsty? I’m afraid your throat might be dry.” I kept teasing even though I was also feeling overwhelmed. Calm down, don’t get too excited…don’t let him know that he just scored a million points for satisfaction.

“…damn it.”

“Say it again, I want to hear it again.” I whispered into his white ear, wrapping my arms loosely around his waist. My face still had a smile that wouldn’t fade. I’m sure I’ll sleep with a smile tonight.

“What. No more. Let go, I want to shower.” The person in my arms struggled free. I saw that it was getting dark, so I let him go.

Not long after, we walked back to change our clothes in the tent. The sun was beginning to set now. Phii Yod led our camp group to watch the sunset from the cliff’s edge. From here, the sunset was incredibly clear, so beautiful you didn’t want it to end, but soon I had to think otherwise…

The sunset led me to see something even more beautiful – millions of stars shining brightly in the sky. I could see the Milky Way with my naked eye.

“Wow…it’s beautiful.” The twelve of us were lying down, watching stars on the wide pine plateau without worrying about getting dirty. We had a large mat, rented from the tourist rest area, twenty baht per sheet.

“Uh, it’s so beautiful here, glad we came here together.” I rested my chin, looking at the other, so cute, looks just like the mother of my child, oh…the mother of my child is you.

“Uh…I feel the same.”

“They probably forgot we’re still here.”

“Seems like it.”

“Let’s leave them be, don’t stick a crowbar in where pigs can find their own way…let them have their moment without interference.”

“We don’t mind if you’re noisy. We like it, hee hee.”

When we noticed the air was getting cooler and fog was starting to settle, we headed back to our tents. If you ask who’s the sleepiest, it would definitely be the fool, because as soon as he got to the tent, he collapsed and fell asleep without a word.

“Hey?”

“…”

“Duen, are you asleep already?” I lay on my side, looking at the other’s back, he was turned away from me. Normally, couples should face each other when sleeping.

“Uh.”

“Yeah, good night.”

“…Good night.” The other nodded sleepily, are you aware or sleep-talking?

“You’re really asleep…so fast.” I shook my head with a smile, getting up to adjust my lover’s sleeping position. I didn’t forget to cover him with the blanket up to his chest. You…really aren’t much like a doctor. Can’t even take care of yourself, how are you going to take care of others, you leech? “Duen.”

“…” Silence, huh.

“You know what…I was so happy when you said you loved me, my heart was beating so fast, hahaha.” Damn, I didn’t dare say it to your face, so I have to tell you when you’re out of it, you jerk…

“…”

“Here…I love you, you fool.” I moved to kiss his round forehead, then gently ran my hand through his soft hair. If you were awake, you definitely wouldn’t let me do this…what are you so possessive about, I’m your boyfriend, right?

After playing with his hair for a while, I started to feel sleepy. So, I lay down, using both arms as a pillow…I left the tent’s roof open so I could see stars outside. These stars are real, not effects or editing. Seriously, it’s unbelievable as it is. With the light fog, the pine clearing looks even more fantastical. Are there places like this?

Not only was it unlike Thailand, but it was unlike Earth…if

Kiss-kiss

The soft touch on my lips made me pause. When I looked up, I met the smile of the person I thought was already asleep.

“I love you too, now go to sleep…” After the sweet words, he lay down beside me, pulling my arm to rest around his waist and snuggling his head into my strong chest…which was me. Now we were lying in an embrace amidst the faint mist and millions of stars in the sky.

How am I supposed to sleep like this, you bastard?

 

MY ENGINEER CHAPTERS HOME

MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 60: The Person Who Gets Punished

[Duenhaw]

“We’ll find out soon, Bohn.”

“Alright…no group has been wrong yet, let’s reveal it one group at a time…King’s group first!” Good! That’s how it should be, Phii Chai! I turned to give a wicked smile to the person next to me before pulling out my phone to prepare to record a clip.

“Hah. If your group is wrong, you’ll be in for it, Duen.”

“Wow, Nong Bohn is definitely going to get it!”

“…”

“So, Frang, was King’s group correct?” Phii Chai walked over to ask. The person he asked didn’t answer yet. He gave a sinister smile to Bohn, who was about to say something but was interrupted.

“Oh, I think it’s not suspenseful at all, both of them…let’s get two more people to come out and guess the outcome, I’ll give a free jar of orchids to each if they guess right.” Wow, you said they were rare, do you have so many, Phii Chai?

“Me!!!”

“Move! The real one is coming, move!”

“Salty snail! Move, I and Shuchat will go ourselves.”

“You move! Don’t you see I was here before you, right, Foodfighter Chris?”

“That’s right, you bastard, just admit it.”

Chaos ensued when he said that. Are those jars that desirable? At first, I just glanced over, thinking they might have mold or moss on them.

“Kids, calm down, I haven’t said yet that it could be anyone.”

“Oh.” We all exclaimed in unison. The forestry department seniors laughed until they were in tears.

“The first person, I want someone born on December 31st, any year. If there’s more than one, I’ll let all of them come out.” So, you don’t just have two or three jars of orchids, huh? You can give them away like that.

“Screaaaaam, it’s me, me!! Oh yeah! It feels like I’ve won a crown. How about that, you losers, you can race in a boat, race in talk, but you can’t race in luck, can you?” Wow, what luck, and she’s the only one born on that day.

“Okay, your name is Maduey, right?”

“Yes, Phii.”

“What number do you like, Maduey?”

“Seven.”

“Then I’ll choose the 7th, July  anyone born on the 7th of July, please come out. Anyone born today, show yourself quickly.” Such a good number, seven Duen seven, wait…today is…

“…It’s me.”

“…You’re going to be lucky.” Phii Chai said into the microphone. How could he not be lucky? The person born on this day is a member of the group about to win the prize.

Ram.

“I won’t consider this void, it’s his luck. So, Maduey, what do you think the result will be?”

“Nong Tang’s group got it right.”

“Damn, I knew it, how about it, Bohn? I’m definitely winning, others think so too.”

“It’s just guessing, it doesn’t prove anything.” Bohn shrugged before giving a sardonic smile, damn! I hate your smile so much, you jerk.

“And what about you, Nong Ram, who do you think?”

“…”

“What do you say?”

“I think…well.”

Aren’t you going to support your own group, Vera? Like, ‘It has to be my group. We’ve trained for this moment for lifetimes. There’s no way we could be wrong,’ something like that, I see athletes say this before competitions.

“Okay, we’ve heard from everyone…Alright! Let’s see the answer, is Tang’s group correct, Oat!!”

I leaned forward to get a clear look at Phii Oat’s face. He scratched his head back and forth before opening his mouth, what is it! P as in bee, or T as in bag, open your mouth wide, Phii Oat!!!

“Correct.”

“Yay…I got the orchid!! And not just any orchid!! But a rare tissue-cultured orchid, screeeeeeeeeeeeeech!!!”

“Yay!!!” My group stood up and cheered so loudly it shook the forest. How’s that, you bastard, I answered correctly. You’re definitely pole dancing, Bohn. And you too, Ram. How can you not favor your own group, you deserve a head slap for that.

Heh.

“So, what now?” I nudged my lover’s shoulder; Bohn looked annoyed and flicked my nose in irritation. What’s wrong with you! Are you jealous? I told you I was lucky today, hee-hee.

“Just because your group was right doesn’t mean mine was wrong, you fool.”

“You scoundrel, I’ll watch the scoundrel pole dance.” I reached up to pinch both his cheeks, making the most mischievous face I could. It worked! Bohn was really annoyed, haha…

“Scoundrel” is another word my Thai language teacher taught me, derived from “don’t come.”

“Hah. We’ll see about that.” Sure, sure, I’ll watch…watch someone pole dance.

“Okay, Maduey, come get your orchid after we’ve revealed King’s group’s answers.” Alright, Phii Duen is not in a hurry. Whether I get it late or early, I’ll get it anyway. Phii Duen promises to take good care of the orchid; it won’t die, for sure!!

“So, Frang, was King’s group correct?”

“Seems like heaven is on my side, Bohn, huh.” There you go! I told you!

“So, was it correct?”

“Come out and pole dance with me, you bastard…it was wrong!”

Yay!!!!!!!!!!” I stood up and cheered, dancing around my lover. Wow, Bohn pole dancing, Bohn pole dancing, Bohn pole dancing, wow, what now, you bastard, I told you you’d get it.

“Wow, why are you so happy, huh?” Of course, Phii Duen is happy, what’s wrong with that? I’ve got to record this clip for the kids; Daonuea and Ben need to see what their dad, Bohn, has done.

“Shh.”

“Then don’t look so grumpy, smile.” I bent down to push his lips into a smile. He made a slight huff but didn’t push me away. Well, I understand the feeling. Who would want to pole dance, especially a guy? It’s so embarrassing.

“It’s okay, there’s another team to dance with you, please welcome the team of Oat and Frong.” So, no other team was wrong except for Bohn’s and Phii Frong’s. Poor them, let’s record everyone, huh, ha, ha.

“…I’ll…”

“Alright, go stand on the hill, I’ll play the music and…”

“Sorry…I said it wrong.”

Silence fell over the area when one man raised his hand and spoke that sentence. I wouldn’t care if it wasn’t…

“What did you say, Oat?”

“I looked wrong earlier, thought the bean filling was an eel, sorry.”

“…”

“That means…uh, you have to dance with the pole, huh, heh.” The person who had a world-weary expression earlier whispered in my ear, your voice is so punchable, but Phii Duen needs a moment to be stunned. “Please, Nong Tang’s team, come out to dance on the pole together.” Oh my God!!!!

“Don’t be sad. Even if both groups answered incorrectly, there’s one person who got it right…Please, Nong Ram.” Yes, before, Ram had said, ‘I think they’re both wrong.’ At that time, I thought he was so stupid, but now I must pay homage to his brilliance.

After that, our whole group walked out to the hill along with the other two groups who were also being punished. The pole was made of bamboo…a whole bamboo stalk, wow, and how do you slide on this pole?

“Don’t be afraid, everyone, I will lead.” It’s like you can read my mind, teacher. Only Phii Boss seems to be enjoying this, even someone as cheerful as Phii King is sad, probably really wanted that orchid, oh well, poor him…I also feel sorry for myself, haha.

“Okay, are you ready?”

“Yes…” It was the most disheartened sound I’ve ever heard. I was one of the people making that sound, damn it…this won’t be spread around, if anyone leaks this, Phii Duen will sever his head!

“At first, it was embarrassing to have to come out and dance, but when there’s someone you love dancing with you like this, it’s actually quite fun.” You don’t need to say who it is, right? Who else could it be but that jerk, Bohn.

“Shut up, bastard, damn it!”

“Come on, just dance. Follow Boss.”

“That’s easy to say.” Recently, he did a basic invert…oh wow, I can mimic that one.

“You told me to smile earlier. Now you’re not smiling, come on, smile.” He pulled up the corners of my mouth on both sides, teasing me?

“Damn. I don’t want to slide on the pole, it’s embarrassing.”

“Why be embarrassed? I’m the only one watching.” “Lonely man!” Look down at the people below!

“Alright, sorry for wasting time. If everyone’s ready…the music’s coming!!” As Phii Chai’s voice ended, the music started blaring from the big speakers behind us. Phii Boss has already started dancing. Oh no!! Just the beginning and I can’t handle it!

“If you don’t dance here, I’ll make you dance at the hill in front of everyone at the camp.” You’re so mean, Phii Chai, don’t you know this needs some emotional build-up!

“Follow Boss, everyone! Quick, or you’ll end up dancing at the office!” Alright, let’s do it then!!!

“Uh…what do you want with my bamboo? Do you want to be a panda, want to eat bamboo?” I tilted my head to ask my lover, who grabbed my bamboo. Hey! He threw it away. And he did it with such an innocent look.

“Oh, damn, Bohn, what am I supposed to use as a pole now?” Stealing mine, huh? The other seemed to catch on to my thoughts, pulling his own bamboo out and throwing it next to mine…wait! What are you going to use as a pole then? No, both of us, that’s what!

“I’ll be your pole.”

“Huh!”

“Uh-huh, I’ll be your pole, and you’ll be mine.” After saying that, he grabbed my waist and started swaying to the music. Aren’t you ashamed to do something like this?!

“Don’t be crazy, Bohn!”

“Oh, do those two want to dance at the office? Throwing away the poles like that, dance with each other then!” Phii Chai, did you bribe Bohn or something? I’m sure of it!

“Let go! I’m going to get another pole.”

“Don’t even think about it, fool.”

“Start dancing now. If you don’t start in three seconds, I’ll really make you dance in front of the office!” Damn it, TT [] TT!!!

“What have I done! Whoever recorded, delete all the clips, you bastard!!”

“Yeah, don’t let me see them, or I’ll…I’ll cry, please.”

“My manliness…”

The sound of lamentations and crying came from the group that went out to slide on the pole. We’ve been crying from the first station to this final one, how much time has passed, my disgrace hasn’t faded…

“Damn, so embarrassing, really embarrassing, I can’t face my wife and kids anymore.” I covered my face with my hands, so ashamed, sliding down a pole is bad enough, but this!!

“You don’t have a wife, you have a husband.”

“Shut up, bastard, it’s just lamenting my life.” I elbowed him in the stomach, screw it! I don’t care anymore. It’s over, so let it be!! Phii Duen doesn’t care, today Phii Duen will weave leaves.

“Wow…all the juniors look so world-weary, what have you been doing?” “Sliding down the pole…”

“Oh, ha ha ha.”

“Come on, we’re all men, let’s weave leaves to de-stress, you can choose whatever you like, any shape, any leaf, you can make more than one thing. We’re the last group.” The seniors…no, the uncles, there are five of them at this station, each with a basket beside them full of pandan leaves, coconut leaves, and many more. I’ll take the coconut leaves.

“Bohn, I’m going to weave the cupcake first, I’ll compete with Ting.” I just walked past Tingting’s group, and she ran over to mock me right there, sir.

‘Ha! Look at you, I won’t be single anymore because I’m weaving birds to break the curse!!! No one is smarter than me now. Heh heh, I’m not selling crickets anymore, I’ll sell birds! This time you’ll be confused!! Women with the same fate as me will come rushing to buy!!…Knowing this, I should weave a snail too, maybe it’ll come into my life. Actually, there are many snails around me, but they’re not used for…ugh…I’m stressed again. Because of you, damn Duen!! Because you got Phii Bohn as your husband, now all the other friends want one too, I’ll ban you for three seconds!! Come beg me too, ugh.’

“Uh, this is the nephew from yesterday…right, forgetful uncle?”

“Yes, yes, uncle, can you weave a cupcake?”

“I really want to weave one, the cupcake is small, should be easy to make. If it turns out nice, I’ll give it to Phii Thara as a gift!”

“Hmm. Can’t do that, how about an animal?”

“A cupcake is an animal, too…oh, I forgot that’s just a nickname.” Normally, I call it by name because I don’t want to say the species…just hearing the name gives me goosebumps.

“If it’s an animal, that’s fine, but what kind of animal is this cupcake?” “A lizard.”

“…”

“Why so quiet?”

“I want to hashtag ‘Bohn’s wife is funny,’ haha!” Everyone around us burst into laughter. What’s so funny? I really want to weave a lizard, come on.

“Okay, okay, I’ll teach you myself, haha.”

“What do we do first, uncle?” I asked. No one was doing it like me. Bohn excused himself to do something with Phii King’s group. Tang and his friends went to weave hats on the tree side. What the heck…

“Do you want a big one?” Uncle Cham asked. Big one? Actually, I’d like one big enough to hit King over the head, but given my skills, it would probably be tiny.

“Is it hard?”

“Just a bit.”

“Then let’s do a small one, so it looks more realistic.”

I sat down to weave the lizard with Uncle Cham. At first, there were a lot of people in the group, but somehow, as time went by, I was the only one left.

“Exactly.”

“And then tuck the ends here…done.” I followed what Uncle Cham said and then looked down at my work. It was really a lizard…life-sized too, damn.

I’ll name him…Supasit!

He’ll be friends with Chai. Once it’s dry, I’ll coat it with varnish to make it durable, waterproof, and resistant to wear. Then I’ll put it in my trophy cabinet, along with the trophy that Phu is most proud of, Supasri!

“Thank you very much, Uncle Cham!” I raised my hands to pay respects to the elder in front of me, sweating profusely, both Uncle Cham and me. Teaching me must have been quite a challenge.

“Yeah, yeah, keep it safe, my nephew.”

“Yes, sir.”

I’ve got to show this off to others.

“Ram!”

“?”

“What are you doing?” I looked down at what my close friend was doing. What is that, it even has a tail, so cute. Those white leaves, are they coconut leaves too?

“A platy fish.”

“Wow, it’s beautiful, why is it so big?” It looks plump and big. It’s nothing like the platy fish of the person next to me. What did you give it to eat, Vera?

“It’s a double-decker platy fish.” I raised my eyebrows before sitting down next to him, very interested. I can’t even make the first layer, and you’re already surpassing me, you rice pudding.

“There are layers too?”

“Do you want to learn? I’ll teach you.” I nodded and sat on his lap, as I’ve said, Ram is like my second dad, really. I like being with him; the atmosphere is very warm.

“How many layers do you want?”

“One layer is enough.”

“Tear off the palm leaves.”

“This pale one, right?”

“Uh, and then…” Ram taught me step by step; learning from him made me understand a lot more. When King taught, it wasn’t like this at all, he just kept saying, “It goes into that hole, yeah, that’s it…push it in. You see that long, messy line, right? Go for it.” In the end, I didn’t get anything done all day.

“Ram…why doesn’t it look like a platy fish?” Uh, is this fish sick?

“It does, in your style.”

“You’re good at comforting, damn.”

“No…really.”

“Thanks anyway, friends.”

“Time’s up, come sit here quickly.”

Uncle Cham announced over the microphone, oh well. I haven’t made that much yet; I still wanted to make a bird to compete with Ting.

We walked to our designated spots, Bohn came back, holding something, but I didn’t pay attention. Right now, I’m enamored with my two little ones.

It’s okay, kids. Even though we look terrible, dad loves us.

Clap-clap.

“Seniors, please take the knowledge you’ve gained today and use it in your daily life, do anything with it…like if there’s a coconut tree at home, if you want it to look nice, you can pluck the leaves to weave fish for fun or whatever. That’s all for today, thank you.”

“Thank you very much!” We all raised our hands to salute the uncles at the station before walking away in an orderly fashion. Each person carried one or two items they’d made. I think it’s a good way to spend our free time, definitely. When I get home, I’ll teach Daonuea…if I remember how.

“Duen.”

“What?” …his face is red, is something wrong, or is he about to faint, that’s why he called me? Oh no, the first-aid kit is with the senior at the front of the line. I guess I’ll have to run and get it. “Wait here, I’ll be back. Stay in the shade, okay?”

“Huh??” He grabbed my wrist when he saw me about to run off, gripping tightly. Don’t exert yourself so much! You’ll faint! “Where are you going?”

“To get the first-aid kit.”

“To do what?” Oh, I was just trying to help you, you ungrateful bastard.

“You look like you’re about to faint from the heat.”

“Who told you that?”

“Why do you need someone to tell me? I’m a doctor. Your face is so red, if it’s not heatstroke, then what?”

“…It’s not heatstroke, I’m just embarrassed.”

“?”

“Here, I made this for you.”

“…” I looked down at what he just handed me. It was green, smelled nice, not too big, not too small…and importantly, the craftsmanship was impressive.

“You did this to mock me! That’s going too far, Bohn.” You’re so mean, he must have seen my kids and wanted to mock them.

“Oh, come on, Duen, I swear…that’s not it!”

“Then what?”

“Let’s trade. You give me your rose plant, I give you this pandan rose.”

“Ah…Oh.” I responded awkwardly, raising my finger to scratch my cheek in embarrassment before looking away…I wasn’t prepared for something like this.

“Are you embarrassed?” You’re embarrassed too, you bastard! And you still have the nerve to poke my cheek, just wait! If I get too embarrassed, I’ll bite your neck off.

“Uh, no, I’m not embarrassed! Try being me, and you’ll know how it feels…I’m sorry I haven’t done anything for you.”

“You don’t have to do anything for me. You’ve already given me so much. It’s my turn to give.”

May I touch your chest for a moment? Just to make sure that the lump in front is still in good condition. Hello, heart, are you still in place? I saw it beating so hard, I’m worried it might pop out.

 

MY ENGINEER CHAPTERS HOME

MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 59: Teasing…

[Bohn]

“Serves you right for playing games, I’ve been patient for a while now.” If you’re going to look at me like that, Ting, you might as well come punch me. Everyone else too, what’s up…I just wanted my boyfriend to act sweet, where’s the fault in that? Everyone wants their partner to be sweet.

Last night, I didn’t sleep outside the tent like Duen ordered. I tried to make amends from midnight until two in the morning, but he didn’t soften…no, he was asleep long before that. Waking up, he was still angry, but not like before. This time he looked at me, he paid attention, he talked to me. When our friends found out what happened, they all thought I deserved it. Why, though? I’m pitiful enough, why add insult to injury?

“Alright, campers, today we have activities at various stations organized by our kind forestry department friends. There are ten stations. The first station is…” The senior continued explaining. I listened a bit, didn’t listen a bit, remembering roughly that the first station is crossing a rope bridge, and the last one is weaving leaves. I heard Duen really wants to go to that one. Oh, there’s also a station where we have to hike up the mountain to learn survival skills in the forest.

“Hey, you scoundrel, found the sign already?”

“Yeah, an elf brought it.”

“What elf? We’re in Thailand.”

“It was really an elf, man. After we showered, there was a sign on the pillow.”

“An elf or a forest spirit! Damn…that’s scary.”

“Don’t be scared of you, it didn’t mention there was a Post-it on the sign, saying, ‘Looking for you, you savage. If I hadn’t kept it, it would be gone by now’.” please, Tang, don’t mimic my boyfriend’s voice, my boyfriend’s voice is much cooler.

“Oh, ghosts love you.”

“Yeah, heh heh.”

“We have to go to Station Seven first…the ‘Digging Station’.” James said.

We follow the tent groups, 25 people per group, with a total of eight groups.

“Follow me…come on, kids, uh…I’ll personally take you there.” P’Ying waved for us to follow. He’s one of the guides provided by the forestry department, quite young, probably not less than eighty, healthy but…doesn’t have much speaking energy, though he’s quite funny. He won’t let us call him uncle, saying it’s not suitable for his youthful face, sure, P’Ying.

“Where is the station, P’Ying?” Bihn went to ask, quite interested in this guide’s fashion. My little brother said, “I want to study P’Ying’s fashion sense, he’s not ordinary at all! I asked what he studied, P’Ying said he graduated from grade 8 with a GPA of 5.90, damn…how do you get a grade above four? Plus, his fashion sense is so unique, he might have mastered fashion to another level, I need to apprentice under him. P’Ying, please accept me as your disciple.”

Hearing this, you might wonder how P’Ying dresses, ordinary…ordinary people wouldn’t wear this. He has an old man’s purple turtleneck sweater, yellow and green polka-dot boxer shorts, very tight and high-waisted, red flip-flops with pink pompoms in the middle, around twenty amulets hanging from his neck, and a big orange rose hairband on his head…God, which hospital did this guy escape from? Bihn, if you dress like this, I’ll kick you out of the house and make Ben my family third son…

“The station is at, uh, um…let me listen a moment…hmm…uhmm.”

“Listen to what?”

“Mom.”

“River?”

“Mom bought.”

“…”

“P’Ying, where do we need to go? Did they give us a map?” Seeing that we couldn’t rely on P’Ying, King went to ask P’Singh. He’s also one of our group’s guides, each group gets two guides. P’Singh is about the same age as P’Ying, slightly better because he has the energy to speak. He looks strong, but the downside is, his hearing isn’t great…

“Pantene? Heh. I don’t use Pantene, I use natural shampoo, extracted from rotting kaffir lime peel from the suffering, bitter, and sad Doi Pha Oed mountain. It’s good…good my ass, my hair is falling out in clumps, you bastard, just wait, I’ll go slap someone, sold me a fake!” P’…are you serious, just hearing where it’s from, I wouldn’t buy it.

“Uh…the map?” The person asking scratched his head as if he didn’t know what to say. We were all stunned too. So, the guide for our group probably isn’t going to make it…us too.

“Oh, oh, it’s in my bag…here it is.” The same guide pulled out the map to show us; it looked unusually large. The maps of other groups were only the size of a hand.

“…”

“Hmm, what’s wrong, little brother?”

“It’s really a map…but it’s a map of Thailand.” We all crowded around to look. Wow…it really is Thailand, including the whole country. Looking at this, we could study it until our eyes fall out, and we still wouldn’t find the station; there’s just a tiny bit of Uttaradit. I haven’t even seen where Phu picked flowers for Dao yet.

“Oh, what a curse, here it is.” Phii Singh pulled out the real map (sounds very grand).

“Is this the real one, sir?”

“Who’s Napir?”

“Sigh…! Where’s the station, sir?”

“The station…oh, this way.” Finally, we were on our way. The station’s supervisor might have fallen asleep, and I noticed that Thara’s doctor group had already moved to another station. Heh.

“Hey Tang, is this ‘blindfolded groping’ like what we did during the freshmen welcome?”

“Uh-huh.”

“There’s nothing weird or scary, right?” Duen whispered, do other groups do this? I’d like to play too; I’ve only played a couple of times. It’s fun, but watching friends scream is even more entertaining, huh.

“Duen, are you still mad at me?” I walked over to my lover, who gave me a disdainful look. Our friends chuckled at his behavior.

“Still.”

“How should I make it up to you?” I really don’t know what to do. I’ve never really had to apologize much in my life; usually, if someone was mad at me, I’d let them get over it themselves. If you want to be mad, that’s your business, something like that. Duen is the only one I’ve sat down to appease. Well…I don’t want to lose him.

“How should you? Let’s see, you try to act sweet to me.”

“Huh, how?”

“However you want me to act sweet, do that.” How should I do that…like a cat rubbing against someone? Just imagining myself doing that gives me goosebumps, damn. But if it’s hugging, kissing, or touching, that’s doable.

“…No way.” Even though Duen isn’t fragile, when he does it, it’s cute, but when I do it, it’s…kickable.

“Why?” Duen raised his eyebrows, asking. I just noticed we were walking at the back of the group, just the two of us, while the others probably wanted to give us space to talk or were just tired of our lovey-dovey behavior.

“I look ugly doing it. You look cute doing it.”

“Really? Now I want to see even more…beg me, little brother! Or Phii Duen won’t stop being mad at you.”

“Duen…when I do it, it’s sinful. Don’t you understand, wow?”

“That’s your problem. If you don’t do it…I won’t stop being mad.” After finishing his sentence, he walked off to join his friends. My friends turned around to look at me before running over. They weren’t worried about me, they were here to tease. You can tell by their faces…

“Wow, your wife’s mad at you.”

“That’s how it is. Show-offs, pranksters, how does it feel to be played by nong doctor, huh?” My two best friends, Bom and Boss, came over to nudge my shoulder. I hate it when you guys are together, normally, you’re fine when apart, but when you’re in duo mode…I don’t even want to walk near you.

“From my preliminary diagnosis and observation, I think Bohn has a condition.” King, the genius, stroked his chin thoughtfully. Where did you get those glasses from?

“What condition, King?” Tang asked.

“Uxoriphobia.”

“I thought so too, the smell of being scared of your wife reaches the front of the line, you coward.”

“Wow, damn, Bohn, the coward.”

They all joined in the mockery, their voices so loud that the people in front turned around…to laugh. Even though not all of us are engineering students, half from other faculties, you guys still tease, damn it, just wait, I’ll slap you all in line.

“Shut up, you bastards.”

“Are you going to say it’s not true?”

“Because it is true, that’s why I don’t want to hear it…come on.” I made a face and quickly walked forward, but my ears still caught the teasing from behind. Your voices are loud enough to shake the forest. You damn microphone…

“Welcome, juniors, to the Digging Station. Let me introduce myself first, my name is Chai, and over there is…” We soon reached our destination. At this station, there are five seniors, but I only remember Phii Chai, the one holding…

“This station has simple rules. You need to divide into five groups, with five people in each group. Then take turns reaching into the bag, guess what’s inside, and tell your friends. You can feel around for as long as you like, until the song ends. The group that’s the fastest and guesses correctly will get this jar.”

“Hey…that’s…”

“King, calm down.”

“How can I calm down? Look at that, it’s amazing stuff.”

“Some might not know, but in this jar, it’s the tissue of this rare wild orchid…”

“What about the group that’s the slowest and answers incorrectly?”

“Easy. They just have to go out and pole dance on that hill over there.” Phii Chai pointed to a high hill where there was a pole stuck in the ground. Let’s not call it a pole; it’s bamboo…a whole bamboo stalk.

So, each group has five bags, meaning one person per bag, right? This means if one person can’t guess, we lose. Damn, I don’t want to go out there and pole dance. Just imagine a tough guy like me out there doing something like that; it gives me the creeps.

“Phii King, my group is missing one person, want to join us?” Duen and his friends came over to ask. Besides Tang, Duen, and Ting, there aren’t any first-year medical students at this camp. Luckily, they have close friends like Ram and Phu. Otherwise, they’d look pretty pitiful.

“Uh-huh.”

“No.” I interrupted King; he can’t join Duen’s group. If he does, they’re sure to win. If they win, I won’t get to see Duen pole dancing.

“?”

“King is already with us.” I winked at my friends. They nodded, understanding. That’s what comes from being friends for a long time, they really get me.

“Oh, then, does anyone else have an extra?” Nong Tang asked.

“Boss.” Boss is the best choice here.

“Huh, uh-huh, me.” At first, he looked confused, but when we gave him the look, he understood immediately. He nodded with a smile and walked off with his arm around Tang’s shoulder. That’s how it should be, my dear friend…but you understood my look, right?

“Wow, Thai language teacher.”

“Let’s go, my dear student, our team is definitely going to win.” We’ll see, huh.

“You’re confused, the prize is an orchid, and it’s even tissue-cultured. I want it, I want it, I want it. Look, this species is very rare, it only grows in the North! I want, I want, I want.” the forest guy, oh! King shook Tee’s arm back and forth, really wanting it, huh.

So, in my group, there’s King, Bom, Merk, James, and me.

What do you think…I’ve selected only the cream of the crop for this, heh.

 

[Duenhaw]

“Our team will definitely win, my dear juniors, trust me, I’m a master at this, hee hee.” That’s how my Thai language teacher should be!

We’re about to play the jar-digging game, and the prize is quite interesting. Tang wants to give it to his father, saying this plant is very rare, hard to grow, hard to find, and expensive. I want one too, to try growing it. I remember the last time I planted something was in grade 9, when my agriculture teacher made us grow bean sprouts, but they never grew, no matter what I did…

“I don’t want to go out and do pole dancing, bro, it must be so embarrassing.” Tang rubbed his arms. I don’t want to do it either, picturing a muscular guy sliding down a pole…brr!

“We won’t lose, kids…but if we do, it’s no big deal, I’ll lead the dance myself, it’s super easy, there’s even a move to tease your husband…husband, I miss you, we’re apart but our hearts aren’t, quiet one, kiss kiss!” He raised his hand to send kisses towards Phii Merk as part of the choreography, the other just looked up, smiling and even pouting slightly. Even if it’s just a little.

“Let’s plan first, I have a plan.”

“You really want it, huh…usually, you never have a plan.”

“I do want it. If I get it, my dad will definitely give me his inheritance, heh.” “= =“

“So, what’s your plan then, tell us.” We moved closer, just noticing Phii Boss’s name tag reading, ‘Boss, Merk’s wife, late at night, very good, very fast’, the first sentence makes sense, ‘Phii Boss, Merk’s wife’, but the next one, what does that mean…I guess I haven’t mastered Thai language yet, I need to study more.

“Just dig in without fear, there won’t be much in there, grab whatever you find, and we need to keep track of time. Otherwise, we’ll definitely have to go out and slide down the pole…” We nodded in agreement with Tang’s idea, no one wants to slide down the pole, except for Phii Boss, who has a mischievous smile, somehow.

But the one with the worse smile is that leech…

This morning, I gave him back his name tag. I’ve kept it since the first day; he left it at the waterfall. If I hadn’t kept it, it would have been gone long ago. See how good it is to have me as a boyfriend! Honestly, I’m not really mad at him. Just annoyed and a little irritated, he must be crazy, pretending to be mad to make me beg.

I mean…I’m a man, not some delicate girl, but a burly giant who can break a wild boar’s neck with bare hands…!

“Are you all ready? Don’t forget, the fastest gets it. Feeling around for too long wastes time, but if you feel too quickly, you won’t know what it is…Ready! Go!!” As Phii Chai’s voice ended, the music started. What kind of song is this, it’s so suspenseful…

“Go, Ram!” We sent Ram first, followed by Tang, Phii Boss, me, and finally Phu. Ram and Tang are quite detail-oriented. We should win this.

“Damn!!!”

“Aaaaah!! It’s moving, you bastard!!”

“Oh my god!! It’s squirming, scream!!” Hang in there, bro, hang in there! You…uh, whatever, I just know you are a lion.

“Tang, go!” We all shouted in unison when Ram came back; he did good time because besides Phii King and Ram, no one else had returned yet.

“What was it?”

“…I think it was an egg, but I squeezed too hard, and it broke.” I think he’s right…it burst and left yellow goo on his hand. Good thing he walked back smoothly.

“So, the first thing was an egg.”

“Phii Boss!” Wow, Tang, do you want that jar that badly? He came back really fast, even faster than James from Bohn’s team. It’s not like you don’t know this stuff.

“Why did you come back so fast? What was it?”

“It was squishy like jelly, and it smelled sweet. It must have been grass jelly.” We looked at his fingers stained with dark syrup. I think so too…

“Aaaaah!! What the hell!! Your father, what is this, ewww!! It’s the grossest thing ever, Boss, you can’t handle it!!”

Phii Boss sat down on the floor with his legs crossed before crawling back to us. I don’t know what he encountered, but I have to go now! Orchid tissue, wait for Phii Duen!!

“Oh, they came out together…maybe they’re meant to be.” “Nonsense.” Do I have to say who it is?

“Be careful…it’s scary, huh.” Bohn nudged my shoulder. You’re trying hard, aren’t you, even though we’re far apart…no, actually, we’re not that far apart. We’re in adjacent groups; he’s in the third group, and I’m in the fourth. The distance is between the bags.

“Don’t mess with me, Bohn.” I raised my eyebrows teasingly before I started reaching into the bag. Before I even touched anything, the person next to me spoke up, making me pause.

“I’m not messing with you. Since you’re my boyfriend, I’ll tell you. It makes a ‘thud…thud, thud, thud’ sound, my love.”

As soon as he finished the sentence, he blew air into my ear. I was stunned for a while until he ran back to his seat, then I realized, you leech! Are you wasting my time?! So evil, once I composed myself, I quickly reached into the jar, how much could be in there!

“Hey, argh!…Oh, it’s not that much.” I yelped for a moment and then ran back to my seat. I didn’t want to waste more time; that’s all I needed to know, squishy, soft, a bad feel, there’s only one thing like that.

“Phu goes.”

“Oh!”

“…Damn, Bohn, you tricked me.” I punched the shoulder of the person sitting next to me, so annoying.

“I tease you because I love you.” Bohn lifted his hand to pinch my cheek softly, thinking it’s cute, huh…he deserved that if he didn’t use the hand that went into the jar to pinch me, the smell stuck to you.

“Don’t touch me, you liar, you clearly fooled me.” Punched him again, that’s right!

“Come on, it was just a little.” After saying that, he hugged me and rocked left and right. This…are you begging? So, you want me to beg like this? I shook my lover off when Tang waved for us, not knowing if all the items in the jars were the same, so we had to keep it secret in case someone was eavesdropping.

“Yours is what? Mine’s jelly, Ram’s is an egg, Phii Boss’s is lemongrass.” Lemongrass? That’s what made you scream like that. I thought it was a python…Oh, was that to trick the competitors, Teacher? I salute you, Master!

“It’s probably Tae’s tofu, damn, Phu’s here.” Mine from the jar was indeed

Tae’s tofu, I’m pretty sure of it because why? I saw Tae’s white tofu on Bohn’s finger; the smell from earlier made me certain it had to be Tae’s tofu…If Phii Chai put the same items in each group’s jars, we’re lucky, but if not…well, um.

“What’s yours?”

“Eel.”

“Huh?!” We all exclaimed together, the person who answered nodded before continuing to eat his snack, unconcerned. If it really was an eel…you haven’t washed your hands yet, have you, Pinchan?!

“Actually, I caught it with my hand…you run to answer quickly!” Phu nudged Tang to stand up when he saw Phii King walking towards Phii Chai.

“Argh, my inheritance!!” I’ve never seen you run so fast before, Tang…the spirit of a true son, this is what father-son love looks like, I’m really moved.

“Oh, two teams have arrived. Who came first or second…let’s say you both came at the same time, so the fastest two groups are here.” Here we go…

“Let’s review, the group that answers correctly…I’ll give this jar to the whole group, but if you’re wrong, you have to go stand and pole dance there. In the case of these two guys coming out together, if both answer correctly, both groups get the plant. I have plenty, hee hee…but the last group, be careful, you’ll have to pole dance, don’t forget.” Frong’s team sat up straight. Not for any reason, they just took a long time feeling around, and one person didn’t even want to reach in; he was praying, probably scared.

“Yes…sigh.”

“Alright, let’s hear it, guys…King and Tang.” Phii Chai read the name tags before holding the mic to Phii King’s mouth. I noticed they bumped each other; did it hurt? Instead of saying it hurt, he just laughed. Phii King is really strange.

“Who’s going first?”

“Nong King first, come on, go to your group’s bag. What’s in there?”

“Jelly noodles, sticky rice, banana, Tae’s tofu, and a wig.”

“Uh-huh, you’ve answered them all.”

“I won’t reveal the answers yet; let’s wait for Nong Tang’s answers first, then I’ll reveal them together. What’s in the bag, Tang?”

“Egg, grass jelly, lemongrass, Tae’s tofu, eel.” That’s right for sure! Trust me…mine, Tang’s, and Ram’s were correct because they had the stuff on their hands. But the other two, I’m not sure about. It should be fine, though.

“Uh-huh, both groups have answered completely. Which group is the last?” Phii Chai asked while looking at Phii Frong’s group. Oh well, they ended up being the last group after all, Phii Frang, you’re going to pole dance!

“Pole dance, guys; I need two representatives from that group to come up and check if their friends’ answers are correct.” The ones who came out were Frang and Phii Oat. I know Phii Oat because he often comes to Phii Fang’s shop; he’s a nice guy. Even if he seems strict, wow, angels tend to hang out with angels, right? So…why is an angel like my brother friends with that cupcake?

“Why are there only good-looking people at this camp? I feel outshined.” Thanks for the compliment, but we know we’re good-looking, but believe me, I’m the best-looking. I’m not being conceited; Daonuea tells me every day, hee-hee.

“Can you introduce yourselves?”

“Uh, but the name tags already have our names-”

“Come on, consider it service for the ladies.” Phii Chai handed the mic to the newcomers. Honestly, this mic doesn’t even amplify sound; it’s more like you’re just holding it, whispering would be louder.

“Alright, my name is Frang, second year in Management.”

“My name is Oat, same year, Management.”

“Screeeeeeam, Phii Oat, Phii Frang!” That wasn’t a woman’s scream. I told you, this group is all tough guys. The scream just now came from their friends, who are quite dramatic. I would have hooted too if the person next to me wasn’t glaring at me when I raised my hand to cover my mouth. Oh, I won’t do it then…

“Oh, guys this handsome, do you have girlfriends yet?”

“Uh, no, both of us.”

“Really? Are you playing coy, juniors? Anyone you like?” Why are you asking so many questions, Phii Chai? Hurry up and reveal the answers, please, are we right? I want that orchid.

“I used to have someone, but now she has a boyfriend.”

“Someone didn’t want you?”

“Yeah, I guess she doesn’t like cheerful, well-off young men like me.” He said jokingly.

“Really? Is she pretty? What’s her personality like?” She must be pretty. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have hurt my brother that much.

“She’s cute, kind, and…uh.”

“That is my wife, you bastard!”

The person next to me shouted, ‘my wife’, referring to whom? The speaker is my boyfriend, it can’t be me, can it? Wait…

“I know that, damn it. I won’t steal her!”

“Even if you wanted to steal, you couldn’t, she’s mine!”

“Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwww”

“Knowing just one province isn’t enough, you bastard!!”

“What? Who’s your wife? Do you have a secret lover, Bohn?” I asked not seriously, maybe it’s his ex, because when P’Frang was heartbroken, we weren’t even dating yet.

“Pong.”

“And who is the person P’Frang likes?” I raised my eyebrows to ask my conversation partner, definitely his ex, believe me, I heard she’s amazing, friends told me, I’ve never seen her, though.

“You, you bastard.” He flicked my nose lightly, but it still hurt! Wait, just now…what did he say?!

“Huh? Me?” I widened my eyes in shock.

“Yeah. You didn’t know anything and still went to hug and comfort him, do you know how mad I was back then?”

“…Damn.”

“Damn what?”

“Do you want to go check your eyesight? Both you and him, what’s wrong, there are millions of beautiful women out there you don’t like…yet you’re blind to all of them and like me.”

“Haha.”

“Oh…it’s a university-level secret that outsiders can’t know, right? Alright, alright, I won’t ask more; we don’t want any fighting. Just one more question…is he at the camp?” I almost forgot about Phii Chai. Hurry up, sir, I want that orchid already!!

“He’s here.”

“And…where?”

“Right here!” Bohn pointed at me. You bastard, are you afraid others don’t know?

…dot dot, I have no idea what to say, what he meant by women having no standing, now I understand. Let’s get back to the game, guys, so we can move to the next station; otherwise, we won’t complete all ten. Ahem.” The senior should have realized this long ago. I can’t even remember where we left off.

“Alright, I’ll have both of you check if what’s in the bags matches what your friends said. Frang, check King’s group’s bag. Oat, check Tang’s. I’ll repeat, King’s group has jelly noodles, sticky rice with banana, tofu, and a wig. Tang’s has an egg, grass jelly, lemongrass, tofu, and eel in that order. Don’t reach in, just look normally…go ahead.” As Phii Chai finished speaking, both walked over to the glowing bags…what’s with mine? Whatever, they went to inspect the bags.

They mumbled to themselves, things you could barely hear. Ah…Phii Frang furrowed his brows and kept looking into the bag. Once he was sure, he looked up and gave Bohn a wry smile. I think we’ve got this.

“Bohn, you’re definitely pole dancing.” I gave a wicked smile. Not only will I get the orchid, but I’ll also see Bohn pole dancing. I’ll record a video for Ben and Dao to see what their dad did. This time, I’ll be the one to be promoted to dad, hee-hee.

“No way, my group’s all top-notch. You’re the one who’s going to be in trouble.” You’re really confident, aren’t you? Believe me, you’re the one who’s going to be in trouble; my intuition tells me so, huh.

“It’s fine. It’s just pole dancing, I promise to record it in HD for our kids.”

“Record away…because you’ll be the one in the video. It’s okay, you can be the mom, the kids will understand, huh.” Oh, wait and see, you bastard.

“Alright, you’ve looked, let’s go through it one bag at a time. Oat, Frong, the first bag, did King and Bom answer correctly?” Why do you have to make it suspenseful, do you know I’m getting anxious? My pants are all wet from the dew on the grass. If I stand in the damp area a bit longer, mushrooms might sprout.

“They got it right.”

“Yay, what do you say now, I was right!” I looked pleased, as if to say, ‘The first bag was right, the others will always be right too’, who’s the egg-layer? Whatever.

“I’m right, aren’t I, bastard?” I knew it, but I just wanted to mock.

“Bohn, if you answer wrong and have to slide down the pole, I’ll stop being mad at you.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah.” I rested my chin, looking at him. Even though it seems like we’ve made up now, why am I so soft? I should have stayed mad at him for a year or two, that would be nice.

“Then…if you answer wrong and have to slide down the pole, I’ll…”

“What?”

“I’ll love you even more than I already do. Ha.”

“Uh, you…” Damn, always with the silly humor, but why do I always react like this? It must be because of his annoying charm, why are you smiling so smugly? Are you on drugs, (cool), or what, you bastard, damn!

“Will they know we’re not alone in the middle of the wilderness?”

“Exactly, and will they know how jealous I am?”

“I want to try eating the grass they’re sitting on to see if it’s as sweet as his humor. Let’s boil the grass to survive, you guys.”

“That’s a good idea, let’s export it instead, you guys, ‘Savage Idiot Sweet Grass’, the slogan could be, ‘Not sweet enough, and the seller will show you his eggs’, that would be good, wouldn’t it?” What are they talking about…is this gossip or what, and they’re even looking at us while saying it.

Better focus on the event, we’ve reached the last jar. Neither team has made a mistake yet, trust me, my team is all correct! The last jar for Bohn’s team is the one Phii Frong is eyeing repeatedly.

“Okay, are we right…?”

“Ha, I’m not mad at you anymore, I love you even more now.” I and Bohn said at the same time, oh, you bastard. Do you think you’ll win? You won’t fool me, bastard.

“And you’ll be heartbroken.”

“We’ll find out soon, Bohn.” I shrugged, gave a wicked smile before turning my attention back to the front. Phii Frong made a throat-slashing gesture, mouthing, “You’re sliding down the pole.” and then made some annoying gestures. You’re definitely in trouble, you leech. Look, Phii Oat hasn’t shown any reaction, which means my group isn’t wrong, right? Let me set up the camera for a moment, heh.

 

MY ENGINEER CHAPTERS HOME

MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 58: Because…

[Duenhaw]

“So, you’ll really sleep next to me?” I turned to ask the person beside me. He had already lain down and covered himself with a blanket. Did you even ask for my opinion? The others really are considerate, moving to give us space at the edge without even being asked.

Thank you…I am very touched.

“Yeah.” Bohn nodded frantically, lifting his phone to press something, definitely not surfing on the internet or checking Facebook since there’s no signal here, whatever.

“Sigh, whatever you want.” I lay down, the bed was a military one, borrowed by the forestry department guys, but some people brought their own blankets and mattresses. As for me, I’m on the “whatever” team because I’m too lazy.

“Apemong Kero Kero, Momo Pimple.”

“What language is that, Boss?” That must be Phii Tang’s voice, and laughter erupted in the tent. I laughed too, the word genius, smarter than Phii Boss, there isn’t anyone. Who could invent words every ten seconds? No one!

“It means, ‘Good night, friends.’“

“You liar, ha ha ha.”

“You.”

“And what do you say for ‘Good night, husband’?” I sat up to look. Not for any reason, just that an ant was biting my heel, itchy as hell, I had to scratch, huh…it’s big, what do they eat here? Why are these ants evolving so fast, are they Pakistani ants?

“Good night, husband…there’s no such thing.”

“Hey, if you do this, Merk will be upset.”

“No sweet dreams for the husband, just this…mumble mumble.”

“What?”

“May I have your number, kind sir?” After saying that, he flopped down to lie on his side, winking at Phii Merk who was watching. The one who was teased smiled and flicked his forehead lightly in jest.

“Urrghhhhhh.”

“Do whatever you want. We’ll watch from a distance, worrying a bit…damn, Tiger, set up the camera!!” As soon as James finished speaking, Tiger rolled from the corner like a tank, jumping up to sit in a prayer-like pose before setting up a large camera at the feet of Merk and Boss. Oh my God…that’s a Cinema EOS, the latest model, right?

“I’ve prepared for this well, my friend, and I have another one specifically for Bohn and Duen. They’re definitely going to do something, trust Tiger, I can sense it.” Tiger with his sixth sense…oh, come on, man.

“Don’t…” The person next to me sat up to speak, yeah, that’s how it should be, act like my boyfriend for once, tell them, ‘Don’t do this, I don’t like it!!’ Make it clear!

“Don’t set up the camera?”

“Don’t forget to send me the files, I want to use them to improve myself.” The speaker gave me a sly look, thinking what I would do if it wasn’t just blushing, oh, come on…I’m tired of you!

“Urrghhhhhh.”

“Time to sleep, students…”

“We’re asleep, sir, that was just sleep-talking.” Seeing that the teacher had entered the tent, everyone immediately lay down without any prior agreement. Those standing fell to the ground as if fainting, and those sitting slammed their heads against the pillows with force. I could hear the sound of wings…whoever hit their head on the ground, tell me, I will give first aid.

“Hmm, the teacher can believe that if he wants to. Don’t make too much noise, we’re in the forest, I’m leaving now.” I remember him. He’s the one who teased me back then, remember the day I went to study with Bohn?

This is the teacher who teased me, I think her name was Professor Pakorn. After she left, no one got up again.

“You guys, I’m turning off the lights.”

“Go ahead, friend, I’m sleepy.”

We need to conserve our energy because tomorrow we have to play games at the stations with the forestry department folks. They’re really nice, teaching me a lot, like how to weave leaves into different shapes. I heard we’re also doing coconut leaf weaving tomorrow. Me and Ting are really looking forward to it, but…I guess we’ll get teased just like today.

“Wow, Duen, how do you like that? I might not be as good with men as you, but in this…I! Win!! Ha, what do you think? Check out my work, see how beautiful it is. I should win an award for excellent craftsmanship. Ah…we’re really good, huh? Have you seen my cricket’s tail? Look, it’s even waving in the wind. I don’t care about men anymore. I’ll sit and sell crickets, my brand is, ‘Tingting, the eternal husbandless monkey, No.1’, I’ll make a collection, export it to sell abroad so the world knows my woven cricket brand, I’ll have money coming out of my ears without needing a husband!” You…

Are you looking down on me, you bastard? Watch me! Tomorrow, I’ll weave cupcakes! I’ll compete with your brand!! Called, ‘Phii Duen, do you have any beans in your jar?’, it’ll be a hit! Phii Duen, the disciple of Daonuea, son of Dad-Direk, can be beaten but not mocked!

“Wow, I missed setting up the camera, what a pity.”

“Damn you.” I made a face; even in the dark, I could see his cunning expression, Phii Duen’s face twitched…my foot twitched wanting to kick him in the face.

“Heh heh.”

“I hate your laugh.”

“Have we kissed goodnight yet?” The other moved closer. I pushed his face away with all my strength…don’t expect to get a taste of me, you rainbow leech.

“I’ll kiss you with my heel, go to sleep. Good night.” After saying that, I turned to the other side. I definitely won’t be able to sleep looking at his face. The sensation from the kiss still lingers, I feel my face heat up every time I think about it, Bohn kissed me…

We kissed.

I understand that couples do this kind of thing normally, but…how should I put it, that was my first kiss, and what’s more special is that it was the first kiss with my first boyfriend at my first volunteer camp. I’ve seen scenes like this in foreign movies. I thought I was embarrassed then…now, I’m a million times more embarrassed.

We kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed, we kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed, we kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed. We kissed.

Aargh!!! I’m going crazy.

“Ugh.” I groaned in embarrassment, lifting both hands to cover my face and wriggling around. Bohn took my first kiss. No…he didn’t just take one kiss, he took a lot, my heart, my attention…everything, damn it.

“What’s wrong, huh?”

“…Nothing.”

“Can’t you sleep?”

“I’m asleep.”

“…”

“Are you sick? Did I keep you in the water too long?”

“Let go.” Don’t touch my forehead, you bastard! Every time you touch me, I think about when we were at the waterfall, damn it…and why is my face so hot? What’s wrong with your body? After dating for how long, little Duen, you only start showing symptoms now?

“What’s wrong with you?”

“…Ouch! My eyes!” I raised my hand to cover my face when the other person turned on their phone screen. The light was brighter than a spotlight; he must be doing this on purpose to tease me. Otherwise, he wouldn’t shine it right in my face.

“I was shocked, thought something was wrong…huh.”

“What’s so funny?”

“Laughing at how your face turns red when you’re embarrassed.”

“It’s red because I’m hot.”

“Hot? It’s four degrees now, my feet are numb.” Not just your feet, my spleen is cold too.

“I…I’m just hot, turn off the light. Others are trying to sleep.” I grabbed his phone and put it on his head. I don’t know if everyone else is asleep, but right now, I want to sleep to escape from Bohn.

“Perverted fool.”

“I’m not perverted!” My heart beat fast hearing that sentence; the person lying next to me chuckled before moving closer. No way! I’m trying to escape!!

“Don’t lie. You must be thinking dirty thoughts.” He said this and then blew air into my left ear, making my fine hairs stand up. I quickly pulled my neck away from the hot breath.

“Not at all…don’t move closer…” I pushed his chest away and turned my face aside. Strange, this time he let go easily.

“What are you thinking about? Tell me, huh, huh?” The rogue ran his hand across my cheek.

“I’m not thinking about anything, I’m going to sleep!”

Cut it off, arguing won’t win against him. It’s not fair, even though I’ve upgraded my language skills from Phii Boss, why can’t I beat him? Not just in dirty humor, in arguments, and now this…I guess I need to study for a master’s in Thai with a language teacher. A bachelor’s degree isn’t enough to deal with this banter.

“I’m so damn sleepy…” I mumbled, blinking slowly as my eyelids grew heavier and heavier until I finally closed them. It’s insanely cold here, even with a thick blanket…

I heard the sound of fabric rustling, accompanied by a warm touch on my forehead. It felt like I was being pulled into something warm and safe.

“Good night, you fool.” Tap, tap, tap, tap.

Gasp!

Was that the sound of a gecko just now? I’ve told you before, right, that I’m scared of lizards and geckos to the point of being paranoid. The only lizard I can get close to is the cupcake one, but not to the extent of touching…let’s just go to sleep.

Waking up in the middle of the night feels awful…even someone like me who isn’t afraid of ghosts feels scared. Sleep, Duenhaw! Close your eyes, count sheep, pick your nose. Do whatever it takes to fall asleep!

‘There are many reasons for waking up at night…but mostly, it’s because someone is watching.’

Damn you, Tang!! Why did you have to say something like that to me, and why do I have to think about it now? The atmosphere here is just too perfect for it. Before coming here, I just watched a horror movie in the jungle, an old movie about lizards or something, but that was a gecko just now, probably nothing…

Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.

You’ve got to be kidding me. If you can tell the time like this, you damn lizard, why not come out and fight me! Ugh, why does my brain have to picture movie scenes like this? And it’s a scene where a lizard falls down.

Sigh.

“Hold me!” I tightened my embrace…hug? Am I hugging Bohn? Wait, you’re taking advantage of me again, you jerk. Forget about that for now, I’ll allow it for one day.

Trust me, that wasn’t a lizard, there’s nothing there, I’m just overthinking it. Have you ever felt like something was falling when you thought about it, even though there was nothing? That’s called hypnagogia, and I’m experiencing it now. Even though I know it’s just my imagination…Phii Duen is scared.

“Sleep, sleep…why not wake up in the morning? Why does it have to be now?” My heart was beating irregularly when I realized no one else was awake except me. What’s worse is…

I need to pee!

Forget it, I’ll get up to pee in the morning…but I can’t hold it anymore, damn it, Duen.

“Uh…Duen, why are you awake in the middle of the night?” Did I hug so tight that I woke Bohn up? But honestly…I’m really glad he woke up.

“Uh…sorry, did I wake you?”

“It’s okay…let’s sleep.” The other person tightened his embrace before planting a kiss on my dark hair. What should I do? I didn’t want to bother him, but I really needed to pee, and I was too scared to go alone.

Tap, tap, tap, thud, thud

You bastard, are you rushing me!?

“Bohn…”

“…Huh, yes?”

“Come with me to the bathroom.” In the end, I disturbed him. I promise I’ll pee with the speed of a NASA rocket. I won’t make you wait long, so…please come with me.

“Now?” He asked sleepily.

“Yeah, I need to pee.”

“Scared of ghosts?”

“I’m not scared of ghosts; I’m scared of lizards and geckos.” Does it sound funny to say that? But Bohn knows I’m really afraid of those cupcake relatives, scared to the point where I don’t even want to get close to them. “Sure.” Yay!!

We walked out of the tent quietly, trying not to make any noise to disturb others. Ram is very sensitive to sounds; he wakes up as easily as I do, but he didn’t seem to move, so he must still be asleep.

“Wait outside.” I nodded in understanding and quickly ran into the bathroom. I could have peed outside, but I didn’t want to do that; after all, I’m going to be a doctor, a clean lover…even if the dormitory is a mess.

Me and Bohn didn’t go to the main bathroom but chose a smaller one not far from the tent; it only had two rooms, divided between men and women. Close your eyes, Duen! Don’t look around, or you might see those relatives.

Chirp, chirp, chirp

Ahhh! I knew you were here, I was quiet, so why make that sound! Do you know the international rule? I don’t greet you, you don’t greet me, fair and square!!!

I closed my eyes and ears with high speed, cleaning up in less than a minute before running out. It gave me goosebumps. I didn’t even want to think about how close that lizard was to me just now, ugh.

“Oh!”

“Done already? Why the face? Was there a gecko inside? Ha ha ha.” the person waiting on the log laughed out loud, damn it!

“Don’t laugh, you bastard.”

“I need to pee, wait a sec…If you’re scared, I can come in with you, Duen, heh heh.”

“No way!” I made a face; the other nodded understandingly before walking into the bathroom. It’s damn cold, even with my thick jacket on, and with the cat-patterned socks borrowed from Daonuea on my feet.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

Ouch, can I change what I said? I want to go into the bathroom with you! Did you call your friends to scare me, invincible, eternal, honorable!! Bring them on!

Think of something else, think of something else to forget this.

What should I think about…

As I was thinking, I heard a sound, not an animal sound, but the sound of the waterfall, Phu Yod Dao, not far from here. Waterfall…Bohn and ‘him’ also kissed at a waterfall.

I admit, before this, I was really mad at Bohn, mad like I’ve never been at anyone before. Yesterday, I ran after him, but just for a moment, we lost each other. At that time, I felt incredibly guilty. So, I went for a walk, trying to relieve stress, but ended up more stressed. The image of him kissing that pretty-faced guy was still stuck in my mind. I didn’t know who he was, but I heard others say he was forceful…probably was forceful.

I don’t know, it seemed like he knew I was watching from above. Not just my imagination, it hurt so much…honestly, I never thought he would dare to cheat. But if you stood there, watching them kiss…

I really couldn’t control my thoughts.

After running away, I sat to calm myself down behind the waterfall. I didn’t want anyone to see my tear-stained face. When I felt somewhat better, I acted normal, smiling to cover everything up, no one knew…I was amazed at myself for being able to do that. Normally, I’m not good at lying, but when it comes to something heavy, I can lie well instantly.

Another thing I dislike, apart from lizards and geckos, is people who lie.

I asked Bohn where he had been. At that time, I wanted to hear the truth, anything true, ‘went to the waterfall behind the office’, ‘went for a walk’, or even ‘went to kiss someone else’, anything, we could deal with the matter later, just don’t lie…but Bohn lied, my heart squeezed tight, breathing became difficult like there was something stuck in my throat. If I had said anything then, tears would have definitely flowed.

The more he acts like he’s bored with me, the more he seems like he doesn’t want to look at me, the more it makes me think, ‘He’s bored with me.’ I cry in my sleep, feeling so pitiful. I’m always the one comforting friends, telling them it’s okay, not to care about those who make us sad, but every time I look up, my eyes go straight to Bohn. Even if he says he was forced by that handsome guy, why do I still feel bad? Maybe because of how Bohn acted…

Is he bored with me?

“Duen, what’s wrong?”

“Huh? Nothing.” I answered the person coming out of the bathroom. Was he in there long, or did I just imagine it quickly? Duen, the worrywart, haha, sigh.

“Nothing? Why do your eyes look red like you’ve been crying? Are you that scared of lizards?” Red eyes, huh?

“…Yeah, they’re so scary, haha.” It was the most forced laugh I’ve ever made, what can I do when there’s a lump in my throat? Being able to speak at all is impressive…

“…What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, let’s go, it’s cold.” I grabbed his wrist and pulled him to walk with me; I didn’t want him to look at my face right now. Even though it’s all over, why do I keep thinking about it?

“Let’s talk first, what’s wrong?” The person behind resisted, refusing to follow.

“…”

“What’s wrong? Tell me, you good person.”

“Are you bored with me?” I asked softly, blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay. Please don’t say it, damn it…I beg you.

“…”

“Are you bored because I’m a fool, bored because I don’t have much time for you, bored because I’m not very jealous, bored because you have to think a lot about me, bored with how I am…” Is my personality annoying to him? Someone once told me that people like me are annoying, but I didn’t take it to heart because it was someone else. But Bohn isn’t…he’s my lover. I don’t want to annoy him…

“I’ve never been bored…”

“…” I couldn’t hold back my tears when he said that. He came over to hug and comfort me; it was warm, so warm it made my heart race.

“…”

“I’ve never been bored with you being a fool…I fell for you because of that foolishness. I’ve never been bored with you not having time…I understand you study hard.” Bohn flicked my nose before smiling.

“…Hic.”

“I’ve never been bored of you being you, I love you being you.”

I hugged the person in front of me back, tears flowing uncontrollably. The more I’m with him, the weaker I become. How many times have I cried today?

“Don’t cry, I’ve said I don’t like your tears.”

“Hic…then don’t look.”

“How can I not look when my boyfriend is sad…I have to comfort him.”

We hugged like that for I don’t know how long. I didn’t even know when we sat down on the log, I didn’t know anything…I only knew that every time a tear fell, Bohn would kiss it away until it was gone. He kissed all over my face, from my eyelids, nose, cheeks, chin, and ending at my lips.

“Why do you think I’m bored?” The person beside me asked while pressing my face into his shoulder. There was a faint, pleasant scent coming from him…

“Because yesterday and today, you acted like you were bored, I tried to make up but you wouldn’t stop being mad.” Normally, a little begging would make it go away, but this time was different. I begged, I cooed, I did everything, but he paid no attention.

“Oh, that’s what you’re talking about…”

“Speak, but don’t get mad, okay.” Saying this means what he’s about to say will definitely make me mad…the way he looks and speaks is so suspicious.

“Tell me first, I’ll decide later.” I had to give a neutral response; otherwise, he wouldn’t tell me.

“Duen, don’t do this, I don’t want to see you mad again.” After saying this, he nuzzled me like a kitten, don’t be cute, you liar!

“Then just say it, I’m reasonable enough.”

“The reason I acted like I was mad is because…”

“?”

“Because I wanted to see you appease and coo to me.”

“…”

What did he just say…

You acted like you were mad, not looking at me, not talking to me because you wanted me to beg?! Damn you, Bohn, you devious person, you water dipper, you problematic molar, you cataracted eye, father of Ben!!!!

“Everyone wants their partner to be sweet, and when you do it, you’re so cute that I…I pretend to be mad because I know you’ll eventually act sweet.” He spoke so softly it was almost a whisper, his large hands plucking grass and rolling it around like a child who’s done something wrong and doesn’t know what to do with themselves.

“Should I keep being mad at you? I think I forgive you too easily…”

“I already told you last evening to stay mad for longer, alright…and then we made up, isn’t that enough? Come on.”

“Hah! I’m tired, I’m going to sleep!” I got up abruptly and walked back to the tent in a huff. What the hell, did I spend the whole day worrying over something as trivial as this? Jeez!

“Duen, are you mad at me? I’m sorry. Well, you know, I just wanted to have some cute, cute moments with my boyfriend too.”

“Which means you’re not afraid of me killing you, right?”

“Bohn! Tonight, you sleep outside the tent!!”

 

MY ENGINEER CHAPTERS HOME

MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 57: Switch

[Bohn]

“What’s going on between you and Mai?”

“Just a little issue.” I avoided answering that, the fact that he had everyone wait outside shows he doesn’t want anyone to know. What would I gain by talking about it?

“Really just a little?”

“Whether it’s little or not, let’s just go shower…Today’s the day, you!!! I’ve prepared myself mentally!!! I’m going to jump into the waterfall!!” So, this morning, Boss didn’t jump because the water was too cold, so he chickened out, but King dared to; he was trembling. Instead of getting out quickly, he stood there laughing and playing in the water until we had to call him to get out. “I chased after a water kangaroo and caught up…no, it got washed away by the water, haha.” Help, my friend…

But…despite everything, Duen hasn’t come to apologize to me. No, he hasn’t even spoken to me today, or does he think I’m really mad and doesn’t want to come close because he’s afraid I’ll lash out at him? Damn, how did I come across?

“Bohn…”

A pull from behind made me turn around; the one pulling me was none other than the person I just mentioned…

“Slow…oh, King.”

“Who did you think it was?”

“Who else could it be…” I turned to look at my best friend; King was watching Mai’s retreating figure until he was out of sight, then he turned to me. Our eyes met, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

“I think Duen is really acting strangely.”

“I think so too, but he’ll probably go back to normal soon.” I shrugged. If he doesn’t want me to be alone or he’s afraid I’ll lash out, maybe he hasn’t figured out how to apologize because he’s never had a girlfriend. Come kiss me then; it would solve everything.

“Maybe…by pretending to be mad, you might have made him think you’re bored with him, especially combined with the Mai situation…”

I didn’t stay to listen to anything else; my legs ran quickly to the waterfall, my heart racing as I thought about what my lover might be thinking. I had never considered this before; I only pretended to be mad to see how he would apologize. I didn’t want it to be like this; deep down, I secretly hoped my best friend was wrong…

Don’t be mad at me, Duen.

“You’re here, Phii Bohn? I thought you weren’t going to shower.” Phu, who was sitting on a rock, said with a laugh. I didn’t bother to respond; my eyes scanned the area for my lover’s slender figure, but there was no trace of him.

“Phew…where did Duen go?”

“The fool? Oh…I think he went to be a model for Ting. What’s up? Oh…you want to play in the water with your ‘wife’?”

“Where?”

“I don’t know, probably up there…Hey, where are you rushing off to?”

Once I got the answer, I immediately ran to where he mentioned. The path wasn’t very high; it was a slope with steps made of earth. I ran up the earthen steps. I didn’t know where Duen and Ting were, but I didn’t want to sit and wait there. I wanted to see him, talk to him, wanted him to smile at me…

“Sit there…ah, hold it. Lift one leg up, yeah, yeah…okay.”

“Is this good? I feel like I’m posing like a dork, haha.”

“Not good…it’s perfect, I love it.”

After running for a while, I heard the voices of the two close friends. The place they were at was on the upper terrace of the waterfall, where there was no one else but Duen and Tingting. I stared at the one I was looking for; on Duen’s head was a crown of skeleton flowers…their petals were as thin as my feelings at that moment, and perhaps as thin as our relationship too.

“Duen.” I walked over and stopped where they were taking photos. The one I called paused for a moment but quickly returned to normal. He didn’t even look at me…King was right after all, wasn’t he?

“Can I talk to Duen for a bit?” The female photographer didn’t look at me either. Right now, even a dragonfly perched on a tree seemed to have more presence than me. Tingting must certainly know about this.

“Keep shooting, why stop? I came all the way here to be your model, you know. My fee is high, man.” The model sitting on the rock said jokingly…I would have laughed before, but not now.

“No matter how high your fee is, I can pay it…lift your hand to hold it between your legs, yeah, yeah…and raise your knees on the rock…”

“Put on a blank expression…you look cool, my friend, go find yourself a beautiful wife.”

“Tingting, please…I want to talk to Duen.” I walked closer. She still acted like she didn’t see or hear me, and so did Duen.

“Duen, put your hands and feet on the rock…yeah, yeah, you can even sleep there, my Nong Duen is the most ‘Yod’ ever.”

“Ting…don’t you feel sorry for me? Duen looks at me like I’m invisible.” I said in a weak voice. Ting bit her dry lips, troubled, and the sweat on her cheeks was evidence that she was starting to soften.

“Duen…I want you to look lively, smile a bit.”

“Tingting…let me talk to Duen, please.” This was the first time I used such a pitiful voice; it wasn’t fake…it came from my heart.

“Nong.”

“Ting, keep shooting, I’m only giving you an hour. Almost half an hour has passed already. I don’t agree to do this often, you know.” Seeing that his friend was about to give in, the model told her to clamp her lips shut tightly. “Uh…”

“Please.”

“Ting.”

“Alright! I won’t interfere anymore, do whatever you want!!”

She took off her slippers and carried them while slinging her camera over her shoulder, walking away in frustration. She probably wanted to help both her best friend and me. I promise that when we get back to Bangkok, I’ll introduce her to some handsome guys.

“If you do anything to my friend, Phii Bohn, I will kill you for sure!! Damn, not only do I not get to enjoy men, but now I have to mediate between fighting couples, God is cruel, this year on my birthday, I’m going to get my breasts and uterus removed, fly to New Zealand to get a sperm transplant, go to France to build some muscles, and get a mustache in London! This time, you’ll see! I’m going after every man in the world!!” She mumbled all the way, I couldn’t hear much but knew it was pitiful.

“Duen…are you mad at me?” I walked into the water to stand between the other’s legs, my hands loosely around his slim waist. The water wasn’t deep, only knee-high, but I felt like I was drowning…it was suffocating like I couldn’t breathe.

“…”

The person I was talking to didn’t turn around. He lifted his wrist to take off his watch and gently rubbed it. I didn’t like it being like this at all. Normally, I would be the one getting angry, but this time it was reversed. He was the one mad at me, and I was truly at fault…

“I’ve come to beg for forgiveness, please stop being mad.” I took his hand and pressed it against my cheek, rubbing it back and forth. How long has he been here for his hand to be this cold? He never cares about his own health, what kind of doctor is he?

“How did you know I was mad? Don’t tell me you just knew, I won’t believe it.” Duen looked up at me with a gaze I didn’t like at all. He was looking at me…but there was no me in his eyes.

“King told me…”

“Huh, nice. Phii King isn’t even my boyfriend, yet he understands my feelings, while my actual boyfriend knows nothing. Who’s supposed to be my boyfriend here?”

Damn…it hurts so much. He’s right about everything; King isn’t Duen’s boyfriend, but he understands and knows Duen is acting differently, while I couldn’t see it. And I was foolishly waiting for him to apologize just to see him being sweet, how stupid of me.

“Should we break up?”

Everything around us slowed down when he said those words, words I never thought I’d hear from him. My heart seemed to stop for a moment. I stared at my lover’s face; it looked just as pained as mine, with clear tears beginning to form at the corners of his eyes.

No way…

“If you’re bored with me, I won’t hold you back. You can go find anyone you want, do whatever you want with whoever…but we need to break up first.”

“Don’t say that…”

“What…hey!”

I pulled Duen’s face close before pressing my lips onto his beautiful ones, using the moment when he was in shock to slip my tongue into his mouth. I crushed his lips with mine, hard…it hurt, but I wanted him to feel how much I was hurting too, hurting from the words he just said.

“Ugh!” Duen tried to turn his face away and push me off, but I wouldn’t let go…

I moved my hand to lock his neck, not letting him escape, my tongue seeking the sweetness inside, while he tried to avoid it. I wasn’t annoyed by his actions…on the contrary, it felt good.

Even the initial harsh, painful contact softened over time. Finally, the person in front of me let out a small moan. I smiled when I saw Duen like that.

“…”

“I don’t want to hear ‘break up’ from your mouth.” I pulled back from the kiss, pressing our foreheads together. His face was flushed, I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or embarrassment.

“Then what should I say! My boyfriend is cheating on me! Should I say, ‘Oh, please, go ahead, do whatever you want, I won’t mind,’ is that it?” He hit my chest with a thud, it hurt, but I didn’t complain or stop him.

“I’m not cheating.” I gently kissed the corner of his mouth; he made a huffing sound, pushing my face away forcefully.

“Anyone can say that.” Seeing that I wasn’t going to let go of Duen, he gave in, sitting still, allowing me to hug him. From initially sitting on the rock, now we were both in the water together. Was I really that harsh?

“I didn’t cheat on you, really, Duen.” I wrapped my arm around his slender waist, lifted him back onto the rock, and immediately squeezed between his legs.

“…”

“I’m sorry.” These words came from my heart. Now, there were no other words in my head except “sorry.” I didn’t like us being like this. I didn’t like him not caring. I didn’t like what he said, his expression, his demeanor, I didn’t like everything he did before.

“Sorry? Do you even know why I’m mad…you probably don’t, even when I’m mad, you still don’t get it. If Phii King hadn’t told you, you would never have known, right?”

“You saw it yesterday, didn’t you?” I rested my head on his shoulder, raised my hand to comb through his hair, not wanting him to be stressed, although I had thought this wouldn’t happen. In the end, it did, damn Mai…it’s all because of you.

“Yeah, I saw…”

“It wasn’t like that, me and him-”

“Are you going to say you didn’t kiss? Probably not, I was standing above, watching clearly.” So, he was watching from above. No wonder I didn’t see anyone when I looked back.

“No…I’m not saying I didn’t kiss.” As soon as I finished my sentence, I moved my other hand to stroke his back. I didn’t want to talk about this at all; it felt heavy on my heart somehow.

“…”

“It was like this…I didn’t want to kiss Mai. It wasn’t even a kiss. Our lips just touched. I didn’t tongue him like I do with you.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t do this, talk to me, I’m telling the truth. Mai did that when I wasn’t prepared. I was shocked, so I couldn’t resist. Our lips touched for less than four seconds…I kissed you much longer, look.” I leaned down to kiss him again, another time he resisted though he knew he couldn’t match my strength.

“Ugh, damn!” Eventually, I had to pull back because the person in front of me seemed like he was running out of breath. When our lips parted, he was breathing heavily, gulping in air.

“Duen…talk to me, please.” I hugged him tighter, rocking him like soothing a child. Normally, Duen would crack a smile when I did this…but not this time.

“…”

“…Duen, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what? You said you weren’t cheating.” Why does he get so sharp-tongued when he’s mad? I leaned down to bite his white cheek playfully; he’s quite fierce when he’s upset, this fool.

“I really wasn’t cheating, sorry for not telling you, sorry for everything.”

“Why apologize if you weren’t going to tell me in the first place!”

“…I didn’t want you to know, to avoid causing problems.” I was taken aback by his yelling. Normally, Duen is the calm one, and I’m the hotheaded one. I’ve never seen him like this before…look at what I’ve done.

“That’s not a good answer, Bohn, it’s just an excuse.”

“It’s not an excuse…how should I put it? I thought you wouldn’t get jealous or angry, so I didn’t tell you.” I said the last sentence softly, scratching the back of my neck, not knowing how to explain.

“Idiot! You’re my boyfriend! How can I not feel anything? Doing this means you don’t care about my feelings at all, Bohn!!” I was shocked by the shout, but even more shocked when I saw clear tears streaming from my lover’s beautiful eyes.

“I do care, I care about your feelings more than anyone else’s, don’t cry, Duen…I’m sorry.” I gently wiped away his tears, afraid of hurting him.

“You’re crazy, sob, stupid as hell…are you a buffalo or what? I’m your boyfriend! How can I not be jealous…”

“Don’t cry, be quiet for a second…”

“Fine…”

“Please stop being mad at me, I only love you, Duen.” I pressed our foreheads together again. We were so close I could feel his warm breath. I wondered what my face looked like now, all I knew was that my cheeks hurt…was I smiling that widely?

“You dumbass, sob. If you do this again, I’ll break up-, ugh!” Not letting him finish his sentence, I bent down to bite his lower lip softly, then let go, making a sound that sent shivers down my spine.

“I told you not to say that word.”

“Let go! I need to change my clothes, damn it…I’ve already showered and gotten dressed.” I only just noticed he had showered and dressed. At first, I was going to let him go, but then I thought…

“You don’t need to go yet, I haven’t showered either, come shower with me.”

“No…you have no respect for nature.”

“The spirits won’t mind, they want to see lovers, not angry people.”

“…”

“Make up.”

“I wanted to be mad at you longer…to match what you did yesterday.”

“Okay, it can be as long as you want, but there must be a day when you forgive me. In the meantime, don’t even think about anyone better than me…okay?”

“…What if I accidentally find someone better than you?”

“…”

“What will you do?”

“I’ll sit here and cry, and see if you choose them or me, who is heartbroken.” I rested my head on his round shoulder, feeling strangely empty…what should I do? I don’t like it, but I feel it’s deserved. At the same time, I feel it shouldn’t be, he should be mine alone, but I’m too much of a mess too…damn it, what can I do other than cry?

“Stay with me. Even though I’m a mess, I love you the most…”

“If there’s a next time, there won’t be an ‘us’ anymore.”

“…”

“Thank you for loving me just as much. I can’t stand seeing you look so down.” After saying this, the other person leaned down to hug me back, as if to make sure he wasn’t thinking of going anywhere, …damn, my eyes are getting hot.

I love you to death.

“Bohn and Duen are back from their honeymoon!!”

“Yayyyyyyyyy!!”

“I bet you’re pregnant for sure, damn, Bohn, your water’s good!”

“Shit, with wildlife and nature as witnesses to love, so romantic!!”

Before Duen and I could even walk into the tent, there was cheering from all directions. Huh, honeymoon…? Oh, I get it now, I guess Phu and Tingting told everyone.

“Oh…you look all wrinkly and pale, go dry off, come on! Where did you guys go to bathe?” Tang came over to tease us. How could we not be wrinkly, we were in the water for nearly an hour. I’ve never bathed for so long before, but this time…I think it made me the happiest.

“Duen my friend, are you okay? Why are your lips so red? Did you eat something spicy?” When Phu, Tang’scode junior, came over to check on the lips of the person next to me. Me. It was spicy, I even hissed…I was the one who got slapped on the shoulder until I hissed.

“Shh, be quiet, Phu, go grab my clothes, I need to change.”

“Oh, oh. Didn’t you already shower once? What did you get dirty with now, huh, huh?”

“That’s my business! Go get them!” You’ll see Duen in his divine form. It’s not ordinary, I’ve seen it before. Scary as hell.

“Alright, alright.”

“Bom, get me some clothes.” I called to my close friend who was reading, not wanting to go in because I might get wet. To tell the truth, no one ever goes in there wet…except for that idiot.

Snap

“Are you going to change with your ‘nong’?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh my, showering together and now changing clothes together, is there anything more awesome, Bohn?” Boss smirked; before it was just playful…but now I think you’re really starting to get bold, huh?

“There is…tonight, I’ll sleep with him.”

I gave a sly smile, wrapping my arm around the waist of the person next to me, who was looking bored with the world. I’ve been arguing with him since we were at the waterfall. Duen wouldn’t let me sleep with him, claiming the friends would be upset if they didn’t get to sleep with him. I didn’t pay much attention to his excuses…my heart has been weak since he said we should break up. Now I need some attention.

“Urrghhhhhh.”

“This isn’t a volunteer camp anymore, damn it, this is clearly Bohn and Duen’s wedding.” I’d like it to be like that, waiting for that moment, waiting to share a room. We can’t do it in the tent because others will see. I’m quite shy too…sigh.

“There’s no one in the bathroom…where did everyone go?” Eo looked around the bathroom. There wasn’t a single person there, the atmosphere starting to feel strangely eerie.

“It’s six o’clock now. They must have gone to eat.” All our meals are prepared on the high hill, where there’s a small wooden canteen set up by the forestry department.

“Because of you, damn Bohn, we’re stuck here.” Got scolded again…

“Come on, you wouldn’t be eating dinner anyway, right?”

“I’m not eating, but you should, eating at odd hours will give you a stomachache.” Whose boyfriend is this, so adorable, thinking this, I went to kiss his cheek repeatedly until his face shook, which was funny, he glared at me.

“You!! You’ve gone too far, you leech.”

“Gone too far with what?” I pretended to ask, even though I knew exactly what the person in front of me meant. Seeing that I did this, the other side made a frustrated huff.

“Ugh! Don’t come near me, stay away, don’t come within ten meters of me, don’t look, don’t smile, don’t, don’t, don’t, I forbid everything!” Duen furrowed his brows, one hand holding his cheek where I had kissed it, the other pointing back and forth.

“Haha.” I grabbed his slim waist to hug him, swaying playfully. It’s strange, though he’s not that skinny, his waist is surprisingly narrow, really surprising…actually, it’s quite nice, he’s easy to handle.

“Let go! I need to change clothes.” Oh, damn, Duen, you hit me with your elbow, why do you always resort to violence when you’re embarrassed? If you’re not hurting yourself, you’re hurting me.

“Change together-” “Dream on, you bastard!” Bang!

“Come on, Duen, let me in!” He used the moment I was distracted to push me away and ran into the bathroom at high speed…like a cat, when they want to escape, they run just like that.

“Go die!”

Fine, I give up.

There’s no way he’ll let me in, damn it…I’ll just use another room. Why not save some bathrooms for others, so they have options when they come in?

The bathrooms here are quite clean, but there are a lot of Phii Thara’s spider relatives. I’m not scared because I’m bigger than them anyway. But Duen is scared, really scared…aren’t you afraid to go into the bathroom alone? Let me in with you, I’ll kill every one of them.

Knock, Knock

“Duen. You’ve been in there for a while.” It must have been ten minutes. I got dressed faster than you, or maybe he’s been done for a while but doesn’t want to come out because he’s afraid of me?

“One second…I’m done.”

“…”

“…” 18:10 PM. “Let’s go eat.” He grabbed my hand to walk together, but I resisted, holding back. The person in front turned to look at me with confusion.

“Your shirt’s neckline is too wide…” His white V-neck shirt was deeply cut, really deep. I could clearly see his collarbones; he looks good in it, but I don’t like it.

“I didn’t choose it, Phu did. But it’s fine, I’ll be sleeping soon.” Phu, you’re going to get it from me for choosing this shirt. Why did you bring this one, you have plenty of clothes at home?

“I don’t like it, it’s too revealing.” That damn wide-necked shirt, looking down, you can see everything, I see your chest. I understand you’re tall, people shorter than you might not see, but there are plenty of people taller than you, you jerk.

“Who gives a damn, I’m a guy. Who would look?”

“Me!”

“Then it’s just you.”

“It’s not just me-”

“Forget it.” The other brushed it off before dragging me to the canteen. You never listen to me, do you? I said I don’t like it!

I don’t like others looking at you!!

 

MY ENGINEER CHAPTERS HOME

MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 56: New Friends

[Bohn]

“Where have you been, Bohn?”

“Just went for a walk.” I answered Bom. The senior told us to gather at the hill to prepare for sleep; there were eight large tents, four for women, four for men. The professors slept in a small tent in the middle.

“Are you mad at Duen?” Merk asked, crossing his arms, while others looked on to hear my answer. Can I fool you too, Merk? Seems like my lying skill is pretty good.

“Huh, I was just pretending to be mad.” Duen and his friend aren’t here right now. They were sent by the professor to carry stuff or something. We offered to help, but the professor said that was enough. Instead of taking tough guys like us to carry things, he took Tingting and Tang.

“I was shocked, thought there’d be a knife.” Tee threw dried banana peels at my arm. Can you even eat banana peels, Phattarawin? I bet one day you’ll end up in the hospital because of what you eat.

“Yeah, I was watching from a distance, worrying a bit.”

“You’re really smooth, I would have stepped in if King hadn’t stopped me first.”

“Did you know I was joking, King?” I asked King, who was sitting not far away, hugging his knees. How did you know I was being smooth?

“Uh, your face was calm but your eyes were smiling, how could I not see that?” You’re truly divine as your name suggests, Kantitat.

“How were my eyes smiling, I didn’t see that, damn, Bohn, show that face!”

“Nah, not in the mood.” You need to build up to it, sir. People can’t have multiple emotions at once, at most, you’ll have one or two emotions. If it’s more than that, we should stop talking and see a psychiatrist.

“Whatever, Tanarit, try to do it like Bohn. You’re quiet, it might give a similar vibe.” Seeing that I wasn’t playing along, he turned to his husband. “…Can’t be bothered.”

“Merk, I want to see what eye-smiling looks like.” Thanarit shook his husband’s arm again. Merk might be angry because he pushed him away and ran to a guy who’s better looking…I’m just slightly complimenting myself.

“Look into my eyes.”

“Here, I don’t see you smiling.” Boss looked into his best friend’s eyes. If you’re going to look that intensely, you might as well eat them.

“I didn’t ask you to look for a smile…I asked you to see what’s in my eyes.”

“There’s nothing there, just eye boogers?”

“You moron, it’s you.”

“Ooohhh!” We all burst out teasing. I don’t know who came up with the sound ‘ooohh’, but next thing I knew, everyone in the group was doing it.

“I’m not going out anymore…you’re quite the tease, Merk.” The one being teased looked at the teaser, Merk shrugged and turned to play on his phone instead.

“So, what’s changed?”

“How so? I’ve gotten prettier, haven’t I? Are you falling for me? Your wife loves his husband, right?” After that, it turned into a ridiculous argument. I don’t want to talk about it anymore, let them be.

“Phew, so tired.” Duen and his group are back, let’s get serious for a moment…

“Oh, you guys are here already? How was it? What did they make you carry?” Tee asked, each person looking quite exhausted but not sweating, perhaps because of the cold weather.

“Mics and speakers, bro. Actually, it wouldn’t have been heavy if the wheels hadn’t broken.” the junior with the code name flapped his shirt back and forth.

“Unlucky, huh, ha ha ha.”

“Really bad, all of a sudden, it just broke, totally confusing.” no wonder it took so long, Duen came over and sat beside me. I was the same as always, too scared to leave because I thought he might be upset, just sitting quietly like this.

“Bohnnn.” he shook my arm, so cute like a cat, used to be an annoying cat, now like a clingy cat, I like both kinds, heh.

“…”

“Still not over it? I already apologized, come on.” Apologized but still want to see you keep begging. Otherwise, my efforts would be for nothing.

…

“Where have you been? I was looking for you all the way to your place.”

“Went to get something to eat…” I’ll answer him a bit; otherwise, he won’t have the energy to keep begging, as I mentioned before. I won’t tell him about Mai, telling or not telling makes no difference. Better not to tell. I don’t want any trouble.

“Really?”

“Okay then. Everyone has showered and dressed, right? I’ll let everyone go to bed to prepare for tomorrow’s tree planting, but before we sleep, we must chant and pray. Please, Phii Yod, lead us.”

“Hello, juniors, follow me…” We chanted along with Phii Yod, the forest officer, some kind of prayer, long and sacred. Now, the whole forest was quiet, our collective voices echoing around, the atmosphere was chilly. Am I at a camp or a horror movie?

“Wow, that gave me goosebumps. Phii Yod, anything else to say? If not, I’ll let the juniors go to bed.”

“Just a little more. The forest here is quite lush. Of course, there are lots of big and small animals. At night, I don’t want us to wander far from our tents. If possible, don’t leave the tent at all, but if it’s really necessary, take a lot of friends with you for safety. There’s nothing much to worry about, big animals don’t often come here. Mostly just deer and wild cats…Oh, if anything, you can call me; I’ll be sleeping over there.” Phii Yod pointed to the cabin on the high hill not far from here.

“Can I sleep with you, Phii Yod?”

“It’s cold at night, can I borrow Phii Yod for a cuddle?”

“Uh…women can’t join, it’s not proper.” Phii Yod chuckled at the one who teased. Nowadays, women seem to be divided into two groups: those who consume men like the group earlier, and those who aren’t interested in men but ship them with each other like Phii Kamfah…wait, Phii Kamfah is married, I totally forgot.

“If women can’t join, can men join? It’s cold outside, haha.” said Phii Sun. I think he’s speaking for the second-gender women and the ultra-macho men who wanted to ask but didn’t dare.

“Men can join…but only if I like them.”

“Huh, ‘only if I like them,’ I have no idea who that might be. After observing for so long, I’m sure…there’s no one more unfortunate than me, I am interested in two guys who are about to devour each other…forget it, I am tired of complaining.” Oh, Ting.

“It’s cold as hell, I’m going to sleep, you guys.” said Boss. Is that your pajamas, Boss? Even if they look better than Bihn’s, Boss is wearing a woolen hat shaped like a…bear? Or a buffalo, with a drunk-looking face. Never mind, let’s talk about the green floral long-sleeve shirt, yellow leafpatterned pants…sigh.

The best part is…the fashion guru, Bihn, is sleeping in the same tent with us. I thought he wouldn’t bring anything, but I was wrong…he brought the whole house, as travel outfits. Sometimes, you’re well-prepared, little brother, but did you need to bring rope? Not the kind for rock climbing, but ordinary red straw rope. What do you plan to do with that?

The tent was still not quiet, filled with conversation; they must be excited. I feel the same. Phii Sao told us to divide into groups of twenty-five per tent. In here, we sleep in two rows: Tang, Duen, Ram, Phu, Boss, Merk, me, Bihn, Bom, King, Tee, Tang, James, in that order. The other row is a mix of our friends, including Frang. Phii Thara is sleeping in another tent; the teacher wants him nearby in case of emergencies.

“Hey Bohn, did you see my fancy underwear?” Bihn nudged my shoulder. Earlier, it seemed like he was sitting on something in his pocket. Fancy underwear…?

“Oh…that thing, huh, hehe.” Do you remember the G-string with the pendant? Bihn calls it fancy underwear. He wanted to buy more, but Buhn and I stopped him. Buhn is starting to return to his old self. I suspect he was previously brainwashed by Bihn.

“Yeah, where is it? I thought I brought it.”

“Just let it go, forget it.” I looked at him with annoyance. I’d rather sleep than talk to you and get a headache. I separated from Duen. At first, our friends paired us together, but I changed my spot myself so he wouldn’t think I’ve forgiven him. One needs to keep up appearances.

“I’m going to sleep, friends.”

“Me too, good night, monkeys around the tent,”

“Yeah, good night.” I mumbled softly; the atmosphere here is so sleepinducing, even though this is below themountain. Phii Yod, the forest officer, said that up the mountain, it’s much colder, several times colder than the North, far from the feel of Bangkok where it’s hot enough to fry your liver, but here it’s so cold it’s hard to believe we’re in Thailand.

I hope day three comes quickly so we can go up the mountain. I think I’ll stop being mad at Duen then. I want this camp experience to be memorable for both me and Duen.

Just hold on a bit longer, Duen, I’ll stop being mad at you soon. I promise to double the sweet moments, make everyone else jealous.

…

“Nice, Nong Gift, hee hee, come to big brother Bihn, mwah mwah mwah.” “Hey!!” I shouted in surprise, pushing Bihn’s face away, my heart almost gave out. If I had woken up a moment later, what would’ve happened? Just Mai alone makes me want to vomit. Don’t make me sicker, Bihn.

“Time to wake up, go shower and get ready for breakfast.”

Phii Sun walked in to wake us up. If you’re going to use a loudspeaker like this, and with that innocent smile like you did nothing wrong when you see us jump, are you really innocent or just pretending?

“Uhh, five more minutes, mom.” groans came from all over the tent, some even covering their faces with pillows, but I didn’t do that because I was already awake…thanks to that damn Bihn, my heart dropped into my stomach.

“Bom my dear friend, let’s go jump in the water!” Boss shook Bom, who’s been talking about wanting to try jumping into a waterfall in the morning since yesterday, something about challenging the cold.

“Are you crazy, Boss?! What do you think the temperature is now? Look at this!” Thanarit holds up his phone for his close friend to see, the screen showing the temperature app.

‘Phu Sot Dao sub-district, Uttaradit Province, 3°C’

“No wonder I feel numb.” not kidding, three degrees, my fingers and body were numb, everyone might be frozen solid up the mountain.

“Come on, let’s jump, King, come with me, you like challenges, right?” Seeing that Bom wouldn’t go, he turned to someone who likes this kind of thing, damn King. Don’t fall for his tricks. Look at his face, so cunning… “Let’s go! I like it.”

I’ll be waiting to collect your bodies by the stream…

“Let’s go to the bathroom then.” Tang shook his friend’s arm, Duen was still curled up under the blanket. I wanted to be the one to wake him up, but now I’m playing the part of being mad at him, so I can only glance at him out of the corner of my eye, so sad.

“Ugh…yawning.”

“Oh, my heart…it’s going to float away to your mom every time, isn’t it? Just wait, son; I have to be mad at him for another day. Just because your mom makes those wide eyes, red nose, rubs her eyes, and tears up, why do you have to act all flustered? Hang in there, huff.”

I had to put in a lot of effort to keep myself from being swayed by little Bohn, even though Duen hasn’t done anything yet, but I’m already softening up. Toughen up, Bohn, endure the sour to taste the sweet, you know?

“Yes, we’re ready. We’ll go plant trees soon. The path is quite long, if anyone can’t handle it, please say so, don’t push yourself.”

We each carried one or two trees, following Phii Yod into the forest. There were more than ten officials at the front and back of our group to guide us. Along the way, there were various trees and flowers, some I’ve seen before and some I haven’t. In Phu Sot Dao there aren’t many amenities here; the only human-made structures were the restrooms and the park office. It has both advantages and disadvantages, but it’s definitely not good for tourists, though it’s certainly good for nature.

“Hey, look at that flower, it’s so beautiful.” Duen pointed at a flower. It was on a high rock above our heads, and there was only one. It looked like a lily but thicker and with unusual colors, the petals were golden yellow on the outside and blood-red inside.

“We call it the ‘Doi Lily’, it only grows on the northern hills. It smells fragrant at night but not so much in the morning.” said the forest ranger. Only on the northern hills? No wonder I’ve never seen it before.

“Wow…” Duen seemed to love it; he took out his phone to take several pictures, but it was hard to see because it was too high. Why does it have to be up there? If it were closer, I would have picked it for Duen.

“You can take it home…if you can climb up there, haha.” Sure…saying it like that is as good as saying don’t pick it. It’s so high, falling down might not kill you, but you won’t be able to grow it.

“Who would climb up there, uncle?”

“So, can we really pick it?”

“Yes, this tree is fine, the park doesn’t mind, but don’t take too many until they’re all gone from the hill…Oh, and they’re not sold outside.”

“I want one…but better leave it with nature like this.” After saying that, he followed the others. Tingting took a lot of photos; when she had the camera in her hands, she transformed from a medical student into a cool girl instantly. This might be the charm of people who love photography. They don’t realize how captivating they are when they’re with what they love. Tingting…this is the way to find a husband, go study photography.

It took quite a while for us campers to reach the planting site, which was an open, vast area. There was nothing…nothing but dirt and stumps. Seeing it like this was sad; it was all man-made. Look, the marks from cutting and chopping are still on the trees like scars left behind.

“Phew, we finally reached our destination…Ting, bring me some water, I feel like I’m going to faint, damn it. //girl, don’t speak into the mic, it’s not good, everyone will hear!”

“Too late, Phii…”

“That’s it, forget it, just go get a rope and a stick each, plant wherever you want, I’m going to grab some water, hiccup.”

“Plant, plant, plant trees, whether the path is near or far, it’s all about the heart.”

“I feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before.” no need to doubt, Tee, Boss copied it from somewhere.

“You’ve never heard it anywhere, I wrote it myself.”

“Shut up, you liar.” We all made a face at him; today there’s no other activity besides planting trees…it might seem easy, but there are so many trees, a million, and it’ll take a whole day to plant them all.

Tomorrow, we’ll learn about nature at various stations with the forestry department staff, around ten stations for us to rotate through in groups, using our tent groups. We’re group seven.

“It’s past ten, why is it still so cold?”

“And what’s the point of the sun if it doesn’t warm us up, brrr.”

I like this; it’s comfortable, not too hot to burn your skin, nor too cold to numb you (though I was numb this morning). I wish the weather at home was like this, my little brother would love it.

Speaking of Ben, my younger brother has come to terms with the cockroach thing. He said he won’t keep cockroaches anymore. Now he’s keeping something else instead…Ben told me, ‘I don’t want to see anyone die again, so…I chose to keep Dorton. I found Dorton at an antique shop, he’s so cute! Dorton looked at me and said, ‘Take me home with you, Ben,’ so I took him in. He even has a brown birthmark on his back like Daniel, this must be Daniel reincarnated!! We won’t be apart again, my best friend!!’

Damn, should I be creeped out that my brother hears voices…from a spoon? Yes, Dorton is a spoon, an aluminum spoon that came free with a bag of seasoning, the seller was so evil, giving it away for free and then selling it again. What’s strange is my brother bought it, and what kind of name is ‘Dorton’? It’s the unluckiest name. How can you use it if it gets stuck? The brown “birthmark” my brother meant…is rust, yes, rust, shaped like a map of Europe.

Sigh…but because I love my brother, I stay quiet again. Oh well, it’s better than him keeping weird bugs.

“Bohn” “Huh?”

“Why does Duen seem off today?” Swipe!

“What’s up?” I raised an eyebrow to ask King. We were digging the soil to prepare for planting trees. The soil was quite soft, not too hard, so we didn’t need much strength. There were also earthworms from Duen, indicating it was very fertile. Duen’s group is so strange; the girls chase the boys with earthworms. I think they swapped roles.

“Isn’t that weird?”

“I don’t know…It’s weird, I guess, but it might be because I’m still mad at him.” It’s different, but I don’t know how. It’s not really different from usual, but it’s…I don’t know, all I can say is it’s not the same as before.

“Is that so…Am I overthinking it?” I turned to look at Duen, who was laughing with Tingting’s group. What’s changed about you that I can’t pinpoint?

“Has Duen come to apologize to you yet?” Bom nudged my shoulder; he must have wanted to tease like he always does, but as far as I remember, Duen hasn’t spoken to me today.

“Today…not yet.”

“He’s probably not free yet, even though we’re not free. That’s how it is in camp; it’s romantic but there’s no time to flirt.” He patted my shoulder a few times, as if to comfort me.

“He’ll probably come after we’re done planting the trees.” The subject of our conversation was smiling with his friends. Maybe he hasn’t talked to me because he wants me to be in a good mood first. Every time we fight, he does this, the only difference is…

…before, he would be right beside me.

“I need to pee!”

Tang led us into the restroom. It’s evening now, all the trees have been planted, and looking back at those green trees, I feel Phu is so proud of himself; his heart swells thinking we planted them with our own hands.

“Tired…but happy.” King leaned against the restroom wall. Even the restrooms here are beautifully decorated with plants and flowers. Being here, I’ve never felt stressed for more than ten minutes. The sound of birds and other animals calling to each other sounds like a conversation among the wildlife, and the leaves swaying in the wind are like nature’s lullaby.

I like it…

“I didn’t think it would feel this good. Had I known, I should have joined volunteer camps from my first year, not been so lazy.” I spoke from my heart; before, I wouldn’t have done something like this because I thought it would be tiring and wouldn’t give me anything back…but that’s not true. It might be tiring, but you gain a lot of things. Even though I’ve only been here for a day or two. What will I gain after the camp ends?

“Yeah, and-”

“Bohn”

Tee was about to say something, but someone walked up to us first. I looked at the new person, feeling utterly annoyed by the sight of them, wondering if anyone would care if I punched them right here. Did I not make myself clear enough, or are they just shameless?

“I made it clear yesterday.” I sighed in frustration; the person in front of me is the one who annoys me the most. Who else could it be if not that damn Mai?

“I know…”

“What’s going on…ugh, Mai?” Tang came out of the bathroom, and everyone seemed confused by the situation at hand. I didn’t want to make a scene either. Why do I have to deal with this?

“Nothing. Let’s just go.” I tried to brush it off and walk away from the bathroom, but Mai blocked my path, what’s your problem?

“Wait.”

“If you don’t stop messing with me, I’ll really punch you.” I can’t stand people like her. How many times have I told you since last year to stop bothering me?

“I’m not here for that. I just came to apologize for what happened.” He spoke softly. Tee and the others decided to wait outside since it seemed like Mai didn’t want anyone to know, and I didn’t want anyone to know either.

“…”

I crossed my arms, waiting to hear what he had to say next.

“Sorry. I like you a lot, that’s why I did that without thinking.”

“Yeah, is that it? Can I go now?” I didn’t want to stay long. Even if Tee and the others were outside.

“Yeah…”

“You’re not going to do something like in the movies, right?

Like…ambushing Duen, punching him, throwing acid or something like that?”

“Talk nonsense. Who would do that? It’s ridiculous, you should spend your time finding a handsome guy instead…Also, your boyfriend seems pretty fragile.” He scoffed, looking at me. Well, I’m the protagonist here. I had to say that in case he went crazy like the villains in movies, what would I do then?

“Good, I’m leaving.” I waved him off. It’s true that he did something unforgivable yesterday, and I’m still mad at him, but…I’m willing to give a second chance to someone who admits their mistake. Actually, it’s good that this annoying person stops being annoying.

“Can we still be friends?”

“Yeah, if you only think of it as friendship, I won’t say anything.”

“Then…I won’t call you ‘my love’ anymore. Too lazy, I’m going ahead.” This should be easy, Mai isn’t a bad person if you don’t count this matter; he’s actually quite a good person. What I admire about him is his effort in love; he moves forward without looking back, even knowing there’s no finish line on the path he’s chosen, even though he could change his direction, he chooses to follow his feelings.

…I hope you find someone good, my new friend.

 

MY ENGINEER CHAPTERS HOME

MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 55: Phu Sot Dao

[Bohn]

“Bohn, look at that, the forest is orange too.”

“Bohn! The fields are so wide.”

“Look at that pig, it looks so sleepy, haha.”

“Wow, is that a buffalo or a tank? Why is it so big?”

And many more phrases came out of that little scoundrel’s mouth. He’s the only one excited; everyone else is asleep…it’s now 12:14 AM. We’ve come halfway, from Bangkok to Uttaradit, it’s not that far really, maybe because we slept all the way, we thought it was close. But for Duen, it must feel far because he hasn’t slept since we got on the bus. What did you do before you started this, I mean…

“Duen, you can sleep now.”

I reached over to push him down onto the seat. Sleep, or you won’t have the energy for anything else…but I guess there won’t be much to do anyway; it’ll be dark when we get to the park office.

The driver said if we took the train, it would have been faster, but since we chose the bus, we encountered a bit of traffic, just a little bit really, there aren’t many cars here. Mostly motorcycles, and there are lots of trees, even the median strip is full of them. Bangkok has trees too, but they look dry and withered like they’re about to die. Being here, I feel like I’ve entered another world.

There aren’t many buildings here, though there are some, not many. Since we arrived, I haven’t seen a big mall, just small department stores and a Lotus. Maybe because we didn’t go into the city center, and the route we took was on the outskirts. The driver said this route doesn’t have much because it’s not very populated.

“No way, wow…that woman is so bright.”

“I’ll slap you with the back of my hand, stop looking. Sleep!” I covered his eyes with my hand, but when I looked down, I didn’t see the woman he mentioned. Was it a person or a ghost, why was she running so fast?

“I’m just joking, there’s no woman, haha.” I knew it would be like this; someone like you would praise others in front of me just to tease.

“Whatever, I told you to sleep.”

“No, I want to look outside.”

“Fine, then I’ll sleep.”

“Yeah.” He nodded in understanding. If he doesn’t want to sleep, I won’t force him. Even if I tried to force him, he wouldn’t listen anyway. Let it be; it’s rare for a caveman like him to look at the outside world. I’m also tired of sleeping; I’d rather go read some comments.

Boss Thanarit: When it rains, you have to take in the laundry; when flirting with Nong Duen doesn’t work, Phii Boss must put his heart away…

Wow! Go back to your husband, Merk, you damn Boss!

Tee Phattarawin: Break up with Bohn and come here, Phii Tee’s shoulder is here for you to lean on.

I’ll break your skull, you bastard Tee.

Bom Boomm: I want a cute boyfriend like Duen; if he weren’t my friend’s boyfriend, I would have flirted with him.

Are you playing with him too, Bom? Are you cuter than my boyfriend?

Tang Nakrab: Break up with that bastard and come to Phii Tang, please, good person.

You’re the bastard, damn Tang.

Megha Setthakit: Uh.

What’s your heart made of, Merk? Your friend has a boyfriend, but you just reply with ‘uh’.

TingTing Nj: May I hide this post? I don’t want to see anything anymore.

Poor her…

Phakee Sewapha: Phii Bohn got played by Duen.

If you’re asking who…it’s probably more like the senior playing with him. I’m still confused about how he managed to catch that idiot.

Pinchan: Let them eat each other, I’ll handle the remaining women on earth, don’t worry, heh heh.

You’ll handle them?

I sat reading and replying to their comments one by one. People came to congratulate us, and some yaoi girls asked to post our picture on some couple’s page, which I allowed because I didn’t see any harm in it.

Bihn Whose Body isn’t Black But Has a Huge Mustache: My brother has a husband!!!

Buhn Whose Body isn’t Black But Has a Huge Mustache: My brother-inlaw is so handsome.

“Bohn and Duen, don’t switch places…” I quickly typed back to both of them, I’ve heard this so often I’m close to getting irritated. You don’t respect my BohnDuen hashtag at all, see, my name comes first!

Bon Ss: I am his husband.

“Damn. You’re not my husband.”

“Oh, didn’t you say you wanted to look at the scenery?” I looked up at the person next to me, only to see him making a face at me. How annoying, I’ll make you split your lip.

“I saw you furrowing your brows, so I looked to see what you were doing.”

“Are you worried about me?” I rested my head on his shoulder. Duen didn’t resist, he let me lean on him like that while he picked up some snacks to continue eating…you just stopped eating not long ago.

“Yeah.” Admitting it too, huh?

“Huh, you’re cut-”

“You’ve been furrowing your brows a lot, you’ll get crow’s feet, people will think I’m with an old man when we walk together.” He smirked teasingly.

“You’ve got quite the mouth, Duen. If I didn’t love you…I would have smashed your head against the window by now.” I mean it, try having someone else say that to me. I wouldn’t let them get away with it. I’ve never let anyone get away with nonsense, except for Duen, who’s taken it to the top. Sigh.

“Good that you love me.”

“Yeah, heh.”

“I’m annoyed with Bohn, don’t tell him, Tee.”

“I’m annoyed with him too, should we set him up for a beating?”

“Yeah, set him up for a beating and steal Nong Duen to be ours, heh.”

“Do you like threesomes?”

“I don’t know, but it might be interesting.” What’s with this conversation, it’s full of mixed feelings; at first annoying, then amusing. That’s how single people who are bitter about it act, don’t pay attention to them, let them stay single. It’s funny to hear them tease each other.

“Yawn…”

“Fly’s going to fly in, that’s how wide it is.” Duen covered my mouth with his hand. I’m getting sleepy again…I love sleeping on long trips, not because I’m tired, but because I want to sleep. Duen, on the other hand, is the opposite of me; he’s sleepy but refuses to sleep. His eyes are already half-closed, yet he’s still clinging to the window, looking outside, stubborn… Maybe listening to music will make him fall asleep.

“Want to listen to some music?” Even though it sounds like a question, my hand had already put the earphones in his ear. You can’t refuse. You have to sleep with me; I won’t let you be awake alone.

“Music? That’s good.” You’re playing into my hands, huh, heh.

“Then let’s play some music-” I was about to choose some slow, soothing music to help him sleep easily, but Duen snatched my phone first.

“No cheesy music, I won’t listen, don’t think I don’t know you’re trying to lull me to sleep, play something with a dung dung; heavy beat.” You use the word ‘lull’?

“What’s ‘dung dung’? I told you not to learn Boss’s vocabulary, it’s meaningless.”

“Conversation. If you’re going to talk shit about Thanarit like this.” I apologize to my friend, Boss…

In the end, I had to let Duen play some heavy music, even though my eyes were already closing. Can you please play something that fits the mood, Duenhaw? Your husband is sleepy.

“Finally…my butt hurts so much.”

“What time is it, Bom?”

“18:33 PM, local time, khrap.”

“Slap my butt a little, it’s numb.”

Slap

“Ugh!”

“You asked for it, heh.”

…S&M

I’d say the climb up the mountain was tough but also beautiful. This is just the ascent; if we went outside, it would be freezing, you can feel how cold it is even inside the bus. Not for any reason…they turned on the AC…

“…”

“Juniors, gather here first, I’ll explain again.” Phii Sao spoke through the megaphone.

Senior, we’re not in a hurry, you could fix your hair first. P’Sao’s hair looks like a bird’s nest, one side braided, the other left loose. Was she pranked by friends or something?

“Brrr, what’s the temperature here, Ram?” We walked to gather at the hill’s command post, it’s so cold, my hair’s standing on end.

“Okay, I asked the wrong person, how many degrees is it, Tang?”

“Do I look like a thermometer?”

“You’ve turned into a Z-boy with that look…”

“Don’t fight, fight, I think about ten…hey, isn’t this the frost that everyone was talking about?” Before Boss could finish speaking, he shouted loudly, pointing at the ground. I didn’t look because I was busy holding onto Duen; he keeps running here and there, just now he wanted to chase after a white butterfly, is he a child or what, Kritsada!

“Wow, it’s so beautiful, I need to take a picture to show my mom.”

“Wow, King, take pictures, I’ve never seen this before.” Phu called Ting over to photograph it. Duen once said Tingting is really good at this, she even earns money as a photographer. I think she’s quite skilled…you can tell from the photos she sent. Huh.

“Come on, it’s beautiful, but I think it looks like…”

I looked down; on the green grass, there were drops of ice, shining and very pretty, but I found it strange…why does it only appear on one clump? And in such a small patch. It’s probably not frost, hey, that black, jelly-like thing, isn’t that grass jelly, and the yellow beside it, is that corn?

“It’s not frost, the professor dropped some shaved ice earlier…such a pity.”

“…”

“Professor!!”

“Alright, we’ve arrived at our destination. I’ll introduce you to the person in charge here. Please welcome P’Yod.”

“Scream!!!!”

The scream was loud a top Phu Sot Dao peak when a man walked up the hill where the senior girl and Phii Sun were standing. His name is Yod, he looks kind of goofy but with an international vibe, how old is this brother?

“Oh…my heart is beating so fast, P’Yod, introduce yourself, please.”

“Sure, my name is Yod, I’m in charge here.”

“Okay, does P’Yod have anything else to say to us?”

“Yes. Well…this is Phu Sot Dao, in Uttaradit province, it’s winter now. In the morning, there might be frost, but only on very cold days. You can play at the waterfall over there, it’s called Phu Sot Dao Waterfall.” He pointed to a water basin at the entrance, not very big, but it looks clean, the water is so clear I can see the rocks under it.

“Is that all, brother?”

“Uh…it gets very cold at night, make sure to wrap up warm, or you’ll catch a cold, I’m worried about you.” P’Yod smiled at the young host, who touched the back of his neck, seemingly embarrassed.

“Damn it…I had my eyes on Phii Sun since we were in the auditorium, but when we got here and met P’Yod, I got interested in another one, planning to get both, but then they act like they’re already together, I should become a monk to give up on life and love if this is how it’s going to be, might as well kill all the monkeys in the world, no need for gender or anything anymore. Are you not going to leave any men for me? Hello! There’s still one open woman unit here, you know.”

“Squeal!!”

“Can P’Yod come wrap me up, please!!”

“I want P’Yod to be my husband, aah!!”

And many more came to flirt with P’Yod, the forestry officer, who scratched his head in embarrassment.

“Thank you so much, P’Yod. Alright…it’s almost nine. I think we should go take a shower, there are bathrooms upstairs, feel free to choose, or if you don’t want to shower in the bathroom, you can go to the  Phu Sot

Daowaterfall. P.S. Professor Pakorn whispered that it’s very cold, ha ha ha.”

“Where should we go…waterfall plus one.”

“I’ll go to the waterfall.”

“Plus one.”

“When we get there, it’s the waterfall.”

“Phii Tang will go to the waterfall too.”

“Waterfall.”

“Waterfall, lots of girls, Tee won’t miss it, heh heh.”

“Waterfall…”

“Waterfall, lots of trees, the divine one loves it.”

“Waterfall, I just went to check, the water is so clear.”

“Waterfall too.”

“Canal…oh, why are you looking at me like that?” You’re always like this, Duen, everyone’s going to the waterfall, and you’re the only one talking about the canal.

“Duen…there’s no canal, just the waterfall and the bathroom.” Ram told his friend, his face was calm…but he seemed to be smiling. How do you do that, what’s with this father-son aura, am I imagining things?

“Oh…then the waterfall it is.”

“Ack, the water’s so cold!” Bom squirmed. We let him go in first to see how cold the water was. Judging by his shivering lips, it must be saladtossing cold…

“Is the water very cold, Bom?”

“Are you going to ask again, you bastard! Ugh, I, brr! It’s freezing. I can’t take it anymore!” Bom ran up to stand beside us, his hair standing on end, he must really be cold. So far, besides Bom, no one else has gone into the water.

“Bohn, let’s go play in the water, I want to play, play, play.” The person next to me shook my arm, looking excitedly at the waterfall.

“You…you don’t see that white mist and the spray? Don’t go.” I tried to stop him, go wash up in the bathroom instead, Bom’s balls are shaking, can’t you see?

Wow, Dr. Thara is so brave; he jumped straight into the waterfall. He’s really something, his soul almost left from the cold, but he still popped up to give a bright smile to the girls, even playing around with a scream, huh. When we were gathered earlier, I saw Frang and Bihn too; I had no idea my little brother came along. I didn’t see him packing anything…don’t tell me he’s borrowing from friends, I’m in despair for a moment.

“It’s good, the cold water will refresh you.”

“But I-”

Splash!!

Before I could do anything, I was kicked from behind, and I mean ‘kicked’, probably by three feet. I know for sure it was Boss and Duen, who’s the third one? Don’t let me find out, you guys.

“Damn…you bastards. Damn, what the hell are you playing at?” I rubbed my face several times, I swallowed water, the third person must be you…damn, Tang, you kept your foot up there, wait, I’ll remember this. You won’t get away, no need to run.

“Haha.”

“You’re so annoying, I hate you.”

“Ugh, so annoying, Boss my friend, let’s go play over there where there are lots of girls.”

“Alright, shit, white shirt with black underwear, let’s go, my dear friend.” Seeing something interesting, Boss ran ahead of his friends…

“Phii Tang, Phii Bom, I’m coming with you, whoa, Yod with the pink shirt, is my medicine.”

“Come quick, you junior! One Piece is waiting for us.” I’ll deal with Yod later, right now I need to handle this bastard first.

“Come down here, Duen, come here and let me hit you.” I slapped the water beside me, making waves, the person I called pretended not to care, looking around, don’t make me use force…

“Going down there would be stupid, bastard.”

“…”

Hearing that, I sat down on the rock beside him, didn’t come when called, huh…I’ll make you come down yourself.

“Bohn, are you angry? Just a little.” It didn’t take long for Duen to come into the water towards me, looking quite worried. Good…this is the face I wanted to see. You’ll definitely get pranked by me, heh heh.

“Not just a little, Duen, I choked on the water, I’m cold, the water is freezing.”

“Sorry. Didn’t think you’d get angry.”

“You never consider my feelings.” I deserve an Oscar, I’m keeping such a straight face, maybe because I’m a bit upset with him. The water really is cold, you know, you should try it.

“And…now it’s dramatic, Merk Phattarawin says we shouldn’t be here.” Tee grabbed Merk’s shoulder to back away together, and once they were far enough, they ran to join the Boss group immediately.

“I think we should go take photos over there, King.”

“I was thinking the same.”

“…Let’s go play in the water over there, it’s calm.”

“There are bamboo shoots over there, let’s go pick some for dinner, friend.”

“I’ll go too.” So, now it’s just me and Duen left. There are others playing in the water, but not many and they’re far away, the rest chose to shower in the bathroom.

“Bohn, I am sorry khrap.” This is the voice I wanted to hear, this is the face I wanted to see, but this time, I’m going to grit my teeth and not give in easily, I want to see how he’ll try to make up if I’m really mad.

“…” I kept looking at him silently, just like before. He looks really upset, I feel sorry for him, but my desire to tease him is stronger. You’re going to get it, you little rascal.

“Bohn, sorry, don’t be mad, or you won’t look handsome.” He must be at a loss for what to do, definitely, he never had a boyfriend before me.

“…”

“Bohn, I am sorry, I won’t do it again, please don’t be mad, please, please.” He grabbed my hand and shook it back and forth, is that what you call making up, Duen…why is it so cute, it’s heart-melting, don’t give in yet…

“…”

“Wow, why are you so sulky, I won’t make up with you if you keep being stubborn.” He said that, but he still rubbed my hand against his cheek like a cat, hold on…

“Really…then I won’t beg.” After saying that, I walked away from him. Duen seemed shocked that I did that. It’s not for any reason. If I stayed any longer, I wouldn’t be able to handle it, damn, my heart was beating so fast.

“Where am I?” Because I was walking aimlessly without paying attention to where I was going, I ended up somewhere…it must be another waterfall, but there’s no one here. Damn…did I enter a restricted area or something?

“The waterfall behind the park office.”

I turned to look at the source of the voice, knowing it had to be him. I remember his voice even if I don’t pay much attention to him.

“Hey, Bohn. Don’t you want to talk?”

“Yeah, nice to see you, Mai.”

Do you remember Mai? The one I met at the Phii Diao pub. After that day, I didn’t talk to him again. This time, he probably won’t do what he did before. After all, I have a boyfriend now. Plus, I clearly rejected him last time.

“Excuse me, my friends must be looking for me.” It might be rude, but I

don’t want to make it into an issue later; there are so many people here, if anyone sees, they might think badly of us, or even spread rumors that could harm us.

Thud!

“Wait, Bohn, let’s talk first.”

I knew it would come to this, Mai grabbed my wrist to stop me from leaving. Why be so persistent? I’ve told you no matter how you flirt, I’m not interested, I like someone else!

“What do you want? If it’s the same old thing, I won’t talk.” I twisted my hand free; he let go willingly. If he didn’t, I’d definitely give him a slap.

“Don’t you really care about me, Bohn?” He leaned in, his chest touching mine, his hand about to go around my neck. No way, this isn’t like before.

“Yeah.” I said, pushing him away to keep some distance. Why do I have to deal with this now? I thought I wouldn’t encounter this anymore.

“Why? I’m much prettier than your boyfriend.”

“That’s true…”

“Right, huh?”

“But I love Duen.”

“Enough, it’s impossible. I told you not to waste time with someone like me, I won’t be interested in you anyway, go find someone else.” I waved goodbye before turning around. I shouldn’t have pretended to be upset like a girl, I should have let Duen keep flirting. Now I’ve lost my mood.

“Bohn!”

The person behind me grabbed my shoulder, turning me to face him. I was about to curse but had to stop…no, I should say I was silenced, and in my shock, I froze for a moment.

“You bastard! What the hell are you doing?!” The next moment, after coming to my senses, I pushed him down hard onto the ground. Damn, it’s good that I had the presence of mind not to let him stick his tongue in. Otherwise, I’d be disgusted to death.

“I kiss better than your boyfriend, right? Break up with that one and date me.”

“Mai, you are starting to annoy me, damn it!! I told you I’d never like you!

Stop bothering me, and don’t even think about doing something stupid like picking a fight with Duen. If you do, I’ll kill you, you bastard…spit!” I shouted at her face loudly, raising my hand to wipe my mouth in disgust, feeling so bad.

“Do you love him that much?!”

“Yeah! He’s my wife. If I don’t love him, should I go love a white buffalo somewhere?!”

“…”

“…” I hope this time it’s over, Mai, I’m tired of talking about it. I don’t want any more trouble. If we weren’t at the camp, you’d be dead by now, just saying. I meant it. Normally, I wouldn’t let this slide. If I punched her, it would definitely cause trouble. I don’t want to get into trouble because of someone like her.

“Damn…” I walked back, wiping my mouth and stopped to buy some water to rinse it out…I think I won’t tell Duen about this. Telling him wouldn’t make any difference, it would just make him worry for no reason…no, he’s never worried or jealous about me.

Even if I told him, he probably wouldn’t feel anything…

 

MY ENGINEER CHAPTERS HOME

MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 54: Hand in Hand

[Bohn]

“Tiger, how’s the food preparation going?”

“Already contacted the restaurant. They’ll deliver it tomorrow at 2 AM.”

“And the other…”

I didn’t hear what they talked about after that, James’s friends and Tiger’s work seem harder than the professors’. They have to run around all the time, Su has lost quite a few kilos. I can see your handsome face now, Su, just a bit more, another seventy kilos, and you’ll be slim. Keep it up.

“Tomorrow already? I feel like we just finished exams yesterday.” Tee stood with his hands on his hips, looking at the volunteer camp sign, ‘Follow me, follow the senior, I’ll lead the juniors to…to catch the stars’. I hate that slogan so much. I don’t know what the professor was thinking when he let Boss come up with it.

I feel like Tee, time flies so fast, tomorrow we’ll go to Phu Sot Dao. It’s good that other faculties are helping out, otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to prepare in time. It should have been done long ago, but there were some issues, so it got delayed.

“Yeah, I still feel like I was just eyed by Phii Kamfah with that scary look…brrr! Even though I was drunk.” Tang said while rubbing his arms. It’s been exactly one week since that night, actually, I wish time hadn’t passed…Duen was clingy all night, making that cute, groggy sound by my ear, and when sleeping, he liked to scratch my chin. When I told him to sleep with King, he protested, saying he wanted to sleep with Bohn.

My heart…the heart of someone who’s in love.

“Can I go visit my grandma after the camp?”

King, the divine one, asked, his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze lost in the pond beside the faculty. His grandma lives in Uttaradit, King was the happiest when he heard we were going to Uttaradit; he said he missed his grandma but hadn’t had time to visit lately. At first, he even said he would skip the camp to see her, thank goodness we managed to persuade him. The path goes up and down to Phu Sot Dao; how would you walk to your grandma’s place first? If you don’t die, you’ll get dragged off to be sold, King my friend.

“I don’t know…try asking James, I’ll go with you.” As soon as Bom finished speaking, he stood up and took his close friend to find James. I don’t know if he’ll allow it. Normally, he wouldn’t let you go because it’s part of the project’s responsibility…but if there’s a parent coming to pick you up, it’s uncertain.

“What color shirt should we wear tomorrow?”

“‘We’ meaning we have to match with you?”

“Yeah, better put Duen’s group in too, so when they walk, they look like the tail of a dancing doctor, heh.”

“Listen to you compare…for us, we should call it a boy brand, come on, with Tingting included, what should we call our group?” Bom looked thoughtful. Don’t spark his creativity, I beg of you. It’s known that Boss loves to invent words…

“Me, I’ll name it myself!” Boss raised his hand as if asking for permission, but it might be too late…you guys should stop him quickly before he comes up with something strange, like our group name!! ‘Loy Lod Ha’ or something like that, I can’t accept it.

“Uh…is that a good idea? I think-”

“The-Mong-Ting!”

Damn, am I too late again?

“…” The whole group fell silent, each looking at Boss with disdain, what kind of name is ‘The-Mong-Ting’, it sounds awful. Since I’ve been with him, not once has his vocabulary been decent, and this time is no exception.

“I like it, I’ll take it. Tang, Tang, from Bohn, Bom, Boss, Merk to Ram, King,

Phu, Duen combined, actually, I have another name in mind, ‘Khing Buen Rabom’. Which one do you guys want? I like the latter, but the former sounds good, like a perfume brand name.” Please, Boss…

“Sigh!”

“Why are you sighing like that?” I don’t see any charm in your words.

I looked up at the sky, which was now turning orange. It’s not surprising it’s this color; it’s nearly nine o’clock after all. Did Duen prepare his stuff yet? This morning, he even forgot that we have to go to camp tomorrow, better call him.

Ring, ring.

(Hmm…)

“Why does your voice sound like that, are you sleeping?” His voice sounds sleepy like he just woke up, what have you done since you woke up, Duen, or are you sleeping to prepare for the camp?

(Yeah…just finished packing, got tired so I’m lying down.)

“You’ve packed? I thought you hadn’t so I called to remind you.”

(What level are we at?)

“Yeah, we’ll sit together tomorrow.” Is nine buses too many for just over two hundred people, the ‘over’ part being the professors. They’re there to supervise our behavior. Even though they say they’re supervising…they’re all kind-hearted, Professor Pakorn, Professor Porntip, sweets, pork, and alcohol are all there.

(Yeah, I’m excited.)

“I’m excited too.”

(I haven’t been to a camp in so long. I’ve never been to Phu Sot Dao either, I just looked it up online, it’s so beautiful. Have you ever been?) The voice on the other end of the line was excited. I bet if he had a tail like a dog, it would be wagging.

“Never been either.”

(I wish tomorrow would come sooner, huh.)

“Me too.”

(Why don’t you seem excited, you bastard?) Hey, why are you scolding me?

“I am excited. You can’t see my face, so you don’t know.”

(Really? What kind of face are you making?)

“Excited.”

(I thought you were dead inside, going somewhere far but not excited.)

“I’m not excited about Phu Sot Dao.”

(Oh, you bastard. You-)

“I’m excited because I get to go with you.” Honestly, even if it’s just to the end of the street, if the person walking beside me is you…I’d still be excited.

“Yawn.”

“Eek! Phu, that is gross, why yawn without covering your mouth!” the star from the medical faculty slapped her best friend’s back. She made a disgusted face and walked over to Tang. Ouch, I feel the pain for you, Phu, go get Tang to apply some ointment.

We were all gathered in the university’s central auditorium…what a pitiful group name. In the end, Boss used his power to force everyone to wear the same color shirt, and from being noticeable because of our looks, we’re even more noticeable now because of the shirt color. While others wear muted tones, we’re the only ones in yellow.

“Everyone’s here now. Mostly first and second years, huh? So, I’ll refer to myself as ‘Phii’ then, my name is Sao, I’m in my fourth year at Engineering. You can call me ‘Most Beautiful Phii Sao’. Feel free to ask anything, I don’t mind.” This senior is from my faculty. She likes to dress in a boyish, tomboy style, often sitting at the four-way junction teasing guys from other faculties who pass by…

“Most Beautiful Phii Sao!”

One guy raised his hand. Oh, that’s my senior, do you remember him? He’s the one who signed my name with a flourish, seems like he’s changed a bit…did you braid dreadlocks!! Damn…from rogue to even more rogue, you! Why are all the seniors in my faculty so wild, it’s exhausting.

“What’s up, Nong Sen?”

“I have a question.” My code senior stood up to face off with the senior girl…oh no, I need to rush to tell the rector that the janitors are about to fight.

“Go ahead and ask.”

“Being this beautiful…”

“Oh, go spend money on some snacks.”

“Being this tall…”

“It’s genetic, junior, this is what they call a model’s figure…but, are you going to ask if I have a boyfriend yet? I haven’t, I’ve been single for centuries.”

“No, that’s not what I was going to ask.”

“Oh, then what?”

“Do you have balls down there?”

“You bastard!!” Thud!!

R.I.P

Rest in peace, Sen…I won’t forget the times we had together.

“Alright, let’s get to the point, I won’t talk much because you juniors probably don’t want to listen. We’ll go to Uttaradit for four days; the first two days we’ll plant trees and do various activities at the park office. The remaining two days we’ll go sightseeing at the top of Phu Sot Dao.” The travel review websites say the hike up is very tough; from the park office to the top of Phu Sot Dao, you have to go over several hills, each one with names like…’Hill of Death’, hearing that gives me motivation.

Phii Sao said we’ll camp on the lawn in front of the park office, we can bathe at the waterfall or in the bathroom, whichever we prefer. The place where we’ll plant the trees is deep in the forest; in the past, there were trees there, but now due to forest fires and illegal logging, only stumps and roots remain.

“Good news. We have an additional host, give a round of applause for Phii

San!”

“Scream!! Phii San is so handsome! Did your parents feed you Ohmo Plus or what, how can you be this white! Are those eyes or rice grains, how can they be so sharp and mysterious, Phii San! Is that a nose or a rhino’s horn, so sharp and beautiful! Are those pants or missiles, why do they look so ready for battle!! Scream!! You’re out of this world, into the galaxy, P’San!!”

It’s not a woman’s voice, it’s Boss’s voice, clapping and cheering loudly. You might wonder why he’s cheering for P’San so enthusiastically without any regard for his husband…P’San is his code 4th year senior in the faculty, you know, it’s all about supporting code line business.

“Oh, such flattery between uncle and nephew, Phii San, please introduce yourself to the juniors.” The female host teased. This senior once flirted with Boss for four days before stopping, giving the reason, ‘Boss is too wild, I like quiet types like my husband.’ Now I understand…

“Yes…uh, my name is Sun…that’s all. Ha ha.” After speaking, Phii Sun scratched the back of his neck out of embarrassment. The whole sentence was nothing but ‘yes’ and…

“Squeal!!”

That was enough to get screams from the shy deer and monkeys. Phii Sun is shy, Boss’s code senior is shy, his junior is shy, everyone in this code line is shy…everyone except Boss, my friend. The seniors in the older years like to tease that Boss is Phii Sun’s child and his line raised, but actually, he get babied by Phii Shin, who is Merk’s code line senior, and that line is all mischievous…all except Merk.

Let’s switch…

“Who is he?” The person next to me asked after being silent for a while. I almost forgot you were sitting here, Duen. If you and your friends are going to eat and be silent like this…

“He’s Boss’s code senior, why are you eating like this?” I used a tissue to wipe the corner of Duen’s mouth, which was stained with MSG, it even got to his ear…I swear, I thought you were bathing in it, not eating.

“I have to compete to eat with them.” Duen pointed at his friends, making me look over. I saw that the others were in a similar state, only Ting was eating leisurely. Not that there’s any reason. She went and took the snacks from them, so the rest had to fight for it, oh my…

“Didn’t you buy stuff this morning too?” This morning, I stopped at the convenience store for him, and there was plenty of food, from snacks to all sorts of things.

“We did, but I didn’t want to open it yet. We have to steal snacks from friends! It’s the pride of a hunter!”

Hunt your dad…

“Okay, okay. Then don’t get too messy.” Duen nodded and went back into what he called the ‘arena’. The main contenders were Phu and Ram, are you also playing with them?

“Alright, ladies, calm down first. Let’s continue, this volunteer camp isn’t just about planting trees and going back home, we want everyone to get to know each other. Seniors, please distribute the name tags.” With the host’s voice ending, we each got a pink name tag to hold. So proud, I made these myself…oh, my group used string.

“Phii Sun wants the juniors to write their names on these, nicknames or real names are fine.” P’Sun said into the microphone before walking down to distribute the markers to those at the front of the line.

“Phii Sun, I want to write my real name, but there’s a small problem.”

One fierce girl raised her hand. I know her; she’s in the group of beautiful, kind-hearted but tough girls, which is the transgender association at our university. I don’t know who founded it, but it’s been around long enough to have a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. At first, I was puzzled about why they needed a treasurer because they didn’t seem to have much need for money. They explained, ‘We collect money from those girls who get hit on by girls. We keep collecting, and when we have enough, we give all the money to the person who gets hit on the most by men, so they can go for breast augmentation and beauty treatments,’ do they really have that?

“Yes? Isn’t there enough space?”

“No, I am tired of my old surname. Now I wants to change it, can I borrow

Phii Sun’s?”

“Wow!!”

“Don’t, Jamren! Go find another victim, this one’s taken!” If you’re going to say that through the microphone, sister. What am I even watching, I forgot we’re here to plant trees.

“You girl! I told you not to call my name before my debut!”

“I’ll call it, why? Jamren, Jamren, Jamren!” Let them be…

“And what about you?” I nudged the person next to me. Today, Duen is wearing a sheep-patterned shirt, which is cute; he said his mom bought it for him when they went to a pig farm…huh? The yellow shirt makes him look even whiter than usual. No, I should say it makes all of us look whiter than usual.

“What?”

“Want to change your surname to my surname, huh?”

“Always finding excuses to flirt, huh?” Not only not embarrassed, but he also gives me the middle finger. That’s harsh.

Soon, we were ready to travel. Phii Sao let everyone choose which bus they wanted to board according to their preference. We chose bus number seven. There’s nothing special about it; Boss just likes this number.

“Be careful when you walk…wow, I just noticed, that yellow-shirt group is so handsome, can I hit on them?” The senior girl teased when my group reached the bus, even blowing kisses, making everyone around look at us with one expression. How could they not look, the sister used the loudspeaker…

“Come on, scream!! Father of the child!!”

“I want that one, you know, the one in the yellow shirt.”

“The whole group is in yellow.”

“Yeah. I want the whole group!”

“I envy that woman, having all these men around her, what kind of good deed did she do?”

And there were plenty more teasing remarks. They nudged each other with embarrassment when Tang and Boss smiled, always like this. While in the auditorium, we sat in the corner where they probably didn’t see us. That’s good, I don’t want to stand out, it’s too chaotic…like now.

“Jealous? Yes…I used to think that way. If not, I wouldn’t understand how painful it is to listen to them flirting with each other. I thought I was over it…but you guys keep bringing it up!! Great! You should try being me. You’d know how worthless you feel, I feel like I’m just a speck of dust or lint on someone’s clothes. I’m proof that beauty alone isn’t enough…you need to have something more, Thai guys won’t come flirting otherwise.”

Tingting is the one who makes me feel the most guilty in my life…

“Boss, I feel sorry for Tingting. Do something about it.” Tang nudged the flirtatious wife. At first, Boss looked like he didn’t understand, but then he nodded with a smile. What? What are you guys going to do? What does ‘do something’ mean?

“No need to scream, ladies. Even if we’re handsome…there’s a husband who’s even more handsome.”

“…”

“Shit, it’s dead silent, oh. It’s okay, Tingting, we’ll comfort you ourselves.” After saying that, Boss walked over to pat the shoulder of the only pretty girl in the group. Not very flirtatious, are you?

“Senior…I think I might faint. Can we get on the bus now?”

“What’s wrong? Because of what they said, right?”

“What you said!”

“Oh, karma.”

After the conversation ended, we stopped fooling around and walked up to the bus. Wow…I thought there would be fewer people, but from what I see, it’s almost like standing room only. There are nine buses, two at the back for luggage, so the seventh bus is the last one where people can sit, each bus can seat forty people. We have over two hundred people, so that’s about twenty-eight per bus, but you guys are all squeezed into one bus!! …Can we change buses now?

“Bohn, Bohn.” Duen nudged my shoulder. We chose to sit at the front. No, I should say they reserved spots for us.

“Hmm?”

“Can I sit by the window?”

“Sure, want to look at the scenery?”

“Uh huh.” Duen doesn’t often travel far from home. And this time, going with me, it’s natural to be excited…right?

It didn’t take long for the bus to start moving away from the university. It’s now 4 AM, and there aren’t many cars on the road; it’s not yet work time. Try leaving at 10 AM…you wouldn’t leave the city all day.

“Let me see your name tag.” The person next to me leaned over to look at my pink name tag.

“Sure, but I haven’t written on it yet.”

“Why haven’t you written on it?”

“Otherwise, other people might come to flirt with me.” I raised my eyebrows teasingly a couple of times.

“Ew! You self-absorbed jerk. No one would flirt with you; they’d change direction and run to me as soon as they see my face. Heh.” He said confidently, puffing his chest out and showing his tag which read, “Phii Duen”…even though he’s one of the juniors in the camp.

From the initial chatter and laughter, the bus started to quiet down until all that was left was the sound of the engine and the air conditioning. In front of us, there was Tang and King, behind us were Boss and Tee, and opposite us were Merk and Bom, Phu with Chai, and Ram with King.

I think I should investigate the story of those two in the back.

It’s starting to get strange; the other day, I drove past King’s condo and saw them both coming out together. It’s not just a coincidence that they meet; I’ve seen it several times. Others in the group have seen it too, with Tang and Phu seeing it the most since they live in that area.

“Bohn, want some snacks?” Duen asked, offering me a large bag of Lay’s. If I get a stomach ache, it’s not my fault, Duen, you’ve been eating since we were in the Little Elephant auditorium and haven’t stopped…oh, the central auditorium isn’t called Little Elephant, but there’s an elephant fountain in front of it, so people at the university call it that.

“Huh, eat well, then. Oh, Duen, we haven’t set our relationship status on Facebook yet.”

“Huh? Whatever. Why set it? Everyone at the university already knows. No need to set it, this is so tasty, I can’t stop eating.” Can you please stop eating for a moment, Duen? Even if I want you to gain weight.

“No way, we have to set it.”

“Tee’s friend, what are the people in front of us talking about?”

“Yeah, Boss’s friend, what’s this about setting or not setting?”

“Most annoying, Boss can’t stand it.”

“Tee can’t stand it either.”

Who would pair you guys up like this? Why can’t it be Merk and Boss, Tee and Bom like before? If I had a choice, I’d put Merk and Ram in the back…it would be so quiet, but it would be interesting to find out what they’d talk about.

“So, you’re not setting it?” Duen spoke while wiping his mouth with his sleeve, hey, and then you wiped your face with it too? You’ll definitely get acne, you foolish doctor.

“Set it.” I crossed my arms and spoke firmly.

“Why set it? I already told you everyone in the university knows.”

“I want the whole world to know so no one will mess with you.” After I finished speaking, the listener’s face turned bright red, he turned to look out the window, probably not wanting me to see him blushing…sorry, I can see your face clearly in the reflection.

“Uh.”

“What, are you going to make me suspect you have a lover? No need, I

trust you.” Suddenly, he handed me his phone while still looking out the window, his reflection clear.

“It’s not…”

“Huh…”

“I left my Facebook logged in, do whatever you want with it.” The other party spoke in a muffled voice, covering his face with his hands before repeatedly banging his head against the window. What kind of illness is this, hurting oneself when embarrassed?

Forget it, let’s focus on this instead…

“Duen, can I have your hand?” I nudged the person next to me. When I finished speaking, Duen immediately gave me a glaring look. Hey, what did I do wrong to deserve that look?

“Are you treating me like a dog?!”

“Oh…”

“No. I just want to take a picture of us holding hands.”

“…”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I reached out, grabbed his hand, and lifted it to a height I was satisfied with. Duen turned his face away, but this was fine…

Click

The photo came out so well that I had to smile with satisfaction. My arm was almost half in the frame, our hands were clasped, but I wasn’t focusing on the hands…I was focusing on my love.

Bon Ss: currently dating Krisda Duennhaw

My love isn’t just about holding hands and walking; I hold your heart and follow it. 🙂

 

MY ENGINEER CHAPTERS HOME

MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 53: Just for Bohn

[Duenhaw]

“Hey, Duen, why doesn’t Ting have a boyfriend yet?”

“Ting? I don’t know, I’m confused too.”

The position of faculty star in the faculty isn’t easily obtained. Just being beautiful isn’t enough; you need to be brave and have substance! I genuinely admire him, he’s really good, not just in studies but in other aspects too.

“So pitiful. Look at her sitting there quietly watching his friends flirt.” Where? Oh, I see, she’s watching the famous engineering couple, even biting into a fresh morning glory stem. How envious, friend.

“Oh well,T Ting is a my friend…she’ll probably get approached by guys soon enough.”

It’s impossible for someone like her to go unnoticed by guys, she’s beautiful, rich, and has a bright future. With a profile like that, anyone not interested must be foolish, but if she’s still single, it might be because she hangs out with us. When they see her with good-looking guys (and I’m not just saying that because I’m self-absorbed), they might think she’s already taken or that she gets hit on a lot.

Especially because she likes to play around with me, like punching, slapping, playing fishbone, the monk supporting the bean pod, the giant catching the monkey, and many other Thai boxing moves…I felt pity for you a moment ago, but now on second thought…now I feel sorry for myself.

“Do you want anything else to eat?” Bohn asked while holding a piece of bacon to my mouth. Rogue-kun!! If I eat any more, I’ll be like New, I’m already about to throw up.

“Huh, I’m full.” This time, I’m really full, Bohn is crazy. If I say I want something, he’ll double the amount, like when I said I wanted two pieces of squid, he gave me four, and when I wouldn’t eat them, he forced them into my mouth, damn him.

“Eat a little more.” Bohn hasn’t given up on his intention. This time he’s not using chopsticks; are you using a ladle now, Bohn? I won’t open my mouth for that.

“No more, you bastard, I’m full.” My stomach is stretched tight, it’s screaming at me, ‘Damn, Duen, that’s enough, if you shove anything else in here, I’ll make you vomit for real.’

“Alright, alright, I give up.”

Try not giving up, I will slap you with a tissue until you die…I wouldn’t dare to be this cruel, though.

We were sitting on the floor with a large mat in the garden behind Phii King’s house. When looking around, I thought I was in a forest, shred…there are so many trees, but I like it, the air is so fresh.

When the wind blows, there’s a faint scent of flowers, making you feel calm. The smell of champak flowers is…incredibly fragrant.

“Hello, friends, seniors, juniors, I was afraid you’d get bored, so I brought speakers and audio equipment to have a concert.”

“Did you ask if we wanted to listen?”

“Not necessary, it’s my concert, I only care about my own desires.”

“-, .”

“Ahem…look. You’re a beautiful girl, so I looked at you.”

The voice is good…but I’m laughing. Not at the singer, but at my Thai teacher. Phii Boss walked up to the singer, biting his lip and pretending to scratch like a cat, but it seems Phii Tee couldn’t handle it and threw a bitter gourd peel at Phii Boss…yes, a bitter gourd peel. I felt bitter just looking at it, but he claims it’s delicious and it’s not just any bitter gourd.

“It’s a candied and soaked bitter gourd, stuffed with finely chopped and minced straw, coated with Belgian white chocolate and dark chocolate from Paknam Pho.”

That’s what he said, and it’s…not the small, bird-peck bitter gourd, but it’s a large Thai bitter gourd the size of Phii Merk’s arm. I’m speechless. I got goosebumps just thinking about it; the taste must be indescribable. Why does Phii Tee like to eat such things? That day, I saw him carrying cinnamon water blended with yogurt to eat at the university. He said it had some medicinal properties, but I didn’t catch what, just that I was shocked at the time.

 

[Bohn]

“If you weren’t beautiful, I wouldn’t look

If you weren’t bright, I wouldn’t stare

I wouldn’t look to make my heart beat.”

“Merk, are you going to let this happen! Tee is flirting with your wife, haha.” If you’re going to provoke like that, Bom, the provoked one looked at his wife, who was having her chin held by the singer. There are millions of songs, why choose this one?

“You talk like this, and Tee is the one who gets hurt, Bom. Boss started flirting first, so…are you going to let this slide, Merk? Your wife is flirting with another guy, wrestle him down!! Make him understand and remember who his husband is! The spot behind the bushes has a good view, I’ve scouted it! There might be ants, but it’s fine, it’ll add some spice to your marriage, the itching might be good for you.” Wait, damn Tang, you watched an SM movie this morning, didn’t you?

“Heh.” Even the quiet Merk couldn’t help but laugh, let alone everyone else, all eyes were on the live performance. Only Ram kept a straight face. I thought Merk was quiet, but when he meets you, he becomes talkative.

…He’s quieter than usual, isn’t he? I think something’s off. Since when did

Ram and King become so close? They’re not stuck together like Merk and Boss, but they seem closer than before. When did they find the time to become so close?

‘They’re weird, they’re always together.’

Tang’s words floated into my head. Last time, it wasn’t true, Tang and his code junior were tricked by King’s sister, but it wasn’t really a trick; she imagined it was true and spread it around the world. Let’s get back to the point. I’ve seen them riding bikes to university together often, but at that time, I didn’t think much of it because King was working on a documentary about Ram.

My artist friend loves weird things. Unique. If he encounters something, he’ll pay a lot of attention, will investigate and observe it like gathering data. He does this all the time, the last one was a documentary on dog poop.

“Be quiet…come with me for a bit.” Huh…

A voice came from beside me. Although it was very soft, I heard it, thanks to my naturally good hearing and because he was sitting right next to me. I pretended not to hear and started playing with my phone. Meanwhile, Duen went to sit with Tingting.

I watched as Ram and King walked off together…where to? Let’s just say they went somewhere out of my sight. It seems King’s mom once mentioned he has some kind of secret base…whatever, let it be.

“Bohn!” Hey!

I braced myself on the ground in shock as someone hugged me from behind, rubbing their head against my cheek. I was about to ask what was wrong when I caught a whiff of something from behind…this smell…

“Duen, are you drunk?”

“Yeah…drunk.” Who let him drink? I glanced at where Duen the idiot was sitting and immediately knew who forced him to drink. Let’s not call it ‘gave,’ let’s call it ‘poured,’ that’s better. Damn it…

While lifting her student skirt and sitting cross-legged, she locked her best friend’s neck with her left hand to keep him from moving while her right hand cruelly poured alcohol into her best friend’s mouth. She seemed to mumble something too. Let me read her lips…

“Tang…you must take responsibility for my little heart. I have two best friends in the same faculty, by rights, you and Duen should be protecting me from guys, but why do I end up being the one protecting you from them? I wouldn’t mind if guys showed interest in me, but they don’t! ugh, the other day, a hot guy who looked like he could wrestle came up to me, I flirted but ended up sitting alone because he was chasing you!!…Drink this, you bastard, so you can see what it’s like to be devastated. I just want one day…today, I want to feel pretty! Why do tigers keep their stripes if men have to look after each other!!! Answer me!!

Tingting should become a rapper, her lip movements are so fast. As for me, I deserve an award for outstanding lip-reading.

“Should I laugh or feel sorry for you…” Tang looked very pitiful, struggling like he was in agony. It takes some strength to hold a guy like him still. Even though Tang is small.

“Karaman…tamarind? Want to eat Phii Tee’s? It’s not tasty, really, sour, blech!” Duen said before making a face like he had goosebumps, so cute, his face was trembling too, huh.

“Guys, we’re in trouble, hah.” King ran over to us. Not long after, Tee the code junior followed. What were you guys doing for so long?

“Huh, what’s up, King?” Tee asked into the mic, he’s drunk. To be precise, now only I, Merk, King, Phu, Ram, and King are sober. The rest are out cold, Boss looks the worst, he’s wearing red hibiscus flowers in his ears, his hair in two buns, and his trousers rolled up high above the knees…quite the sight.

“‘She’ is coming here.”

“Who?”

“Phii Kumfah…”

“Hello, boys.”

“Uh, hello.” We all saluted the beautiful girl sitting between Ram and King.

She looks beautiful like this, but she already has two kids. Her name is Phii Kumfah, King’s older sister. My friends and I are a bit scared of her; she likes to ship us in scary ways. Normally, I don’t mind people who like to ship, it’s funny, but not with Phii Kumfah…

She’s too scary.

“I knew Vera had to be here.” She said, hugging the arm of the person next to her. Oh, you know Ram too? How well do you guys know each other? I guess we need to extract some information.

“I just stopped by to pick up something and was about to leave, but after thinking it over…I feel its better to stay a bit longer.” I don’t know what that sweeping gaze and smirk meant, all I know is it made us all get goosebumps, sitting up straight in unison. (It’s called the Yaoi Scan Gaze; a yaoi girl trained enough can receive it like a blessing from God, used for checking out and pairing up guys correctly: Momma.)

“Big sis, try this, my husband made it, it’s super delicious.” Maybe because he was drunk or something, Boss dared to talk to the senior. Normally, he does talk, but not this much.

“Let’s see, oh my…Merk made this? Very house-husband-like, well suited to be your husband, huh.”

“Huh, hubby… Phii Kham even praised me himself.”

“…”

“Embarrassed, huh? Don’t be embarrassed, oh, so cute, come give yourself a kiss.” Is this what they call fan service, what those in the movie industry do to boost ratings…

“Squeal! I’m thrilled, more please, are there other couples…oh, who’s that sweet-faced young man?” Looks like today is Tang’s unlucky day, not only did he get drunk but now he’s also being targeted by Phii Kumfah.

“Oh, that’s Tang. I haven’t introduced them yet, this is Tang, Ting, Phu, Duenhaw, they’re juniors at our university.” King introduced them one by one, but he didn’t mention Ram’s name. Of course, from how they look, they must know each other well, because even now, the senior hasn’t let go of Tee’s arm.

“Wow, all such good-looking guys, does the young man have a boyfriend yet?” She propped her chin, looking at the unfortunate medical student. I suggest you go break the curse, Tang.

“Huh? Me? No, no, girls don’t care for guys cuter than themselves…hic.” I was about to ask Phu to grab a tissue for his friend because I thought he would cry from being drunk, but…

No…

“Buffalo! So damn stupid! What if you have a boyfriend cuter than myself! So what if I have a sweet face! I can still fertilize your eggs! You say, ‘We don’t like Tang like that, Tang is too cute,’ cute your dad! Why didn’t you say that from the start, you jerk! You flirt with me and then reject me, huh, just wait, I’ll line you up and slap you! Bastard!!!!” Uh…

What they say about there being many types of drunks is true, Tang must be the type who speaks his heart when drunk. Bom is like this too, but my friend has an additional option of complaining from past years up to the present.

“Oh oh, Nong Tang, don’t mind those monkeys…get back at them.” King’s sister spoke while sitting cross-legged next to him. If you wear a sarong, why wear a skirt over it, big sis?

“Huh, how?” Once he stopped rapping, he went back to being his usual calm self, I guess he really lost it earlier. I’ve never seen him like this before. Looks like he’s been suppressing a lot, no less than Tingting.

“Steal their men, huh huh.”

I told you Phii Kumfah is scary…

“What, should I punch them?” Tang raised his eyebrows to ask Phii

Kumfah. It looks like he wants revenge too, it must be heartbreaking to be treated like Tang, to be flirted with by a woman only to be rejected later, using looks as an excuse to distance herself.

“No, dear. We don’t use violence…maybe a bit of force, but it won’t hurt much, good person, trust me…I’m a yaoi girl.” What’s that, yaoi girl or Yakult girl?

“Yaoi girl?”

“A yaoi girl is a messenger of the Yaoi religion, with Abe no Seimei as the bundled prophet. Their duty is to keep enemies and heretics of the faith, (women), away from the pure sheep, (men). Then, they pair off suitable matches for the sheep, (ship), and watch over them with warm eyes, (consume).”

“Hmm?”

“You don’t have to understand, let’s get to the point…I won’t let them get away with this, Tang must fight! Go steal their man, I support you!! Men are born to be with men, women should die!!” After saying that, King’s sister raised her hand to the sky like a revolutionary. Sister…you already have kids and a husband, and both your kids and husband are men.

Most importantly…you’re a woman too.

We started talking normally again, Phii Kumfah still continued to ship this person with that one. The person hit hardest was Tang, who was too drunk to understand, followed by Phii Bom, Tang, Boss, and Tee, in that order. You might wonder why Duen isn’t affected at all; it’s because he’s sleeping, leaning against my back. I’m big enough to shield him completely. When King introduced Duen, Phii Kumfah looked confused, wondering why he pointed at me.

Everyone seemed to be having fun, but there was one person who looked sad. If this were a cartoon, we’d see black effects behind her, showing her depression…Tingting, it seems Phii Kumfah’s words only deepened her hurt.

Actually, my friend Tee seemed interested in her, but he was only looking, not wanting to get involved since he’s currently flirting with a literature faculty girl. She’s not particularly beautiful but has a good personality; she helped Tee when he was in trouble. After that, my friend couldn’t get her out of his mind…but can women protect men nowadays? She even defended Tee by punching everyone who ganged up on him…modern women are truly born to protect men.

“Bohnnn.”

“Hmm?” I turned to look at the person behind me and saw that Duen was awake. He was rubbing his eyes, still sleepy as if he didn’t want to wake up. Go back to sleep, we’re staying at King’s house tonight anyway; initially, we weren’t planning to stay, but looking at everyone’s condition, no one was in a state to drive, so we decided to stay here. The same goes for Duen and his friends.

“So sleepy.”

“Then sleep, heh heh.” I smiled before gently pinching his cheek. I didn’t want to hurt Duen, but his soft, white cheek was so inviting, I wanted to nuzzle it, but I was mindful of others.

“I don’t want to sleep like that, I doesn’t want to lean on you, Bohn.” He shook his head vigorously and then turned to face me. His nose was red…cat, cat, cat. You’re a cat, Duen.

“Then how will you sleep, huh?” I reached out to brush his hair gently, the person I asked smiled and did something I didn’t expect.

“Like this, it’s easy.”

“…Be gentle.” Damn. You get drunk and make my heart race all the time…I looked down at his handsome face, I knew he’d be clingy when drunk, but I didn’t expect him to lie on my lap like this.

“Yawn, I’m sleepy.”

“Who taught you to do this, huh?” I leaned down to rub my nose against his playfully, and he laughed before his beautiful eyes met mine.

“Saw it in a movie, and saw the heroine often do this to the hero.”

“Really? Then Duen, you are the heroine, I am the hero.” I smiled jokingly, seeing him pout, his delicate brows furrowed into little knots. I told you not to frown, or you’ll get crow’s feet, look at this, I even poked him.

“Huh. No, I am the hero, I have a younger brother.” The person lying on my lap said with pride, the younger brother he mentioned surely isn’t like Ben or Bihn. You can tell from the tone.

“i has one too, why can’t I be the hero?” Duen’s hand, which was stroking my chin, stopped as soon as I finished speaking. Hey, what kind of reaction is this? Did you forget that I have siblings too?

“That’s true…but mine’s is bigger, hehe.” How can you be so confident? Just how big is it, little Duen?

“How do you know it’s bigger, are you just boasting, let mesee it then.” “Want to see? I’ll show you.” Oh, so you agree.

“Why are you showing it so easily, do you show it to everyone?”

“Huh, only you can see, you is my boyfriend.”

“Duen, you is cute.” I swear I tried to hold back my emotions, but in the end, all my efforts crumbled because of this bastard…look at him, even after getting his cheek pinched, he’s smiling so hard his eyes turn into crescents.

I love moments like this so much, but I’d rather do this when he’s sober so he can remember it.

“Bohn, you is cute too.” He raised his hand to pinch my cheek back and forth, mimicking what I did earlier. Not the same at all…you do it cuter by far.

“Arent I cute, or how am I?” I’m pretty handsome, where did cute come from? Duen is handsome too, but I call him cute because his personality matches that.

“…I am lying, Bohn, you isn’t cute…”

“…”

“Except when yous drunk, haha.” The teasing kid laughed until tears formed at the corner of his eyes. Why would I not know he’s teasing? Look at his smile, who would believe that?

“You’re teasing, huh?”

“Am I good at it? Is I at it?” If I say you’re not good, will you cry? You probably would, it’s cute when you cry, but I prefer when you smile.

“I am sad, I’m about to cry, see?” I pretended to look sad, lowering my head to press my forehead against my lover’s.

“Oh, come here, Phii Duen will kiss and comfort you.” Duen moved up to kiss my forehead, and it was so warm it made me smile.

“This is…a real couple!! Damn! I’ve only seen this on the internet, never in real life, the damage is severe…ugh!! There’s even kissing, oh! Shit, why didn’t Bohn tell me he has a boyfriend? Do you want to be cut out of the inheritance?!” After saying that, Phii Kumfah slapped King’s back so hard that pork flew out of his mouth. Poor…poor Bom, the pork from King’s mouth landed on his lap.

“Just kidding. Do I have to tell you that? Can I have some water?” Ram handed him water immediately. Why not ask Phii Kumfah, she’s right there. You, whatever, the water is flowing too, her hand is really heavy.

“You must tell. If your friend has a boyfriend who’s a guy, like this!” She said, pointing at me and Duen. She argued with her brother for a bit before running over to me.

“Bohn, your boyfriend is so cute, his name is Duen, right?” The beautiful sister of King asked excitedly, her eyes sparkling like there’s a Dao inside…uh.

“Yes.” I nodded. I have to admit, I like to show off my boyfriend a lot, wanting others to know how cute Duen is, but I also don’t want anyone else to see how cute he is. I want to be the only one to see.

“Oh, up close, he’s super handsome.”

“Ugh.” The person being complimented buried his face in my stomach; he’s not annoyed, Duen is just shy, he gets embarrassed like this when people stare at him.

“Oh, so cute, like a cat. Look at these cheeks, they’re red and most pinchable, these red ears, what is this, oh, nirvana. I’m about to reach nirvana.” Phii Kumfah covered her forehead with the back of her hand and collapsed onto the grass.

“Brother, there’s plenty of space on the mat, you can join us inside. No need to be so far away.”

 

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