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.