MONSTERNEXTDOOR, Chapter 11: Humans Tend To Change, Be It Physically Or Emotionally.
I flopped down on my bed, exhausted, glanced at the clock showing it was past ten, and there was no sign of the person next door returning. The football match was won, the drums were played. Now, what will surprise me next?
From what I’ve learned about him for a while now, Phii Godt is extremely active in activities. Not only personal activities, but if anyone asks for help, he agrees to everything.
You could say he’s truly a person of society.
Since I don’t know when he’ll come back, I try to keep myself busy, taking a shower, shampooing my hair, folding the laundry I just took down, tidying up the messy room, organizing the books on the desk.
Then I spent a good amount of time playing with young-master.
“Is it delicious?” I lay on the edge of the fish tank watching youngmaster eating water spinach with great relish. When I sat down to chat, he just stared at me with his beady eyes for a while before turning back to nibble on the spinach.
After sitting for a bit, I grabbed my phone and only then noticed Phii Wan had messaged me on Line.
CHECK
Wann
Sorry about today.
I’ll buy some snacks to apologize.
OnlyOne
You don’t have to buy anything, bro.
Wann
Donuts, then.
Wann
There’s someone who just finished work but won’t sit down to eat with us.
Wann
He said he has a lunch appointment with his neighbor.
He took the lunch box and left.
[Sending a picture]
OnlyOne Oh.
Thanks.
OnlyOne
Huh.
I furrowed my brows looking at the picture Phii Wan sent, before bursting out laughing. The broad back of Phii Godt under his student uniform, right hand holding a lunch box, followed by Charcoal who was chasing after it, making him lift his leg to shoo the dog away.
With people, he seems loved, but with this dog, they appear to be arch-enemies from a past life.
I didn’t sit smiling at the picture for long before the sound of a key turning came from the next room, followed by the usual sound of the door closing. I quickly opened the glass door and flopped down onto the turtle pillow, looking at the starless sky, ready to talk with someone else.
What will we talk about today? Will I get to know him better, the Khun Godzilla wearing the Ultraman mask?
Ding
The sound of a bell rang from the balcony next door, as if he was putting it back in its place. Then, Khun Godzilla’s deep, soft voice replaced it.
“Have you eaten yet, little turtle?”
“I have. What about you?”
“You didn’t wait for me! So heartless!”
“I was hungry.”
“Next time, wait, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’m so hungry,” he mumbled like a child.
Why not eat at the restaurant if you’re hungry? Why bring it up here to eat in the room?
Or maybe because he once said he liked eating with me.
“Why do you like eating with me?” I asked while I heard him opening his food box. The person next door went quiet for a moment. I thought of many possible answers like, “It’s fun to eat and chat, or I can eat momo anytime, it doesn’t matter.”
“Eating alone is lonely.”
Liar.
“You’re a lonely person, a lonely Godzilla.” I couldn’t even say it nicely; I had to soften my voice to sound more endearing.
Sigh
If Phii Wan hadn’t messaged me just now, that reason might have been acceptable, but with all his friends around, he still sneaks away with his food from Charcoal to eat in the room? The excuse of eating alone being lonely just doesn’t hold.
But not wanting to argue, I changed the subject instead.
“Did you get the bell back?”
“Yes, I went to claim it back.”
“And why did you buy one for me? You could have given mine to Biu.”
“That’s Biu, this is you Nong Diew, that one and you, do you see the importance yet?”
“How can you call a woman ‘that’?”
“If you meet her in person, you’ll understand why I call her ‘that’.”
When he mentioned meeting in person, I just stayed silent. Even though I wanted to thank him for wearing an Ultraman mask because he didn’t want me to see his face, telling him about going to meet him wouldn’t be a good idea; it might lead to a long, drawn-out explanation. So, I chose to keep quiet. I was just impressed by the fact that he went out to buy the mask, impressed enough not to forget it.
“Phii Godt”
“Hmm?”
If one day you meet me in person, what would you do?”
“Asking this means you want to meet me, huh? Hehehe, water drops on stone every day, even the stone would say it wants to meet the coolest brother,” he laughed, his voice so annoying that I really wanted to send young-master to bite him, plus his phrasing was all wrong, giving me a headache.
“No, just asking.”
“What’s the first thing you’d want to do?”
“Yes.”
“Take you out for a meal, and if we meet again, I’d take you out for snacks, go cycling, sit in a café, have nice coffee, or if you don’t want to leave the room, I’d buy snacks to eat together, watch movies, read books, play around, play games, oh, there’s so much to do, I’d even buy a PlayStation 4 to play with you. Well, I have money to spare.”
The first sentences were cute, but later on, it started to get annoying!
“And if we don’t meet?”
“Then we’ll keep chatting like this. Do you want to eat anything? I’ll buy it for you.”
“You don’t have to buy anything for me; I can buy whatever I want when I feel like it.”
“I’m not asking if you can buy it yourself; I’m asking what you want to eat, I’ll buy it. Oh, you like to decide things for yourself.”
You’re the one deciding things for yourself, mister.
“Thank you for trying to do a lot of things for me that no one has ever done before.” I placed my hand on the book cover and gently stroked it, not knowing what else to do with my hands.
The more I get to know Phii Godt, the more I get lost. Now, I don’t even know where I’m heading.
I just wanted to thank him for trying to do all this for me.
“It’s nothing, I did it because I wanted to. It wasn’t hard at all.”
“And what about you, do you want anything?” I asked while hearing him rustle the plastic bag. Phii Godt made a soft humming sound.
“No. I’m quite happy now.”
“No, I mean like gifts or something.”
“Why would you buy me anything?”
“I want to repay you, you buy me Pocky every day, but I’ve never given you anything.”
I don’t really want anything. Just sitting quietly in the room with you is enough.”
“Huh?”
“If I want something, I’ll tell you. We don’t need to move much, like a lady.”
“Phii Godt!” I yelled at him with a squeaky voice, hearing his mischievous laugh in return. Why is this guy so good at being annoying? The more I talk to him, the more of a headache I get, but even with the headache, I can’t stop smiling.
We chatted for a while until I yawned, tears coming out so I had to wipe them away.
“Tired?”
“A little, I walked a lot today.” Walking back and forth between the faculty building and the university’s central cafeteria, sometimes it made me out of breath, especially for someone like me who doesn’t exercise much!
“Where did you walk to?”
“To see a dog.” Because I was staring blankly at the orange street lights below, I accidentally said it out loud. I was startled when I realized, getting up in a fluster when Phii Godt didn’t reply.
Uh… um…”
“A big dog, right? Cute, but it has a bad temper, it barked at me loudly.”
Phii Godt didn’t ask if I saw him there. He didn’t even care which part of the cafeteria I was in. He didn’t ask anything at all, just like Phii Beert said. He didn’t care if he would see me. He just wanted me to go see the dog, that’s all.
Ah…
Suddenly, I felt warm for no reason.
I buried my face in my knees, making a whining sound to ask him,
“Are you not on good terms with dogs?”
“I like dogs, but dogs like to yap at me, or maybe they’re jealous because I’m too handsome, sigh, they’re just useless.”
Is this self-diagnosed narcissism a new disease?
“Phii Godt…”
“Hmm?”
“Aren’t you going to ask if I’ve met you?”
The sound from the creature next door went silent.
No need to ask, actually, I wanted you to see the dog. As for me, I’m just a bonus.”
I secretly smiled a little, not knowing how many times I should thank him for it to be enough. It’s like he pays attention to the small, insignificant things that some might think are pointless, but he turns those small things into something big, as if this guy is very intent on stepping into my world, and he’s never forced or made it feel uncomfortable even once.
That’s why I feel at ease talking to you.
And I don’t want to lose you either.
“Thank you. I like it, the Ultraman mask.”
“Sure, actually, I bought a dozen. If you want, I’ll give you one.”
“Huh, why did you buy so many?”
“So I can switch them up, like seven days, seven styles.”
“Are you going to wear one every day?”
“I’m wearing one right now.”
Crazy!
“It’s time to sleep,” his deep voice interrupted while I was thinking if he was really wearing the Ultraman mask right now, or if he was just messing around, which is probably more likely.
“Then, good night.”
“Good night.”
I closed the glass door and jumped onto the bed, burying my face into the soft pillow with happiness.
Ultraman, huh…
Then tonight, I’ll dream of you, Ultraman.
Even if he says he doesn’t want anything.
In the end, I still want to buy something as a gift for him.
Not knowing where to go shopping, I decided to buy from an app. I spent hours looking but didn’t know what to get, all the while thinking about the wind chime he got for me, feeling that Phii Godt’s taste was much better than mine. If I were to choose a gift for someone, it would probably just be books.
Come to think of it, he seems to like One Piece.
I searched for “One Piece figures,” scrolled through them, and when I saw the price of the Luffy model, I had to swallow hard. That could cover young-master’s food for a month, so I gave up. I looked for other collectibles that I thought a guy like Phii Godt would like, and I found a small Luffy keychain that was reasonably priced.
That’s it, this one.
I ordered it without thinking twice, paid through the app, and got ready to go to class.
The clock on my phone showed it was half past eight; I didn’t have to rush today. It was the first day I left the room later than usual since the professor had postponed the class to nine. I tapped on young-master’s shell to say goodbye like every day, prepared my bag, checked myself in the mirror, and opened my door.
Same old Pocky, but this time there was a large paper bag with something inside, along with a pink Post-it note.
‘The Lady Ultraman mask says you’ll have good luck today.’
I pulled out the Lady Ultraman mask from the bag, stood still looking at the mask with the dot eyes before walking back into the room to put away the plastic mask with the elastic band. But before I did, I stood in front of the mirror and tried placing the mask on my face. When I looked at myself through the dot eyes in the mirror, I burst out laughing.
So, when he said he bought a dozen different ones, he really meant it.
The mask was carefully placed on the bookshelf. I closed the door and walked past the next room with my usual smile, headed straight to the elevator, and pressed the button for the ground floor. Before reaching downstairs, I ran into Phii Wan and Phii Beert who were buying noodles in front of the dorm.
“Oh, Diew.”
Phii Wan waved at me cheerfully; these days I’ve been seeing both of them more than anything else. I waved back at my seniors and walked over. Today, both of them were wearing engineering faculty shirts, making them look a bit unusual.
“Good to see you.”
“You wake up early every day, huh?” Phii Beert smiled at me, his hands full of bags of food.
“Did you buy those… for Phii Godt?”
“Huh. We’re going to eat together, actually. Today, Godt woke up early, he’s going to eat at the faculty.”
“Phii Godt… woke up early?” My voice conveyed my curiosity as I asked. Phii Beert and Phii Wan looked at me for a moment, then something seemed to click for them.
“Hey!”
“Beert, did you see my watch?”
The deep voice from behind was a clear indication that Phii Godt indeed woke up early. I widened my eyes looking at Phii Beert who was frantically waving at the person behind me, Phii Wan rushed over to his friend who was walking towards us. Meanwhile, Phii Beert quickly moved to shield me as if our meeting was forbidden.
Fate, we’ve been here for over a month without ever meeting, and now we meet just like this?
Everything was in disarray.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, nothing. Do you want anything else to eat, grilled pork or something? Let’s do grilled pork.”
“No way. I don’t want that, I want noodles.”
“Noodles now? There aren’t any bowls at the faculty.”
“I can eat from the bag.”
“Godt, come on!”
Phii Wan couldn’t stop his friend. Standing with my back turned, I could hear Phii Godt’s footsteps getting closer, then he ordered noodles from the uncle.
“Just pork, uncle, lots of pork, not much with the morning glory, it’s too much to swallow.”
After ordering, the curious one turned to chatter with Phii Beert. I gripped the cloth bag beside me tightly, my hands were sweating, my mind racing for an escape. Should I casually walk away, or should I run out now and catch a taxi?
“What are you doing? And who’s that behind you, huh? You’re hiding the kid, not telling anyone.”
“Yeah, a kid, your next-door neighbor.”
“Huh?”
“Nong Diew.”
“Hey!” Phii Godt exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, turning the three of us into four. We stood around for a while, then Charcoal joined in, making the atmosphere less awkward. Charcoal wagged his tail at me, his eyes pleading for food until I couldn’t resist squatting down to scratch his head.
“Diew.”
The deep, soft voice I remembered well mumbled, but I heard it clearly in both ears. It was the second time we had met by chance, and this time, Phii Godt had seen me too.
Coincidence isn’t part of the three rules for bedtime chats, and this time we didn’t see each other’s faces, so the promise continues.
I looked at the dark shadow of Phii Beert, who was leaning against himself, before his shadow moved slightly away, replaced by another shadow. A large, warm hand touched my head, ruffling my hair gently.
The touch startled me, making me stiff as a stone, unable to move.
Besides the touch of his hand, I caught the scent of his cologne, indicating that the owner of the hand wasn’t Phii Beert, but the living being from the room next door who was now ruffling my hair. Phii Godt’s hand…
“Don’t forget to eat. Study hard, and see you at ten tonight.”
The warm hand withdrew, leaving only the warmth of the touch from the being next door, along with my heart beating faster in my chest, probably from the sudden excitement of seeing him.
“I’ll turn around to give you time to escape. One, two, three, four…”
I stood up, clutched my bag tighter, and hurriedly walked to catch a taxi. Once in the taxi, I touched my head where someone’s hand had just been.
Unlike Phii Beert’s hand, which felt like that of a brother or a father, Phii Godt’s touch was more than that. It hinted at something deeper, something I couldn’t put into words, but I knew it felt unexpectedly good, even though I hadn’t expected it at all.
It wasn’t the touch that felt like a father, nor was it the touch that felt like an older brother.
But it was a touch that made me feel like
He was someone important, someone I wanted to keep close for a long time.
Long enough to feel that touch from those hands again.
Because once was really not enough.