CHAPTER 37: LEAVE THEM TO CHANCE
It's a little over midnight by the time I arrive at the Phumipat Mansion. I park my motorcycle in front of the alloy gate which is shut so tightly, leaving me clueless as to how I'll be able to get through. In front of me lies a huge mansion covered in darkness. There's only one window still brightly lit. I recognize that window and I know it very well.
I stand in my spot staring at Phun's window. Then I let out a long exhale because I don't even know what the owner of said window is feeling right now. Is he in shock with what he had seen? Or, is he furious with me for allowing him to find out the truth in the worst way possible?
"Fucking idiot..." I curse at myself as I bang on the motorcycle's handlebar, feeling pissed off. I shouldn't have let things turn out this way. If only I had the guts to tell Phun about this myself, then he probably wouldn't feel this miserable. At the very least, he might've realized that I would be there for him.
Instead, I let him discover this by himself and he was forced to flee as if he has no one else left at all.
I stare at the window that is still lit up. I feel conflicted because I desperately want to go in and explain everything to him. But at the same time, I'm too afraid to even ring the doorbell. I pray that Phun will see me standing here looking anxious, but it doesn't seem like he has any plans to walk up to the window at all.
That problematic iPhone is weighing a ton inside my pants pocket like it's begging me to use it in order to redeem itself. I hesitate for a moment before I grab the phone and make the call.
‘It's wonderful enough that we are friends
Even though we can only be in the same vicinity
That person probably won't mind
It can't be helped that you fell in love with that person first
I keep having to hide everything
So that you cannot see them from my eyes’
Phun is still using the same ringback tone from before. (Except now I know what song this is thanks to Ngoi who was listening to this in the clubroom the other day.) Unlike the last time, I am listening to this song repeating over and over several times. At this point, it feels unlikely that he will answer the call.
I keep calling again and again without surrendering. I know how annoying it can be to have people keep calling you when you're in no mood to talk to them. But I honestly don't want Phun to misunderstand this situation the entire night,
That ringback tone continues to play in my ear until I glance over to see a shadow of bedroom's owner by the window. Phun stands there and looks at me and then my phone tells me that I received a text message.
'Please let me be alone for a while. I'll call you later.'
Sender : Phun Stu. Counc.
So is there anything else I should be doing...other than giving him the space just as he requested?
It's Saturday and I woke up with a huge hangover since I got real wasted when I got home the previous night. I didn't even care how exhausted I was. My damn friends sure love me because they kept pouring for me nonstop. And even after we polished off a bottle of vodka and a crate of beer, they decided that they didn't have enough and rode on the motorcycle to buy a bottle of rice whiskey to mix with Red Bulls, sweet syrup and club soda to create a punch made from hell. In the end, Knott and Per couldn't keep up. They threw up and passed out on the floor. Keng, Dong, Khom and Rodkeng slept on the sofa that is sitting in front of the TV. Palm, Phong, Em, Ken and I were all tangled up and slept on the carpet in front of the sofa. As for Ohm?
He had enough energy left to climb upstairs and slept comfortably in my bedroom. That bastard!
I wake up with a flinch when I hear the sounds of alcohol bottles clinking as p'Im and p'Ann are cleaning up. (Neither of them sleep at the house. They come here in the morning and leave in the evening.) I get up and scratch my bare back since I took off my shirt last night after feeling like I was burning up. I pretty much passed out wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, just like all the other guys here.
"So where's nong Ohm, nong Noh?~" P'Im gets to the point and whispers a question. Heh heh heh. You just wanna check out Ohm's honey-colored chest, don't ya? Keep on dreaming, p'Im! Ohm probably knew this might happen since he got his ass upstairs to my room since last night,
I rapid blink to chase away my drowsiness. I eventually feel like I'm getting my strength back. The first thing I search for is my cellphone.
The iPhone is not too far from my reach and I grab it. Everything looks normal. There's nothing different at all. Not even a single missed call from Phun.
It feels as if I'll never crack another smile.
"Ya could've woken me up too, bastard." Em sleepily mutters some complaints. I guess I was moving around too much and I woke him up. He stretches a bit and his hand hits Khom's leg and he wakes up too. Khom rubs his eyes and his elbow bangs into Rodkeng and he also wakes up. This turns into a domino effect and everyone is now awake except one person who slept all by himself upstairs.
"I'll go wake Ohm up." I volunteer then I slowly get up. I walk up the stairs while scratching my head. I drag my feet in a daze before I finally arrive in front of my bedroom. The door is closed and I can feel the cool air from the air conditioner too.
It wasn't enough that you got to sleep in a comfortable bed, you turned the air conditioner on too, you asshole?!
I scowl before I forcefully push the door open.
"Goddamn it, Ohm! Get the fuck up right now! You stink of booze and you have the nerve to sleep in my bed?! Get up and pull off the bed sheet too! You asshole! Wake up, damn it!" He has to be deaf if he can't hear all the yelling. I don't know if he actually has hearing problems or he's just being a smartass to me since the louder I am, the more he covers his head with the pillow.
I rush over and pull the pillow away. "Wake up! Or do I need to get nong Mick here to wake you up?"
Oh, that worked. The latter sentence was barely audible but he heard me. He gives me the middle finger as a response. "Smartass." Not as much as you are!
Ohm scratches his chest and his arm for a bit before he is finally willing to sit up on the bed. I shake my head at the guy who seems like he isn't really awake yet then I walk over to grab a couple of towels from the closet.
"Here. Take a shower. You wanna take a shower in my room? I think the guys will just use the bathroom downstairs." I ask him as I head inside the bathroom first and leave the door opened. I take off my boxers then I turn on the shower so that the water is hitting against the tub.
I hear some noises behind me which lets me know that Ohm is following suit. "Good idea. I feel fucking gross." He complaints while he takes his clothes off. Then he snatches the shower head from me and sprays his own back before he gives me an order. "Can you scrub my back? It's all crusty and shit." What the hell?! I don't have the energy for this!
I quickly decline. "I'm too fucking lazy." However, he isn't listening to me. He pulls me down in the tub before he turns around as if he's instructing me that I must scrub it anyway. Bastard.
"I'll do yours after," he proposes. Whatever, screw it. I'm all sticky and a scrubbing sounds nice. I shake my head then I pour some water on his back. I being to scour his back slowly, using a lot of force.
Ohm and I have been friends ever since we were kids. He and I were in the same class in the 2nd grade and, unfortunately, we had to sit next to each other. Our bad luck didn't end there because Ohm's dad was my piano teacher's professor so he ended up taking piano lessons with me. (Why didn't you just have your dad teach you?!) Due to this, he and I have grown close ever since then. Our families are close too. Whenever Pa and Ma travel somewhere, they will always pick up something for Dr. Whaen. (Ohm's father.)
It's really not out of ordinary for us guys to take showers together. Actually, I can take a shower with anybody because I really don't get shy, (Basically, I'm that confident. Heh heh heh) especially with Ohm. We grew up taking showers together in the nude since we were kids. (Sometimes, the lesson finished late so he spent the night at my house when Dr. Whaen wasn't around.) Taking a bath with him is pretty much like taking a bath with a rubber ducky. I don't mind this and neither does he.
We're very close, so close that I thought there weren't anything that I didn't know about him. However...
"Are you dating nong Mick?" I learned about this by chance and it totally caught me off guard. I wasn't surprised that Ohm is seeing him but rather I was surprised that I had no idea about this.
Ohm lets out a long sigh. "No, there's really nothing going on." I don't really believe him though.
"How come you never told me? I'm hurt by this, you know." I'm being straightforward with him because I really do feel that way. Ohm turns to look at me for a moment, then he lets out another sigh and he turns back.
"There's really nothing going on between him and me. What about you and Phun? You really think that I'm not aware of what's going on?" How come the spotlight is suddenly on me?
I let out a sigh even longer than Ohm did. "Phun and I...are friends."
At this point, he seems to be a little irked by this. "You just won't admit it, huh? Turn around. It's your turn, my back is starting to hurt." Naturally, I willingly follow his order.
We traded places and some time had passed before Ohm started talking again. "You don't see me as a friend anymore, do you?" Jeez, if he thinks that way then I need to call for a time-out so I can smack him in the head. "Asshole, if you ever say that again I'll punch your face in."
He uses more pressure to scrub my back and it is starting to sting. "Well, I wanna punch your face in too. I've been giving you the courtesy of not asking. I was waiting for you to tell me yourself, but then you never did. You know, I can't help but think that you don't trust me anymore."
I quickly set him straight. "Hey, it's not like that! I just don't know what to tell you. Our relationship is...complicated. I don't know how to go about it." I'm trying my best to explain but I can't find the words. I begin treading the water which has reached my waist with my hands.
Ohm shakes his head. "Forget about it. You guys are doing okay though, right?" He tells me and I smile, because Ohm is always like this. He may talk shit at times (not really at times, more like all the time) but he cares about me a lot to the point if I were asked that aside from my parents, who is the person that cares about me the most, I won't even hesitate before I give my answer.
"I suppose..."
Ohm continues to speak. "So what was Phun upset with you about last night? I noticed that he was acting weird. Did you bang someone and recorded with your phone?" Gee...this bastard might be a psychic. He's nearly spot on even though it is just a guess.
I cup the water with my hand and pours it over my knees warily. "I really can't talk to you about it, man. It's not about me. Sorry." I reach over to pat his arm which is still scrubbing my back a couple of times. Ohm pats my shoulder in return.
"Right, just take care of yourself. You can tell me about anything. I probably can't help you much since I've never experienced that stuff before. But when it comes to being nosy-I mean, lending an ear or two, I can always do that." Ha, he reveals his true self. I wanted to turn around and punch him but I didn't feel like it.
I should get back to what I was asking him instead. Heh heh heh. "So what about you and nong Mick? Well? Are you gonna tell me or not?" Don't think that I'd forget just because you stopped talking about it!
Ohm snickers at me. "Let me take some pointers from the two of you first then we can talk about it after." He tells me before he grabs the shower head and rinses my back instead of allowing another opportunity for me to question him. I should've known that this jerk would've taken advantage of this like. Always!
By the time all twelve of us finished taking a shower, get dressed up and fought over breakfast that p'Im and p'Ann had prepared for us, it was way into the afternoon. The guys are dressed in their uniform, blue shorts with leather shoes and all, and they make their way out of the house while bidding their goodbyes to p'Im and p'Ann. They also promise to come back and destroy the house whenever Pa and Ma are not home. (You all are a bunch of bastards!)
I walk them out to the main street to see them off and make sure they each catch a cab. Eventually, Ohm is the last one to leave. Before he leaves, he turns around and pats my back a couple of times to show support. I give him a wide grin in return.
Ohm's taxi had left my sight for a long while but I'm still standing here, suddenly feeling too lazy to head home. I look down at my watch and learn that it is past 3 pm now so I decide to hail a cab and head to the Villa to do some grocery shopping and replace all the snacks that those guys had put away in their stomach without any mercy.
It's Saturday so the roads are pretty empty. It only took a short amount of time for the taxi to arrive at J Avenue from my house. (The meter didn't even get to 40 baht.) After I paid the driver, I head inside the supermarket to get away from the sun. I come to this place often to buy all kinds of snacks. I had barely stepped inside before my cellphone deafeningly rings.
‘Hail to our host! Wishing you lots of silvers. Wishing you lots of golds. Hail to our host!’
Phun?!
That is the first name which pops into my head when I hear my phone ringing loudly in my pants pocket. I hastily grab for it only to learn that the photo and the number on the screen belongs to...
Yuri.
I sigh as I weakly hit answer like someone without any energy. "What's up?"
"Did you just wake up, Noh? Why do you sound so tired?" I guess I'm making it too obvious that I'm in no mood to speak with her. I quickly shake my head to stop myself from displacing my annoyance on Yuri.
"No, no. I've been up for a long while now. I'm out at the Villa." I answer her while I push around a shopping cart, looking at various snacks. Yuri's voice continues to sound chipper from the other line.
"Do you have any plans tomorrow? Let's go see a movie together? Please? Please?" Here we go again. Yuri is at it again with all her pleadings. Didn't we just go shopping together anyway? I smile wearily at the phone which is radiating an imploring aura. This time around however, I honestly don't feel like doing anything at all.
"I'm a little tired. Mind if I stay home and catch up on some sleep? How about some other day?" My rejection to her requests probably sounds serious enough for her to stop asking.
She mumbles a reply to acknowledge me as if she knows well enough not to keep pestering. "I see...that's okay. You should get some rest. So what were you doing? How come you're tired?" I don't think telling her that I was getting wasted would be a good idea.
Just as I'm trying to come with an excuse, I hear a girl's cheery voice nearby.
"P'Noh!"
I nearly let the phone slip out of my hand when I notice nong Pang's small statue standing right in front of me.
