[T/N] I apologize for grammar mistakes and incoherencies
Chapter 16: No Friends?
Uh, my hand holding his is shaking like crazy.
I think back to yesterday when we announced ourselves. Back then, walking hand in hand was insanely warm, especially when he gently squeezed my hand. Did he feel what I felt?
Tee looked at our joined hands, then looked up and met my eyes with a cheeky, possessive grin.
I quickly let go of his hand. Yeah, whatever, what's the big deal? Two guys, holding hands, just a little hand-holding, and he acts all high and mighty. Now I'm starting to overthink.
"Go wait outside."
Tee gave a slight smile before he looked like he was about to walk out.
I glanced around, seeing the dark cinema atmosphere, no one around, red seats in the darkness, and suddenly felt scared of ghosts.
"Hey, you!" I called out to Tee, reaching out to grab his arm again. He turned back to me, "Don't go out. Stay with me for a bit."
Tee looked at me with a chuckle. I let go of his arm.
"Don't look at me like that, turn that way." I ordered, laughing at myself. Tee smiled back before turning away.
Not long after, I returned to my normal state. After trying to gather my focus to shake off the dark mood.
The single pair of jeans I'm wearing might chafe my thighs differently than usual underwear; gotta be careful with that. Thinking about this made me want to get home quickly.
"Shrunk now?" Tee turned and smiled at me after seeing me stand up from the seat, using the bag I brought to cover up front, giving me just a bit more confidence.
"Stop talking, let's go home."
I hurriedly led Tee out of the cinema.
I didn't even dare to look at his face.
Because I was afraid, afraid of my own body, which is quite sensitive and might betray my heart.
Not only quick but also persistent. It wouldn't easily give in either.
Next time, I'll have to be much more careful, I told myself.
But unbelievable, why do I have to...
Why does my body have to react, to feel aroused?
Why does it have to be him?
He's a man. I'm also a man.
…
On the way back, we both took a taxi.
The atmosphere in the car suddenly became silent.
I kept thinking all the way, looking out the window, reflecting on everything that had happened.
I couldn't quite say what I felt. I was confused, uncomfortable, feeling chaotic, having to feel something. I don't know. Maybe I didn't feel anything. Just in a bad mood, I guess. Didn't really want anything more than to disappear from there.
I turned back, caught Tee's worried glance at me; he quickly looked away, out the other side of the window. I felt uncomfortable, so I decided to ask something I wanted to know.
"Bambi, is she your first girlfriend?"
He looked surprised and turned to me.
I looked serious. I was genuinely asking, waiting for his answer.
Tee looked at me steadily then shook his head.
"We've known each other since childhood, our families are close." He said, avoiding eye contact, looking out the window.
"Answer directly, was she your girlfriend?" My voice was irritated.
Tee turned to me, looking puzzled as if wondering what he did wrong, why I had to raise my voice at him. He gave me a pleading look and answered softly,
"A friend."
I breathed heavily, as if angry.
"Alright, what now? If you're not going to make a move on her, then what do you want me to do?"
"Bambi once asked to be my girlfriend back in the fourth year, but I didn't agree to anything."
"Don't say that, it's not fair to the girl, right? Staying silent is the same as accepting, right?”
“Bambi is everything, more than a friend…” He looked into my eyes and added, "But not a girlfriend."
I looked at him calmly.
"You love her, but you don't want her to hurt any more than this." I said, looking at him steadily.
"If you say she's not the one, she'll still wait, but if you say you don't like girls, then she can't wait anymore, right? And it probably won't hurt as much as if we liked another girl."
I sighed heavily, looking at the guy.
"But in the end, you'll end up liking another girl anyway, right?" I looked at him sadly, "I feel sorry for her."
Tee looked at me pleadingly, accidentally reached out to hold my hand, "As for my first girlfriend… is sitting right here."
The car stopped right in front of Tee's dorm. I pulled my hand away, not pleased, opened the car door, and walked out.
Tee got out of the car, quickly paid, and ran after me, seeming hesitant to ask, "And Mork?"
I stopped walking, silent, my eyes on the sidewalk where I stood for a moment, then bent down to open my bag, took out a camera, looked up to meet his eyes then looked away.
"We're at your dorm. Let me borrow your camera first, I'll download the photos to the computer and give it back to you."
“I'll walk you home. So you can use the bag as a cover, heh heh."
"Little Liu again! Mine is much bigger than yours, just so you know." I looked at him with slight annoyance.
"And Mork?" He seemed hesitant to ask, "What about you?"
"Huh?"
"You don't have a girlfriend?" My eyes looked sad, so he changed the subject, "You're probably not lonely, with friends, father, and brother."
I felt a bit embarrassed, quickly smiled to cover it up, "Hey. Who said I don't have a girlfriend?" Tee made a face.
"Why? Your parents?" Tee's expression changed, he looked down sadly and fell silent. Feeling guilty, I quickly changed the subject, "And your friends?"
Tee gave a sad smile and shook his head.
"Hey, how can you live like that? No friends. Aren't you lonely?"
Tee walked along the road with his head down, looking sad, his hands clutching his shoulder bag. He gazed into the distance as if deep in thought.
He turned to me.
"Mork, do you think our world is vast?" He looked at me with sad eyes, giving me a slight smile at the corner of his mouth.
"I don't know." I quickly brushed off the question, not wanting to think about it. What's gotten into him now? He seemed hurt by my lack of interest. "What about you, is this world vast?"
Tee made a thoughtful expression, smiling, looking into the distance again.
I smiled back.
"It's vast, I want to go to many places." He said, locking eyes with me, "But I want to go with someone."
I pretended to look around to see who he meant, laughing.
"Where to, abroad?"
"Thailand is fine. Mork, have you ever wanted to travel somewhere?"
"Me?" I made a dreamy gesture, tapping my finger on my lips and smiled at him. Tee smiled back.
"I want to see snow, man. Anywhere would do."
Tee's eyes lit up, excited by my dream.
"Just seeing snow once in my life would make me really happy." I said, smiling sweetly, genuinely happy. I really did want to see snow once.
Tee smiled back.
"Have you ever seen snow, man?"
He didn't answer my question but gave a teasing smile. "What would you do when you see snow for the first time, Mork?"
"Damn, you ask like it's from some movie, haha. I'd want to strip naked in the snow too, man, but not just that, there's more, haha."
Tee laughed, seeing right through me.
"And you, where do you want to travel?" I asked, smiling at him.
Tee smiled with hope.
"I want to go to the sea."
"Man, the sea, huh! Don't tell me you've never been to the sea, haha." Tee nodded sadly, giving me a forced smile.
"Oh, it's okay, we'll go together sometime. No need to be sad." I teased, patting his head like a little kid, walking with my arm around his shoulder, giving Tee a gentle pat on the back.
Suddenly, he returned to the old topic, "I'm lonely, you know, the kind that's really bad."
"Hmm." I let go of his arm, looking at him as he spoke.
"Loneliness might come in two forms. The first kind." He looked at me mischievously, put his arm around my shoulder, leaned in close, and whispered near my ear, "Tonight, I'm so lonely, Mork, I just can't take it anymore lets sleep together type."
I elbowed him away, pretending to shiver, "Damn, you scared me."
"But for me, it's not the first kind of loneliness, Mork." He looked at me steadily. "Oh, really? You're safe then, but I often get the first kind, haha." He gave me a sad smile.
"The world is wide, but many times, it feels like there's no place to stand."
"Huh?"
"Many times, when you're among a lot of people, but you feel like you want to disappear."
I sighed deeply, feeling like we were standing far apart on the bustling street, cars passing by, momentarily hiding Tee from view. I walked closer to Tee.
He saw me approaching and blinked rapidly.
I saw him looking at me, yearning for warmth.
He spoke with great sadness, almost on the verge of tears, "The second kind of loneliness, when you want to hug someone."
I walked over and hugged Tee, my arms tightening around him more and more. His face was stunned, standing stiff, starting to shake as if about to cry.
He hugged me back like he missed me a lot.
All I could do was ask him softly, "Feeling less lonely now?"
I slowly released the hug, "And another thing."
I stepped back two steps, my eyes starting to sting like I was about to cry, my lips trembling, unable to hold back what was bottled up inside me any longer.
"Don't say you have no friends; a friend like me would be hurt."
I quickly walked back home, leaving him standing there, looking sad and alone.
Chapter 17: You're Going to Get Pinched
"It's late, huh? A customer just came asking for a CD of Nong Sara, do you have it?"
MuadMoo was cutting a customer's hair in the shop when he saw me walk in with a bad mood, sitting in front of the computer without responding. I shook the mouse to turn on the computer, feeling irritated.
MuadMoo put down the clippers, looking at my hand.
"Whose camera did you take?"
"A friend's camera."
"Good. Don't let me find out you stole someone's stuff."
"Why would I need to steal from anyone, Muad!" Saying this, is there a problem? I made a pleading face, extremely annoyed.
MuadMoo raised the clippers in his hand and made a threatening face like he was going to scold me.
I angrily posted a status on Facebook:
"Damn boring, why would someone like me need to steal from anyone? I'm not taking anyone's stuff. What's not mine isn't mine. What already has an owner, has one. One day, the owner will come to take it back, the real one will remain the real one. From now on, what I am now is just a helper. Can't even be a substitute, bye."
As soon as I posted, Au was the first to like it! I clicked my tongue and quickly deleted my status, feeling frustrated.
I plugged in Tee's camera cable to the computer and downloaded all the photos from the camera. I selected to view the various pictures taken today; they were all great, but damn, it's annoying, I didn't want to see them. In a fit of anger, I decided to delete all of them.
"Damn. Shouldn't have done that." I muttered to myself.
I didn't need to delete them after all; I could have kept them to look at alone.
…
"Yeh!!! Hia Mork, you're here early today." said Morn as he was coming out of the building, running excitedly towards me.
"You're happy, huh?"
"Of course, I'm happy, Hia. But today, I haven't seen your boyfriend yet." Morn hugged me tightly before I rode off on my motorbike back home.
"Oh, Hia, there's a phone from a Grade 3 senior, he asked to return it to your girlfriend."
"Hmm."
"I didn't even check it, you know." Morn whispered to me with his hand covering his mouth, "But I know the password, want to know it, Hia?"
Morn raised his eyebrows teasingly. I gave an awkward smile, feeling out of place, quickly put on a stern face, and changed the subject to homework, "Do you have any homework?"
"Nope."
"No homework means you're washing dishes, dude."
"Ugh, okay, I have math homework, three pages, Hia, come help me with it."
"Yeah. Do you know how to recover deleted files?"
"Why, Hia? Did you delete something important? Hia, when you drive past your boyfriend’s dorm, return the phone."
"I've already driven past. Maybe next time."
"What are we eating when you get home, Hia?"
"The usual place."
"The hard-boiled egg place again?"
"Yeah, damn it."
"Hard-boiled eggs. They aren't hard at all, Hia."
Back home, Morn rushed to do his math homework. I sat playing on the computer, aimlessly thinking about Tee.
Then I remembered there was a video on my phone of him sleeping in the cinema, so I picked it up to watch.
Click, free. I let out a sad smile.
I watched him sleep, his head on my shoulder, rolling over a hundred times, until...
Ring!!! Ring!!!
Someone was calling.
I saw the name saved on the phone, "Aunt-Chod Hard-Boiled Egg."
Aunt-Chod is the lady who sells made-to-order food in the row of shops next to my house. She loves to pre-fry eggs, so when someone orders, she can serve them right away. That's why her eggs are hard, hence the name.
Strange she's calling. I quickly answered.
"Hey, Little Mork!!! If you're hungry, you use everyone else, huh? The other day you used Morn to come order, yesterday your dad, today a handsome guy. Why are you so lazy? Why not come and order yourself? My daughter wants to see your face so badly she's about to lose it."
"Huh?? What, who did I send to order?"
"Today I have a lot of customers, come pick it up yourself, or you'll have to wait another lifetime. If you want me to deliver it."
"Who ordered what, Auntie?"
Tut, tut, tutt, Aunt-Chod, hang up quickly.
I hurriedly walked out to the front of the shop.
"Did Muad order food?"
"Not yet. Even if I were to order, get me a bowl of spicy noodles today, with thin noodles, make it really spicy."
I nodded disinterestedly at my dad and walked out to the front of the house, just a step or two more and I reached Auntie Chod's made-to-order food shop.
"Here it is, your friend told me to tell you, your shrimp basil with fried egg, and two bags of noodles for your brother and Muad."
I stretched my neck to look outside the shop, saw a familiar shadowy figure in the distance walking away holding soup bags; he must have ordered noodles to eat. Not bored of it, huh, ate it at noon too. I stood there smiling broadly.
"How much, Auntie?"
"He already paid for you. What are you still smiling about, go on, before my daughter comes out to bother you again." Aunt-Chod waved her hand dismissively.
"Oh, Auntie, do you make good pink noodle soup?"
"Why, whether it's good or not, what's it to you?"
"Would my friend be able to eat it?"
"What pink noodle soup of yours? Your friend ordered chicken basil, what's with the pink noodle soup? Don't ask if it's tasty or not, everything in my shop is edible, just eat it." Aunt-Chod delivered it in sets.
"Oh, so that's not someone carrying soup bags, I thought it was pink noodle soup, he ordered basil, that's funny, haha." I laughed and turned to look at him walking away again, his figure getting smaller before disappearing into the darkness, probably wanting to try basil, "If he tries, he might like it." I thought of his words and smiled dreamily, speaking softly to myself.
"Thinking of trying it?"
"Yeah, he ordered basil, there you go. Shit…Now it's your turn to be unlucky." Aunt-Chod finished speaking, and her daughter Ning walked out.
"Ohhh. Phii Mork, did you come to see me? I am so embarrassed."
Ning, in very short home clothes, thankfully with an apron, ran out from the shop, came to cling to my arm and secretly touched my chest.
I quickly dodged because it tickled, and pretended to look startled at Ning's chest, "Haven't seen you in so long, your chest has grown a lot." I teased Ning and Aunt-Chod gave me a glare. I had to stop looking, "A wrong pause can change a life."
Ning hit my arm, "No need to compliment, Phii Mork. I don't like you anymore. I like your friend better, oh, that white bear, looks so delicious!"
Aunt-Chod smacked the ladle, "Oh my, this girl, speaking without shame. Where should I hide my face?" She was about to hit Ning but had to serve the rice instead.
"Hey, Ning." I called her and muttered to her, "Did it look really delicious, huh? Then it's not wrong that I want to eat this, right?" referring to the lunchbox I was holding.
"What's that, Phii Mork?" Ning said as she ran over, lifting a comb to fix her hair, super sassy but she's nice, fair-skinned, plump, and cute like a Japanese AV star, hehe.
"Do you know Bambi, from your school?" I asked as Ning turned back, "Which Bambi? There are many Bambi. The one with heavy makeup, or Khun Bambi who rides horses?"
"The Bambi who is a drum major."
"Khun Bambi, why, Phii Mork? Are you interested in here?Do you want me to help, you need to take a photo. When she kisses your cheek, oh!" Ning's voice was piercingly high-pitched.
"Shh, speak softer, will you? Look, I'll go get something from inside first, I feel so embarrassed I have to hide." Aunt-Chod said and quickly ducked into the shop, not helping me at all as I was being harassed by Ning until I was quite aroused.
"Are you in the same class with her? Ning, right, Grade 4?"
"Grade 4, yeah, acting like you forgot, same class, but she's one of those front-row kids, she rides horses too, you know, Phii. Some days she swims, pretty but brainless every day, really rich, owns the market right here, so chic."
"I want to meet her. Can you help set up a chat?"
"Are you crazy, Phii Mork? I've never even talked to her.”
"Really? But you're in the same class, right?" I nudged Ning playfully with my shoulder.
“I know this though, every Sunday morning she goes swimming. Then, her mother who is from a noble family comes to collect rent at the market. I see her regularly because I have to buy stuff for mom every morning."
"Will you go tomorrow, Ning?" I asked eagerly.
"Sure, from six o'clock. Phii Mork, you'll help me carry things, right? Oh!"
"I'll go too."
"There's one condition though, dress sexy, show some muscle, okay Phii Mork? I want to see… oh, I'm shy now, just a little pinch here and there, just to taste the neck, and I am happy."
"Daughter, you are getting too wild now." Aunt-Chod ran over pretending to hit Nng a couple of times, then pinched her hard.
"Ouch, what's that for, mom? Phii Mork is gay, you don't know anything, he doesn't think anything of me, right, Phii?"
"Hey, Moo, you know your son is gay, why didn't I know that?" Aunt yelled to my dad.
"Keep it down, Aunt. He's not at all." I whispered in shock, blinking rapidly.
"Everyone knows, I even liked the video where you announced it at school, holding hands with your boyfriend. When you asked if he would be your boyfriend. Oh my, so sweet, there are several clips, probably from different cameras. Now it's a big hit. All over YouTube!"
"Really? All over YouTube?"
"Yes, Phii, it's shared on Facebook too, and Twitter, known all over town. The handsome of my crush, but actually, being gay is cool, Phii. The more I know you're gay, the more I like to tease, it's fun to tease a gay guy, teasing straight guys is actually exciting. So, it's kinda tough, oh well."
I quickly grabbed the bag of rice, the condiments Aunt-Chod had prepared in bags, and walked back home.
So, am I really? I asked myself silently.
"Muad, cook it yourself, here's a full bag of chili for you." I told my dad, before going to get bowls from the back of the house for the noodles.
"Why didn't you let Aunt-Chod put it in the shop's bowls, huh? Wash them too, don't let the dishes get moldy again, you this kid."
"Hey, Morn, did you hear what Muad said, huh?" I went to get bowls and cutlery, unpacking them for MuadMoo.
Come to think of it, he's pretty clever, maybe he knew how to please my dad by wanting noodles. Nah, probably because when he ordered, Aunt-Chod was cooking, and the smell wafted into the shop. MuadMoo smelled it and wanted some too.
I served the noodles in bowls, oddly enough, I saved the basil fried rice for Morn and chose to eat noodles instead. Have I really changed?
"What made you want to eat noodles?"
I just smiled without answering MuadMoo, called Morn to eat, "Morn, come eat."
"Just a sec, Hia, I'm recovering a file for you." My brother said, looking stressed at the computer.
"Hia!!! Wow!!! Why are you like this, HiaMork?" Morn tapped the keyboard excitedly.
I was shocked!!!
"What now?!" MuadMoo was annoyed.
"Recovered it, Hia, there is nothing but pictures of your boyfriend, wow!!!" Morn teased me loudly. I ran to him as fast as I could, fearing my brother and dad would see the photos I took today.
"Wow, Mork has a girlfriend now, huh? Yahoo!!! Let's set off fireworks and celebrate in the alley!!!" MuadMoo said. [1] The word faen is gender neutral meaning MuadMoo was confused thinking its a girlfriend when Morn meant a boyfriend
"It's been several days, Muad, boo-hoo." Morn said as I covered his mouth.
"Is she pretty or what? She better be prettier than your mom, son. Choose wisely when you get a wife. If you slip up, you won't be able to back out. Oh, and make sure she's strong too, so she doesn't end up like mine, dying early. Just talking about it makes me sad." MuadMoo sighed after speaking.
"Oh, Muad, these days they don't choose based on beauty, they choose based on wealth." My dad's customer added.
"Don't tell dad, okay?" I whispered sternly to my little brother, "If you tell, I'll pinch your balls. For sure."
Morn was trembling with fear, quickly nodding to accept my deal.
"Dad, Hia’s girlfriend." I pinched his balls, "Ouch!!! She's got muscles!"
Chapter 18: Bambi
"Dad, Hia's girlfriend." I pinched his balls, "Ouch!!! She's got muscles!"
"Don't tell dad, okay?" I whispered sternly to my little brother, "If you tell, I'll pinch your balls for sure."
Morn, scared stiff, nodded quickly to accept my deal.
"Dad, Hia's girlfriend." I pinched his balls, "Ouch!!! She's got muscles!"
"I'll do it for real." I covered Morn's mouth and threatened softly, "No dinner for you. Go upstairs and study."
"What's going on?" MuadMoo turned around, puzzled.
"Hold on." I gave a sly smile, "Give me his phone's passcode. Otherwise, more ball-pinching." I handed Tee's phone to my brother to unlock it.
Morn, looking dejected, entered the passcode and then quickly ran upstairs away from me.
MuadMoo looked at me with concern.
"Here you go, Muad, my girlfriend is both beautiful and rich, and strong like this." I flexed my arm muscles for dad to see. MuadMoo almost threw the clippers at me. I laughed, sat down, and looked at pictures on my computer. I quickly entered the password so no one else could see these photos, saved them to a file, and then transferred them to my iPad to watch on the shampoo bed behind the shop.
It was the first night I didn't need to watch porn.
…
I lay on the shampoo bed behind the shop, swiping through the iPad, zooming in on the photos of Tee in the marching band drum major's super tight outfit that I took today.
Nothing really. Just thinking about his face brings out my dark side, then there's his smile, and those tight pants of his.
I breathed out heavily, until finally...
Yeah...
I was about to climax, right when my dad walked in and interrupted, and I got a nosebleed!
"Are you jerking off again, Mork!!"
I quickly got up from the shampoo bed, not fast enough to cover my nose, hurriedly looking for a tissue.
"No, Muad, it's just a nosebleed."
In my mind, I kept wondering, what's happening to me?
Why are my emotions all over the place?
Why do I think this about him?
But in the end, I felt guilty for thinking that way about him.
I went up to my room, lay on my bed exhausted, before sleeping I read the messages on his phone that he sent to Bambi, realizing Tee isn't romantic at all, he seemed kind of sad, and they talked more about studies.
But this Bambi is pretty tough too. She didn't call him even once. It felt kind of strange.
Finally, I checked my own Facebook posts, switching to Tee's account which he hadn't logged out of on his phone. Smiling, seeing all the people teasing us both.
I looked through Tee's phone photos, from recent to old, including videos. From the announcement in the hallway, photos of me eating with him at the cafeteria, photos of me picking up Morn in front of the special class building, photos of me washing Tee's hair, photos of me, the motorcycle escaping on the day I cut Tee's hair unevenly.
When did he take these pictures of me? I never noticed.
There's more, selfies of Tee in his bedroom and bathroom mirror, Tee as marching band drum major, some solo, some with Bambi, eating ice cream together, several dogs at his home, his family's gold shop, photos with his grandma eating chestnuts, with his mom and a man, still looking young and fit, up to childhood photos of Tee with his mom and another older man, probably his real dad, and then I saw my childhood photo.
I can't describe how I feel.
I smiled with a bit of warmth.
I remember the moment when I announced myself in the school cafeteria and decided to watch that clip again, where a student filmed me. I watched it and smiled several times; my face looked so happy back then.
Suddenly, a LINE notification came from my phone. I picked up my phone, surprised to see Tee had sent me a message. I opened LINE to see what he sent, and there was a selfie of Tee, smiling cutely in his old, soft pajamas, looking very huggable. If I could hug him, that would be nice. He was lying on his bed, taking the selfie with his MacBook camera, using LINE on his computer to send it.
I smiled shyly, not responding, just hugging Morn beside me, feeling great.
"Phii Mork!!! It's almost eight o'clock, and you haven't opened the house yet. You won't make it in time to buy stuff for mom." a high-pitched voice woke me up.
I quickly got up from bed and went downstairs to open the front door immediately.
"Aargh!!!" Ning screamed loudly, making my eyes snap open.
"What?" I frowned in confusion, rubbing my eyes to look at her closely. "Phii Mork, your pants are bulging!"
"Hey!!!" I quickly covered my soccer shorts, realizing I came down in my sports shirt showing off my muscles and flimsy soccer shorts without underwear.
"Well, you woke me up so early. If I didn't rush to open the door, MuadMoo would have definitely scolded me to death."
"What do you mean early?" Ning pulled my arm, "Let's go, Phii Mork."
"What's going on? Let me change clothes first, and grab some money."
"No time, Phii. If we're any later, everything will be sold out, and mom will scold me to death." Ning handed me a helmet. I quickly got on her motorcycle, with her hopping on behind me to drive. She pinched my arm, squeezed my shoulder. I was so tickled that I couldn't drive straight.
A few minutes later, we arrived at the fresh market.
"Let's split up here, Phii. I am embarrassed. I don't dare walk with you; you're dressed beyond expectation."
"Really!" I was surprised by her words, then looked down at myself, "Oh, yeah." It's fine, though; it's still early. Everyone would understand.
"Five more minutes to eight. Phii Mork, try walking around, you'll probably find them. Bambi’s Mother is walking with her, she is easy to spot, Phii Mork. Bambi just came back from swimming, her hair is still wet like a mermaid, you know. I am thinking she's some kind of high society. No time to dry her hair? That's sexy as hell." Ning, with a flat expression, not pleased, hurried away from me. I pretended to browse for vegetables, even though I didn't have a single baht on me. I felt a loss of confidence in my revealing soccer outfit.
Some vendors averted their eyes when they saw me, some looked at me disdainfully, while others waved to their fellow vendors to come and see me, like I was some kind of freak. Maybe I'm overthinking. No one would know I'm not wearing underwear, unless they look.
"Khunying, today we have the fresh papaya you like, specially selected by me, helps with female hormones, keeps you young."
"And for you, miss, we have tomatoes too, they'll make your cheeks red, guaranteed."
"Bambi!!!" Oh, I found her. Bambi for real. I called out to her with all my might.
Everyone around was startled, all eyes on me.
"Who's that, dear?" Khunying looked surprised but kept her composure, Bambi looked utterly shocked seeing me.
"I'll be right back, Mom." She quickly walked away.
"Bambi! Wait!" I bowed to her mother before running after her, "Bambi, wait!!!" I tried calling her loudly, why does she have to walk away, run from me. I chased after her.
Everyone around stopped Ning, their eyes following the two of us running through the market.
"Bambi, why run? Stop, I want to talk. Bambi!" I kept calling, asking her to stop.
The outfit I wore made my body look unappealing when running, especially the flip-flops, making it even harder.
After running and shouting loudly, my body soon couldn't keep up, I slowed down, bent over, hands above my knees, panting heavily.
Maybe because I don't exercise much, or I'm getting old, getting tired easily, not fitting for a boy who looks strong like me.
"Hey, stop now. I don't even want to deal with this." I started to get annoyed, rushed after her again.
But this time, it felt like my shoes were about to come off. I ran past...
Black water was pooling on the market floor, splashing onto my arms and legs, making everything dirty. I felt terrible, like I was losing my balance, before...
"Damn!" I yelled loudly as I was about to fall to the ground, "Damn, fuck!" I tried to get up and reached for Ton, but it was just a peel, a banana peel. "Damn banana, what the hell..."
I felt numb all over, but as soon as I tried to stand up, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my ankle.
"Bambi." I called softly, sitting on the market floor.
She walked towards me, looking shocked. No, maybe more like angry.
"What did you just say?" She stood in front of me.
"Huh?" I made a confused face before trying to stand up.
She looked at me with utmost disgust.
"Who did you call a bitch?" She pushed my shoulder. What was happening?
"Huh? What, Bambi, who did I call?" I started to get annoyed. What was this about? I was here to help Bambi. If there was an issue, then… [1] WhenMork slipped he said Ai-hia this can be heard to mean you bitch and it also mean damnit or some sort of expletive
"You said my mom's a bitch, you bastard!" She spoke quietly but emphasized the last word, her face full of hatred.
I mumbled to myself, "Uh, a bit confused but not really understanding." Then tried to stand up, getting straight to the point, "The other day, I was pranking Tee. He didn't order gay porn, Bambi."
"So what?" Bambi quickly cut me off. I looked at her face; her eyes were saying, don't mess with me, "Just pranking back and forth. So, are you two together now?"
"It's not like that, Bambi."
"Then what is it, Phii Mork!" I jolted when she called my name. Bambi. She knew me. She knew my name was Mork.
"The other day, he tried calling you all night. If there's anything, try talking to him first---"
Bambi gave me a nasty sneer.
I looked at her, stunned.
She looked at me with a mix of annoyance and something else before telling me, "He is gay, Phii Mork."
"Huh?"
"I am just his friend, is that clear enough?"
I squealed.
"Huh?" I looked.
"And he really likes you too, Phii Mork."
"Huh!!??"