CHAPTER 24 : INQUIRED

So…we end up at this place anyway. I settle in my seat before I take a look around the fancy restaurant. This place is near Ekamai Road, which is where my house is. I heard from Yuri so many times that she wanted to eat here, but we never had a chance to (since this restaurant only opens at night). She finally gets a what she wanted this time around since she was the one who picked this place. She even ordered the food by herself. But I’m confused, not because of where I am (since I live around here), but because I’m not sure how I agreed to come with her exactly.

I furrow my brows as I look around the restaurant which is decorated with a bunch of fish tanks. They fit very well with the theme and the name of the restaurant, which is all about being in a giant fish tank. This place is famous for how it is decorated and also for their delicious food. I’ve been here many times with my friends (whenever I had the money) or sometimes it’d be Pa bringing me here. However, aside from the huge fish that are swimming around me, there’s Yuri and…

Phun and Aim sitting across from us. -_-”

“I’m totally glad that Phun and Noh are close. If I had known this earlier, then we could’ve gone on double dates ages ago. Right, Aim?~” Yuri’s cheery voice is blasting away next to me. Aim smiles in return. I feel really uncomfortable having to listen to what she is saying. I don’t know how Phun is feeling, but I find this strangely difficult to swallow.

At any rate, a lot of you are probably wondering how I ended up here with Yuri, Aim and Phun. Actually, I did nothing at all. Yuri kept pressuring me into joining her for dinner. And no matter how I tried to turn her down, I was dragged along to do whatever she wanted to anyway. She assumed that I definitely wanted to have dinner with her somehow. (Really?!) Things ended the way they tend to do when it comes to Yuri. I am always the victim of Yuri’s own assumption. Every single time!

At first, I thought it was just going to be the two of us. We were just going to take it easy then go home separately. But it didn’t turn out like I originally thought because after Yuri decided on her own that I’d be joining her, (listen to how much sense that made) she immediately called Aim, which meant that my life was over…since Phun’d be coming along too.

We both gave up and let fate decided on how our lives will turn out after we realized that we became the victims of these two ladies. We walked back to change our clothes at the area were the cheerleaders were changing. But it was different this time around because there were a ton of people since the event has ended. I thought the place was going to collapse from all the shrieking coming from the Angels Gang by the time Phun and I mustered enough courage to take off our pants. This really did not help with my self-esteem issues. I thought I wasn’t going to make it out there alive. (Especially Phun) -_-”

Not to mention that Phun was being a total smartass to me. At first, I was confused since I thought he was going to wear the jumpsuit to dinner (since I needed my jeans back). However, that didn’t turn out to be the case because he brought an extra pair of jeans with him from the start. That fucking ##########!

He wore my jeans the entire day. It reeks of sweat. ########## him.

But it’s okay. You readers don’t need to worry that I was taken advantage off. I got him back by stomping all over his jeans for revenge.

Anyway, back to the studio. I was lost in my thoughts for a little while when those two ladies already finished ordering the food. Neither Phun nor I had to waste any time and give our opinions. Looking back, it wasn’t so bad. We’re the type that can eat anything anyway, as long as they’re food meant for human consumption.

“I ordered the Schweinshaxe since it’s your favorite, Noh,” Yuri turns to tell me with a smile. I smile back in return, although I’m a little confused. Um, since when is that my favorite?

“Thank you.” Whatever, I guess it is now. -_-” I mean, I don’t dislike it or anything. Heh heh.

“Well, I ordered your favorite fried chicken too, Phun. I know you so well, don’t I?” There they go again, why do these two girls insist on trying to one up each other? There are only so many ways Phun and I can give you a wry smile, you know.

I glance at Phun who has a wry smile on his face (the very same one as mine) before he glances back at me and replies to Aim. “Right, thank you very much.”

My brows are coiled like a knot. Why the hell are you acting so ########## timid anyway? I got nothing to do with this mess. While I was lost in my own thoughts (about why he’s even paying any attention to me) a bunch of appetizers begin to arrive at our table which means that I’m completely distracted now.

They look so yummy! I’ve forgotten about everything else!

“This one, this one, Noh!” Yuri quickly uses a pair of utensils to grab some of the roasted ham hock for me right away. Aim refuses to give in either as she puts a piece of salmon in fish sauce on Phun’s plate. Hey, I kinda wanna some of that salmon too, ya know!

I decide to get my gluttony under control and behave like how a gentleman should instead, “Oh, here you go.” All I did was placing a piece of fried calamari on Yuri’s plate. This puts her in a beyond elated mood as she quickly lifts her plate to show this off to Aim. ^^” There’s no stopping these two. I can’t help but let out a soft chuckle.

Aim keeps her head down a bit since Phun is still too busy pouring everyone a glass of water so he can’t spoon any of the dishes on her plate. I notice that she is tugging on Phun’s shirt with her tiny hands rather roughly. “Aw, Phun…you’re not gonna get me any food?” Good luck, man. Heh heh.

Phun turns around with a puzzled look on his face which causes me to let out a small chuckle. He spoons some of the deep fried cheese for Aim, “Here you go. I’m sorry, I was busy with getting a glass of water for everyone.” It doesn’t seem like she is satisfied with this at all.

I furrow my brows curiously because it seems Aim is even more upset now. However, Phun seems to be oblivious of this since he is now sharing some of the salmon from his plate to mine. “There ya go, give me some of that ham hock? Let’s trade.” This jerk is starting to act presumptuous like Yuri now too.

“Real funny. When did I agree to that exactly? But thanks for the salmon, I actually wanted some,” I tell him as I stab a piece of it with a fork and put it in my mouth. I’m not letting Phun steal my ham hock. He’s making noises as a protest. Heh heh. Idiot.

“If ya eat that entire thing by yourself, the salmon and the pork are gonna have a fucking battle in your esophagus. Then boom!”

“They’re gonna turn into Koko Krunch or something? You’re seriously out of your mind. My esophagus isn’t a fucking wheat field. Here, just take these if you want them that badly,” I can’t help but tell him off after he made such a stupid joke (which is something I hear every Saturday and Sunday morning during the cartoon block on channel 9) before I finally agree to share a tiny bit the Schweinshaxe with him, despite the fact that he gave me half of his salmon. Haha, I’m not taking too much advantage of him, am I?

At last, this is turning into a war of who can eat what between us. Our utensils become weapons as we try to snatch food from one another’s plate. We’re causing such a loud ruckus for a while before one of us notice something isn’t right.

Phun notices it before I did. He immediately stops fighting with me and turns his attention Aim right away, “Is everything alright, Aim? You’re being real quiet? Hm?”

I see that Aim is frowning so I decide to dial down my rowdiness a bit. I didn’t forget to check if Yuri is upset as well, (just in case being upset is a contagious disease) but she’s still smiling brightly. It seems she enjoyed the battle between Phun and I from earlier.

“Why did you give me this deep fried cheese…? Did you forget that I’m on a diet?” Holy ##########, everyone. This is a family matter now, I don’t want any part of this. I quickly grab my glass of water to take a drink and pretend like I can’t hear their conversation.

“Oh…I’m sorry.” Those two are trying to patch things up. Phun serves her a bunch of other things onto Aim’s plate. I watch as he grabs a brightly colored plate with a salad. “Look, the rocket salad is yours, right? I remember, see?” Oh, he’s pretty good at this stuff. I actually have no idea what Yuri ordered but then she grabbed the bacon and shrimp spaghetti. I’m glad this one doesn’t get upset so easily. I like that.

After having to listen to Phun try and make things up to Aim for a long while, (it took him ages since Aim was upset with him for a long ########## while) Aim finally cracked a smile since Phun kept giving her the seafood glass noodles salad to please her the entire time.

I can only stare at whatever that is going on across from me, unable to explain to myself what this feeling means. The utensils in my hands feel heavy. They’re so heavy that I can’t help but simply push the food on my plate around rather than eating them.

“Noh…Noh…Noh……Noh!” Huh?! I flinch real hard when Yuri startles me by shaking my body. Where the heck did my mind wander off to? I’m still holding a fork and spoon in my hands. How embarrassing. I shake my head to get rid of those weird thoughts before I turn my attention to the person who was calling my name, “Yes? What is it?”

“Where’d your mind wander off to? Are you sad about the ham hock? I can order you some more.”

“No, no. It’s not that. I’m not that much of a glutton,” I quickly turn her down as she giggles at me. Then, Yuri puts her utensils down and reach over to get Aim’s attention.

“Hey, hey. Bring it up already? I’m still waiting.” Phun and I stare at the two girls in confusion after hearing Yuri saying something rather strange. We have no idea what they’re up to.

Aim hesitates a bit before she taps on Phun’s shoulder even though he is already looking at her, “What’s up?”

“Phun, are you free next week?” Phun seems a bit befuddled but he grabs his phone to check his schedule anyway.

Yuri follows suit, “Noh, check yours too! Check yours too!” She smiles as she pleads with me. However, do I look like someone who bothers making schedules for himself let alone putting them in my phone? (I use a method called Reminder via Memory…and this is why I forget things often.) But from what I can recall, I don’t think I’ll be busy.

Phun continues fussing with his phone for a couple of minutes before he looks up and answers, “I’m free. Is there some place you want to go?” Aim grins widely when she hears his answer. Yuri is nudging me with her shoulder, “What about you, Noh?”

“I think I’m free. What’s going on?” Why are they keeping hush on this? I’m dying to know!

Even though I asked the question, I’m unsure whether I’d like to find out the answer when I see Yuri and Aim breaking out into a weird smile. I swallow a bit since I can sense that these two are up to something and it can’t be good. They’re also giving us weird looks too. So what the hell is going on here?!

“Aim won that thing.” Yuri is the first to speak before she taps on Aim’s hand so she can show what “that thing” is. Speaking of “that thing,” what the hell is it exactly? Guys have dirty minds, ya know!

Before my mind gets a chance to think naughty thoughts, I get my answer when I see a white card in front of me.

It’s a gift voucher. Although, I’m still trying to figure out what kind of a gift voucher this is. Yuri probably notices that I’m being real slow so she continues speaking, “Aim got the gift voucher from Serenade. It’s a resort in Hua Hin. The voucher is for two rooms too! Let’s go together? Please? Please? Please? Please?” At this point, my arm is a bamboo tree and there’s a koala hanging on to it.

So what now? I glance at Phun, who is giving me an odd look. It’s probably the same look that I’m giving to him right now too, because I feel it’s awkward for the four of us to be going on a trip together like this.

“What do you say, Noh? Let’s go then!” There Yuri goes again. This disease of hers is getting out of hand. Meanwhile, Aim is giving Phun a sweet smile, “Let’s go together, Phun?”

No guy in this world can decline in this situation.

***

After I am completely stuffed (girls these days sure love to compete on who can take care of their boyfriend better) and paid the bill which came to a 4-digit total, we walked the girls to catch a cab. I remembered to choose the light blue one since they have GPS (so they said in the advertisements) and took the photos of the license number on my phone too. (Better safe than sorry, it was getting pretty late.)

Why didn’t we drop them off in person…? Well, that’s because we still have somewhere else to be.

“U-Wo-U-Wo-Oh.

I wasn’t thinking of anything.

You’re cute so I came to introduce myself.”

My iPhone yells loudly (I had just changed the ringtone when we were working at the stadium. Nong Paeng sent it to be via bluetooth) just as the light blue taxi is leaving. I quickly grab a hold of it and look at the screen only to see Om’s fucked up face.

“What?”

“DID YOU DITCH YOUR MOM YET?!” What in the holy hell is he shouting for?! I flinch so hard that it makes Phun laugh. (How embarrassing.) Don’t think that I’ll just give him a nice answer, I need to yell at his stupid ########## first.

“The ########## are you shouting for?! Where are you?! It’s fucking loud!!

“At the restaurant! Everyone is already here except you and your dad!” What the hell is up with this ##########? First a mom, now a dad.

“Yeah, yeah. Dad and I are on our way. I just sent Mom home. Be sure to come shine our shoes in front of the place when we get there. We’ll be there in 20. See ya!” I hang up right away since it was getting too loud. There was music (we’re not meeting at a club, it’s a restaurant that has a live band) and there were also our friends making a bunch of noises too. I’m a million percent sure that all of us are crashing that restaurant.

“So which restaurant is it?” Phun asks me as he hails a cab for us. I open the door and get in before telling the cab driver, “Lumphini Park, please.“

It didn’t take us very long to arrive where our friends planned to meet up. Actually, I didn’t need to be told where it is since we come here often just to chill. I don’t really know why we pick this place either. But I know that anywhere is great as long as my friends are there.

Phun and I get out of the cab and make our way to the area where our friends are hanging out together. I hear loud welcoming noises coming from them. It was kind of like when a dog howls and then the rest of the pack follows suit. (Oh, ##########.) Jeez, did the entire school show up here? This zone is filled with my classmates. There are about 40-50 people here.

“The new couple’s here! Woo!~” Fucking Om makes a catcall towards us like someone who’s drunk, (which he probably is) then he makes everyone else do the same. I feel like grabbing my head and just go home at this point. However, Phun just smiles before he pulls me in with his arm around my shoulders.

What the ########## kind of a joke is he trying to play?! Lumphini Park is going to explode because of these booming noises coming from these guys. -_-”

“Yo, Phun! Quit playing around! Noh, come have a seat!” Thank you God, for making Earn say something and saved my life. He shouts an invitation for me to sit next to him. Phun’s own group of friends call out to him so he can join them at a different table as well.

I settle in on an empty chair that they saved for me. There are a ton of juniors sitting around here. The ones that helped out during the soccer event, the cheerleaders, the troops, the parade members, stand members, marching band members and the likes. Even the ones who didn’t help out are here to celebrate too. I don’t really mind though, we’re all friends here. ^___^

But the most surprising thing has to be…

Golf!

Golf’s here too!

Golf is one of my best friends. (He used to be in the band too, but only for a short while. He was too lazy to show up for practice so he quit. What an ##########.) He’s a pretty good guy. He loves to have fun and he loves his friends. (His friends love him too.) He usually goes with the flow. The downside is that he’s pretty hot-headed and reckless. He’s not very cautious either. Plus, he has that obnoxious look to him so he gets picked on by the seniors and students from other schools often and they’d get into a fist fight. (And dragged me along and got me trouble too plenty of times.) Just last year, he got into a fight with someone who happens to be nephews of the school’s headmaster. Unfortunately, Golf got expelled over that. (We hated the headmaster so much back then. I still do, actually.)

Even so, we still keep in touch. We’d hang out at random places or sometimes he’d come over to my house. We talk on the phone often too. However, we haven’t seen each other lately (it started when I got busy with the soccer tournament) until tonight.

“How are you doing, man?! You disappeared on me!” I smack his back loudly as a greeting.

“I’m good. My new school has a bunch of cute mixed-race girls so I’m pretty happy about that,” he boasts immediately. Of course, you only had to deal with guys when you were at my school. I’m jealous. Golf transferred to an international academy near Sukhumvit.

“I want one. Can you find one for me?” That perverted line didn’t come from me but it can’t be anyone else other than Om. He pokes his head in close, I can smell the stink of booze coming from him.

“There are some, but girls have standards, ya know.”

“ ##########!” Well, Golf isn’t exactly wrong about that. I find Om’s facial expression really funny. He’s kind of purple and red, completely wasted. (Om’s skin tone is on the darker side. He’s not very dark, just a little tan.)

Om’s not only the horny dude around here, there are more of that nearby. “I don’t want a white girl though. Can I get a Japanese girl? Like Noh’s nong Yuri? Can you find me one?” ########## Film. You’re crossing the line now. I smack him in the head. “Ow, what the ##########?! You know, you should just give nong Yuri to me. Rumor has it that you don’t exactly wanna be with her anyway. You should just keep Phun since he’s your new husband.” These fucking assholes, I swear. Talking ########## is either a virus spread through air. Or is it like a sexual transmitted disease? Shouldn’t the Ministry of Public Health take care of this stuff?

“U-Wo-U-Wo-Oh.

I wasn’t thinking of anything.

You’re cute so I came to introduce myself.”

I don’t get a chance to yell at anybody since Yuri is calling me. I suppose she wants to let me know that she made it home safely. I answer the call while pointing at Film’s face as a warning. He makes a mocking face back at me which only makes me wanna kick his ########## even more.

I leave the table so I can speak to her outside since I don’t want to disturb her with the loud noises. Yuri called to let me know that she made it home and that I shouldn’t drink too much. She also asked me to text her once I get myself home too. Ah, it’s okay. It’s better to have someone looking out for you than having no one at all, that’s what I choose to tell myself.

I was on the phone with Yuri for a while before I noticed that Golf followed me outside. He’s giving me strange looks as if he wants to talk to me something.

My guts are telling me that he isn’t out here for a smoke break so I decide to end the call with Yuri, “I gotta go, okay? I’ll text you when I get home. Yes, yes. Bye.”

Golf hands me a cigarette right away once I’m off the phone. However, I don’t smoke since I’m afraid that my lips won’t stay pink. That was a joke. Please don’t believe everything I say. The truth is that I don’t really know how to smoke cigarettes and my parents would yell at me until my ears go numb if they find out.

“No, thanks. Is there something wrong, Golf?” I know that I have never seen him look this concerned before.

“So you’ve been hanging out with Phun lately?” Ugh…I really hate this question. I would’ve started cursing at them if this were anyone else, but Golf has such a serious look on his face.

“Yeah, a little. Seriously, you okay?” I only grow more curious when I notice his hesitations. He still won’t tell me so I want to know what it is even more, “Man, just tell me if there’s something wrong.” Come on!

“Is he…I mean, Phun. Is he still with his girlfriend?”