The Way to a Man's Heart

Chapter 3

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Khao's POV

"What the fuck, Pavs," I growled on the phone, upset that Pavel did the unthinkable to me, waking me up with a call, knowing that I would still be sleeping at this time.

"And a very happy morning to you, too," I heard him say cheerily, making me hate him even more.

"What's so important that it can't wait till the evening?" I asked grumpily.

"Didn't you read my text?" he countered.

"No," I said testily.

I heard him sigh loudly on the other end.

"I have just finished settling in my  new apartment. Well, technically it's not an apartment. It's just a studio but it was the only unit available and I needed to move in some place right away. This is good enough for me. It has a wooden divider that separates the bed area from the receiving area and the kitchen. There is a bathroom of course. All in all I find it comfortable and cozy. Wanna come and see it right now?" I heard him gasping for air after he ended his long narration.

"No," I replied.

"No? Just no?" his voice sounded hurt.

"I mean, for fuck's sake, I just woke up! I mean I really should still be sleeping right now if you had not woken me up," I still resented the fact that he was depriving me of much needed sleep right now.

"I'm sorry, Khao," I heard him say. "I thought that you would be as excited as I am over my new dwelling."

"Give me until evening," I conceded. "I promise I would be more than happy to visit it."

"Fine," he said, sighing loudly again. "In the meantime I'm gonna head out to explore the neighborhood, find out where the mall, supermarket, and other important establishments are situated. I'm gonna look for some fast food place to get me some brunch and then I'm gonna go shopping for ingredients to cook you some dinner tonight."

"Like you know how to cook," I snorted into my phone. "The last time you tried cooking for me at my place you almost burned it down."

"You will never let me live that down, will you?" he said, the resentment very noticeable in his voice.

"No, sorry, not sorry," I said but let out a chuckle to soften what I just said.

"Okay, then, give me a call whenever you're ready to see my place," he said.

"Aren't you coming to pick me up?" I whined.

"Fine, you spoiled brat," I heard him say before he cut the call. 

I made a face at my phone screen before closing my eyes. I tried to go back to sleep but after several tosses and turns, I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

I was just stepping out of my bathroom, running a towel across my wet hair when I heard my phone ringing. The ring tone told me that it wasn't Pavel.

I swiped on my phone screen.

"Yes, P'Podd," I greeted my caller.

"Sweetheart!" I heard him say, the happiness and excitement very much evident in his voice. "I was afraid you would still be asleep at this time because it's a Saturday. Have you had any breakfast yet, or should I say brunch?"

"No," I replied. "Actually I just woke up."

"Stay where you are," he instructed. "I'm coming to pick you up. Let's have brunch at that newly opened coffee shop close to your building."

"Are you sure you're not suffering from a hangover?" I asked, remembering how last night, or early this morning, I had to drive him to his place after our Friday night party with our office mates. P'Podd was the manager of the business office of the company where we both worked. I worked in a different department, the human resources department, so there was no conflict involved if ever we got into a romantic relationship.

I wouldn't say though that we were in an official relationship. We just partied with our co-workers on Friday nights. On other evenings, he would treat me out to dinner every now and then, on the evenings that I wasn't with Pavel.

Neither one of them expressed any feelings for me although I could sense that both of them were interested in me romantically. I was unsure as to who I would choose if ever any of them asked me to be their boyfriend.

I met Pavel first before I met P'Podd. I knew him close to a year before I got hired as the assistant to the Human Resources manager in the company where I currently worked.

I was at the end of the line for my lunch break at the company cafeteria on my first day of work, unaware that P'Podd had walked up behind me to wait for his turn at the cafeteria counter.

I had picked up a lunch tray and had placed a plate on it together with a small bowl and a set of utensils wrapped in a cloth napkin. I had piled my plate with chicken pineapple fried rice with pieces of sliced cucumbers and then I had added strips of teriyaki beef on top of it. I then ladled some tom yum soup into my bowl before picking up an eight ounce bottle of strawberry kiwi juice from a bed of ice.

I walked up to the cashier at the end of the cafeteria counter and dug for my wallet inside my pocket. My wallet was not there. I dug into my other pocket. I felt my neck starting to get warm when I realized that I had left my wallet either in my car or in my apartment.

I started to stammer my apologies to the cashier.

"Is ... is ... is it okay if ... if I leave my tray with you while I ran for my wallet in my c... car?" I asked, beads of perspiration starting to form on the sides of my forehead.

"There's no need for you to do that," I heard a voice behind me.

And that was how I first met and fell in love with P'Podd. Wait, did I just say 'fell in love'?

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

For those who might not know him, his name is Podd Suphakorn, the actor who played the role of Sun in Dark Blue Kiss, and the role of Tonhon opposite Khao in the BL series "Tonhon Chonlatee"

Knowing that P'Podd lived not too far from my place, I said to him, "Don't come here right away. Gimme something like fifteen minutes."

"Okay," I heard him say. "Be ready in fifteen minutes."

I have to hand it to P'Podd. He is a past master at punctuality. He buzzed at my front door in exactly fifteen minutes.

"You smell good," he said, sniffing at my barely dried hair. I didn't have enough time to blow dry it to perfection.

The newly opened coffee shop that he took me to was small and cozy. It was teeming with customers. It smelled of freshly brewed coffee of all kinds of flavors.

P'Podd and I stood behind a long line of customers waiting to give their orders.

I was busy reading the choices of pastries to go with my coffee when I felt a slight tap on my shoulders.

I turned around.

"I thought you said you wanted to sleep till evening," Pavel said, his face dark with resentment and hurt and disappointment.