When Tay got up the next morning, he decided to immerse himself in work entirely and nothing else, like he has always done. He thought that at least that way, his mind will be occupied with more worthwhile things to think about rather than dwell on the unwanted events that took place last week. He wanted nothing more than to forget about all of it so he threw himself into whatever it was that needed to be done at the office at the expanse of tiring himself so much that when he came home, he'd be too exhausted to do anything more than sleep and when the next day came the cycle repeats itself.
Tay was particularly grouchy that week, short-tempered at meetings making everyone nervous, hyper-critical of anything submitted to him by his employees more so than necessary, even his aura when just about doing something such as simply walking through the halls was far too threatening for others that they tried stirring clear of his path as much as possible. Even Trish, Tay's secretary, was a bit perturbed by her boss's sudden change in attitude. She sensed it upon his return after his weekend trip, which she knew her boss was looking forward to, but what she thought would be a more cheerful Tay Tawan after said trip was nowhere in sight, instead is replaced by a crabby Mr. Tawan Vihokratana spreading fear wherever he goes. She dare not ask him what caused her boss's sour mood and didn't even try to go for their usual rounds of banters while working but instead just kept things professional.
Tay's friends also tried calling and messaging him several days after, probably trying to check up on him but he avoided answering back to any of them, using work as an excuse but was actually just trying to avoid talking to them altogether because he knew they'd ask questions and he didn't have the energy nor desire to talk about what happened that weekend.
It was on a Thursday afternoon when Off barged into Tay's office, two tall cups of coffee and a box of donuts in hand. Tay was busily typing away on his laptop, not even acknowledging his friend's arrival. He thought that maybe if he ignored Off long enough then he'd just up and leave Tay alone.
"Hello my friend. Miss me? Don't worry for I have come bearing gifts" Off said with a thundering voice and a big smile on his face, oblivious to Tay's scowling one, as he entered the office comically. Off handed them their respective coffees – strong hot black coffee for Tay and a sweet iced Americano for Off. He then plopped himself down on the coach, feet up and arms stretched on the couch's back rest, while he set the food that he brought down at the table. Undeterred by his friend's glares from behind his desk, Off merely sipped on his cold drink and took a bite of the delicious snack in front of him.
"What do you want now?" Tay asked while he continued to work on his laptop, his tone a bit annoyed at having been disrupted like this.
"Well I don't know. Seeing as I went all the way here to see you, then probably some of your time maybe?" Off replied sarcastically.
On any other day he might've been more forthcoming to his friend as this was a usual thing for them, Off coming to his office once in a while to just hang or talk about things, sometimes with the lads as well, spending the rest of the afternoon by themselves . But today, it seems that Tay has almost zero patience to spare for his friend who has come unannounced and seems to want some attention.
"I'm busy, Off. I don't have time for this so whatever it is that you came to say then just say it." Tay's fingers typed heavily on the keys so as to emphasize his growing annoyance at the moment.
"Gosh you and your temper. Is this how you've been treating your people here lately? Yikes pal. No wonder people are avoiding coming here to you like a plague. Even Trish out front was a bit hesitant when I passed by her earlier with her coffee." he said while continuing on munching the donuts that he brought, licking some of the jelly filling from his fingers. "Continue down this path and you'd hear nasty nicknames about you–"
With an exasperated sigh, Tay closed his laptop and massaged his temples. "Just get to the point, will you?"
Off drank a bit of his drink, wiped off some of the powder smeared around his mouth, and turned to his friend. "Okay fine you grumpus. Go out tonight with us for some drinks."
"What?" Tay asked feeling a bit lost.
"Going deaf are we Mr. Tawan? I said we are going out tonight." Off repeated. Off stood and perched himself on the seat next to Tay's desk. "Bright wanted to get some drinks to celebrate the release of his new album so this one's on him" he continued while quirking his eyebrows with a grin.
"I can't go. I still need to work on this presentation for a potential client." Tay reasoned.
"Will you lighten up some Tay? Seriously man. Just come and let some steam off with us tonight. You clearly need one. Know what? Keep this up and you'd burn yourself right out." Off insisted.
Tay thought about it for a while longer. Maybe it would really do him some good to go out with the guys. He has been pretty stressed and high strung lately and maybe some time to destress might help improve his mood a bit.
"Alright fine. Just send me the details of when and where to meet up." Tay yielded.
Off stayed for a while in Tay's office that afternoon, trying to catch up with his friend to which Tay also indulged. But soon Off left to go home and change and left Tay to continue with his work.
Deciding that he was also done for the day, Tay looked at his watch and saw that it was 7:30pm. Checking Off's text, he decided he would go straight to the club from his office since they were supposed to be there by 8:00pm and he was running late as it is. He deemed that his clothes were presentable enough that he need not go home and change for the occasion so he fixed his things and went to meet his friends.
When Tay arrived in front of the club, he handed the valet the keys to his car and proceeded inside to look for his friends. They were all already there and, by the looks of it, were probably on their 2nd drink already. They all greeted Tay upon seeing him. Bright quickly offered a bottle of beer to Tay and patted the space next to him to which Tay responded with a grateful smile.
The night was young and the boys were all just happy to catch up with each other. Gun sat at the corner of their table, drinking to himself but was still trying to converse with the others every once in a while. Off would sneak quick glances at Gun to check on him, trying not to be too obvious. One story erupted and then another followed and soon, the table was filled with laughter and good vibes. Tay smiled while sipping his drink, feeling absolutely uplifted and thought it was definitely a good decision to come after all.
Gun faced the others and out of nowhere, he lifted his glass towards them, looked to Bright and said, "Hey Bright, congrats on the new album. I wish all goes well for you because you deserve it. Good luck. To Bright!" He offered a toast to his friend's future success with a wide smile and soon the others followed suit and cheered for Bright as well.
"Come on fellas! Let's dance the night away! Wooohoo!" Off cheered loudly after several more shots, clearly drunk. The boys just snickered at Off and made no move to go with him.
Tay didn't know what it was exactly but he was in a good enough mood that he shrugged off his suit coat and followed his friend to the dance floor. It wasn't like Tay to do this but he didn't care at the moment and decided to just go with the flow for a change. It was a bit crowded when they got there, sweaty bodies dancing against one another, everyone lost in the euphoric atmosphere. Soon enough, Tay and Off also slowly started to dance along to the beat of the music.
As things were heating up, Tay rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and continued dancing when he saw a girl come up to him, a look of interest evident in her eyes. She flicked her hair back and looked at Tay seductively, clearly wanting to dance with him. He didn't know what came over him, maybe it was all the alcohol in his system, but Tay found himself with the girl in his arms, swaying together to the song, bodies very close to one another, the girl's arms on his shoulders. Not too long did the girl place his hands around Tay's neck, closed her eyes and slowly leaned in closer to him. He wasn't thinking much that time so Tay did the same, inching closer to her face but was startled when he suddenly felt a cold wet splash on his back followed by the sound of glasses breaking.
The immediate people around them gasped with shock and stopped dancing, distancing themselves from the scene a bit, surprised by what happened. Tay quickly let go of the girl in his arms and turned around to see the bastard that bumped into him and spilled the drinks on him. His back was completely soaked, his mood now spoiled and he felt rage bubble up from within him at having been humiliated like this.
"WHAT THE FUCK!? WHAT DID YOU JUST DO!?" Tay roared at the nervous waiter in front of him. Arm and Bright were quickly by his side, Gun right behind them, preparing themselves for the worst. Tay came face to face with a pale man who seemed to turn paler as seconds passed by, the guy stood almost to Tay's height with a slightly bigger build than him but Tay knew if it came to a fight that he could still overpower the person in front of him, and his head was bowed down from shame. The guy was shaking from fear and didn't know what to do.
"I'm terribly sorry Sir. It was an accident. I didn't mean to–" the waiter profusely apologized immediately and brought out a towel for Tay to wipe off some of the liquid off his shirt.
"SORRY? IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY? SORRY!? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM?" Tay demanded. Arm was trying his best to pacify his enraged friend but to no avail as Tay seemed to not hear him at all.
"I-I'm s-sorry Sir. P-please.... forgive me.... a- I--" the waiter stuttered, mind blank, which only infuriated Tay more. Tay grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked the trembling boy near him which caused the waiter to stumble forward, his hands holding onto Tay's arms to steady himself.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Tay growled lowly, inching his face closer to the waiter. As he did so, Tay's eyes fell on the guy's name tag. The guy was looking at the ground, still avoiding Tay's cold eyes so he placed his hand under the guy's chin to make him look into Tay's eyes.
With and a devilish smirk, Tay looked dangerously at him and muttered.
"So.... how do you suppose we should settle this matter, New?"