Gulf had never been inside Mew's room ever since they moved into the house a year ago. So he was a little surprised and wary when Mew instructed her to come into the room.
Gulf looked around as Mew disappeared into his private bathroom. Mew's room was so neat, with all his books arranged on a shelf and everything in it's place. But what took Gulf by surprise was the row of framed photos in Mew's desk. Some were of Mew with his family, some of Mew's late mom with Gulf's own, and then their own wedding photo. It wasn't even a posed photo, it was a candid shot of a moment that Gulf couldn't remember.
Gulf wondered why Mew had that on his desk.
"You can sit down."
Gulf turned around and saw Mew in a well-fitting shirt. Gulf felt distracted by how manly Mew looked compared to how boyish and thin he was in their wedding photo.
Mew laughed, jolting Gulf back to reality.
"Why are you wearing that shirt? Don't you have anything.... bigger?"
"Why?
"Nothing,nothing."
Gulf sat down on the chair in front of Mew's desk.
"Why are you sitting there?" Gulf looked up to see him sitting down on his bed. Mew patted the spot next to his. "Sit here."
"What?"
"Oh,you and your malicious mind. I don't have a spare chair, so it's easier to play this on bed. I don't like sitting on the floor anyway. It's dirty.
Gulf rolled his eyes at him as he approached the bed warily. How can he be so vain?
"You said play? What are we going to play?"
Mew took out a huge notepad and a pen. We're playing X-O."
"X-O? Is that a Gossip Girl reference?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You know, as in, XOXO, Gossip Girl."
"What an idiot."
Mew wrote something fast on the notepad and showed it to him.
"Ah... That's tic-tac-toe!"
"Whatever."
"Why are we playing that? I thought we were going to talk calmly."
"Right. Whoever loses a round has to go 'truth or dare."
"Are you out of your mind? Who'd win against you? You're like the master of all board games known to mankind, nerd-o."
"You, idiot. This isn't a board game!"
"Fine, fine, whatever. Let's just start."
"You go first."
Gulf Mew Gulf Mew Gulf Mew
_|_|_ _|_|_ _|_|_ _|_|o x|_|o x|_|o
_|x|_ _|x|_ _|x|_ _|x|_ _|x|_ _|x|o
_|_|_ _|_|o x|_|o x|_|o x|_|o x|_|o
"Mew for the win!" Mew said, raising his fist uo in the air.
Gulf rolled his eyes. Mew can be such a kid sometimes.
"Ugh!"
"Okay,truth or dare?"
"Truth. I'm scared you might make me do something stupid."
"But you already are, so why be scared?"
Gulf stood up, ready to leave. He was tired of all Mew's insults. But Mew held his wrist and yanked him back down.
"Okay, truth. Here goes."
Mew took a while to speak. When he did, it was with a run on and indecipherable sentence.
"WhosmoreattractivemeorKao?"
"What?"
Mew repeated his question in pretty much the same manner.
"Slow down!"
"Who do you think is more attractive. Me or Kao?"
Gulf burst out laughing, Mew couldn't look at him, and Gulf noticed his ears getting red.
"You?"
Gulf looked up at Mew, and they met each other's eyes.
"Really?" Mew looked like a kid again.
Gulf just nodded. Mew couldn't help his smile. Gulf could see that it was an actual effort for Mew to stop his grin from getting too wide. It was so weird just how happy he looked hearing that.
"Oh,but you knew that already. Let's just start another round," Gulf said.
They start again. After a minute playing, Gulf could already see that she was about to lose again.
Mew sighed dramatically, "Looks like you're the loser again."
And..
"Mew for the win!"
"You cheated!"
"How's that possible?"
"Ugh! Truth!"
"Truth again? Why not choose the other one.. you know for variety?"
"Shut up!"
"Okay hold on."
Mew held is head in his hand, thinking. Gulf looked around the room and then settled his eyes on Mew, his broad shoulder bent, his strong back outlined against his shirt. Suddenly, he felt hot. He started fanning himself discreetly when Mew looked up.
"Okay, um.. Gulf?
"Yep?"
"Who's your first kiss?"
"What?"
Mew looked at him with his head cocked to one side. "Are you really going to ask me 'what' after every question?"
"No one,"
Mew looked at Gulf like he couldn't believe his ears.
"Really?"
"Yeah, duh. I've never had a boyfriend before, um.. before this. And you never even kissed me when we--"
"Hey, I kissed you."
"Yeah, on the cheeks! Well,about you?"
Mew trying to hide his smile as he watch Gulf fumble words. "What about me?"
"You probably don't even know who your first kiss is... with all the girls you've kissed."
"Uh. Wrong. My first kiss was Goy The girl from the first TV show, I did."
"Wow. It must be memorable then."
"Tht was a job. Of course, I can remember. All those weren't real, anyway. But really, you never been kissed?"
"Never. Now can we move on from your stupid question?"
Mew shook his head playfully with a smile. "I'm probably going to win the next round anyway, so maybe I'll just ask more related question then."
They start again and again, Gulf looses again. Mew looked at Gulf in disbelief.
"I can't believe this. Don't you have any strategies?"
"Uh, no. Because unlike you, I don't spend time thinking about hoe to win in tic-tac-toe!"
Mew laughed. "Okay, so truth or dare?"
"Do you promise not to make me go do anything embarrassing outside?"
Mew shrugged.
"Yeah, sure. So does that mean you want a dare?"
"Yeah, whatever."
Mew smiled, and just like earlier, He looked so boyish as he tried refraining from smiling too big.
"Um, give me a-"
"What?"
Mew looked at Gulf with such serious eyes that Gulf softened up. "A hug?"
Gulf couldn't believe his ears. He was about to say "what" again but had to control himself. "A hug?"
Mew suddenly turned 360 degrees on his approach and turned smug again. "I mean, I'm kind of sad for you because you've lost all the rounds, so I'm giving you a pass on this one."
"A hug."
"It's just a hug, Gulf. Oh, wait, why are you blushing?"
Gulf's hands landed on his cheeks, feeling up his temperature. "I'm not blushing. It's just a really hit in here."
"Come on. You have no choice either way. That's the dare."
"That's it?"
"Why? Oh, I get it. You want something more?" Mew raised his eyebrow at him.
"No! Okay." Gulf closed his eyes and went in for the hug. But because he had his eyes closed, he didn't see Mew, and so they bumped heads as they hugged.
"Ouch!" Both said. Gulf opened his eyes and was about to let go when Mew tightened his hug on him. Gulf felt so at home in his arms and was about to get comfortable when Mew sad, "Gulf. Let go. Next round."
Gulf loosened his arms around him and couldn't look at him. And for the third time of the game, Gulf loose again.
"Mew, I don't want to play anymore. We were supposed to talk. And, I'm really hungry."
"We have to play until you win."
"But I'll never win. Not against you."
"Okay. Truth or dare."
"Truth."
"Mew took a deep breath and then asked, "What do you hate most about me?"
"A lot!"
"Wow,okay." Mew looked like someone had knocked the wind out of him. "Can you list down e-everything you don't like about me?"
"Well, you always ignore me, for one thing. I understand, but seriously, do you have to pretend like I'm some fanboy? And like earlier, you just walked past me while your girlfriend was humiliating me. And you're such a flirt!"
"Okay, now. I had no idea this was a ranting session."
"Well, you asked me to list down everything right? That isn't even the half of it."
"Well, was that my fault? What were you even saying in the restroom, anyway? If Kao's courting you, don't drag my name into it."
"You believe her?"
"Well, what were you saying there that Yaya had to hear? Plus, for your information, she's not my girlfriend."
"Whatever."
"Can I give you a tip, though? Date anyone,just not that guy."
"Kao? Why? Because he's your rival?"
"He's a playboy."
"What? Are you referring to yourself? You're the playboy!"
"Not true. There's a difference between a playboy and a guy with many admirers."
"How arrogant!"
"Okay, next round!"
Gulf Mew Gulf Mew Gulf
_|_|_ _|_|_ _|_|_ o|_|_ o|_|x
_|x|_ _|x|o _|x|o _|x|o _|x|o
_|_|_ _|_|_ _|_|x _|_|x _|_|x
Mew Gulf Mew
o|_|x o|_|x o|_|x
_|x|o _|x|o o|x|o
o|_|x o|x|x o|x|x
Mew started laughing really hard as Gulf slammed his fist on the notepad. "I can't believe this. Really, you lost again!"
"Shut up. Truth, just truth."
"Hmm." Mew looked at Gulf and said quietly.
"Gulf?"
"Yes...?"
"Do you want to-"
"Uh-huh?"
"To get married again, here in Bangkok- when you turn eighteen?"
"Married to whom?"
"To me stupid!"
Gulf looked at Mew and couldn't believe his ears. He felt all choked up and didn't know what he would say. If he said yes, then he might tease him. This might just be one of his ploys to prove that he's just one of the many girls, who chase after him.
"I mean, you know, you're turning eighteen in a few days, and, um, you know,uh Dad's been saying that, you know, I mean... You know, eighteen's the legal age here and you know..."
Gulf couldn't help but feel giddy at how nervous Mew seemed as he spoke all this nonsense full of "you know" and "I mean." But still, Gulf didn't know if he should admit to how he felt.
Mew then shook his head and laughed it off.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. Come on, you said you were hungry, right? Let's eat."
Mew got up and was about to head toward the door when Gulf suddenly burst out, "Yes, I do... I do!"
Mew turned back and sat beside Gulf. "What did you just say?"
Gulf could feel his cheeks getting bit red. He hated his words. Why did he have to shout out, "Yes, I do... I do!" like he was getting a proper marriage proposal?
🌻🌻🌻
Tbc...
😁😁 Gulf getting married again with Mew... Soon.