The two of them went home after midnight.
Although the woman gave birth prematurely, it was lucky to know that both mother and baby were healthy. Krist and Gawin stayed till the delivery ended, and they were able to contact her family.
Gawin was tired but still awake enough to drive Krist home, while Krist was already wandering in his dreamland. They didn't talk much on the way back due to exhaustion, so Gawin didn't know when his small customer fell asleep. But the moment he turned to the left side to ask for Krist's address, he saw the man starting to nod off accordingly to the movement of the wheels. The hanging cross earring flashed in the night, reflecting its shadow below his ear.
Krist looked adorable when he was sleeping.
Recalling when Krist dozed off in front of the clinic door, Gawin couldn't bear waking him up. He began to drive slowly so the car wouldn't jolt. Until reaching the door in front of his house, he gently pulled over on the side of the road instead of driving inside.
Gawin rarely invited his friends home, his parents also didn't live with him, so he only brought his girlfriend here occasionally. The thought of letting Krist sleep over at his house tonight only poped in his head for two seconds and then disappeared quickly.
Even though he had no intention of inviting Krist into the house, Gawin was still afraid of waking him up. Therefore, he decided to stay in the car and text his girlfriend, hoping Krist would wake up soon and tell him the address of his house.
It was not long after he sent a message to his girlfriend, she responsed immediately.
"I haven't slept yet, but it's strange when you're still awake at this time."
Gawin didn't usually sleep late, because of his habit and the nature of his job, he rarely stayed up until midnight.
"I had dinner with a friend, something unexpected happened, so I just got home now."
"P'Podd?"
"A guy whom I just met at my clinic."
This time his girlfriend didn't reply right away. Seeing her typing but not sending for quite a while so Gawin decided to make a video call. It took two minutes for her to pick up. She spoke more quietly than usual. He could see the balcony curtains behind his girlfriend, with the dim light from the small lamps.
"Stay inside, why you come out in this cold weather?" Gawin lowered his voice, trying not to wake up Krist.
"The girls are all asleep, I don't want to wake them up so I came out here. I'm already wearing a cardigan, see? Are you inside the car?"
"Yeah, my friend is sleeping, and I'm afraid to wake him up... like you."
"Show me his face... your new friend."
"For what?"
"I'm just curious~"
"But recording without him knowing is not good."
"Eyyy~ your friend is sleeping. Why you have to be so tender?"
Not wanting to argue with her, Gawin had to flip the camera to record Krist, but he didn't turn on the lights in the car. The only rays of light were from the streetlights creeping through the window, illuminating only a part of Krist's stomach and the two hands placed neatly on his lap, along with small specks of light from his silver earrings.
"Woah... he wears earrings?"
Gawin didn't have many friends, most of his relationships were at the level of communication for work. His circle was small with a few close friends, and none of them dressed as Krist. Before he could say anything, his girlfriend asked him to turn on the lights in the car. This time Gawin didn't say no. He turned on the lights, assuring her that his new friend was really a guy, then he flipped back the camera to his face and continued talking to her in a small voice.
He might not notice but his voice was lowered a little more than before.
But Krist still woke up, he was in a daze for a few seconds like in the evening, his eyes were tired making his sight more blurred at the moment. Then he saw Gawin talking with someone on the phone, his smile was so kind, his hair completely falling down on his forehead, his face looking tired, the bridge of his nose was long and straight.
Moving his gaze up a bit, Krist realized that Gawin's eyes, looking from his side, were dark and sparkling.
If the smile was the most beautiful thing on Krist's face, then with Gawin's, it would be his eyes. His eyes had double eyelids and look extremely sharp, his eyelashes were not long but curled, enough to not obscure the light as warm as the deep sea in the bottom of his eyes.
Half a minute that Gawin didn't realize that Krist was already awake was also half a minute that Krist was not aware that he kept tilting his head to gaze at the other, in a 'not-so-subtle' way at all.
It wasn't until he became conscious of what he was doing, Krist quickly turned away. He was a bit confused so he kept looking outside the window. It seemed like the car hadn't reached his house yet, it was just stopped on the the side of the road.
Gawin ended the call and realized Krist already woke up.
He turned to look at him...
"You slept so soundly that I didn't want to wake you up, but you probably woke up because of this call, right?"
Krist awkwardly laughed because he was the one who fell asleep, making Gawin unable to call his girlfriend even though he was in front of his house.
"Sorry, I have narcolepsy. On the days when I was so tired, I couldn't control my sleepiness. You should wake me up anyway. Sorry for bothering you like this."
"I already called her, so it's okay... now lemme take you home."
Krist told Gawin the address and sat quietly again. Normally he talked a lot, but today both were tired, and Krist was still sleepy, when he felt his eyelids almost closed again, he spoke up.
"Ah right, just now the husband of that woman invited us for a meal as a thank you, will you go?"
"How about you?"
"I think when we do good things, we don't need to receive anything in return, but her husband was so enthusiastic... she also really wants us to go, so I don't know anymore."
Whereas thinking about Krist's answer, Gawin carefully looked at the house signs because they almost reached Krist's house. The small guy knew he was thinking so he didn't ask. He turned to check if his phone was in his backpack before getting off the car.
Their homes were only a ten-minute drive from each other. Krist saw the lights in the frontyard were on while the door was closed and the lights in the house were off. The neighborhood fell into darkness and was quiet in the midnight. He took off the seatbelt and thanked Gawin for driving him home before stepping out of the car. Before he could close the door, Gawin leaned over and said to him, his voice was low and calm.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow at noon."
Krist secretly understood that the taller accepted the invitation of that husband and wife, so he slightly lower his head and looked at the other.
"Aren't you at the clinic at that time? Anyway, going straight to the restaurant from the clinic is closer than driving back home to pick me up."
"I normally come home to cook and eat alone and then go back to the clinic, so I used to that."
Krist pondered for a moment. He didn't plan to practice tomorrow, but Aou would take the car to work. However, he was afraid that Gawin would have to come back to pick him up even though the distance wasn't too far.
"Let's use my car then! I'm off work tomorrow, so it'd be more convenient if I go to the clinic to pick you up at noon." Krist scratched his head.
Gawin agreed with his decision.
Krist closed the door and took a few steps back, waving him goodbye and waiting till the car disappeared in the night mist.
Both of them seemed to have failed to notice one thing...
Why one of them had to pick up the other? These two were not even neighbors, and they have their own cars.
They could drive to the restaurant on their own!!!
Krist slinged his backpack over his shoulder to get the key and open the door. The door was locked, the living room was dark, but he knew for sure that Aou didn't sleep at this time. The light in the kitchen was still on. Standing outside, Krist could already smell the creamy cheesy shrimp noodles. He quickly threw the backpack on the couch and went straight to the kitchen, where he could even hear the sound from the game that Aou was playing.
"Oh, you're home!" Aou ate a bite of noodles before finishing his sentence...
"Yesterday you told me that you had an argument with your girlfriend, but today you guys went on a date till this time."
Krist walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat next to his cousin, reaching out his hand to steal the noodles, but as expected, Aou stopped it in time, using his chopsticks to drag the cup of noodles back to his side.
"Go cook it yourself. The ones that I told you it was not delicious at all but you still bought it!"
"Ya stingy, give it to me, you're about to lose." Krist again reached out his hand to take the cup of noodles. Aou stuffed a piece of sausage into his mouth, his eyes focused back on the game, not wanting to lose the match, while Krist was contentedly enjoying the noodles that he successfully stole from the other.
"So your girlfriend finally threw away those strong smell perfumes already?" The younger guy's fingers moved incredibly fast on the phone screen while his nose sniffed a few times.
"I went drinking with a friend."
Krist had a big sip of soup in the noodle cup, wiping his mouth with a tissue, then he stood up, opened the fridge, and placed two pots of yogurt on the table.
"You go to the company at 6am tomorrow right?"
"Yup!"
"I'll give you a ride, remember to wake me up."
Aou put down his phone to open the lid of a yogurt pot, staring at Krist, "Where are you going to go tomorrow?"
"I'll have an appointment at noon."
"Okay, then go to sleep now, otherwise it'd be hard waking you up in the morning."
Unlike Aou, who was always full of energy and needed to be constantly active to release his energy - according to him, Krist slept extremely well and was difficult to wake up. Only if Aou hit the metal pan with a big spoon right next to his ear, Krist would wake him up. The boy always had to do that so that the other could drive him to the company on time.
Krist ate the whole yogurt pot in less than a minute and then throw it all in the bin. He reminded Aou to stop playing games and then carried his backpack to his room. He hadn't even taken a bath today. Everytime he practiced playing drums at the studio, Krist would shower before going home, but tonight his body not only had the smell of grilled meat and alcohol, but also the smell of the hospital. His mind said 'get up and take a shower,' but his body stuck on the bed and couldn't move at all.
Krist fell asleep like that without taking off his hoodie.
...and, unlike Krist, Gawin had just finished showering. It was already one o'clock. Late-night bathing was not good, but this time it helped him stay awake. He flipped through the calendar to see if he had any appointment tomorrow with his customers, perhaps some would come for the follow-up check-ups.
The lunch with Krist and the married couple might take quite a while. Fortunately, he didn't have any appointment tomorrow, so he didn't need to adjust the time. Gawin wanted to turn on the aircon, but since he had just taken a shower at night, he decided to turn on the ceiling fan.
He checked his phone again and then turned the night lamp down low.
Gawin didn't sleep right away, he had many thoughts about the video call with his girlfriend earlier. She had a few close friends that he has met, it was not a lie if Gawin said that he knew her habits well. He often called her before going to bed. There were many times he called her when her friends were asleep at her house, but she'd never stepped out onto the balcony.
His girlfriend liked to leave the light on when sleeping. She never got out of bed when talking to him, or if she did, she'd just moved to sit on the swivel chair placed by window - the one that he had bought for her on their 3-month anniversary, humming the melody of songs that were viral on Tiktok and sharing all kinds of stories until his eyelids couldn't handle anymore.
Their calls recently became shorter and shorter, it even ended before he could lower the bedside lamp to sleep. This was the first time she left the bed to talk to him, the first time in this cold, dry late fall weather. She put on a thin cardigan and walked out to the balcony just because she was afraid that "her friends" would wake up.
Also the voice of women talking and laughing echoed from her phone in the evening was not the sound of her colleagues partying together, it was the sound of a TV show broadcasting at 6PM.
Maybe she thought he didn't know.
Gawin wouldn't be angry if she no longer had feelings for him, love is an elusive thing, wild and unpredictable. He realized that he himself was also not as passionate as the first days. The two of them were, in fact, in the stage of only staying together out of habit, but Gawin's being kind to her didn't mean he was a fool, no one could cheat the other person while both were still in a relationship.
He didn't want to have a thought that she was at fault with him, but he knew she had changed.
[ END CHAP 4 ]