Flashback
<Mathayom 4, 2018>
It was lunchtime, and Phuwin was busy fumbling with the Rubik's cube in his hands. Over the last 3 years, Phuwin managed to solve different types of Rubik's cube puzzles. However, this one that he's currently working on is nearly impossible to solve.
While Phuwin continued to fumble on the cube, a tall-sized O-liang (Thai Iced Coffee) landed on his table.
Phuwin looked to see who it was, and a smile broke on his lips when he saw the face of the person that he was expecting to come.
"I thought you were busy," Phuwin said, with a hint of sulkiness in his voice.
Pond could only smile as he brushed his hair backwards, and sat down on one of the chairs.
"I know how you crave O-Liang after lunch, but hate the long queues at the cafeteria."
Phuwin smiled at what Pond said. Only a few people know how much he likes coffee, and this gesture from Pond warms his heart.
"You sure know a lot about me now, but I only know a few about you. You might even know me more than P'Dunk."
Pond inched closer to Phuwin. The latter looked to see his surroundings to check if other people were there.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"Letting you know more of me by looking into my eyes."
"Psh. Trying to be romantic?" Phuwin said, and playfully pushed Pond.
A smile traced Pond's lips when he thought of an idea.
He grabbed Phuwin's hand and placed it on his chest.
"How about this? Will you know more about me through this?"
Phuwin was speechless. He doesn't know how to answer. He could only look at Pond in his eyes, as he felt the loud beating of his heart.
"Ehem."
Their moment was cut short when the two heard someone clearing their throats.
Pond and Phuwin turned to see who it was, and saw Patrick and Prim awkwardly smiling while raising the food they had on their hands as if inviting them to eat.
Pond smiled at the two.
"Sawadeekha, P'Pond." Prim greeted Pond.
"Sawadeekhrap, P'Pond." Patrick also did the same.
"Sawadee," Pond said and did the gesture that his two juniors made.
"Ahm...we can...go outside for a while..." Prim said and grabbed Pat's arm when Phuwin stopped them.
"Ah, no. P'Pond was about to go anyway. He just handed me the coffee P'Dunk bought me."
"Ah...okay," Prim said and looked at Pat.
Both had knowing looks on their faces.
"I got to go now. Have fun." Pond said and stood up from his seat.
Pond was about to go out of the room when Phuwin spoke.
"I'll give this to you next time. I'm not done with it yet." Phuwin said, and raised the Rubik's cube in his hand.
Pond gave Phuwin a smile and nodded. "Sure. You can take all the time in the world before you return it to me."
Phuwin nodded.
"See you."
Phuwin thinned his lips and nodded once again, as he watched Pond walk away from their room.
Once Pond was away, Pat and Prim went to him.
"What was that, huh? Are you dating P'Pond?" Prim asked.
Phuwin knotted his eyebrows with what Prim said. "Alaiwa? What nonsense are you spitting about?"
"Hoooooo...Don't deny it, Phu. I can see it by the way you and P'Pond look at each other. You're both in love."
Phuwin looked away and bit his lip.
Is he in love? He just feels good whenever Pond is around.
Phuwin heaved a sigh and faced his friends. "I'm not."
Prim raised her eyebrow as she watched Phuwin grab the drink that Pond gave him.
"Yeah. You might not be, but P'Pond surely is."
Phuwin continued to drink the Oliang that Pond gave him. Really? Pond likes him? How?
"Acts of service," Patrick said, out of nowhere.
"What?" Phuwin was confused. What is Pat referring to?
"That is P'Pond's love language – and yours too," Pat said as he took his seat behind Phuwin.
"Wait a minute. Where did you get this theory that I and P'Pond are a thing?"
Prim rolled her eyes and fixed her glasses. "For someone who's a consistent 4.00 GPA earner and a first-class honor student, you're quite slow, Phu."
Phuwin's confusion got even worse. Though he had been friends with Pat and Prim since elementary, his friends' way of thinking sometimes didn't match his.
"What do you mean, Prim? I don't get it."
Pat placed his arms around Phuwin's shoulder and leaned to his ear.
"Sometimes, the most simple and obvious things are the most difficult for some people – just like you."
Phuwin scratched his head with what Pat said. "Alaiwa?"
Just then, Phuwin received a message on his phone.
"I will wait no matter how long it takes for you to solve the cube."
Was the message Pond sent to him.
End of Flashback
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<Chulalongkorn University; Faculty of Engineering>
Pond and Dunk were working on a project that they had to submit next week. Pond heaved a sigh after sticking a piece on the diorama that they were working on.
Dunk heard Pond's loud sigh, and can't help but comment on it.
"You sound so stressed, dude. Calm down." Dunk said while sticking another piece on the diorama.
As Pond's habit, he brushed his hair backward.
"How can I not be stressed when it's only the two of us who are working on this project?"
Dunk shook his head. "We could've actually paid someone to do this for us, but here you are. Working your ass off while in the middle of working on our thesis."
"If someone will do this for us, it will not be my work, but that person's work already."
"Even if I will have a hard time, it's fine. As long as I'm the one who did the work. That way, I know that I deserve my grade."
Pond halted what he was doing when Dunk gave him a slow clap.
"Alaiwa?"
"You sound like you're running for a government position. For someone who is a consistent first-class honor, and 4.0 GPA earner, you can actually slack off a bit. You also have a lot of ideologies like someone I know."
As if reading Dunk's mind, Pond slowly shook his head as a sad smile traced his lips.
This was left unnoticed by Dunk who nudged him.
"What?" Pond asked as he attached yet another piece to the diorama.
"Are things still bad between the two of you?" Dunk asked.
Pond only shrugged his shoulders and continued working on the diorama.
"Ai, Pond... you're exactly like my brother whenever I ask you of each other. Phuwin keeps mum about you too." Dunk frustratingly said.
"I don't know. Maybe he still hates me, but at least now, he talks to me. Unlike before."
Dunk felt resigned. He can't extract any information from his best friend, nor his brother, as long as an 'I don't know' is present in their statements.
"Uh. Fine." Dunk sighed and checked his phone. 03:50 PM.
"Meung. I have to go by 4:00 PM. Joong told me he'd pick me up in front of our faculty."
Pond turned to Dunk.
"Seriously? You'll leave me doing this project by myself?"
"Hooooo... that is for next week. Who told you to complete that today?"
Pond thinned his lips and turned to Dunk.
"You realize we still have our thesis to work on, right? We should make the most out of our vacant times."
Dunk rolled his eyes. "Meung... I'll just lend an extra hand tomorrow. I'll even have Joong help us."
Pond gave Dunk a look. "You realize we have a class until 7 PM tomorrow, right?"
Dunk turned his head to the side. "Oh. Tomorrow is Thursday?"
Pond only nodded and threw a bottle of glue towards Dunk.
Dunk was about to continue working on the diorama when his phone rang and Joong's name flashed on the screen.
"Ai, meung..."
Pond turned to Dunk and saw how troubled his best friend was. He looks like a kid whose candy was stolen.
"Uh... fine. Just go. I don't want to hear an earful from you that you missed your date." Pond dismissively said.
Upon hearing this, Dunk beamed with a smile and grabbed his things. "Thank you, meung. I'll have Joong help us on the weekend. We'll continue doing the project at home."
"For now, I'll just call someone to help us with the project. Thanks!" Dunk said as he sped off.
Pond could only shake his head as he continued working on the diorama.
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It's already dark, and yet, that 'someone' whom Dunk said he would send is nowhere to be found.
Pond checked his phone and saw that it was already 7 PM.
"What? I have been working for how many hours now...?"
Pond counted in his fingers how many hours had he already spent working on his project.
Just then, a white figure blocked Pond's view.
When he looked up, he saw the most unexpected person to come.
"Phu.."
"P'Dunk asked me to help you. Tell me which things to work on, so that I could go home." Phuwin said while putting down his medical kit, tumbler, and laboratory gown.
Pond watched Phuwin roll up his sleeves. He looks so good. No wonder the juniors in the dentistry department go crazy about this 'senior hottie'.
Pond was only pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a slam on the table.
"I don't have time to spare. I need to be home by 9 PM." Phuwin said. His eyebrows knitted together.
"Oh. Right. Here. Just glue the printed paper on the boards, and follow the lines to cut." Pond said as he showed Phuwin the materials to work on.
Phuwin observed Pond and noticed something on his hand.
At first, Phuwin ignored it and was about to work on what Pond told him when he saw Pond brush his hair backward, and he noticed some red patches on his forehead.
--------------------------------
Pond was more than shocked when Phuwin pulled his hand, and examined it.
"Did you eat something you're allergic to?" Phuwin suddenly asked.
"Huh?"
Phuwin clucked his tongue and brushed Pond's hair away from his forehead. He examined the patches on Pond's forehead and saw how red those patches had become.
"Do you feel itchy?" Phuwin asked.
"What do you mean...?"
"It's just a simple yes or no," Phuwin said, while flatly looking at Pond.
"Well... yes. Maybe there's just a lot of mosquitoes here."
"Don't mind me. Those are just mosquito bites." Pond said and tried to pull his hand from Phuwin, but the latter held his hand tighter.
"I can't be too sure about what these might be, but the patches on your hand and forehead don't look like mosquito bites," Phuwin said, while still examining Pond's hand.
Just then, Phuwin's eyes landed on the wood glue that was on the table.
Phuwin directed his gaze to Pond, and then his hand.
"He might be allergic to wood glue. There's only one way to know." Phuwin thought.
Phuwin grabbed the wood glue and applied some on Pond's elbow.
Pond was surprised by what Phuwin did.
"Alai na? What are you doing...?"
"Can you keep still? I'm doing an allergen test on you. I'm not too sure since I'm a dentistry student, but you might be allergic to wood glue."
Not even after a minute the glue came in contact with Pond's skin, some patches and blisters started to appear.
"Hooo... you're allergic to wood glue. We need to go to the hospital." Phuwin said and reached for his things on the table.
Pond was confused about what was happening, but he couldn't focus, as he started to feel so itchy.
Phuwin already went ahead but stopped in his tracks when he noticed that Pond was not following him.
When he looked back, he saw how the latter was scratching his body everywhere.
Phuwin immediately searched for something in his bag and handed it to Pond.
"Drink this antihistamine first. This could help alleviate the itchiness and swelling of the patches while we get to the hospital."
Pond took the pill from Phuwin's hand, but he had no water with him.
Phuwin clucked his tongue once again, before reaching for his tumbler.
"Here. You can have my tumbler."
Pond looked at Phuwin. "Is it okay..."
"Hooo... don't be an ass now and just take the medicine."
Phuwin watched as Pond took the medicine but looked away when Pond drank from his tumbler.
After Pond took the pill, Phuwin cleared his throat.
"Let's go to the hospital now..."
Just as Phuwin was about to help Pond with his things, someone arrived and got Pond's things from the table.
"P'Pond! Are you okay? What happened?"
The girl went to Pond and worriedly checked on him.
"Ying... where have you been? I waited for you for 2 hours." Pond said while struggling with the itch he was feeling.
"Sorry. My classes ended just now. Should I bring you to the hospital? You look terrible now." The girl Pond called 'Ying' said.
"No. You can head home first. I don't want to trouble you. I'll go to the hospital with my friend." Pond said.
"Friend my ass. I'm not your friend."
"You even have the audacity to flirt in that situation." Phuwin thought.
"You sure you'll be fine?" Ying asked. Worry can be sensed in her voice.
"Hm. P'Pond will be fine, Ying. Don't worry."
Phuwin couldn't explain, but he felt his chest tighten when Pond ruffled the girls' hair.
"I thought you already changed, but you're still the same even after these years."
"Maybe telling you otherwise was the best decision I made."
Phuwin thought as he held the Rubik's cube in his hand. He turned his back and started walking away.
A/N: Hello, lovies!
How do you find the second chapter? Share to me your thoughts below!
I'll see you on the next one!
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