"Are you pranking me?" Chay runs out of the gym to his brother who is mixing a cocktail at the bar.
"Pranking you?" Porsche raises one of his eyebrows in confusion.
"About Kim," Chay explains. "There's no way that he is a son of the mafia." Chay sits on the bar stool and runs his hand through his hair, fingers brushing over the hair tie that Kim gave him. "He is so... so... so..."
Porsche leans over the bar, a teasing expression on his face, "so..."
Chay groans, "so... submissive... I don't know!"
"Submissive?" Porsche pushes the topic more.
"What I mean is that... I had him pinned down because as expected his fighting skills are shit, and I told him that he has to come to every one of my trainings or he is out, and he looked right at me and said... yes, sir."
"And what?" Porsche smirks, "did it turn you on?"
Chay glares at Porsche, ready to smash that cocktail which Porsche so diligently prepared right into his face, "let's be serious for a moment, shall we, huh? Like, I don't know—I would pass as a better mafia prince than him."
"You would also not act like a usual mafia prince if your father would dedicate every second of his life to treating you like shit, making you feel like you are worse than others, telling you how ugly and useless you are..." Porsche's teasing grin is long gone. "I'll be honest, Porchay—no wonder Kim has no self-esteem and seems so submissive... I would be the same if I grew up like him." Porsche takes a kitchen cloth and starts cleaning the countertop, "Korn Theerapanyakul is shit but his sons aren't. Just give Kim time. The last thing he needs is another person judging him."
⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅
Right now, Kim knows two things:
he messed up. There's no way he is going to get this job. As always, he is a complete failure
that sucks more than usual because... he likes Porchay. No wonder Porsche and Porchay are brothers... surprisingly, they both make Kim feel safe which doesn't happen to Kim with strangers often or at all... and it's even more surprising that he feels this way around Porchay who seems to be so strict
Maybe it's because he knows that Porchay is Porsche's brother and Kim knows Porsche a little because of his own brother. Or maybe it's because of something entirely different that Kim has no idea about. But that doesn't matter because Porchay is right—Kim's fighting skills suck. Just like everything else he does sucks. The only thing that he is surprisingly good at is his writing, that's why he is studying creative writing at the university, but besides that... Kim is a failure, just like his father always says. Everyone else in the world is better, smarter, and prettier than him.
He wouldn't be here at all if he didn't need a good amount of money and fast. And being a bouncer, pretending that he at least knows how to fight sounds way better than going on stage, dancing and stripping for other people... they would only laugh at him. It hurts when people laugh at him. And he is sure that it would hurt more than some punches here and there he would get as a bouncer from disobeying customers.
But then, there is this one thing... Kim's skin itches even now, remembering the way Porchay's eyes looked him over, and his heart can't stop shaking, hearing Porchay's voice saying that he is pretty. For the first time in his life, Kim wants to believe it. He wants to look at himself and think—I am pretty. I am handsome. I am worthy of love. But it's hard. Maybe Porchay didn't even mean it. He most likely just said it to be nice. But, why would he want to be nice to Kim?
Maybe Kim shouldn't overthink so much. Maybe he shouldn't dwell on other's words so much. Maybe he shouldn't be still standing in the middle of the gym waiting for Porchay to come back when Kim isn't even sure if Porchay will indeed come back.
And yet, he is doing all of that. He is overthinking. He is dwelling on Porchay's words way too much. And he is hopelessly waiting for him to return... just to finally tell him that he should go home—the home that he will have no money to afford.
Kim sighs, and looks down, running his fingers over the wrist where he used to have the hair tie. He smiles—he was so happy when Porchay accepted it from him. If he is being honest with himself, he liked the way Porchay's hair turned messy and fell into his face, but Kim knew that it wasn't very practical, especially during a sparring session, so he was glad to help.
Ugh, maybe he shouldn't think so much about Porchay. They don't even know each other. The problem is when Kim finds something he likes—he gets attached. It always helped him when his father was toying with his mind and feelings. Kim just locked himself in his room and spent hours and days, reading his favourite books, playing with Kinn's old gun—it didn't have bullets in it so no one found it concerning, and Kim thinks that even if it had bullets, no one would care, definitely not his father. And sometimes Kim just spent nights upon nights writing—writing about the moon he loves so much, about the soothing sound of rain, or about how night feels safer because it's as if no one can see him in the dark. No one can see how ugly he is.
The voice right next to his ear startles him...
"Your hair tie," Porchay says, returning the hair tie to Kim.
Kim shakes his head, taking a step away from Porchay, "you can keep it, khun Porchay. I have many of them." That's a lie—this was the last one Kim had, but it's fine, he'll probably be able to find enough money to buy himself a new package.
Porchay smiles, and that's enough of a reward for Kim, "well, thank you, then. And no need to be so formal, just call me Chay. Usually, we pay our employees twice a month—at the beginning of the month and in the middle, is that okay with you?"
If it's okay with Kim to get paid twice a month? Wait... he is hired? Even though he doesn't even know how to punch someone? He'll have money to pay his rent? He'll finally be able to breathe properly? To have enough money to take care of himself?
"A-are you hiring me?"
"Looks like it," Porchay... no... Chay nods. "Here's the contract. Please fill in everything necessary, and because tomorrow is the half of the month, we'll send you the salary."
Kim's eyes go wide, "already? But... but I did nothing, yet."
"And you won't do much for a while because I have to train you first," Chay presses the contract on Kim's chest, "but yes, we'll be already paying you. However, as I said before—if you won't come to one of my trainings you are out."
Kim bows down, "yes, of course! I'll be always here."
"Alright, give me your phone while you fill in the contract. I'm going to give you my number so you can send me your university schedule. I'm going to plan the training schedule around it. I don't want you to start skipping classes because of this. I know how important university is—it's been only a year since I've finished mine."
"Oh," Kim lets out a soft gasp, but then quickly nods and hands Chay his phone. It's so considerate of Chay to think about Kim's education. He might even care more than most of the members of Kim's family do.
A minute or two later Kim holds his phone again and Chay is lightly nodding as he reads over the contract. For a moment Kim plays with the idea of asking Chay if he can stay in the club tonight to get familiar with everything around and see how's life here when it's open, but immediately after he dismisses the idea. It's stupid. And he doesn't want to bother Chay. Besides, from now on Kim will have plenty of opportunities to see how it is to be in the famous Desire Club when it's open. He doesn't need to stay here today any longer than it's necessary.
Maybe the truth is that he just wants to stay longer so he can observe Chay for a bit longer. It's nice to observe Chay. He is confident, and skilful, and handsome... everything Kim isn't. Chay is interesting. Kim isn't.
"Want to stay around tonight?" Chay suddenly asks. "Girls have a new choreography ready, should be fun."
Kim shakes his head and apologises that he has some uni homework he has to do. He catches himself in the middle of saying it and he doesn't understand why he is saying that. He wanted to stay tonight... but when Chay asked him, Kim just... panicked. It's probably too late now to take his words back and say that he gladly stays.
He awkwardly puts his hands into the pockets of his black hoodie and just stands there. He doesn't really know what else to say. Should he say something? Maybe just say goodbye and leave? Would that be rude? It wouldn't, right?
"I see you live close to uni," to Kim's great relief, Chay is the one to break the silence. "Do you have any classes today?"
Kim shakes his head, "Fridays are my free days."
Chay hums, "good to know. Well, I assume that you still need to go home. I happen to head out to visit someone who lives close to the uni as well, I can give you a ride if you want to."
"Really?" Kim asks. He feels genuinely surprised... in a good way. He never expected this. Chay seems so kind.
"Sure. Of course, that is if you haven't come here in your own car," Chay chuckles.
"I took a bus," Kim says and he can't help the little smile that appears on his lips.
"Well, then, let's get you home," Chay turns around and starts walking out of the gym. Kim is just following wordlessly, trying to process what is happening. Is he making a friend? He would love to have a friend.
"Where you off to?" Porsche asks them when he sees them leaving without even stopping by at the bar.
"I need to visit someone near the university and coincidentally, Kim lives there as well so I'll drop him off on the way," Chay quickly replies.
"Who is that someone you are visiting?" Porsche asks, leaning with his crossed arms on the bar.
"A friend."
"You don't have friends who live close to the uni," Porsche points out, and his eyes travel towards Kim.
Kim starts playing with his sweater paws—Chay doesn't have any friends there? Then why...
"I do," Chay shuffles awkwardly, not making any eye contact with his brother, "you just don't know about it."
"Uhmm," Porsche nods, smirking. "Sure... have fun with your friend then..."
Kim sees Chay rolling his eyes, and then he feels Chay's arm around his shoulders, "let's go, okay? My brother is just being annoying... as always."
"Hey!" Kim hears Porsche yelling after them, but they are already on their way out.
Once they step out of the club, the sound of heavy rain enters their ears and the pools of rainwater at the parking lot in front of them tell them that it has been raining for a while.
Chay doesn't seem surprised. He leaves Kim's side and runs towards his black Ford Mustang, quickly opening it. "Come on! Get in. It's pouring."
Kim quickly runs out and jumps into the passenger seat, eyes trailing towards Chay—is he taking Kim home because he knew that it was raining so much?
Kim smiles for himself and puts on his seatbelt; he might end up liking this new era of his life more than he thought.
To be continued...
P.S. Chay already has a soft spot for Kimmy 👀