I got "welcomed" in by my code-line uncle without even being prepared. I was thinking for a while about how I should respond. After thorough consideration, though, I realized I was kind of afraid that our representation would be damaged, having a junior arguing with a senior. So, I chose to keep this grudge and wait for the time to settle it down someday.
The thing was, the whole ordeal wouldn't have gone out of proportion if the one who posted the Instagram wasn't P'Ark. Gosh, he teased me only once and it was like I was being rampaged on by the whole faculty altogether. It was so much more painful than falling onstage, I tell you that. And why did people still see the post if P'Ark set his Instagram in freaking Private mode, you ask? Oho! It was his followers that captured the photo, having such a good laugh sharing it out.
Now, besides tripping on my own foot and falling onstage, there was also the matter of being in the same code-line with that bastard P'Ark that got me the most popular in the faculty as ever.
Whether it was my first-year friends, the second-year seniors, all the way to other-year seniors, they all knew about it. Let me get it straight. Right at this very second, there was no one who didn't know of Ai'Arm, the student of the Electricity Engineering faculty who was super handsome but also got the shittiest fortune.
"Arm."
"Krub?" As soon as someone's voice came into my ears, I quickly answered and turned back to look at the source of the voice.
Screammmmmmm. It was A-ngun, my year faculty's Star. I was so delighted that she came by to say hi. I remember after that fell, I was committed to cheering for her and only her, because body waves dancing performance was something that really hit Ai'Arm's heart; unlike the faculty's Moon, Ai'Theme, who got his position singing some tear-jerking song.
It sucked, but if you ask me whether I did cheer for him or not, I still did krub. He had already come that far.
"I've been waiting to see Arm so many times already, but still hasn't gotten the opportunity yet. And we don't have any classes together too."
"Do you want to exchange Line or Facebook then? So that it would be easier to contact each other."
Bingo! Although I didn't have an impressive start, I might still be able to pull the Star as my girlfriend.
We were both standing in front of the faculty hall, preparing to do the activities that the third-year seniors had arranged. Even though I was a bit on and off doing all these activities, it was better to, at least, show up so I wouldn't be causing problems with any parties. It was fortunate that the university and faculty were not that strict regarding these matters, so I could be a little more relieved surviving until the very end.
"Then can I have Arm's Line?"
"You can." If there was one thing going faster than the bank's interest, it was exactly me pulling my phone out.
I searched for the QR code on my phone and connected it to the other person's device. Finally, I had gotten the faculty's Star's Line into possession.
"From now on we can contact each other more easily, right?" A-ngun said with a clear voice that made me smile as well. The only thing I could do was go "yep" along with anything she said.
"That's right."
"Oh yeah, I have something to ask Arm to help with."
"Just say it. I can help with anything." No refusal, I will help you with anything you ask for.
"I know Arm is in the same code-line with P'Ark in Civil Engineering, so I was wondering if Arm could help me tell P'Ark to accept my friend request on Facebook, and my follow request on Instagram too."
Umm...
So she didn't approach me because of my face and charisma huh.
It's freaking Ai'Ark again. How many people had it been to approach me because of that Super Moon bastard? Seriously, what was so good about him? He was just more handsome, taller, more famous, and probably richer too. That's all!!
Don't ever let people like Ai'Arm get to rise, or else it would be freezingly cold for sure.
Everything I had been imagining could only be left circulating in my mind. In the end, all I could do was answer in a defeated voice.
"I'll try telling P'Ark for you."
"Arm is the best! Thank you so much. Here..." She didn't just do empty talk but also handed over a paper bag with a very sweet color. "I bought these macarons as a thank you."
"You don't have to."
"Please do accept it, Arm. I specifically bought these for you." You must have been preparing this bribery for a while, huh Miss Faculty Star? Hmmm.
"Thank you then."
"No problems! Don't forget to tell P'Ark. I even changed to a new profile picture. I want him to like it." She said while smiling; a smile so wide her mouth was almost torn to her ears. Goddammit! Give me back all that time I committed to cheering you back during the Star and Moon contest.
"I won't. I'll tell him for you. The only problem is, I don't even know when I'll meet P'Ark either."
"Why?"
"You know, P'Ark is like a freaking ghost. It's already a blessing being able to find him."
Which was true...
After the code-line gathering about two weeks ago, I had yet to see my code-line uncle ever again. Even though we... study in the same faculty.
After parting ways, I used the time after the activity to lie and play games with the gang in my room. The next morning, I had breakfast and went to class as usual. I never thought during that burning afternoon, I would actually encounter the Invisible Man.
Damnnnnnn, or was this A-ngun's seeing-devil spell? I just spoke of the devil yesterday and he sure appeared.
While P'Ark was still looking a different way, I quickly lowered my head until my chin was almost down to my chest, in hope that it would help in my weak ass camouflaging. The thing is I didn't want to see you now! The main reason was that I didn't want to be the center of attention. Even when I was only talking to him through IG, people were already following me around asking nonstop, let alone now!
"What do you want kiddo?" The auntie at the drink stall asked in a friendly manner.
"Ah... Uhh... May I get a peach tea please?"
"What about the handsome young man in the back? Whatdo you want?"
"One bottle of water, please." Damn, you still have the audacity to buy water at this stall. The most important thing was that he was standing and breathing down my neck. What should I do? Do I turn around to greet him and say it was such a coincidence for us to meet each other, or do I smoothly walk away without any greeting at all?
"The water is seven baht. As for the peach tea, please wait a bit kiddo. I'm making it carefully." Auntie said jokingly.
"This is for the peach tea of the person in front too krub." A 100-baht banknote was handed out. I immediately turned around to look at the person behind me.
"How did you know it was me?"
"I'm your senior." Do you hear his answer?! I was intending on not greeting at all, but now I had to talk to him anyway.
"And where did you disappear to for a whole week? I didn't see you at all."
"Nosy." Is this what a senior is supposed to say to their junior? Oyyyy! You jerk. Just thinking about it made me want to run to see P'Yipun and ask her to just cut me from the code-line!
"Fine, I won't be nosy anymore. Thank you for the water krub." After receiving my drink from Auntie, I quickly turned around and walked to the food stall without even thinking about having a conversation with the annoying code-line uncle like that bastard P'Ark. But I didn't think that with every step I took, there would be a ghost following nonstop.
"Why are you following me?" I hissed in a not-so-loud voice.
"Are you overemphasizing yourself? I'm buying rice." He walked over. After finishing pointing here and there, he turned to ask me.
"What do you want?"
"Stir-fried crispy pork with basil."
"Um..." When I finished answering, he just freaking walked away. Then why did you even ask me?!
"Aow, you're not paying for me?"
"Why do I have to pay? It's your food."
"But you asked!"
"I'm just asking. I can't ask now?"
Ai'Ark!!
"I didn't want to meet you just for you to be bugging me like this. But anyway, there's a friend of mine named A-ngun. She's the first-year faculty Star. She sent you a friend request and wanted you to accept it." I didn't want to waste my strength looking for him no more; so might as well just use this opportunity to resolve the issue that had been lingering in my mind ever since yesterday.
The bastard P'Ark narrowed his eyes at me for a brief moment before answering calmly.
"And why are you telling me?"
"Oh? I'm telling you so you would accept her request. And don't forget to accept the one on IG too."
"Let me think about it first." Listen to his voice! Full of bullshit!
"I know you're handsome, but can you not be such a pain in the ass?"
"Then come and have lunch with me first, then I'll tell you the answer."
"..." This time, I didn't answer, so a strong hand grabbed the collar of my shirt not letting me go anywhere. Amidst the chaos in the cafeteria of the Engineering Faculty, everyone looked at me and that bastard P'Ark with the same eyes.
"Will-you-come-and-sit-with-me-nong-Arm?" Damn it, if he's saying it word by word like this, who the hell would say no?
"Fine, fine. Let me tell my friends first. Can you let go of my collar? It's all wrinkled."
And it was hard to tie ties too! Unlike the upperclassmen who could wear anything they wanted to, where were the standards for us, you might ask? There would be times when I wanted to wear jeans but couldn't even wear them. I had to follow the rules by wearing slacks, tying ties, and wearing dress shoes every day. Plus, what was even worse was the fact that I had to wear my name tag with me to school every day.
"Then hurry up."
"All you do is order people around!"
"I'm going to tell my friends I'm having lunch with my code-line nephew, too. So stop arguing." The absolute command of the highest authority forced me to walk over to Ai'Sand and Pipo who were sitting and watching the whole ordeal since even before this.
They seemed to understand, hurriedly nodded telling me to quickly leave. Finally, I sat tensely with P'Ark in the eyes of the entire cafeteria.
"How has it been lately?" After sitting stuffing my mouth with rice for a while, the third-year bastard in front of me finally asked.
"So-so krub. How about you?"
"I have no duty answering your questions."
Asshole!
"What about the welcoming sessions? Do you come to those at all?" This question really gave me goosebumps. The thing is... I couldn't even remember how many times I had actually come to those. Most of the time I just ditched them to go eat bingsu with the gang.
"Welcoming sessions. Uhh... I do come krub. But I don't come to all." Let me just answer half-assedly in case I could still survive this whole ordeal. I heard that the upperclassmen were quite strict about these things. And I didn't know which kind of person the bastard P'Ark was. What if he was the type to be super passionate about the system implemented in the faculty?
"Ai'Arm, why are you doing this?" See? His voice went all stern!
"P'Ark, but I did come for about 2-3 times!"
"That's why I want to scold you!"
"I..."
"Just ditch them all, you bastard! Back during my time, I didn't even come once."
Eh? The table just suddenly turned?!
"The other day, P'Yipun just came and told me that I might not be able to get my gear because I didn't participate in enough activities." He gave me an inch and I was taking a mile; just in case the power of the Super Moon would get me the gear necklace so I could show it off to girls.
"Why would you want that gear? Even I don't have it."
"Aow?"
He does live up to the title of "Perfect 10 Liners" for real for real!!!!!!
"But the seniors are all so psycho about it! They said that we would be so proud if we were to get a gear. When we like someone, we can give them our gears which look so cool." To be honest, I wanted to have that gear too, but it just so happened that the gear couldn't overcome my lazy ass, that's all.
"If you want to give them to girls, they're all over there. The student club has them for sale. Buy them as many as you want."
"Just as simple as that?"
"And what do you overcomplicate it for?"
He was kind of true.
We sat and ate in silence. During this time, there was only the sound of Line notifications that were popping off nonstop. I picked up my phone, turned it on then read the messages of someone we were all familiar with; because it was A-ngun, the faculty Star, who sent messages saying that she was looking at me and P'Ark.
Was this a person or my karma from past life? Why was she everywhere I was?
And then the pleading messages of the other person were coming in nonstop. I kept taking deep breaths over and over again, but it was still better to wait for a good moment. I took my time to finish the entire food plate. It wasn't until the tall figure was about to stand up and leave the table that I finally touched upon the issue.
"Where are you going?"
"Putting back the plates. Class is starting." Why are you being diligent now?
"And what about that thing with my friend? Didn't you say you would tell me the answer if I were to come and have lunch with you?"
"I already told you so many times that I'm not accepting the request. Let's end it here."
"It's not over yet!"
"What are you being confused about?"
"I'm confused about everything about you."
"You'll soon get me."
"You tricked me!"
"And how did I trick you? I told you I'll give you the answer if you come and have lunch with me. There you go, I already gave you the answer that I won't accept her request. I don't accept strangers' requests. It's over, we're clear, my code-line nephew."
After throwing such a big bomb at me, he just turned around and walked away whistling as if nothing had happened. The only one left was me, smiling dryly because I accidentally answered the chat in a way that gave A-ngun so much hope. What should I do now...
Nothing but to accept it. I could have played with anyone, but I decided to come to play with Ai'Ark, the Super Moon. Oyyyyyy!
My crappy life still went on until Friday evening when I received a call from my gorgeous code-line sis, P'Yipun, telling me to stop by the IE building. But when I got there, there wasn't only my code-line sis, but there was also my fourth-year code-line grandpa, the super-handsome P'Jade.
"Hello krub, P'Yipun. Hello krub, P'Jade." I raised my hand and greeted.
"Hi Arm. I'm so sorry for making you come at this time."
"No problems krub. Is there something you need my help with?"
The person in front of me smiled dryly before holding up a cloth bag while explaining.
"They're Ark's football shoes. P'Jade borrowed them to go play football with his friends but forgot to return them. And we both won't be here from today until Sunday. We're afraid that Ark might use them. So I want to bother Arm to help me give them back to Ark." Ark again? I don't want to see him at all.
"Today I had something I really had to do with Yipun, or else I wouldn't have wanted to bother you," P'Jade said again. Damn it, both the husband and the wife were making pitiful faces.
"Can't you call P'Ark to come and pick up himself krub?"
"I called him, but he didn't answer. He's probably at the football field now."
"Ok, then I'll go give him by myself krub."
"Thank you so much, Arm! I'll treat you to more meals later."
"You promised?"
"Won't go back on my word."
After parting ways, the national mission had now been dropped onto me. As you all know, that bastard P'Ark is an invisible man who is hard to find. He randomly pops up here and there, but specifically would never show up during important moments. It's also irritatingly hard to contact him too. Thank God at least P'Jade did give me the coordinates so it shouldn't be that tiring.
But eh! How many football fields are there on the campus?
Forget it, let's just go first. That's all I could come up with, so I hurriedly walked to the car and headed straight towards the main football field of the university. There were a lot of students playing football there. I had to use my sharp eyes to scan and see, which shouldn't be too hard if it was looking for Ai'Ark, because he's the most outstanding, even if you were to look from Mars.
I spent almost 10 minutes scanning around looking for you-know-who, but in the end, I didn't even see his shadow. So I called P'Yipun again, before getting the answer that he might be at the field on the other side of the school in the on-campus dormitory.
Fine, I'll go...
When I arrived, well of course he wasn't there. I looked for him ever since daylight until now that the sun had already set. The whole field area was lightened up by the spotlight. But the light shining here didn't help things get any better at all since the Super Moon wasn't here.
I was still carrying the football shoes around every single football field in the university to look for their owner. In my heart, I was cursing over and over again for why it was so freaking hard to find him. And there were 10 football fields. Even the little courtyards for freaking lizards to enjoy the scenery, you guys can still use them to play football! I truly respect the hearts of y'all golden national team players for real.
An hour had passed, so fast that my lungs had nearly busted. Finally, I came to a stop at the football field of the Architecture Faculty. If I got all the way here already and I still didn't meet him, I swear I'll just throw those shoes down the water, so he'd learn a lesson.
Why was it so freaking hard to find you?
"Left, you bastard, to the left!"
"You dumbass! You shot it in the wrong direction! I'm here!" A loud shout came from the middle of the field. I looked at the whole scene for a moment before breathing out a sigh of relief when I finally spotted the familiar tall figure running, drenched in sweat, with a group of friends not too far away.
"P'Ark!" I shouted to the other person and didn't continue talking until the other had finally turned back and looked at me, "P'Jade asked me to return you your shoes."
"I'm in the middle of a match, can't you see?"
"Then I'll leave it here by the field."
"They might get stolen. You keep watch."
Let me roll my eyes real quick. It was already my burden bringing them here, and now I had to guard them too?! Oiiiii! It was Friday night and although I could have gone eat out with the gang, I was stuck here hunching over on the sidelines among a bunch of girls who I guessed were probably girlfriends of those playing football.
All it reminded me of was the Air Force Soldiers' Wives Association. The only one who was different was me.
I sat and waited. It took a whole hour before they finally stopped playing. I saw the tall figure walking leisurely from the middle of the field, heading towards where I was sitting. Today P'Ark was wearing a Barcelona shirt and black Nike shoes. And even though there were a lot of people on the field, he still drew everyone's attention completely.
If there was anyone more prominent than this, then they must have been Chris Hemsworth already.
"What's wrong? Why are you making platypus face?" You made me wait for such a long time already and now you still had the audacity to tease me?
"You played for so long."
"You'll get used to it soon. Normally I play even longer than this."
"Huh?!"
"I'm thirsty." That bastard P'Ark hinted.
"Why are you telling me?"
"Go buy me some water. I'm tired."
"And why do I have to go?"
"Didn't Yipun tell you that we have a tradition in the code-line? During the first year of your order, the upperclassmen can order you to do anything. Otherwise, you'll get kicked out of the code-line."
There was such a shitty rule like that too?
"I'm not going. Here! So many people have already bought you water." I pointed to the water bottles with various brands lying nearby. Every bottle was sealed with a colorful post-it, along with the name "Ark" written on it.
Ever since I sat by the field to guard his shoes for almost an hour, I had seen so many girls one by one coming to place the water bottles, which, if I were to guess, was probably not the first time that P'Ark had received gifts from all the people who were fond of him.
"I don't drink drinks from other people." His voice went a little low.
"But they bought them for you."
"Go buy water quickly... quick!"
"Fine! I'll go."
I had to sprint to the only drink stall that was still open, grab two bottles of water, and pay. One bottle was for me who had to run back and forth nonstop, and the other bottle was for the shitty code-line uncle like him.
"Take it." I threw the water bottle to the other person as soon as I got back.
"People only have girlfriends coming to watch over when they play football. What is this then? Are you making your code-line nephew your bae?" The voice of a friend standing nearby spoke up before the person who was being talked about raised his eyebrows at him, being so tempted to cut off his friend's leg.
"This is Ai'Arm." He introduced me to his friends.
"Oh, that's the nong that tripped on his own feet and fell onstage right?"
You douchebags.
"I was just a little dizzy krub." I quickly defended myself despite knowing it was technically useless.
"Don't compete in the Moon contest, nong. You're not suitable. You're too cute for that." What the heck? How is it related to being "cute?" Even though I truly am good-looking enough to be the Moon, I'm not going to waste my time arguing.
I watched as his hand twisted open the bottle of water in his hand and drank it all in one go. Why are you acting like you won't have any water to chug down in this life ever again? When the first bottle was finished, he held his hand in front of my face like a child.
"What?"
"Get me another one." It would look so rude for me to turn him down, but I was also thirsty.
"Just drink this." This was obviously a documentary on your pathetic and miserable life, Ai'Arm! Not only was I already exhausted from going to look for my code-line uncle, but I also had to look at the desperate sight of my own drink in someone else's hand.
That bastard P'Ark twisted open the cap and held it up to drink just like the first time. But this time, he only drank a little before giving it back to me with an expression as if he was bored to the utmost.
"If you're thirsty, just say that you're thirsty."
"I'm not thirsty." At this very second, I was denying while swallowing down my own saliva.
"Then I'm drinking this all."
And he really drank it all! Goddamitttttttt!
"Thank you so much. I'm leaving now." P'Ark picked up the bag of football shoes that I had carried all the way here and held it up, ready to walk away like he had always done.
"You're leaving already?" A gang of impulsive men asked knowingly.
"Yeah."
"See you tonight then."
"Don't be late."
"Ark, you don't want to bring your code-line nephew to experience the world?" The two feet of the person in front of me suddenly stopped, before turning around to stare at me silently and asked.
"Do you want to go?"
"Go where?" I asked, scratching my head.
"Bangon Pochana" Oh, must be a restaurant! Just right when I was hungry. Plus, I might get to eat for free too.
"Is it on you?"
"Uhm."
"Then I'll go."
"Ok, see you at 9 p.m." Why are you guys eating so late? All I could do was wonder while looking at the tall figure that was walking away without asking any further questions.
"I'm leaving too, then." Ark already left; then what would I even be here for?
"Arm," but someone interrupted first.
"Krub?"
"Bring the water with you."
"Water?"
"Yours."
I turned to look at the water bottles the fan club had bought for P'Ark. The names on the post-it notes had changed. They had been poorly crossed out by a pencil, yet it made me really confused about how I should feel...
Ark
Arm
I put on some comfortable clothes before grabbing my sandals, leaving the dorm room for both my dearest friends, Ai'Sand and Ai'Po, to hug each other and have meals in solitary. Since the bastard P'Ark had volunteered to come pick me up, I didn't have to waste any more gas driving outside.
"Hop in." A black car pulled over before I could see who the person with the window down was.
"Ok ok." I slipped into the car and looked at my third-year senior from head to toe. He still held the same concept just as before as Ark the Super Moon, which was a football shirt, shorts, and... sandals just as usual.
"Is the restaurant near, phi? I'm so hungry now." To be honest, I've been emptying my stomach waiting ever since we parted at the football field, hoping that I would get to eat as soon as possible. But the bastard P'Ark suddenly turned around to look at me with completely bewildered eyes.
"Why didn't you eat beforehand?"
"Aow, you said you'd take us out to eat."
"When did I say that? I just said that I'm taking you to Bangon Pochana."
"There! That's a restaurant, no?"
"It's a bar Ai'Arm. Don't be stupid." Now I'm stupid??? But what did he want me to do? I didn't know?! So I chose to sit quietly all the way to the bar.
It was Friday night and so the bar near the university was bustling with people. Most of the customers were all students. I walked, lost in thought, into the bar alongside the tall figure. I didn't want to mention about dressing up at all. That bastard P'Ark, he's good looking so he could wear anything, but me...?
Today he wore a Manchester United football shirt to the bar. I was so damn confused as to which team he was really cheering for.
"You're here, Ark!"
A large group of ten seniors sitting together at a table called out the name of the person beside me as a greeting.
Obviously, if you come to a bar, you are bound to run into familiar faces. And literally, no one could beat the people of Engineering in this. Wherever you go, there must be one from my faculty. That applied to the table next to mine too. The first-year Engineering faculty Moon named Theme was also here. It seemed like he came with his code-line grandpa. These days, whenever there were gatherings, they would all be at the bar. Even if you're not of age, you could still easily slip in the money to get in. So amazing.
"Ai'Arm! Come here." P'Ark dragged my hand to sit next to him.
"Wowwww, which Arm? Why so cute?" Someone teased. I guessed he wasn't in the football gang that evening.
"My code-line nephew. Don't touch him."
"Why are you being possessive?"
"Ai'Arm is my younger brother."
"..." P'Ark really was my superhero.
"But if you want to teach him anything, feel free to. I allow it." Eh?!
"I'm a good kid. So please leave me alone na krub." Let me have a peaceful and happy life, please. Just that bastard P'Ark alone was enough to make me discouraged to the utmost.
"You're so cheeky? Can you drink beer?"
"I can krub."
"Order some food first. Arm hasn't eaten anything yet." The stern voice of my code-line uncle interrupted mid-group as he raised his hand calling for the waiter to come over to the table with the menu of snacks and main dish.
"What do you want to eat, just order," he said.
"Fried rice with eggs then, please."
"Ok, then one plate of fried rice with eggs." He turned to the waiter and ordered before the conversation of the hasty guys on the table continued.
"Tonight is going to be a blood bath! Let's bet. Whoever loses has to pay." I'm done for good. Why did I have to run into this damn gambling ring? All I could do was smile back. I will not open my mouth to say any words!
"Ai'Ark is the leader of the Manchester United team. Whoever supports Manchester United, raise your hand."
Woosh!! Everyone raised their hands.
Except. Me.
"Ai'Arm, you're cheering for Liverpool?" Don't ask meeeeee! I just didn't raise my hand in timeeeee!
"We're going with that then. If you lose, you pay." You termite Ark! If you're thinking of setting yourself up to be my enemy, try it then! I'm telling Solanke to shoot with zero fails at all! Just wait and see!
"F...Fine! If I lose of course I'm going to pay!"
Ten minutes later, the fried rice was served. I continued scooping the rice and gulping down beer while watching the football that was just about to kick off. All the seniors turned their attention to the projector screen, eyes unblinking. Not the next tables coming over to give extra power too? Ohoooo!
"You bastard Ark! What kind of wind brought you here?"
"Shouldn't I ask you that, Ai'Warm?" I looked to see my code-line uncle greeting this one senior with grey hair, whose face was just straight-up irresistible.
"University Moon," someone said to me.
"He's so handsome, I'm jealous." I want a face like this too. Will I ever have that kind of merit?
"He's less handsome than your code-line uncle. You should be proud to be in Ai'Ark's code-line."
"Huh."
"Why are you pursing your mouth? I'm smaking your mouth ripped." It's stuff like this that makes you notice so fast.
I didn't really want to argue with him much. Apart from sitting eating my fried rice and sipping beer as usual, there was just some dancing here and there to the rhythm of the music as I was in such a good mood because my team was leading 1-0 from just the first ten minutes. Uwahahahahaha!
"I'm in such a good mood," I said, striking back at P'Ark.
"The game has just started. Don't be happy so soon."
"And when we lead you in a lopsided game, you'd probably cry so hard. You're probably hypnotizing yourself to not go onto a rampage now huh?"
He didn't say anything except smacking my head violently as a way to cut out the annoyance, which I didn't mind at all. Why? Because my team was leading.
Thirty minutes later...
"Let's go!"
"No don't! Don't!" I shrieked.
"Hey!!! ManU! My son, woohoooooooooo!"
The cheering sound from the bar got louder and louder, which made me instantly go head-in-hand as soon as the first ball from the opposing team went through the net with Alexis' left leg.
An hour had passed...
"He's coming! And s... Shoot!!! Oho a solid 2-1!"
Another 15 minutes until the game ended...
"Drag it... Mata move! Drag... Go for it! And OHHHHHH"
"3-1 already! ManU, my son!"
And even two minutes before closing the match...
"Go... End it with another goal. Eat them upppppp"
"..."
"Woohhhhh!!"
Please look at my face for a tad bit just to see how much I wanted to cry. The game ended with Manchester United winning Liverpool with the score of 4-1, a total blowout. There was little zero chance of getting back. There was only my heart that was getting broken into pieces the moment I had to dig into my wallet just to see if I had enough money to pay up all the beer for these upperclassmen bastards.
"H-how much is it krub?" I looked up and asked the employee.
"The total is 1,470 baht ka."
Oh my dear god. It was my eating and going out money for one whole month and now I had to spare them out just to pay for this stupid thing? And I only had one single cup of beer too! It's not worth it at all.
"Wow, Ai'Arm, your heart is so handsome! Thank you so much. Let's go. Bye y'all." Then them bastards all got up and left, leaving me sitting alone with my face on the table.
"Are you dead?"
I forgot Ai'Ark was still here. Spare me, please... I really don't want to argue when I'm agitated.
"Can you help carry my corpse?" He laughed loudly.
"You're still a noobie, you'll get used to it soon!"
"What?"
"Your money, what else? 1,470 baht." And he actually handed me the money krub. What? I'm completely confused.
"Why are you giving it to me?"
"I'm afraid you won't have money to eat until the end of the month."
"And?"
"I'll lend it to you. You can pay me back next month when you have more money but for now..."
"..."
"You owe me."
He patted my shoulder then grabbed his keys and walked out waiting by the car with a handsome posture, leaving me and over a thousand baht on the table, tears streaming down my heart.
Didn't Dad say if I used this name, I'd never be poor? Dad is a liar! You tricked me!
Do you remember? I'm... Anon, the one in debt!!
The next morning, I woke up and went to class just as usual. I was scrolling through the screen looking at pictures on Instagram when I saw that douchebag P'Ark had posted a photo of the projector screen when Manchester United won, along with a caption that made me grind my teeth.
Twice already. This had happened twice already!
The picture before this where I fell on my face, he hasn't even deleted it yet. And yet you're playing with me again?
Arc_anol Manchester United won. I feel so sorry for Liverpool, but what's more pitiful is some weak chicken here.
Of course, there must be cheerleaders coming to give encouragement and praise until there's no single space left to scold him.
Parehippy I support ManU, I support P'Ark's team
TOR_EN It was so fun last night. I saw your table all shouted so loudly
Arc_anol @TOR_EN Not as loud as your table when you guys were flirting with the girls serving beer
Bello05_x I saw Ark too. You were so handsome wearing that ManU shirt. Girls from the whole bar were all looking at you
I knew exactly who he meant in that caption, so I hurriedly typed a reply at the speed of light.
Armm01 Well, someone likes ganging up on others
And less than a minute later, I received a painful reply.
Arc_anol @Armm01 Someone is tease-able
Armm01 @Arc_anol Someone keeps bugging others
Arc_anol @Armm01 Someone keeps wanting to be bugged #DontArgueIfYoureADebtor
Armm01 @Arc_anol Then let me pay up all my debt today. Just come and see me
Arc_anol @Armm01 I don't want to see you. I'm so bored of your face
I was so close to throwing my phone away to vent my frustration. He thought it was over, but I don't think so krub. I immediately shot him a message via Instagram's direct message.
Armm01
Give me your bank account. I'm going to transfer the money to you
Arc_anol
No.
Armm01
So that we don't have to owe each other anything anymore
Arc_anol
Go study.
He was so good at changing the topic, it was so on brand of him. I put in all my effort to type another long, long message to tell the other person that part of me also didn't want to be indebted to anyone's help for a long time. But I didn't expect that as soon as I pressed send...
Hey, why can't the message be sent?
"Oh, it's just that I got blocked."
Ha?! I GOT BLOCKED!!
You bastard P'Arkkkkkkk! Why did you block meeeeee!
After that, no matter if I tried to send any messages, it still wouldn't work. Fine, I surrendered. No matter what I cursed and scolded him, nothing would work if he already had me blocked like this.
Maybe I really should just leave it up to him. Was he my senior or my dad? I'm still confused up to this day.
And I didn't see that bastard P'Ark for the whole week. It was like he had freaking died from this world and the day he came back was the day he resurrected. The important thing was that he still had me blocked on all platforms, whether it was Facebook, IG, or even Line. Goddammit, I just said something that didn't sit well with him for a bit and suddenly he was using the dictatorial system on me.
Everyone always said that Ark was a real one. Yet, I just knew wholeheartedly what that meant from meeting the real him just now.
"You're checking your IG again. P'Ark still hasn't unblocked you?" Ai'Sand asked. He knew clearly what I had been bothered by these past few days.
"Yeah."
"He's just indie like that."
"Can you please differentiate what's being indie and what's being a dick?"
"Actually, he wasn't wrong to block you. It's similar to playing claw machines. People tend to think that it's a random system when in fact, it's all depended on the person who's playing it." Ai'Pipo expressed his opinion. Y'all are driving me insane!
"We're talking about being blocked on social media here and you can still bring it back to playing claw machines huh, you bastard."
"You don't understand, Ai'Arm. You want to try playing first?"
"Shut up. I don't want to go crazy like you," I grumbled, before lowering my head down to the table and taking lecture notes without turning around to talk with my two dear friends ever again.
Ting!!
Soon, all my attention shifted to the mobile phone beside me. I opened it to silently watch the timeline movement until I suddenly realized the notification was from the Super Moon bastard P'Ark himself.
He added me on Facebook today. You bastard! You're working too hard blocking me then adding me again, no?
And I wasn't the type to play hard to get to their code-line. I also wanted to know if he added me to apologize for anything or not. After clicking accept, I immediately sent him a sticker as a greeting.
Armm Anon
ʕ◉ᴥ◉ʔ
Anol Paraminphisan
The fuck is that thing you're sending me?
You really are such a brutal person, you bastard P'Ark...
Armm Anon
If you want to apologize for blocking me, just say it
Anol Paraminphisan
You're pretty good at imagining things huh
Armm Anon
Aow, or did you add me to collect debt?
Just send me your bank account so it can finally be over
Anol Paraminphisan
Stop talking about money
Or else I'm blocking you again
Armm Anon
How can I do that? I don't want to be in debt to you for too long
I can pay you face-to-face too, just give me a location
I haven't even gotten the chance to press enter yet, my Facebook already popped up a notification.
What. The. Fuckkkkkkkk.
For God's sake, I'm blocked againnnnnnnnn.
You think you can just come and go whenever you feel like it like that, you bastard P'Ark? I'm suing you to Mark Zuckerberg so he would ban you from the Facebook platform! Damn it, you freaking impolite-on-social-media ass! You goddamn cursed code-line! You dickhead Super Moon! You%&^#*)@!~%&$#(*!
"What the fuck is wrong with you, Ai'Arm? Why do you keep fidgeting?" My friends were the ones to pull me back from all my irritated thoughts back to reality, once again. But to be honest, my sanity was far gone. The only thing I was praying was to sue to P'Yipun and P'Jade about every single damn thing when this period is over so that they can just cut P'Ark out from the whole code-line.
"Shit..."
But luck was never on my side. I walked down from the building and suddenly it was raining hard.
All students writhed like earthworms being scalded in hot water. Some gathered under the building, but many others just braved the rain to find shelter amidst the chaos. The gang and I were no different.
"Agriculture Faculty café?" I suggested.
"Is there a claw machine there?"
"If you talk about this one more time, I'm seriously going to punch your stomach." It worked. Ai'Po shut his mouth right away. There was only Ai'Sand left who rolled his eyes and thought for a moment, before nodding his head.
So we half walked, half ran along the building's walkway, then ran under the rain for a little before finally reaching the Agriculture Faculty café. Even though we ran for only a little, my shirt was wet all the way to my nipples. My underwear, if I weren't to shake it dry, might have gotten wet all the way there.
"What do you want?" As soon as I got there, I turned to ask my two dear friends' order right away.
"Two cups of mocha then. Let me go get a table first." With that, both of them headed off to browse the whole store looking for an available space. Of course, with the outside raining like this, who wouldn't run here to hide? But it was good because there were still some spaces left for us to take shelter.
After finishing ordering drinks for them, I dragged my body to sit at the table. Everyone was finding this and that to chit-chat about for a while before each going to our own phone to kill time. And while I was thinking that it was finally time for this Ai'Arm to sue to my code-line sis...
"P'Ark, hey... P'Ark, huhhhhh?"
After a while, the sound of the entire store was getting louder and louder with the appearance of you-know-who, as well as his friend group. Their engineering smocks were all soaking wet. But I can strongly assure you that they were all so darn good-looking.
The tall figure stepped into the shop and went straight to the counter to order a drink. After a while, he followed his friends to sit at a table in another corner of the café store. I swear to God, just with a glance, P'Ark had already seen me sitting here before anything else.
"It's your code-line uncle," Ai'Sand was almost whispering under his breath, even though the other table was sitting so far away. But you did the right thing. That bastard P'Ark had a goddamn radar that could be nosy over long distances. Whoever talked about him, he freaking knew it all.
"He isn't anymore. I'm cutting him from the code-line."
"You can do that?"
"Well, he blocked me!"
"Don't annoy him then."
"Isn't that too late to say now?"
Let's just live our own lives for now. But barely fifteen minutes later, Ai'Po kept smacking my leg nonstop.
"Hey you, hey, hey!"
Until I had to turn to look at the person walking towards my table with the most unwelcoming facial expression ever.
P'Ark threw himself down on the other empty chair without saying a single word. He acted like nothing had happened, even though you clearly had blocked my Facebook just now.
"Hello krub, P'Ark." Ai'Sand and Ai'Po raised their hands to greet.
"Uhm."
"Do you have any problems krub?"
"I have something to talk to Am."
"Feel free to. Make yourself at home krub." And they both acted like they didn't care about anything other than picking up their headphones, plugging them in, and burying their heads in the game.
"You know it's raining, and you still brave the rain." What a confusing way to start off the conversation. But in what world would I give a proper answer? Who am I? I'm Arm Anon, the most annoying thing in my all-boys school.
"What, do we know each other too krub?"
"Arm."
"We don't know each other."
"You know you're asking for it and you're still going to be annoying?"
"We already blocked each other. I don't talk to strangers krub."
"Ark, the drinks are here. Let's go." It was at this moment that the third-year senior in the group called for him. The handsome face turned to look for a moment and nodded his head.
"I have to go now."
"Uh."
"Did you bring an umbrella with you?" He asked me again.
"Excuse me, who are you to ask me?"
"Fine. You're playing it this way, right?"
At the end of that sentence, P'Ark rose to his full height and headed toward the counter where the employee was standing. Then, he pointed at me and said loudly.
"Please tell this to that kid sitting over there, because it seems like we don't know each other."
"..."
"It's raining, take care of yourself. If you get sick, I'm kicking you."
"..."
"That's all krub."
Then he grabbed his drink and walked out amidst the confusion of everyone in the café store, including myself...
What the heck is wrong with him?