Gen Y First Love 10
"Let me keep the first kiss of my life for someone I love...Pok."
From the day he heard this sentence, there was none of the day he stopped thinking about Tong. The indifferent face which did not show much feelings had become the face Pok often carelessly looked for. Especially the lips, which he could only imagine how it would feel like to actually kiss them. If he really had a chance to kiss them.
But, before the kiss...I needed to be someone you loved first.
At the big court where was the school's outdoor field, located the basketball hoops and benches around the place. It was the space where all students could come exercise during their break time. There, Pok was chasing after a basketball with many friends in the field.
"Pok, quick, send it to me, dummy." A friend was calling his name but the player who used to be extremely active like Pok let the ball be taken away easily from his hand. Only because, his stupid eyes caught the sight of the grade president walking pass by the edge of the field. Pok took this opportunity to stay away and sought for a spot where he could see Tong in his sight.
"What's wrong with you, Pok?" Phai noticed that his friend had been acting strangely. Still, he could not find the reason why.
Pok made a weird face expression. Well, he could say he had not been sleeping well because he kept dreaming of someone....someone and the incident on that day. Then, he woke up with the question that he could not answer.
And when he read, it became worse, especially that subject. Just to open his notebook, he saw Tong's face every time. His mind was not in its place, dispersed. He needed to focus so much to pass the retest.
"Damn Pok, what the hell are you doing?" Phai cried when his best friend suddenly grabbed his face with two hands and pulled so close to his face. Pok stared at Phai's eyes very closely, like the noses were about to touch each other.
"Why don't I feel anything?" As he spoke, he was still staring at Phai's face, his best friend. It was just as close as what he once did with Tong.
Silent...His heart was beating the same beat, no skipping.
"What will you feel, huh? My face, you have not seen it enough?
Let me goooooo!"
Pok let out his face as requested. At the moment, Tong was just talking to a group of friends. Now what? What would be the excuse to make the conversation with? Phai followed Pok's eyes and kept swapping back and forth twice. He wanted to rub his eyes again to see if there was something he misunderstood. From Pok's expression, he was so sure Pok fell in love with someone!
"Come clean to me, Pok. Who do you like in that group?" Phai narrowed his eyes, having his arms crossing over his chest like a detective who was ready to dig up the truth.
Like!?
When Pok replaced the word to answer the question he had been asking himself for days.
Everything...fits...
Tong walked out the bathroom after the physical education class. This day was the day of the basketball match between his class and the third room. Surely, every time, the third room always won as they had the school team player like Pok. However, today, the result had turned out that the first room won with a very close score. If Tong was not a narcissist, it seemed like Pok yielded to him...did he?
"Tong, you played well today." Speaking of the devil, the owner of the name showed up behind him with his soaking wet body wearing a towel just like him.
Both of them might be the last two people who came to clean themselves after the match. With Phai's assistance, he managed to set aside his friends so they could finally be alone.
"Next time, don't yield to me. It needs to be a real competition, so we can call it sport." Tong grabbed his things out of the locker. He was ducking inside his shirt to wear it so he could not see Pok' s dry smile.
This president guy was so well-rounded. How long would he be able to keep his secret away from this friend? How long would he be able to...?
He was just pleasing him to see the smile of the winner.
"Thanks to you, I passed the retest only because of you."
Pok really wanted to see his face badly. But, when he was really standing there with him, he was too afraid to look at him fully with his eyes. He grabbed the clothes and put them on, trying to conceal his excitement which appeared out of the blue when they were together.
"Umm" Tong replied shortly. He kept his eyes low. Pok still could not look at his friend with confidence. But, Tong was better in concealing this.
When Tong finished dressing up, he could not walk out. He was blocked by the thick body. So he looked at Pok's face.
"You have anything?"
"Well...how was your internship? It was tutoring the primary kids, right?"
That was not the thing he wanted to say at all. But his mouth was too heavy to ask what he meant to say. What excuse could he make? The excuse that Tong could be responsive about it and not suspect that he was asking because of any hidden agenda.
"They are much easier to teach than you, Pok." The response seemed to be a cheerful one with a smile. Knowing so, the one who asked quickly looked at the face to see fully. That was too much of me. Way too much. Just to see Tong's smile, he felt the warmth throughout his heart.
"It must be harder, 'cause I am not a primary kid anymore."
I am a grown up man, grown enough to like you! But who would dare to say this. What I could do was to keep this inside my heart.
"Don't fail the test too often, unless you need to go study with the primary kids again." Tong pushed his bag to fit with his shoulder, walking out to the exit. This time, Pok allowed him to go.
Tong was about to leave, while Pok was squeezing his hands together then let go. He was hesitating if he could ask. Alright...Pok gathered his bravery and shouted after him.
"Tong, are you free this Saturday?"
This Saturday was the last day of the student's internship in the coffee shop. Probably Saeb, or P' Mark who proposed that the farewell party should be held, to say farewell and to thank everyone who always came and visited the shop.
The kind owner of the coffee shop allowed them to order the foods all over the tables. They separated a corner of the shop, for the special guests from both ages would have a good time together.
"I'd like to toast to my younger brother, Saeb, who is very diligent. He has been wandering all over the university, I thought that we have got the new chief of security guards." Mark raised his glass and smiled naughtily when he saw Saeb waved his fingers, acting like he would take revenge. "Oh...did I misunderstand? Sorry, you actually are a server of this shop."
The rest in the table laughed together, Wayu, Doctor Krit, Phai, Saendee and Mark himself.
"P' Kit, P' Mark is bullying me. I don't know but you need to help me." Saeb turned to Doctor Kit who was sitting adjacent.
"What does that have to do with me?"
Stop shouting, Saeb. The past few days, he had just bullied me too! And it was terrible because I had no one to go to.
"What? 'Cause Mark is yours, isn't he?" Saeb wiggled his head while talking. He ignored Kit's angry face which was starting to bear his teeth. But he did not have a chance to punish Saeb yet, Mark brought himself to sit at the former seat. He said something that Kit would want to insult with instead.
"Saeb, respect the senior brother. Don't make fun of P' Kit like that." Wayu warned Saeb. But, when Saeb saw his cousin's eyes which expressed oppositely from his warnings, he knew he had the full support from Wayu!
"Pok, this way."
Phai waved at his best friend. He tried not to tease when he was glad he saw Tong walking after him closely.
Two new boys introduced themselves and got to know other senior friends. Although it was quite a short time, Pok managed to get into the group well, while Tong tended to speak less.
"What did Pok do to drag the class president to come here, Phai? I smell something with these two people." Saeb whispered to ask Phai, his eyes showed pure curiosity. He asked Phai when Tong was talking to Saendee and Pok was telling his internship story as a swimming coach for primary kids.
"Because everyone finished their internship at the same time, so we come meet and eat together. You just randomly connect things."
"Look at Pok's face first. Is there anything to guess?"
Saeb could tell with one glance. Pok was so easy to read. There, he secretly stared at Tong again.
Phai did not reply, he avoided by grabbing a water glass to sip. While he was sweeping his eyes around the table, he stopped at Saendee. Then, Phai had popped up an idea. He walked to the glass jar, the same one with the papers inside.
"Pok, Tong, you guys are new here. Here...the papers. Write your love definition down, as your souvenirs for Saendee."
Saendee smiled gently for Phai who always paid attention to details. "Thank you, Phai."
"Love definition?" Tong asked.
"Up to you, you can write whatever you want. You can pick one to be your example." Phai suggested.
"Let me see" Pok randomly grabbed one paper and read it. He laughed. "What the heck...this can be it?"
...The meaner you get, the more I love you...
While Tong opened one and read quietly. He put it back again without showing any facial expression.
...When you love, you will know...
Two couples of eyes met again. No need to say it out, they both knew well by their hearts. The memory of the day...the day they almost kissed, it replayed in their heads without reason. Pok was the one who avoided the eyesight. He acted like he was paying attention in writing the short message down in the small paper. So does Tong.
Kit kept eating quietly, trying not to look at the face of someone sitting opposite. Then, his attention was taken by a fingertip which pretended to crawl, touching his fair back of hand.
"How many times do I need to kiss you till I make it to your boyfriend?"
You still think that there will be the next kiss!?
Kit widened his eyes, staring at the one who asked. He stuffed Mark with some fried pork he could get. Luckily, everyone was paying attention to the definition of love. None of them heard what Mark said to him.
"...Ugh Uhhhhh"
"Keep eating, so you can shut your mouth."
Mark's appealing face kept smiling happily while he was chewing everything. He ate what Kit handed and made them look so delicious Kit had never seen before, although they had meals together so many times.
"Is it that good?"
"Yes, because this is the first time you feed me."
Kit made a sound with irritation. Although he tried to stop arguing with this younger kid who always teased him, he just could not help himself.
Wayu looked much happier when he was among his friends and his familiar junior friends. Saeb knew it well, so he kept pleasing him and talked with him closely. Despite the fun they had, it was time to farewell. It was late, almost everyone left except two persons who always helped cleaning as their last farewell.
"Only us left again." Phai turned to tell Saendee who was still busy with his notebook, gathering up all the notes with the definition of love. He poured out all of them to keep them into his notebook.
"I thought you would go back home with P' Kit."
"I'd rather go back on my own. It was obvious that P' Mark wanted to send P' Kit back home so bad. I dare not to get in his way. He may kick me on my way home."
"Phai..."
"Yes, Saendee."
"I think I still haven't got your love definition note."
"I have never loved anyone. So, I don't know how to define it." Phai covered up, even so, Saendee always knew his tricks.
"If you haven't known it yet, then you can choose one. I think there will be one which suits you."
Seeing his friend's seriousness, he followed without any arguments. Although Phai was just randomly picking, he was surprised. He picked the one he already read on the first time.
...Love is seeking for someone who will make you understand the definition of it...
Phai could not recognize this pretty long message. But, he noticed that there was a tiny arrow drawn inside. It reminded him that he already saw it once.
"Midnight already. Phai, you'd better go. You call the cab already?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, so I'd better go. See you at school, Saendee."
Phai brought himself back after he faced the confusion and coincidence which was quite impossible to him. He took the paper back with him.
Being left alone, Saendee was staying with silence as his company. He gradually noted the message in each paper into his notebook with calmness. It may be too soon to find the conclusion of these various love definitions. It would be a long journey until reaching the ending chapter, which no one knew whether it would be happy or sad.
The love which only two hearts with true love know.
But no one knows when the path of relationship will finally meet.
...The meaner you get, the more I love you...
...When you love, you will know...
Love will conquest the wall of friendship
...Love...more than friends...
...There will be no kiss, without love...
Love which you keep waiting with your whole heart,
even though it is hopeless to wait for
...Love is the destiny you cannot avoid...
...Love lies above fate...
And
Phai was rushing to the pick-up point, which the driver he called was already there, waiting for him.
"What a coincidence...Woah...Hey"
The strong wind at night swooped in out of the blue. It blew the paper slipping away from his hand. He was trying to snatch it, still, it was blown away forward. Then, it stopped at the tips of a tall guy's feet. Phai had no idea why he stood still there like enchanted. He watched the man picking up his love definition paper.
The words of Saendee returned in his memory at the moment.
"You told me I have a soulmate, didn't you? Who is that?"
"When you meet the one, you will know."
His midnight black eyes of his barely believed that he would see his own handwriting and the message he once wrote again. It was his habit to draw the arrow at the end of the paper, it could not be anyone's paper but his...
Thanu, the medical student.
His sharp black eyes moved up to see a pair of round shaped eyes, which the owner was standing not far from him.
The one who was destined to be the owner of the love definition Thanu had defined.
...Love is seeking for someone who will make you understand the definition of it...
END of FIRST LOVE