Today marks the first day of Gulf's first teaching journey
After graduating from college, Gulf decided to pursue his career in teaching because of his industrial education major.
Now, Gulf is standing in front of the university he got hired at. JDED University.
"a new life starts here," he stared at the gate and smiled.
Today, he is wearing blue long sleeves paired with his black slacks and new leather shoes. He looks so professional, and with his handsome face, he looks like a model instead of an instructor.
Gulf took his first step inside the university. When people saw him walk inside, they turned their head and watched him walk. He looks so mesmerizing.
Gulf turned around and saw a group of female students looking at him, he smiled at them-they screamed,and he continued his way to the education building where he will be an instructor.
While making his way to the faculty lounge at the fourth floor of the building, people kept on looking at him.
When he arrived at the lounge, Gulf saw a young beautiful senior professor so he greeted her
"sawadee krap, khun(miss) mek" he pressed his hands together and formed a Wai (traditional Thai gesture)
"sawadee ka, khun Gulf" she greeted him back, "today is your first day teaching right?" she immediately followed
"chai (yes), khun. I'm a little nervous" *he nodded and smiled at her
"you can do it! Goodluck na(something that is used to lighten the tone of a word or phrase)" after saying that, she walked out of the room
Gulf made his way to his table and placed his bag under his desk.
After that, he took out his laptop and edited a little PowerPoint presentation that he would present for his classes today.
Since it is just the first day of class, it will just be an introduction of the students and teachers as well as a brief summary of the course (subject) they are taking.
After checking if everything in his PowerPoint is already complete, Gulf heard the morning bell and the announcement for the singing of the national anthem so he stood up to give respect.
After that, he sat down again and opened his drawer and grabbed a book about understanding industries.
As a beginner in teaching, Gulf can only teach the basics of industrial education.
His class starts at 9 am, and it is only 8:05 so he decided to read through something from the book and learn more about the subject he is going to teach.
While he was focused on reading, he heard someone open the door, he looked at the door and saw a tall handsome man come in. He didn't know who this person was but he still greeted him with a smile and wai.
The person looked at Gulf coldly but didn't greet him back and rushed to a table in front of Gulf and grabbed a book and rushed back out again.
Gulf frowned when he saw the way the man treated him but didn't dwell on it much and went back reading.
After a while, he heard a bell indicating that it is already 9 am.
Gulf stood up, and brought his laptop and book and headed to the third floor. His first class is about to start. He is feeling nervous.
When Gulf entered the room from the front door, the students inside the class immediately looked at him, he didn't look at them immediately though and headed to the table at the corner, placed his materials on top of it and then looked at them.
With a serious face, he greeted them, "good morning everyone, I am Gulf kanawut, your instructor for this semester"
After that, he grabbed a chalk and wrote his name on the board then turned back around facing his students with a little smile.
Looking at Gulf's handsome face, and beautiful smile, both boys and girls in the room looked at him stunned.
Seeing that the students are just staring at him dumbfounded, and not greeting him, Gulf slapped his hand lightly on the table and it created a loud noise.
Hearing this, the students seemed to come back to their senses and greeted him. Some girls looked at his beautiful face, and some blushed when they met his eyes. Even some boys are also blushing.
" okay, since today is just the first day, I would like to hear you introduce yourself okay?" he called the girl sitting in the front row
"let's start with you khun"
The girl Gulf pointed at blushed when he saw Gulf looking at him with a smile, then slowly stood up and introduced herself.
After the whole class finished their introduction, Gulf told them his classroom rules, and the needed requirement to pass his class. After that, he introduced a small portion of the first lesson and shortly after, he heard a bell indicating the end of the class.
"Okay, that's it for today. Sawadee krap", he grabbed his materials and looked at the students
"Sawadee ka/krap" they answered back
After that, Gulf walked out of the room and headed back to the faculty lounge. He has an hour break after this first class so he decided to make his way in the lounge and relax there.
When he arrived back in the lounge, he saw Khun Mek again
"Khun Gulf, how was your first class?" Mek, who was talking to another faculty member waved at Gulf and asked him to come over, then asked
Gulf walked to Khun Mek and answered "It was okay, khun. The students are actually really nice", he smiled when he answered her
"Good! I hope you enjoy your stay here", Mek smiled at Gulf then tapped his shoulder
Gulf nodded and smiled at her, after a while, he turned around and looked at the table of the man who walked in earlier
"Uhmm, khun Mek, who is the person sitting there?", he pointed at the man's table.
"Ohh, that is Khun Mew, have you seen him already?" Mek looked at the table Gulf is pointing at and thought for a while before answering.
"Ohh, he entered earlier, but he looks like he is in a rush", Gulf nodded and looked at the table again and remembered Mew's cold look at him
"Well, he is from the faculty of engineering. He wont come here often." Mek nodded and then turned back to gulf
"Did you talk to him?" Mek gave a helpless smile when she asked this
"I greeted him, but he just looked at me coldly and didn't greet me back", he remembered Mew's cold eyes
"Well, don't be fooled by his handsome appearance. Even though he looked nice, he don't really talk often and is always serious, don't be offended" Mek consoled him
Gulf nodded and looked at Mew's table one last time, and then walked back to his table.
When he arrived at his table, he placed his materials on top of it and started reading again
After a while, Mek, walked near Gulf and told him in a low voice
"Uhmm, Gulf, next time you talk to him be a bit more respectful and tolerant, he is one of the smartest professor in the university and even the higher ups are respectful of him"
Gulf looked at Mek's awkward face and then nodded
Seeing that Gulf gave a look of understanding, Mek nodded and walked back to her table.to grab her stuff and headed to her next class.
Gulf went back to his book, and took note of certain areas that he cannot understand. After that, he placed his head on the desk and closed his eyes.
After some time, someone entered the door, it was Mew.
Looking at his appearance, the professors and instructors who are chatting idly stopped talking and greeted him then went back to what they were doing.
Mew greeted them back with his cold face and went to his table and grabbed a book from his drawer and started reading.
After a while, the bell rang. Gulf was startled by the sound of the bell and was jolted awake from his nap. His knee hit the table which caused the table to make a loud sound and also made his knee hurt
Since gulf caused a ruckus, mew, who was focused on reading a book frowned and turned around
"Can you please be quiet?" he looked at gulf with a frown
Gulf looked at Mew and apologized.
Mew looked back at his book, and after a few seconds closed it then he looked at his watch and stood up.
At this point, gulf also stood up.
Mew looked at Gulf, then frowned.
Looking at the intimidating presence of mew who stood up the same time as he did and his handsome face, gulf felt really pressured.
"Uhmm, sorry again ajarn (professor)" he wai and after saying that, he lowered his head and walked towards the door
When gulf is about to reach the door he heard mew called him
"Wait"
Hearing Mew's voice, Gulf shivered and became afraid. It is just his first day and it looks like he became a prey to one of the notorious seniors.
He turned around and looked at Mew
Mew walked closer to him.
When he reached in front of Gulf, he looked at him in the eye and said
"Are you really going to your class looking like that? How unprofessional" Without waiting for gulf to reply, Mew walked past him and exited the room
Gulf felt really embarrassed when he heard this. Then he sighed sadly.
He really didn't expect to become a prey on his first day. He planned to teach really well and just enjoyed his stay here, but looking at how it is now, he felt like he will not enjoy his stay anymore.
After taking a deep breath, he walked out of the faculty room and headed to the faculty toilet to freshen himself and then headed to his class.
When Gulf got back to the faculty room after his class, he didn't see Mew anymore so he sighed in relief. After that he continued with this day.
At 3pm, gulf doesn't have any classes anymore. To not waste time, gulf started preparing for his classes tomorrow.
At 5pm, he finished his lessons and prepared to head home.
While he is packing his things he heard Mek
"Do you want to join us? We will have dinner" She smiled at him sweetly
Gulf deliberated for a while and remembered that there is already one professor that is annoyed at him and he don't want to add the nice and sweet Mek to the list, so he nodded and smiled back at her
"Okay good, are you done?"
"Krap, ajarn" Gulf nodded politely
"Oy, don't call me Ajarn after work hours, just call me P Mek." she tapped gulfs shoulder lightly
"Okay krap" He smiled and grabbed his bag
"Okay, lets' go!", Mek walked ahead of gulf and gulf followed
When they got into the restaurant, they started eating and talking
"Gulf, how was your first day?" a professor across gulf looked at him
"Oy P. I think gulf enjoyed his first day, my students looked like they are in love when i entered the room after gulf" another professor butted in, everyone laughed
Gulf didn't say anything and laughed with them
After a while, mek asked gulf with a little worried tone, "Seriously, how did your first day go? You looked stressed after lunch"
Gulf turned to mek and then sighed. He didn't know if he should tell it or not since it feels like it was just really petty and maybe Mew did that for his sake too.
"Hey, if something is bothering you, just tell me okay?" She touched gulf's tigh and gave him a reassuring look
"Okay p. Thank you." He nodded
"So what happened?"
"Well, it seems petty..." He feels embarrassed
"Come on, just tell me." It looks like mek really want to know why gulf looked a little different after lunch time
"Well...", he told the story and then lowered his head.
After a while, Mek rubbed his head, "hey, don't feel sad! He is just like that!"
Gulf sighed and didn't talk again.
After the dinner, gulf went ahead and grabbed a cab and went to his condo.
The next day, Gulf came to school early and started his day,
Today,he had class before lunch, after that, he headed back to the lounge to drop his things and planned to head to the cafeteria to grab some lunch.
Gulf grabbed the door of the faculty room and when he was about to open it, a group of students approached him and asked for his picture.
Since he is a professor, he didn't feel that it was appropriate to do this so he rejected them. After that, he turned around heading to the faculty and then he hit someone.without looking he immediately blurted
"Kaw tot krap" after saying this, he looked at the person he hit. It was Mew.
Mew is looking at him with his normal cold face, "Look at where you are going", after saying that, he walked past gulf
Gulf lowered his head and said "Krap" and then waited for mew to walk further before he sighed and entered the faculty.
When he sat down to his chair, he rubbed his head and then sighed, then stood up and headed to the cafeteria.
In the cafeteria, he saw a familiar face, his friend who is also a professor at the university, it was Jimmy Karn, an english professor.
Gulf bought his food and sat beside Jimmy
"Hey gulf, how are you?" Jimmy asked
"It is not doing good! Yesterday, I met one professor and now I feel like he already targeted me as a prey. He looked so annoyed whenever he saw me" He sighed as he whined.
Jimmy took a bite of his food and then continued asking, "Which professor?"
"Ajarn Mew Suppasit", He looked defeated
"AJARN MEW?!", Jimmy almost stood up when he heard this
Gulf was startled by Jimmys reaction. He had a bad feeling, "Why?!"
Jimmy gave Gulf a helpless smile then grabbed his shoulder and pulled him closer, "Didn't you know, he is the top professor in the university! Even the superiors need to listen to his suggestions sometimes"
"I know that already! Why did you look shocked when you heard his name?" Gulf is really nervous
"Well, during evaluations, he is one of the professors that will give a score to us new instructors. It is also said that he gives really bad scores but his explanation and reason is flawless. There is even a rumor that there was once a new professor--a few years before us that bumped him and after that, Ajarn Mew personally assessed that professor and roasted him during deliberation. The professor was humiliated and embarrassed and couldn't find face to come back to the university anymore." Jimmy explained himself
Hearing Jimmy's story, Gulf paled
"Anyway, just avoid him and nothing bad will happen to you" Jimmy drank his water and then looked at Gulf.
The moment he turned to Gulf and saw that he was kind of pale he immediately understood, "What did you do?!"
"I bumped into him just now, before i get here" He looked sad
"Aiiiiiiii! Gulf!", Jimmy shook his head and looked at Gulf again, "Forget about it. Just do your best so he can't find fault against you anymore"
Gulf nodded and then started eating his lunch, after that, Jimmy stood up, "Hey, P Tommy will pick me up later, do you want to join us for dinner?"
Tommy is Jimmy's boyfriend, and they are both gulf's friends.
"Okay, wait for me. I'll finish my class late today" Gulf answered.
Jimmy nodded, then the two went back to the faculty room.
In the afternoon, gulf joined Jimmy and Tommy and had dinner with them.
Gulf didn't know that this will be one of the peaceful days he will have in the university.
The next day, Mew saw gulf come late,
"As a professor, you should lead an example and come to school early" after saying that, mew didn't look at gulf anymore and went back reading the book he is holding
The day after that, a group of student asked gulf for his picture, now, he was not able to reject them since they told him it was for a paper. Mew saw this, and after taking the picture, Gulf entered the faculty and heard Mew comment
"You are too close to your students", Gulf didn't answer him but nod in embarrassment.
For the whole two weeks, Mew was able to see and notice everything Gulf would do and he would comment on it.
Even the simple uncombed hair he had one day when he entered the faculty he commented saying, "Your hair is messy, you should avoid going out like that, it is inappropriate"
After those two weeks, Gulf felt like he was starting to get immune from Mew's harsh comments.
Today, after bidding goodbye to everyone in the faculty room, gulf made his way out of the door.
The moment he pushed the door open, he saw Mew who was about to enter.
Gulf walked to the side and made way for Mew then greeted him. As usual, Mew did not respond to him so he just walked out of the room.
Mew walked to his chair and sat down.
After the door closed, he looked at the door.
After a while Mek approached Mew
"Hey Mew, why are you here?" She looked confused.
""I just forgot my books, P", he opened his drawer but there are no books there, he looked at his table but there are also no books there
"What books? I don't see books anywhere. Seriously, why are you here? I noticed that you come here everyday already. You used to come in this faculty like once a week. What happened? Do you want to come to the education department already?" Her eyes shone when she said this.
A long time ago, Mek invited Mew to stay in the Education Department but Mew rejected it saying that he is an engineer and he should be at the engineering department.
Seeing that there are no books he can grab, Mew stood up and didn't bother with Mek anymore and started walking to the door
Looking at Mew who was ignoring her, Mek fumed and ran to the door and blocked it. Since it was already late, it was only him and mek in the faculty room.
"Hey, seriously, why are you here?" She approached mew and dragged him on the couch and made him sit. She sat beside him
Mew didn't speak
"Hey tell me!" She grabbed mew's arm and shook it. It can be seen that Mek and mew are much closer than what everybody used to think
"Are you asking as my superior or as my older cousin?" he turned to mek and asked with no emotion on his face
"What does it matter? Okay, as a cousin! Tell me!" she demanded
After hearing mek, Mew sighed and now, there is a light emotion on his face already.
"Are you close to that new instructor who just left?", he turned to the door and asked
"Nong gulf? Yup!" She instinctively answered, then she remembered gulf's story that mew is bullying him
Mek hit mew's arm, "Hey! You! Stop bullying nong Gulf! He told me that you are preying on him! Stop bullying him!"
Mew was surprised by Mek's slap and asked, "Did he tell you that i was bullying him?" he frowned and rubbed the arm that Mek slapped
"He didn't have to tell me! I saw you once giving him harsh comments!" She slapped him again
"Ohh, I just want him to be a good professor", after that he stood up and walked out of the room
Mek didn't follow Mew now and watched him walk out of the door then she rubbed her temple.
The next day,
Gulf went to school early again, he didn't want Mew to notice him today, he planned on avoiding mew now.
At lunch, Jimmy ordered pizza because it was his birthday, he planned on treating the education faculty room so he ordered 4 boxes of pizza and a couple of different drinks.
Gulf sat on his chair and talked to Jimmy about something. While they were talking, Mew entered the room, they greeted him and mek approached mew and dragged him to the pantry to eat.
After a while, gulf got hungry and thirsty so he stood up and went to the pantry where the food was.
In the pantry room, Mek was talking to mew.
When she saw gulf and jimmy entered, she prepared a slice of pizza that had pineapple and an orange drink and planned to give it to gulf.
When she was about to give it to gulf, she saw that gulf looked a little bit worried.
Jimmy on the side, laughed and grabbed the plate and drink mek is offering then turned to gulf
Mek looked confused, and before jimmy was about to explain they heard a voice
"Here", it came from mew, he was offering a pizza that has basil and a blue lemonade.
Looking at the pizza and drink, Gulf's eyes shone brightly and grabbed it. But remembering that it came from mew, he lowered his head and said quietly, "thank you krap"
After Gulf grabbed the plate, Mew walked out of the pantry and walked back to his chair.
Jimmy looked at Mew with a surprised look and then turned to mek and saw her confused look
"P, gulf is allergic to pineapple, and he doesn't drink orange drink. On the other hand, he likes basil and blue lemonade. Maybe it is a coincidence that Khun mew,chose this"
When she heard Jimmy's explanation, Mek looked at Mew with a confused expression and then nodded to jimmy.
After a coupleof days, the same routine happened, Gulf still felt that mew was preying on him.
One day, when he was about to leave and go home, he bumped into mew again in the faculty and mew noticed the unbuttoned part of his polo
"Close your polo." he gave a simple comment
Maybe because Gulf didn't have a good day today, instead of closing his polo he looked straight at mew and said in a slightly raised voice
"Khun, why are you preying on me? Why do you see everything that i do and notice every small mistake i make?" He is just so tired hearing mew's unending comment
Mew looked at gulf with a straight face but didn't answer
Feeling that he will not get an answer from mew, gulf sighed and said, "I apologize Ajarn" then walked past him with his head lowered.
After passing mew, he felt mew grab his wrist and pulled him, he turned around and saw mew staring at his eyes.
Gulf's heart started beating fast, he was becoming really nervous,he thought, "am i gonna get fired already?"
"You think I am preying on you?" He heard mew's cold voice
"I'm dead! I am totally dead!, he thought
"I..." Gulf was not able to speak. Since it is just the two of them in the faculty room, he immediately became afraid and thought that Mew will beat him
"Do you think i want to see all your mistakes? Do you think i want to notice your every move? Mew is still gripping gulf's wrist.
Gulf is really afraid now, he dont know what to say.
Seeing that gulf looked afraid already, mew released his grip and looked at gulf
"I'm sorry", he said in a soft voice.
This is the first time Gulf heard mew speak like this. He is totally surprised
"It is okay khun, i am also sorry for raising my voice earlier"
Mew didn't speak for a while and looked at gulf
"I am not preying on you", after a moment of awkward silence, mew spoke as he walked to the couch and sat down
Feeling that this is the time he will finally be able to hear Mew talk, Gulf sat beside him
After Gulf sat down, he looked at mew and saw that he was staring at him with a different face he usually sees.
Now, Mew is looking very handsome, there is a slight smile on his face, and his eyes are not piercing, instead, it looks warm and comforting.
"As you can see, i am not really comfortable talking to people." he started opening, gulf removed his bag and placed it on the couch and listened to mew.
" I have always been labeled as the best professor, the perfect professor, the model professor. Because of this, I felt like I needed to be perfect. I felt like i need to show people that i am respectable and serious about this", he looked at gulf again and gave him a warm but helpless smile
Looking at mew's handsome face, gulf's heart started beating fast again
"I am not preying on you." He stared at Gulf seriously
"I don't know what it is with you but everytime i see you, you seem to do something that catches my attention"
"The first few days, i thought that you are like the other newbies that will be afraid of me and will avoid me"
Gulf thought, "I was avoiding you, but you always show up to my face!"
"At first, I thought that I would train you to be like me, the best professor, the model professor. But when i saw you interact with your students,and your peers, i felt that i don't want you to be like me. I don't want you to be as cold as me. I don't want to see you lose your smile" he looked sad when he said this
After a while, Mew looked at gulf again
"After seeing that smile, i don't know what it is but i suddenly felt that i want to protect that smile"
When Gulf heard this, he felt his face hot, he is blushing
Looking at gulf's blushing face, mew laughed
The moment mew laughed, gulf felt like an angel sang. Mew's laugh sounded so good
"Damn! You look so handsome when you laugh" unconsciously he spouted this
Realizing that he spouted his inner thought, gulf became even more embarrassed and lowered his head
"I...uhmm... i mean..." He don't know how he will explain himself
Looking at the flushed gulf, Mew continued laughing
"So you think i am handsome when i laugh? He teased gulf
Gulf was not able to reply
"I also think you are handsome when you laugh. You are handsome when you drink your morning Yakult, when you remove the chillies from your rice, when you sleep during lunch, and when you rush to your class with your messy hair after waking up. You are handsome in everything that you do"
Hearing this, Gulf was stunned and looked at mew with a surprised expression
"How do you know that I have morning Yakult? And that I remove the chillies from my rice?"
"I don't really know when it started, but maybe it was during the first week that I realized that I can't remove my eyes from you. I want to see you everyday"
"I don't know if i like you or not, but if i do i am just gonna say this to you now then" He looked at gulf then laughed
Gulf didn't know what to do or say. He stared at mew, he was blushing.
With his face, he has of course already experienced someone confessing to him, and most of the time he can directly reject them because he is focused with his career.
But now, when the words came out from Mew so casually, he didn't know how to react, he was not able to control his emotions. His heart is still pounding really hard.
Looking at gulf's stunned face, Mew laughed and stood up and walked to the door.
"By the way, do not call me ajarn or khun anymore, call me P okay? And don't think that I am preying on you... Maybe think of it that i am hitting on you" he gave a bright smiled at gulf and then pushed the door and walked out
Gulf looked at mew walked out still stunned and blushing. After a while, he came back to his senses and slapped his face and felt that it was really hot.
"What the heck just happened?! Why did it start from confrontation and end with a confession?!" He stood up and thought of this and then walked out of the room
The next day, Gulf arrived at the faculty a little bit late, when he opened the door he saw Mew looking at him with a cold face again, "You are late." mew said. Gulf looked confused and apologized then greeted the professors and instructors in the room and went to his seat.
When he got to his seat, he looked at mew's back with a frown and thought, "Is this guy bipolar? Yesterday he was laughing and now he has a cold face again, weirdo." he shrugged his shoulders and started working on his lessons.
After his class before lunch, while he was walking back to the faculty, a professor from another college saw him and approached him
"Khun, do you know where Khun Mew is?"
Gulf nodded and smiled to the professor and told him to follow him
When they arrived at the faculty room, gulf said
"Ajarn, Khun Mew is in the faculty room, please follow me inside" He smiled and invited the professor
"It is okay, can you please call him out here, I just have something to tell him really fast. I am in a rush"
"Okay ajarn, please wait for me"
Gulf opened the door and walked to Mew
"Khun mew, someone is looking for you outside"
Mew didn't look at him and continued reading the book he is holding
"Khun" Gulf tapped mew's shoulder
Mew still ignored him. After a while, he lowered his head and whispered to mew
"P, someone is looking for you. Move fast he said he is in a rush!" He said in a low voice
Mew looked at him and closed his book then hit his head lightly with the book.
After that, he stood up and walked out of the door.
Jimmy who saw how the two acted was stunned at his seat and stared at gulf who is rubbing his head with a little smile from his face
Gulf went back to his seat and after that jimmy approached him
"Hey! What happened?!" he looked totally shocked as he asked Gulf
Gulf looked at Jimmy with a confused look, "What are you talking about?"
"Hey! Don't lie to me! What happened! How can you act so close to Khun Mew?!" Jimmy grabbed his shoulder and shook him
"Stop! Stop! I'm getting dizzy! What do you mean close, do we look close?! Didn't you see he hit my head with a book?! Which part of that is close? Do you want me to hit you with a book?! Come here! Come closer I will hit you with a book to show you how close we are!"
Seeing Gulf aggressive, Jimmy moved away but still stared at him, after going back to his seat, he looked gulf in the eye and used his two fingers and placed it in front of his eyes and then pointed it to gulf sending gulf a message "I can see you".
Gulf ignored jimmy and started reading his notes, after awhile, he invited jimmy to have lunch which jimmy agreed to.