It was hard to come down from last night’s emotional high.
Earth spent the first few moments of his day staring at the ceiling, trying to recall the details of everything that happened the night before. It was one of the best nights of life for a lot of reasons, and he wanted to relive it for as long as he could. Actually, he was thinking about one person in particular. Rarely could anyone stay on his mind like Kao did. There was something really mysterious about him, and Earth wanted nothing more than to know what was going on in his mind.
“What if Prem was right?” he asks, talking to himself. “He didn’t even deny that he was checking me out… WHAT DOES IT MEAN?? UGH!”
He needed more evidence and, remembering the dozens of photos he took and the dozens more that Fluke sent him, he reached for his phone.
The young man is jolted wide awake from the avalanche of notifications from every single possible source. It was a bit strange, being flooded with messages from people he didn’t know. He only had to read the first message to know that he didn’t need to waste his time opening the other ones. It made him get out of bed with a scowl on his face.
Hi, is this K’Earth Katsamonnat, the friend of K’Fluke Natouch? I’m K’Ploy from Channel 31 News, and I was wondering if you were interested in having an exclusive interview for a special we’re doing about K’Fluke. You’ll be well compensated, of course. Name your price.
“Name your price??” He exclaims. “Did you really click on my stunning pfp and see the face of a sell-out? No, Ms. Ma’am. Sorry, not sorry.”
He quickly deletes the message, but ten new ones easily take its place. Earth scrambles to private all his accounts and regrets that he didn’t take the advice to do it last night, just like K’Kao told all of them to.
The daily commute to work was boring, as usual, except for the fact that everywhere he turned, people were on their phones reading about Fluke and the Prince. Every headline was filled with their smiling faces and his heart filled with happiness. He couldn’t think of anyone who deserved this adoration more than his best friend, but having to share his best friend with the entire country certainly was going to take some getting used to.
Getting off the bus and walking to the cafe was strange. It was way more crowded than usual, and there was a buzz in the air that didn’t usually accompany his morning shift. He notices that this wasn’t a random assortment of people, but these were people who were waiting in line. The line snaked from way past the bus stop, through the next four blocks, making its way up the street he was walking on.
“Is there a sale or something?” He thinks to himself, as he rounds the corner. His heart drops to his stomach when he realizes that the line stopped at the door of the cafe.
“Holy shit.”
Murmuring immediately started once Earth made his way to the door. The young man was clutching his bag close to his chest to comfort himself. Being alone in this potentially chaotic situation was making him sweat buckets.
“Excuse me,” one of the older women in line says. “You work here, right? This is where K’Fluke Natouch works, too?”
No one even waited for his response before the crowd started to throw a million questions at him.
“Is he coming in today?”
“Is the Prince coming with him, too?”
“Were you there last night?”
“What’s your name?”
“Why can’t I tag the cafe on my post?”
With shaking hands, he reaches into his pocket for the keys. This didn’t seem like it would disappear on its own, and he would need a plan to fix things. Taking a deep breath and clearing his throat, he readies to shout as loud as he could to his captive audience.
“Good morning! Thank you so much for choosing our cafe today! We’ll be open in a few minutes, just let me get some things ready first. If you could be so kind as to wait right here for the meantime… I think we’ll need a system to cater to everyone today, so please bear with me as I figure that out. Thank you so much for your patience!”
It was such a huge relief that he was met with smiles and kind hand gestures. With that, he slid the key in and let himself in. The first thing that greeted him was the incessant ringing of their normally quiet phone.
“Hello?”
“EARTH!!! IS IT REALLY FLUKE WHO’S GOING TO MARRY THE PRINCE?? OUR FLUKE??”
It was the daughter owner of the cafe, who rarely called and who definitely didn’t give a damn about the business. The cafe had been in the red for a few months now, and she hardly seemed concerned about it when they told her, even if she was given control over it by her Dad. Not that it mattered that much to Earth. As long as he got his paycheck on time, he was always willing to do his part. It was completely out of character for her to call so early in the morning, though, if at all.
“P’Sammy,” he replies, already rolling his eyes. “His face is everywhere. Do you really have to ask me that?”
“Of course, I saw his face! I’m not an idiot, I just wanted to make sure. Were you there last night at the Ball? Aaaah! I’m so jealous! I can’t believe you guys didn’t invite me!”
“In all the years Fluke has worked here, he’s seen you probably three times. I wouldn’t exactly call you close friends.”
“Why? And you are?”
“Of course, P’Sammy! He and I have been running this place together for years now, right?”
“Oh,” she replies, giggling. “That’s right. You have, haven’t you? Well, that’s good then! I can bug you about the details of the Royal Wedding instead of him. Bye, Earth!”
“WAIT! Wait, Phi, I know you don’t meddle much with things out here but I really am in over my head today. There’s a really long line of people waiting to get in and I’m alone for the morning shift. Can you come in and help? Please?”
Earth hears an exasperated sigh on the other end. “Do I really have to?”
“I think you have a real shot at making a lot of money today, Phi,” he replies.
“Enough to get the business out of trouble?”
“That, and enough to buy you a new luxury bag by the end of the month,” Earth says.
“I’ll be there in an hour.”
She hung up the phone so fast that he was truly proud of himself for getting Sammy to come in after so long. But an hour still wouldn’t cut it. The customers were starting to peer into the windows and Earth knew that he couldn’t hold them off for much longer. He dials the number of the one person he knew he could count on at a time like this.
“Good morning, Boun,” he says, as he hurries to put his apron on and start the morning’s first brew. “Did you know how incredibly handsome you are?”
“What do you want?”
“Help meeee,” the young man replies in the most helpless voice he could muster. “There’s a line that’s snaking around the block to get into the cafe. I’m alone right now, please, please help me. I don’t know what to do.”
“Prem said this would happen,” Boun sighs on the other end. “Okay. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Oh, my God, you guys already have secret conspiracy theories. But please bring Prem, too, if you can. I really need all the help I can get. I have to go. See you,” he replies, dropping the call as soon as he was done speaking.
Earth takes a deep breath and steadies his heart to face the most customers he ever had. This was going to be the longest day in his life.
******
The morning began at such a furious pace, his phone ringing off the hook. Kao was so glad that he hired people to take care of the media because otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to handle all this on his own.
After securing Fluke and his family’s safety, he went to work on the new plan hatched by the Queen. Planning a wedding as big as this was not going to be easy, and especially not in the timeline that was given to him. Every Royal staff member will be working on wedding preparations, but a lot of the small details fell on Kao’s shoulders as Prince Ohm’s number two. But he really didn’t mind, especially since it meant possibly spending more time with Fluke’s friends.
He couldn’t stop thinking about Earth since he waved goodbye to him that night. So much so, that his mind naturally went to the young man as soon as things with Fluke settled down. He was distressed to find out that Earth had also become a casualty of the new Prince's fame monster, and he couldn't sit still without doing anything to help.
Kao sat in the passenger’s seat of the car, his leg shaking up and down in a nervous tick. He couldn’t wait to get to the cafe and sort things out, worried sick about Earth.
“ETA?”
“Five to seven minutes,” Bosston says, his eyes fixed on the road. ”You know, not much has changed since you asked me forty-five seconds ago. What’s with you?”
The Aide lets out a deep sigh and tries to calm himself down. All he wanted was to get to the cafe as fast as he could.
“Nothing,” he says. “The entire thing might be getting to me, that’s all.”
“Yeah? Is the great Kao Noppakao finally cracking under the pressure?”
“Of course not. I never crack. You should know that by now.”
“Geez, lighten up,” Bosston retorts, chuckling. “I’m just kidding. I know you like this guy.”
“Huh? What are you talking about,” Kao says, his hands turning ice-cold. He didn’t think anyone would catch on this early, but what did he expect from someone who observed other people for a living.
“How many years have we been working together? This is the first time I’ve seen you fuss over someone this much that isn’t the Prince. You personally escorted him to the car last night, kept asking on updates if he got home, and now you’re taking the head of the Royal Guard with you to check on him?”
Kao clears his throat, not wanting to get teased for anything. “There’s nothing wrong with that. He’s Fluke’s best friend. It’s our job to look after him, too.”
“Really? What about your lock screen then?”
Instinctively, he turns his phone over, not realizing that someone had noticed that he changed it. “What about it? I got it off the internet, I don’t even know who that is. It’s just a silhouette.”
“Right, that’s not a photo of someone in the garden last night. If you say so,” the Agent says, as he turns a corner to the cafe. “Whoa. Look at that.”
The line was crazy. It seemed more like a line for a concert than for a cafe. There were people with umbrellas, hand fans and even foldable chairs, willing to wait for as long as it took to catch a glimpse of the life of the future Prince. Kao’s mind was racing a million miles a minute.
“Don’t tell me the three of them have been dealing with this by themselves all morning? Pull over,” he says, sternly.
“I’ll find a place to park and follow you inside. Should I call for back-up?”
“Let me check on things first. See you in a bit,” Kao says as he gets out of the car.
His heart was beating rapidly, not because of all the people who were staring at him, but because of the anticipation of seeing Earth again. He just hoped he could help and he wouldn’t be too late.