Invisible Moon
Chapter 17
The Coconut Milk Moon
"There was no coconut milk that was as fragrant as —
'The Coconut Milk Moon'"
#WINisWIND
When I arrived at P'In's dormitory building, I grew more and more excited.
My heart was racing even though we were only standing together in the elevator.
What should I do? I was just standing nervously, I didn't even dare to look at P'In.
The elevator stopped at the 2nd floor, which meant P'In stayed on this floor.
His dormitory was specifically for senior students. The layout wasn't really different from my dorm, but my dorm didn't allow students to cook inside their room. Each floor had a shared kitchen instead. However, it seemed like P'In could cook in his room, so the seniors' dormitory probably had a personal kitchen in each room.
I kept following P'In. When I realised that I would see his room soon, my heart was beating fast again. Thinking of it, even P'In's classmates had never visited his room before, not to mention the fans. Perhaps the only people who visited it were UNISTAR members.
And here I am, an ordinary person who gets a chance to enter P'In's room. I felt special to the point that my heart fluttered, making me feel like I'm floating on cloud nine, even if the only reason I had this chance was because I was his buddy-code family.
We arrived at room number 239, P'In's room. I committed the number to memory as P'In unlocked the door with a key card and opened it.
"Wow!" I exclaimed the first moment I saw his room. It wasn't because the room was luxurious, but because the room was so neat and tidy, like it was newly built.
His room was decorated similarly to my room, the only difference was freshmen had a bedroom and a bathroom, while P'In's room was a little bigger. The first room I entered was the living room, with a sofa, a small dining table and a kitchen counter. The room wasn't that large, but P'In had arranged it very tidily. He also didn't have much stuff, so it made this room look spacious.
I shot a glance at another closed door, I figured that it must be his bedroom. Despite my curiosity, I didn't dare to ask to see his bedroom.
I felt content even if I only stayed in this room, in P'In's dorm. There was a dilute scent of coconut milk, probably from all his cooking. Since P'In did make the food for giving alms to the monks every morning.
"Sit here." P'In showed me to the sofa.
"Alright." I sat and looked around. Unconsciously, my legs were swinging up and down with happiness.
P'In moved to the kitchen area, opened the refrigerator, then walked back.
"What do you want to eat?" He asked. He probably asked after checking the ingredients he had in the fridge.
"Uh..." I hesitated for a second, and thought about the food that P'In made for the alms.
Green curry...
Wanna be the 'green' in the curry, so P'In can 'carry' me.
Oh no, why was I reminded of this DomKati's homophone joke?
"I want to eat green curry krub." I said cautiously.
I didn't cook often, but I watched P'In on the TV program - 'Moon in the kitchen'. These dishes weren't that difficult, but I wasn't sure if it would take a long time or not.
"Alright." P'In nodded.
His answer made me smile so wide, I could have sworn it reached my eyes.
"Can you wait?" P'In asked while walking to the kitchen. P'In put some uncooked rice in the cooker, washed the rice for a while, then plugged it in.
"Uh..." I thought P'In meant that this recipe would take time to cook.
"I can wait, no problem. P'In, let me help you."
"No need." He replied. He then took a jar of green curry paste from the fridge. I peeked and saw that he had plenty of curry paste jars stored.
P'In took a container filled with chicken tenderloins, which was already cut into small pieces. He also took out Thai eggplants, chilli, kaffir lime leaves, and basil. Everything was well prepared.
I assumed that P'In is used to cooking everyday, which is why he had them stocked. Add to the fact that all the necessary ingredients and cooking equipment were already set in place.
"You can sit and wait," P'In said as he saw me standing and watching.
I saw his hands, he was holding the coconut fruit. I widened my eyes.
"Why did you bring out the coconut?"
"Make the coconut milk," P'In said in a flat tone. He then took out something from under the cabinet — a coconut grater[1].
"Huh? Make coconut milk? Personally?" I was obviously shocked because nowadays, most people would buy instant coconut milk as it was more convenient. However, I knew that this equipment was used for making coconut milk manually.
"Yes." P'In nodded. And took the knife that was hanging to chop the coconut.
"Oh, P'In, you don't have to trouble yourself like this." I felt so guilty because I requested to eat a dish that P'In could make. If I had known it would trouble him to grate the coconut, I would rather choose a simpler dish like Thai omelette[2] with rice.
"It's yum." P'In replied. It seemed like he was trying to convince me that the dishes made from fresh coconut milk were really delicious.
I went silent and couldn't refuse anymore.
I was watching P'In chop the coconut into half, revealing the white meat inside it.
I was reminded of the TV program 'Moon in the Kitchen'. P'In had made various dishes with coconut milk. He didn't use instant coconut milk, but instead used fresh ones. It could make the food more delicious and give the dish a more intense coconut scent. However, the TV program didn't show how P'In made the fresh coconut milk. I assumed that the staff might have done that for him or bought them from the market in order to save time.
I was amazed to find out that everytime he cooked a coconut milk menu, he had always personally made fresh coconut milk. It's no surprise that this room was full of coconut milk scent, and P'In also had the fragrant scent of coconut milk.
"Please let me help you." I told him again as I saw him preparing to grate the coconut.
"Know how to?" P'In tilted his head. I then looked at the coconut grater and scratched my head.
On the coconut grater, there was a circular knife on its head, and its body was shaped like a small stool, for its user to sit and grate the coconut.
"I'll try." I had never done this before, but I had seen how it was done in Thai period dramas. I thought that it wouldn't be that difficult.
P'In took a big bowl, placed it under the coconut grater's knife, then handed me half a coconut.
I sat down, used both my hands to hold the coconut in the right angle before moving it to the knife and started to grate.
I heard the sound of the knife grating the coconut. It wasn't as easy as I had thought. In fact, I found it to be really difficult.
I just grated for a few seconds, and then —
"Oh no!" I was startled as I accidentally pushed it too hard. The coconut almost slipped off my hands but I managed to grab it in time.
I felt so bad, then I peeked at P'In. I was afraid that I would ruin our dinner.
Apparently, I would be taking a whole lifetime just to grate this small coconut.
"Look." P'In came to help me.
At first, I intended to move away so P'In could demonstrate how to do it correctly. But I hadn't imagined that —
"P...P'In..." I widened my eyes when P'In squatted down and leaned over my back. His left hand held the back of my left hand while his right hand encircled my body to hold my right hand.
I frozed. This posture made it seem like P'In was hugging me.
I tried to get rid of that thought, but it was almost impossible when his face was so close to mine. His hands that were touching mine softly were so warm. Our bodies were so close to each other, I could smell his fragrance, which was the same as that lip balm I bought.
My eyes were attached to P'In unconsciously. My mind seemed to be floating away. I wasn't even conscious of what I was doing.
"Grate from the side first." P'In explained while he moved my hand to grate the coconut slowly.
That made me realise that I should focus on grating the coconut.
When P'In lent his hand to help me, I felt like it was much easier and faster. P'In probably had done this hundreds of times before, as he was obviously practised.
As P'In continued to hold my hand to grate the coconut, the grating sound seemed to be tuned out. Instead, I heard the beating sound of my heart. It was so intense.
I began to get distracted. I was reminded of the legendary scene of coconut grating in a Thai period movie called 'Maebia'. The scene portrayed a sexy way of coconut grating. What about me and P'In —
Should it be called — the romantic way of coconut grating?
Because of this thought, my hands suddenly became weak. My consciousness seemed to fade away. The coconut accidentally dropped from my hands. Luckily, P'In caught it in time.
"I'm sorry, P'In!" I apologised immediately.
P'In paused for a while, then asked me in an undertone.
"Tired?"
P'In might have misunderstood that my hands became weak because of tiredness.
But then him speaking gently near my ears like this was actually causing my whole body to weaken.
"I'm still...alright..." My voice was shaking. My hands were shaking as well, making it hard for me to even pick up the coconut.
P'In moved away from me.
"Never mind, you go sit." P'In pointed to the chair.
"But..."
How could I just sit and do nothing?
"Just sit, it won't be long." P'In insisted, so I had no choice but to obey him. However, I continued to observe him cooking.
After that, P'In grated the coconut by himself, his speed amazed me. I then realised that I should have let him do it alone rather than helping him. I was the one who slowed down the process.
P'In finished grating the coconut in less than 10 minutes. He prepared temperature room water, a colander, and another bowl. P'In placed them on the counter and started to squeeze the grated coconut meat to produce coconut milk. I thought one would need to squeeze it hard, but P'In did it so gently. The way he made the coconut milk was the most elegant that I had ever seen.
The fragrant scent of coconut milk was diffused around the room. This scent made me feel so pleasant, it was even sweeter than any coconut dessert. I'm not sure if it was because he mastered the skill of making coconut milk, or it was because he was 'P'In'.
But I was sure of one thing; if DomKati saw P'In like this, their hearts would have been squeezed and melted within his hand like the coconut earlier.
P'In divided the coconut milk into three different bowls by its consistency, the leftover coconut residue was placed in a container.
When I saw P'In placing a pan on the stove, I decided to walk towards the kitchen again.
"P'In, let me help you wash it." I asked him to wash the used equipment. P'In hesitated but nodded slightly.
While washing, I peeked at P'In cooking. When I watched the 'Moon in the Kitchen' TV program, I was already interested in P'In's cooking. So when I got to look closer, he looked more charming.
When the pan reached the proper heat, P'In fried the chicken with the thinnest coconut milk. Since I had already finished washing, I helped him tidy up.
"P'In, where should I put the coconut residue?" I asked.
"In the fridge." P'In responded as he kept his eyes on the pan. I did as he said.
I heard that the coconut residue from making coconut milk could be used as an ingredient for other Thai desserts.
Once cooked, P'In put the well-done chicken meat into a pot. Then, he fried the green curry paste with the thicker coconut milk. The scent of his cooking was so fragrant. I eventually understood why P'Wayu always sneaked to taste something while P'In was cooking. It's because the smell was super mouthwatering. The food wasn't even done yet, but I felt so irresistibly hungry now.
P'In fried the curry paste until the coconut milk became creamy and floated up. He seasoned the paste and put it in the pot with the cooked chicken and heated it again. He also put in eggplants and added a little more coconut milk. When it boiled, P'In then added the chilli and kaffir lime leaves.
"You can serve the rice." P'In turned to me.
I saw that the rice was already cooked.
P'In already prepared the plates with forks and spoons, so I scooped the rice onto the plates for P'In and myself, then placed them on the dining table.
P'In was scooping the green curry into a bowl delicately before decorating it with coconut milk— the thickest one, chilli and basil leaves. Then, he brought it to the table.
"Wow! It looks so delicious! May I take a photo please?" I was so excited.
The food didn't only smell nice, but it also looked appetising!
P'In just nodded and sat opposite to me, while I took multiple photos.
"Thank you so much, P'In."
I was so delighted that I could eat with P'In and of course — P'In's homemade dish.
"No worries. Let's eat." P'In said.
"Alright!" I nodded repeatedly.
We started eating together. P'In seemed to wait for me to scoop the green curry first. I scooped two spoons, then passed the spoon to P'In.
When I tasted it — the hot green curry with warm rice, it was a perfect combination. Incredibly delicious!
This green curry was indeed the most delicious dish that I had ever eaten. Tendered chicken and fragrant coconut scent. What I liked best was the mellow taste of curry.
Moreover, P'In's rice was so yummy. I knew it was jasmine rice, but I was curious which brand he bought and what technique he used to cook it. I had lived in Thailand since I was born, but I still hadn't eaten jasmine rice as delicious as this.
"How is it?" P'In asked while eating.
"It's the most delicious! I want to eat more. Can you cook for me again?"
I spitted the words out, and immediately wanted to take those back due to embarrassment.
P'In already cooked for me once. I should appreciate and feel grateful. How could I bother him to make more?
Oh no. I couldn't believe that yummy food could make me so greedy.
"You like?"
P'In asked. I didn't know why I felt like blushing.
He was asking whether I 'like' the food or not. I thought.
"I like it." I replied.
I felt myself turning redder.
No way! I couldn't take it anymore. My hands seemed to be weakened, I almost couldn't hold the fork and spoon.
It was too embarrassing. I needed to change the topic.
"P'In, do you know that people usually plant coconut on the east side? As they believe that it can bring peacefulness to their place. P'In, you like coconut, I do too. Coconut fruit isn't only useful, it also contains many nutrients like vitamin C, B, amino acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, and helps to detox..."
I was unconsciously blurting out words at high speed.
P'In even paused from eating and looked at me, still silent.
Because he was looking at me like this, I became more nervous. I took my eyes off him and it didn't help. I then continued rambling.
"Oh right. And the green curry has a long history since the Ayutthaya[3] period. The green curry recipe was developed from liang curry and jungle curry with no coconut milk. Afterwards, the coconut milk and dried chilli were added in the recipe, so the red curry and spicy curry had been created. Later, they changed the red chilli to green chilli and pounded it with coriander which made the curry become green. That's why it's called 'green' curry. In Thai words, we call it 'sweet-green curry' and the 'sweet' word doesn't mean the taste, but it means the sweet soft green colour of the curry."
P'In stopped eating. He was looking at me without blinking his eyes. I eventually realised that I interrupted the meal with my nonsense babbling. And this was the special meal that P'In made for me.
"Oh, I talk too much. I'm so sorry....well...I..."
I hadn't finished my sentence —
"This rice..." P'In pointed to the rice on my plate.
"Jasmine rice, from grandma's neighbour."
"Uh..." I tried to follow.
Oh right. So this was the secret of the taste. No wonder! It was actually rice that P'In brought from the countryside. It must be the rice grown by farmers and freshly milled. That was why it was more delicious than rice from the retailers, that was stocked for a long time. P'In was so lucky that he could have fresh rice with this superb cooking skill. Such a perfect meal.
"Talk about the rice." P'In told me.
"Huh?" I was confused. "You mean, you want me to talk about jasmine rice?"
"Yes." He nodded and listened.
"Well...Based on what I know, the most popular varieties of jasmine rice are '105 jasmine rice' and 'Kor Khor 15 jasmine rice'. These can be grown once a year. The rice plant has a slender crust, with a scent like pandan leaves. The climate in Thailand is suitable for rice plantation, especially in the northeast of Thailand, in the Thung Kula Ronghai area, also in the north side of Thailand. In order to cultivate good rice, it needs to be grown in less flooded fields. Oh, and the fragrant smell of jasmine rice is from a volatile substance called '2-Acetyl-1-Pyrroline'."
I was tired of speaking. But then I saw P'In showing an interesting expression.
"What else do you know?" He asked.
"What else..." I pondered. "What do you want to know?"
"Um..." P'In was thinking. "What about MW Entertainment?"
I was muddled as he immediately asked about his own agency.
"Well, MW Entertainment was founded 10 years ago, managed under the Metha group. The biggest shareholder is Mr. Kriengsak Methawattana. The Metha family is one of the top 10 richest families in Thailand. And MW International is on the list of the world's top property values. Uh...MW entertainment, at present, owns MWTV channel and has more than hundreds of actors, actresses, models, singers, idols..."
"What about UNISTAR?" P'In continued.
"UNISTAR?" I blinked.
P'In should know about UNISTAR better than me. However, since P'In had asked, I just answered.
"UNISTAR is the idol project that MW entertainment founded 2 years ago. The objective was to create brand ambassadors for products of Metha group. At first, the project had two producers, Mr. Nattakorn or PD Kwang and another one was a freelance professional producer. But currently PD Kwang remained as its sole producer. The project is based on the national Moon contest. Every year, they will add on a new member. In its first year, the competition started with a three-generation contest at the same time. The winner was P'Sea, P'Leo, and P'In..."
When talking about P'In, my voice pitch lowered.
"What about P'In?"
P'In asked. He even addressed himself as P'.
"Huh?" I was stunned.
"How much do you know?" P'In looked curious.
"Uh..." I lowered my head shyly. Still, my mouth suddenly blurted...
"P'In...his full name is Intrakorn Dechapraphas, 20 years old. He currently studies at XU University, Faculty of Business Administration. P'In is the third generation of UNISTAR members. His fandom is called 'DomKati' because P'In loves coconut and coconut milk. He is also good at cooking Thai food. Besides that, P'In is talented at Thai music — especially the ranat ek. His favourite sports are long-tail boat race and sepak takraw. His hobby is folding carp fish. Right now, P'In has three hundred and five thousand followers on his fan page, five hundred thousand Twitter followers and 1.1 million Instagram followers..."
I had talked so much about P'In and began to feel embarrassed. I couldn't believe I did that in front of P'In.
"You also followed?" P'In tilted his head.
I swallowed hard and admitted.
"Because...P'In...is the senior that I admire."
P'In was silent for a second, then continued.
"What else?"
"Else..." I was stunned again. P'In wanted to listen more about himself? What else did I know?
I tried to dig out all the memories of everything that I had read or watched from UNISTAR SHOWTIME! and Twitter.
"Among all of the UNISTAR members, P'In is the Moon that received the most love from the fans. He doesn't even have any anti-fans. The secret dream of DomKati is to date P'In while other fandoms want to pair up their idols with an imaginary couple. Oh! And P'In is the only member that never had a girlfriend before. But P'In ideal type is still unknown. Everyone knows what P'In likes to eat and likes to do, but no one knows what type of person that P'In likes, and P'In doesn't know either..."
What? What did I just say? How did it come to this topic?
Oh no! What happened to me?!
"You're wrong." P'In suddenly said.
I widened my eyes.
"Wrong?" My face was pale.
Did I remember it wrong?
"Wrong about two things." P'In replied.
"What did I say wrong?"
"P'Sea also never have..."
P'In said, and I blinked.
P'Sea also never had a girlfriend before? I thought. Seemingly, many fans thought that P'Sea must have dated someone before because he was friendly and could easily socialise. But P'Sea didn't make it clear either. If P'In confirmed this, then P'Sea really had never dated anyone before. I turned out to be wrong.
"And what else did I say wrong?" I continued because P'In said that I was wrong about two things. Then, it meant that I still got another thing wrong.
"Now I know." P'In answered.
"Know what?" I was confused. He always spoke briefly.
"Know what type of person I like."
P'In looked at my face.
His answer made me gasp. My heart began racing. I didn't expect a person like P'In would say something like this. I was so nervous because if P'In said this, it meant that right now, he already had someone he liked?!
While I was still surprised, P'In added another thing.
"Oh." He said.
"And I know one more thing."
"Yes?" I was listening.
P'In was looking at me, considering something before saying...
"I know what Win can perform for the contest."
☽------------☽
Footnote :
[1] Coconut grater is a traditional Thai equipment to grate the coconut into small pieces before it's squeezed to make coconut milk. The knife that is used for scraping the coconut looks similar to a rabbit's teeth. So in Thai language, the coconut grater is called "coconut grater rabbit (กระต่ายขูดมะพร้าว)".
[2] Thai omelette is the most common and easiest dish for local Thai people, usually eaten with rice. The recipe for Thai omelette is a little different from other countries. It generally uses eggs, oil, and fish sauce. The egg is beaten until it's fluffy before it's poured into very hot oil, fried and flipped until both sides are golden brown or crispy. Some variants of the recipe also include spring onions, onions, or tomatoes for different flavours.
[3] Ayutthaya was the capital city of Thailand in the historical period from B.E. 1893 to B.E. 2310. Nowadays, Ayutthaya is regarded as the 'old city' with several valuable Thai traditional arts and architectures.
Note from Translator :
And here is how green curry that P'In made should look like, and we should eat with rice. YUM!
If you have a chance to visit Thailand. Besides 'suki' from previous chapter, don't forget to add 'green curry' and 'Thai omelette' into your eating list. Also, I recommend to visit Ayutthaya. It is an old and beautiful city. If you want to see the characteristic of ancient Thailand, Ayutthaya city would be the right choice for you. ^_^
Thank you for all support! I'm glad to see feedbacks and comments. P'In and N'Win also happy too. ^^ I'll try to find time to work on the next chapter and update as soon as possible. Thank you so much~ LOVE