My Moon, Chapter 15 pg 7
My Moon, Chapter 15 pg 7
Ding!
The elevator’s chime snapped Klai out of the flood of thoughts swirling in his head. He followed the tall guy, who led him by the hand into the elevator. Klai looked down at his leather shoes, thinking of a question he’d wanted an answer to for a long time.
“Did Panli remember that day?”
The reason Klai kept the word “thank you” locked in his heart, never saying it to Moon despite having many chances, was because he wasn’t sure if Panli remembered that day. If he spoke up and Panli didn’t recall, Klai might have to recount the whole story. Talking about that day didn’t make him feel bad, but he was afraid Panli, having forgotten, might feel uneasy.
It felt unsettling, no matter how hard he tried to recall, he still couldn’t remember…
…Klai was afraid it would be like that.
And what should someone like him, who remembered it vividly, do next?
So, Klai decided to keep it all to himself, unsure when he’d get the chance to send a “thank you” to the moon. But at this moment, after careful thought, he looked up at the person holding his hand tightly.
“Panli… do you know Merk too?”
The tall figure shifted his gaze from the numbers above the elevator door and turned to look at him before saying, “I had a bit of a problem with that Merk guy.”
Panli’s answer wasn’t clear enough to confirm the truth lingering in his heart. Klai instinctively pursed his lips, meeting Moon’s eyes, before mustering the courage to ask again.
“Can I ask what kind of problem you had with Merk…?”
Moon went quiet for a moment before saying, “I once saw him making a scene outside the bathroom, yelling for someone inside to come out.”
“…”
“But I think the person inside probably wanted to get away from him more than anything, so I stepped in to shoo him away from the bathroom.”
“…”
“That’s how I got to know him, from that incident.”
“Oh, I see…” Klai nodded, signaling he understood, before lowering his eyes to the large hand gripping his own even tighter. A sentence flashed in his mind, making his nose sting.
“I still remember.”
“Moon, you still remember that day.”
“Is you okay?”
The small guy quickly took a deep breath, shook his head, and flashed a wide smile at Moon, who was looking at him with a worried expression.
“I’m fine. No need for the puppy to worry.”
And the kind puppy’s smile that came in return…
…made Klaijai
want to say, “Thank you.”
“Seatbelt fastened, right?”
“Uh, mm...” Klai responded, glancing at the person behind the steering wheel. On the way to the parking lot, Klai had been trying to muster the courage to say something, but he still... didn’t have enough courage. Until now, when he averted his gaze from Moon and let out a quiet sigh.
“Sighing like that, is something bothering you? You can vent to me, you know,” Panli’s words made him look up at the other again. Klai wondered how many people would be ready to listen to his story. Panli used the word “vent,” which showed that...
Moon didn’t care whether the story was good or bad.
He was always ready to listen... as long as it made the other person feel better.
In this moment, as their eyes met in the silence, perhaps because Klai saw his own reflection in Moon’s gaze, he felt a surge of courage. And that bright smile, his biggest source of encouragement, prompted Klai to say something...
“Thank you, Panli.”
“Thank you for what? I haven’t even helped you with anything yet,” Panli said, chuckling.
“Thank you for saving me that day.”
The bright smile slowly faded. Panli furrowed his brow slightly, as if puzzled by what he said. Klai didn’t know what would happen next, but he wanted to convey his feeling of “thank you” to Moon.
“...”
“The person Merk forced out of the bathroom that day...”
“...”
“Was me.”
“...”
Once he said it, Klai felt an indescribable sense of relief. But the flood of emotions welling up left him unsure of how to continue. He swallowed hard before saying, “Right now... I don’t know where to start.”
At first, Panli looked quite shocked by his words. But in the next moment, he set aside all his own feelings simply because he noticed Klai’s nervousness. A large hand reached over to hold his.
Klai lowered his eyes to their tightly clasped hands. His eyes burned, and he felt a stinging sensation at the tip of his nose. He swallowed the lump of emotions in his throat before looking up to meet Moon’s gaze again. Klai gave the other a smile.
“Take your time telling it... Puppy can wait.”
The small person gave a faint smile at those warm words before beginning to organize his thoughts to share the story. “Back then, I was still in the same friend group as Thot and the others. Merk was a friend from a different faculty than Thot... which is how Merk ended up meeting me. Merk liked me and had been pursuing me for a while, but I didn’t like him, so I rejected him. I kept trying to avoid Merk the whole time.”
“...”
“But that day when we went to unwind with friends after exams, I didn’t know New and Thot would invite Merk along… so I ended up running into him.”
“…”
“It was the same as always… Merk kept pestering me, and I kept avoiding him. I was about to head back to my condo but stopped by the bathroom first. I was talking on the phone with a friend in one of the stalls. Merk, who came into the bathroom later, must have heard my voice and recognized it… He tried to force me to come out and talk, but I was scared, so I didn’t go…”
“…”
Tears welled up in Klai’s eyes as he recalled that moment. “Until… you came to help me.”
Comments
Post a Comment