My Moon, Chapter 19.2 pg 6
My Moon, Chapter 19.2 pg 6
Panli decided to drive home, but while stuck in traffic, his growing anxiety prompted him to pull out his phone and call someone.
[“What’s up?”]
“Phii Dom… did you tell Klai that I’d seen him before?”
[“I didn’t say anything… why?”]
“Today, Klai didn’t show up on the fourth floor… not like you said.”
[…]
Now, he was jumping to all sorts of conclusions, scared that Klai might have changed his mind… “What if Klai stops liking me?”
[…]
“Yesterday, I ran into Klai waiting for a ride… so I offered to drop him off at his condo.”
[…]
“I might’ve accidentally done something wrong…”
“…or maybe when I ran into a friend at Klai’s condo, I spoke too crudely, and he doesn’t want to like me anymore.”
[Hold on, tiger… calm down.]
He nodded, even though he knew Phii Dom couldn’t see him. “…”
[Just a bit ago, I called Klai. He’s at the arts building practicing the khim because he’s performing for the seniors at the open house.]
A breath of relief escaped through Panli’s nose and mouth. “I almost turned my bike toward Boss’s bar.”
[What the… just because Klai didn’t show up to sneak a glance, you’re ready to go drown in booze?]
“…”
[What’s going on, Li?]
“…”
[Do you just want to confirm with your own eyes that Klai’s really sneaking looks, or…]
“Phii Dom, are you free? Panli wants to talk face-to-face.”
[…]
“And there’s a bunch of other stuff I want to ask.”
[Free. Can you come to my condo?]
“Yeah, I’ll head over.”
It didn’t take long for him to reach Phii Dom’s condo. The owner of the spacious room greeted Panli with a cigarette and a can of beer. He invited him to chill on the balcony. He brought the cigarette to his lips, inhaling nicotine into his lungs. As he exhaled the white smoke, he realized he was relaxed enough. It was time to say something.
The senior, who’d just hung up with his girlfriend, grabbed his beer can, took a swig, and looked at Panli with a calm but heavy gaze. Panli could tell Phii Dom was starting to worry about something.
“Who’s going first?”
“I’ll start…” Panli paused, reflecting on every feeling from the first day he saw Klai until now. “Like I told you before… I’d seen Klai already.”
“…”
“When I saw him standing there looking at my photos, I really, really wanted to go up and get to know him… I don’t know what made me feel that way.”
“…”
“But just as I was about to approach him… Mom called right then. I had to step outside to talk to her. When I came back to the exhibition room… Klai was gone.”
“…”
“...After that day, I kept trying to see him again. I waited for him outside the exhibition room, looked for him while smoking in the parking lot, but I never saw him… and I couldn’t stop feeling this way either.”
“…”
“This urge to get to know Klai… I just can’t shake it.”
“You know I’m Klai’s cousin… so why didn’t you come to me?”
“…”
“Because if you’d told me you wanted to get to know Klai, you wouldn’t have had to try so hard.”
I could guess what Phii Dom was thinking. He didn’t mean exactly what he said, and he was waiting for my response. I didn’t have some cool, novel-hero-like answer. All I had was an answer born from my true feelings.
An honesty I wanted Phii Dom to feel…
“To be straight with you… back then, I was afraid you’d be suspicious of me.”
“…”
“Afraid you’d think I was trying to hit on your little brother.”
“…”
“Because at the time, I thought I just wanted to get to know him, nothing more.”
“Ah… I get it.”
“…Until chubby-cheeks called to invite me to Klai’s birthday party, saying he’s your little brother and goes to the same uni. That’s when I realized it was Klai.”
“…”
“And it really was that guy for me.”
“Your guy, huh?”
“Not exactly mine yet…” I furrowed my brow, retracting my words to put the senior at ease.
“And then what?”
“I really don’t want to tell you this part, but if I don’t, you probably won’t believe my feelings are real…” Panli brought the white cigarette to his lips again, letting his feelings flow freely like the light smoke before saying, “My heart was racing from the moment I walked into the restaurant… and knowing I’d see Klai again, it just kept beating harder and harder.”
“…”
“And when I locked eyes with Klai…” Panli looked at the senior, who was smirking while staring at the beer can in his hand. “You probably have an idea of how I felt in that moment.”
Phii Dom nodded lightly before saying, “It’s probably like when I first met Babe at that concert.”
“…”
“My heart was pounding like a drum.”
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