My Moon, Chapter 5 pg 8
My Moon, Chapter 5 pg 8
This was probably the first time he could make his friends laugh without forcing it. Klai loved throwing out cheesy jokes to his friends. Even though his jokes were often lame, his friends would still laugh to encourage him, spurring him to come up with more for the group. But this time, Klai wanted to tell everyone he wasn’t joking.
He really wanted to cover his head with the bag.
“Where’s Panli going… why’d he gets up from the table?”
Hearing Pie’s question, Klai immediately turned to find the answer. He saw Panli standing and laughing while Theerak pointed at him. Right now, the chubby-cheeked Theerak looked extremely annoyed.
“Wait… hold on, Panli. If this isn’t true, you’ll be in tears because of this fierce Theerak.”
The fierce-looking Theerak, who seemed very serious, quickly stormed out of the restaurant. Meanwhile, the accused party was still smiling and laughing before sitting back down in his chair. Klai had no idea what happened while he was busy being embarrassed about Panli, his ears burning red. So, he asked the person next to him, who he assumed witnessed the scene.
“Where’d Theerak go, Phii Dom?”
Phii Dom laughed before saying, “It’s Panli’s fault. He told Theerak that Phii Fah had already left to go back because of bad traffic.”
“But the truth is Phii Fah hasn’t even arrived yet, right, Phii Dom?”
“Ask the troublemaker himself…” Phii Dom nodded toward the opposite side. “What’s up, Panli? The birthday boy’s asking.”
Klai pressed his lips tightly together before turning to look at the person sitting across from his older brother. If he had a thermometer attached to him right now, Klai was sure it would malfunction from the sudden spike in his body temperature.
Panli bit his lip slightly while placing a brown wallet and a black phone on the table. He looked at Klai with a subtle smile. Klai knew he was blinking too rapidly—a habit that surfaced when he was extremely nervous. He never imagined that making eye contact with someone would require so much energy.
Especially… locking eyes with his Moon,
whose playful gaze carried a hint of charm.
How much energy would Klai need for this?
Even if he were Thanos, he probably couldn’t handle it.
Klai glanced at the gift bag that his Moon had moved out of the way. Panli slid it slightly to clear some space. Kant stepped in, reaching over to pull the gift bag closer to his side, as if making room for Panli to sit directly across from Klai.
It was at this moment that the empty space in front of him was filled by his moon instead of paper bags. Klai had thought he’d be staring at the gift bags until the event ended, with no one to sit across from him to meet his gaze.
But it was still the same moon
That chased away the feelings of emptiness in his heart,
That filled the missing pieces,
And it was still this moon… that made his incomplete universe whole again.
“Does the birthday boy want to know the truth… or take a guess first?”
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Make a note in your heart, Klaijai… of the first time you talked to Panli.
“Uh… I think I’d rather know the truth.”
“The truth is…” Panli smiled while meeting his gaze, then continued, “No one would turn the car around just because of traffic. Everyone will try their best to get here as fast as they can… to honor the birthday boy’s feelings.”
“…”
“So, Phii Fah will definitely show up.”
“…”
“No need to worry… Okay?”
How touching…
Klai didn’t nod or respond right away, because Panli’s words, which quickly sank deep into his heart, stirred something within him. It was a feeling greater than just “touched.”
Was it because of the smile he’d described as, “The world will be okay” when he saw it? The gentle tone of voice? Or Panli’s words that filled his mind with nothing but
Thank you.
Thank you for making every step on the journey to the moon unforgettable…
But if someone were to ask why Panli’s words could so easily seep into his heart, Klai could only answer…
For someone like him, who had been through so much,
Someone who always told others he was fine,
For someone trying their hardest to be strong and overcome certain things, hearing the words “Don’t worry” before facing disappointment or heartbreak felt like being shielded from everything crashing down. So, it wasn’t surprising that a feeling deeper than mere admiration stirred in Klai’s heart.
But now, Klai realized they’d been locking eyes for too long. He nodded as a response, and Panli smiled, nodding slowly as if understanding the message conveyed through his body language.
“Klai…”
The one called turned away from the person in front of him to face the owner of the voice. Pie was waving two empty glasses in both hands. Klai guessed the other glass in Pie’s hand was probably his.
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