Tun cafe is owned by an alumnus from the Faculty of Architecture. On a normal day like this, there's nothing happier than a cancelled morning class. What a great life. At this point, we are addicted to skipping class. It is becoming one of our nature. We would bring ourselves to sit chicly at the cafe in front of the Architecture faculty.
We really like the atmosphere here. Once we are fascinated with a store like this, we will stay here until the store closes. But the thing is, we need to arrive early here because if we will come late, this place will be filled by those muscular students wearing the engineering uniform. Some looked annoying but my friends and I are not afraid of them.
"What do you guys want?" Said Peuk who was sitting on the sofa. His eyes stared at the opposite table without blinking. Damn, if his eyes had legs, maybe he would end up looking for the girl on the other side.
"Anything," I answer.
"Anything." Ohm says, too.
"Anything," Fong does too. All these stupid fucks who don't know how to think of their own words.
"Excuse me, can we order four 'anything', please?" The sound of the buffalo broke out, making the people inside look at us. My heart.... I hate moments like this.
"Okay. Please wait." But what's sadder is that the staff acknowledged our order with a humorous expression. There are no baristas here. The employees here are the bosses.
There are also few juniors from the Faculty of Architecture who just come to help wholeheartedly. The are the people wearing aprons. This place is really great and warm, but the employees here are so few. I think sometimes, when the shop is jam packed, orders will take two hours to complete.
My friends and I just sit and chat for a while, then quietly staring and listening to the girls gossiping next to us. I pulled out my phone happily. Until finally, there is a new notification. Someone sent a friend request on Facebook. This is normal, but what's unusual is the profile picture because it feels very familiar to the eye.
"Oh..." I blurt out without any context. In my head, I smile happily and I accept the friend request swiftly. Women seduce me. You ain't virgin, fine. You're shameless, fine. And me? I'm hella fine.
"Who is that?" Peuk interrupted immediately. Please don't be curious. The person who added me was not a stranger, but my fellow junior from the music club who just joined yesterday. And we have also introduced ourselves to each other. Prae, from the Faculty of Medicine, my new target.
This time, I don't want to have a fake relationship, but a real one. And I don't want to let Green know.
"Just a girl. Not sure how she found my Facebook."
"Wow, because that is so hard to do. You literally promoted yourself in every private group of freshies."
"Stop killing my vibe. It's annoying!"
"Then who is she? Hurry up and say it. Don't cause too much trouble." Not to mention, Ohm quickly bowed to see the movement on the timeline from my phone.
"New friend from music club."
"Is that Green?"
"Watch your mouth! Not him. This is a girl from medicine. She is very cute."
"Then what about Sarawat? You already wooed him and now you're going to find a mistress?"
Wow, he is making my life sound so wasteful. What does Sarawat have anything to do with this? He's just a cockblock for when Green's around. He has no other use.
"He has nothing to do with this."
"Ah okay, I'll just wait and see if that's true." I could only roll my eyes at these three bastards before I turned my attention to start a new conversation with Prae. But I don't know how to start. I am always like this with every girl. I've got a baby heart. Should I start with 'Hello, I'm Tine'? Is that okay? I type immediately after I think of it. And five minutes later...
Beep!
"Ahhhh. Saraaawaaat!"
The sound came from the people in the cafe which made us turn to look at the entrance. And in that second, I saw the guy I talked to on the phone last night until we fell asleep... once again.
He is the most popular boy in the entire campus. He's leading a group of people that looked like drummers. All their shirts are all hanging out of their pants. I've never seen Saraleo dressed this way. He doesn't even have a tie on and his hair is a mess. I'm thinking in my head 'what the fuck were they up to earlier'? Did Political Science open a new ground digging course?
"You're done. Clean the table. This seat's available." These women are scary. It is not even three seconds and the tables next to us that used to be two tables attached together are now separated into one. Therefore, leaving space for the newcomers. Sarawat turns for a little glance, but he doesn't respond and walks to another corner of the cafe as if he's been deaf since birth. He is such an asshole as well for just giving them a poker face after that. But everyone knows his character so no one is angry about it. They even like him even more because his face looks hot.
"Sarawat is so mysterious."
Ugh... Where's the mystery? He is not interesting at all. Look carefully, you can clearly see that everything is the same as me.
"Hey, your hubby." Fong says while teasing me and raising his eyebrows.
"What?"
"Your sideboy, Sarawat. Aren't you going to say hi?"
"Why should I? Green isn't here."
"He will be here soon."
"Don't say that! I'll punch your mouth. Everytime someone talks about him, he will appear." Green is like a fortune teller; he can know everything. Until now I still didn't know whether he believed that Sarawat and I were flirting with each other.
"Americano, please." A low voice was heard. No one in this cafe could take their eyes off the tall figure standing in front of the cashier.
"Sarawat drinks Americano. Make a note of that so we can buy it for him next time," girls from the table next to us say while giggling.
"He also likes to eat porkchop, too. I saw him ordering it yesterday."
"I think he likes Blue Hawaii as well. I saw him drinking it at the cafeteria and he looked so happy." Actually, that was mine. He doesn't even like that drink!
"Tine, why is your face turning red? Are you being jealous?" Ohm whispered, but I can hear how annoying his voice and eyes are.
"From now on, you and I are no longer friends."
"Hey, that's just a joke. Why are you so serious?"
"You shut up."
"The 'Anything' orders are ready!" A little behind Sarawat, the senior called out our order in a loud voice for everyone to hear.
"For James Ji, strawberry milk with tomato sauce from Mars.
For Pope, Japanese tea from Mount Fuji.
And for Mario, uhmm... wait a second."
He says turning to the other side, leaving with these shocking dishes. I really hate the seniors who work at this cafe. They all have blood in their hearts. They like to play around because this menu is not acceptable in the world. Their imagination is too high and so unrealistic.
"Yay, I've got mine! That's cool... Tomato sauce from Mars." These dummies are just as immature. They all jump to the counter to get their drinks. This cafe has its own system. You go order and go get the drink yourself. And the most important thing is pay as soon as you touch the cups. I've asked Sis Tun, the owner of this cafe, before as to why the place works this way. I've gotten an answer now that some people would come to have drinks and leave without paying a penny. Now, that doesn't happen anymore except there's an account book noting all the debts of all the ones who couldn't afford the food. That book is probably as thick as the dictionary now.
Three minutes later...
"Mario! Colombian Mango Bingsoo, here is the most expensive thing on the menu for you."
I turned to see Fong who looked like he wanted to cry. It was very funny. I feel bad for him when he has to walk to the counter to whisper saying 'put it on my tab'.
"Sure. Sis!! Fong, freshmen from Law, has another one on his tab."
Fuck... He walks back to the table trying hard not to cry. In his hand is the most expensive thing on the menu. How the fuck is this Bingsoo? This looks like a 10 baht shaved ice. He's been conned, but I am not going to say anything because I love my friend and I wouldn't want him to look stupid. This cafe makes everything so slow, I've been sitting here for so long while waiting for my order.
"Americano." I immediately stood up when I heard the employee call out my order. I know that it must be mine. However, when I've arrived at the counter, I almost spring out. Sarawat's large body pushes through to me which makes me move back from where I was standing. My never-losing heart decides to shove myself back to where I was again.
"Fifty, right?" I ask and take the money out of my pocket. I then take a straw on the side, put it in, then suck it up.
Yuck! It's bitter. I don't like anything that's bitter.
"Tine, that is not yours."
"...?" What!! Why does it have to be mentioned out loud?
"That is Sarawat's. Yours is here." A strawberry ice cream was in the employees hand. I looked at the glass of Americano in my hand and looked at the person standing next to me.
"So what should I do?"
"I'll make a new one. Sarawat, please wait a minute." I see her flirtatious eyes gazing at the stupid freshman next to me.
"That's alright. I can drink this." Having said that, his hand took the cup of Americano from me. Not only that, he also wink before he took a sip of the coffee. Twice! He already did this to me twice!
"Okay, it's fifty baht."
"This person is paying." Then he pointed at me.
"What the hell??"
"You drank it."
"I only had a little. Here, I'll give you two baht." I say handing him a two-baht coin.
"Not enough."
"Huh? I only drink less than two gulps."
"Not enough on the time I spent calling you last night."
"Who forced you to call me last night?"
"Nobody. I just don't like it."
"What?"
"I don't like it when you talk to other people... at night. It is a waste of their sleeping time."
"But when you called me, that didn't waste my sleeping time at all." I fell asleep on the call and when I was conscious, it was already the morning.
"So this guy will pay." He said to end the argument. He stopped talking to me and totally walked away heading to his friends. I am left there having to pay his drink and my order by myself. What else can I do? I brought the ice cream back to my seat with a broken heart. My precious money...
After eating for a while, Ohm pokes me and hands me his phone for me to look at.
"What's wrong, Ohm?"
"Your partner has already taken action." At first, it was a bit confusing. But when I saw the phone screen with Instagram opened, I immediately realized that Sarawat had declared war of nerves on me.
Sarawatlism
Free
It is a photo of the problematic cup of Americano earlier. Now, it has become the topic of conversation of the fans on Instagram for the previous seconds. I did not respond because I just wanted him to be alone in this war. Although, I see his friend commented on the photo. At the same time, I hear people booing and I'm sure it is from his table.
Boss-pol
You must love drinking Americano
Bigger330
I know who it's from
KittiTee
That table's so cute
Man_maman
@Sarawatlism Want me to tag him?
I look left, right, and around. What table are they talking about? There are so many girls here and they're all thirsty for Sarawat. What's more important right now is the waiters here are on a mission. They form a line at Sarawat's table and serve drinks all over the area.
"Someone ordered an Americano for Sarawat."
"What?!" How popular... If I count using just my eye, there are five or six cups. If he drinks all of it, he will stay awake until the next life. His fans are truly awesome and scary at the same time. His friends are all stuned.. I saw him talking to employees for a while. Maybe, he is asking who ordered it for him. I give the phone back to the owner and turn back to play on my own phone. So... I'm not jealous or anything, it's just that, it seems fun if my fans also treat me like that. Cut to Green... the red box he gave is still with me.
"Your sideboy is so popular." One of us starts a conversation. I guess they're scared we will die from silence.
"It's pointless. He is not even that handsome," I said. Actually, he is really handsome but I don't wanna praise the asshole too much.
"Really? Let's wait and see. One day, you will eat that handsome guy."
"Damn it! I have goosebumps."
"So how's Green? You told me he followed you to the club."
"Yes, that's how it is. But fortunately, Sarawat is there to help me. But I don't know how much effort is needed because he is always attached to me. I don't know what to do anymore."
"God will save the good. You will survive."
"Vanilla cake and orange cake." We haven't finished the conversation and one of the waiters serves the cakes on our table, making us all confused.
"Eh... But I didn't order this."
"Someone ordered it for you. It's already paid."
"Who's that? Who ordered it?"
"For Tine. Don't ask too much or else I'll crack." He says and walks away. He leaves me looking left and right to see who bought these cakes. But no one looks suspicious at all.
"Is it Prae?" I mutter to myself.
"Which Prae?" Ohm butts his nose in. He's got good ears.
"The medical student I told you about."
"Evolving to a level that she is now secretly giving cakes to you?"
"Or my fans?" I am thinking of all the possibilities. I'm a cheerleader of the Faculty of Law. I'm not ugly, so obviously, there must be people that admire me but too scared to say it. At this point, I am thinking of all the ways it could be. Fans. Girls I currently am seeing. Even Green but probably not. He's never been anonymous, he always does something in public. I know him so well.
"Don't worry too much, Tine. Who cares about that. Just eat it quickly. I want to try it."
"Wait a minute!"
"What else?"
"I have to take a photo first." It feels like I'm starting to be like my ex-girlfriend who is crazy about cameras. Whoever bought it, I just wanted to say thank you by posting a picture on Instagram with a caption that I totally just came up with.
Tine_chic
Don't know who it was from, but thank you! Next time, my treat. :)
My friends all comment teasing me, as usual. Fong is creating an analysis theory that would gather the possibilities, something of the sort. We comment back and forth for a while and someone's comment appears. I have to read it over and over again in confusion.
Man_maman
There will be a next time? Ooh!
Boss-pol
@Tine_chic Cute. My friend said you're cute.
Please tell me these aren't Sarawat's friends... I am trying to convince myself that they're not but...
Thetheme11
Were the cakes yummy?
So I answer by saying...
Tine_chic
@Thetheme11 Yeah.
"Yesss~" I hear a noise coming from Sarawat's table. I know immediately that it is his friends that are joyfully messing around on my Instagram. But who's
'TheTheme'? So fucking nosy. Was it him who bought me the cakes? I don't want this to remain unsolved, so I stand up and walk to their table. The White Lion all looks up at me and one of them speaks up with a blank expression.
"What is wrong?"
"Do you have a problem with me? I feel like you are playing with me." I say it honestly. Instead of being serious, they all start smiling. I want to slap their damnheads.
"It's nothing. We just wanna be friends with you."
"What for?"
"Because you are Sarawat's friend. Or you don't want to be friends with us?"
"If you wanna be friends, just come and say hi, instead of making jokes on my Instagram like that. You too, say something." After completing my sentence, I turned to blame the source of the problem. Sarawat then looks up and makes eye contact with me.
"What should I say?"
"Say whatever you want."
"You're cute."
"..."
"Done? Go back to your table. You're blocking the view." I just scratched my head and walked back to my desk in a confused state. I don't know what to process first. I can't even compose any of my thoughts. All I remember is 'you're cute'.
My heart... Damn!
I have been sitting here at Tun Cafe for hours. At about noon, we are hoping to go get something to eat then go to our afternoon class. Fong and Puek put their copied homework into their bags. Ohm puts his phone away and I separate from them to go to the toilet as I need to poop. I sit for a while and I hear someone walk in. I try really hard to fart quietly and poop politely, so I don't interrupt them.
However, the person outside the stall is interrupting my private time with his guitar. I try not to scream at him out loud. I quickly finish my business, so I can get out to throw a tantrum. And I actually get to throw it because the person on the sink counter is the popularguy. The guy that everyone admires and worships he is too perfect.
"It's you. Fucking Sarawat! Why play the guitar here? It's annoying."
"None of your business. I can play wherever I want."
"Right." Arguing with him is a waste of energy, so I walked while stomping my feet to the sink and washed my hands. In a moment I realized that one of his hands was injured and bleeding.
"What happened to your hand? What did you do?" I've been wondering for a while now since him and his friends don't look like they were in class at all.
"Music practice."
"Practiced so much that it fucked up your hand like that?"
"Can you dress the wound for me?"
"No. If I see blood, I will faint. But it doesn't count if you have big boobs." Actually, I could have helped him but I don't want to. He has so many fans and a bunch of friends. Any of them would be happy to dress his wound.
"Then I will show you my boobs in exchange for your help."I quickly turned and looked at him.
"Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are?"
"Never. Most people say that I'm handsome. I'm a little embarrassed to hear that, but it's true." "..."
This is ridiculous. Him? Embarrassed? Damn! That sounds rare. I've known him for a while now and I've never seen him being embarrassed even once.
"I will paint my room." Sarawat suddenly brought up a new topic without any warning. Does he know how conversation works?
"Why are you telling me?"
"Can you help me?"
"Why don't you hire someone to do that?"
"What color is good?" His mouth spoke but his hands were still busy plucking his guitar strings happily. It's like he doesn't realize he's not in the music room. He's on the fucking sink counter in the toilet.
"Did I say I would help you?" I immediately protested.
"Gray is nice. Or do you prefer white?"
"Wait, Sarawat. Are you listening to what I'm saying?"
"I'm listening. So what color do you like?"
"I'm not you. How am I supposed to know?"
"Well, then see you. My place at five."
"..."
"If you come on time, I will let you grab my boobs for free."
I said I love boobs, but not his fucking flat boobs. Damn! He is really stupid. I always get tired every time I talk to him.
There is so much chaos going on in my head today. The classes, Sarawat's friends, and now, I am standing at cheerleading practice. Therefore, I send my Male Leads to go tell the seniors from the music club that I need another day off. Luckily, I haven't seen Green today. So there is no one to give me a headache. I guess somehow, I feel a little more relieved. Just a little.
It is only a few days before the music event 'The Alter Ma Jeeb Fair'. Green and I, one of us is going down because we are on the same team. But I should let it go for now. The present is more important.
After class at the Social Science building, I went downstairs to wait for the seniors for cheerleading practice. While waiting, I texted the girl from Medicine to energize my heart. Some of the seniors arrived and I have to keep greeting them as I am their junior. But then another group of seniors arrived.
"Tine, is Sarawat coming today?" Remember the group asking for Sarawat's favorite shoes? Yes! This is their group.
"No, he's not. Why would he?"
"Oh! We thought he's after you."
"What? I'm just his friend."
"I saw Sarawat's friends teasing you on Instagram." Fuckkkkkk.
"It was nothing. Just a friendly tease."
"Oh! Is Sarawat close to someone? Does he have a girlfriend?"
"I do not know."
"Please ask him for me."
"Okay." I just nod in order to allow the seniors to start practicing. It's already evening and the handsome man like me is now hungry. I wanted to finish this quickly so I could go home and sleep. I don't want to stay here because there are a lot of mosquitoes and it's flaming hot.
The hand technique for our cheerleading moves are not complicated, but there are hundreds of songs. Even if I move my arms until my armpits go numb, the practice still wouldn't be done in two hours. So the extreme practice might go on until late to catch up with the university event. Two hours start to become three. The sun rays are replaced by light on the ceiling. My stomach is slowly being replaced with the word 'hungry', causing my intestines to break down. The seniors won't give us a break. I feel bad for the girls. They are sweating like crazy and there's only water to keep them going.
"Tine, swing your hands harder. You move like you've got no power!" That's because I have none. Where am I supposed to get power from?
"Golf, why are you bending your knees?" Shit! I bent too. I've been copying Golf's moves the whole time.
"Concentrate!" Starving is the only word in my head right now.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr ~
Some idiot's phone rings and we finally get a break.
"Tine, your phone." Oh, it's mine.
"Okay."
"It says Saraleo is calling." One of the seniors poke her head out to see the incoming call. I get out of the line to go grab my phone immediately. The thing is, I promised Sarawat that I wouldn't give his number out to anyone. Or else, I will be dead.
[What are you doing? What time did I tell you to come?] I answer the call and haven't even said anything, but the other end of the call is already blurting out.
"I'm at cheerleading practice. If you need to paint your room, just do it then. Why do you need me? I am fucking starvinggggggg."
[Where are you?]
"Faculty."
[What do you want to eat?]
"Why are you acting like you're coming?"
[What do you want to eat?]
"Anything that will feed me. If you are coming, buy a lot of food, okay? Other friends are hungry too."
[Did I say I will come?]
"..." It is like you are given hope that you're going to win an Oscar, but the emcee just announced the wrong name. It hurts.
[Are you crying?]
"I really hate you."
[Up to you.]
"If you come, I will let you grab my boobs."
[Okay. See you in five minutes!]
Then he ends the call so fast. What the fuck? He is quite perverted, isn't he? What would his fans think if they hear this? Fuck! Why did I offer a part of myself to him like that?
In less than five minutes, the tall body of the person who I talked earlier appears amid a series of screams from friends and seniors. Now, nobody cares about the training. They all just wanna attack Sarawat and who does first is the winner.
"Sarawat, you're so adorable buying us so much food."
"It's Tine's treat. Here's yours." he says putting the plastic bags on the table. Then he walks far away to sit down without any care in the world.
"Your popularity is rising," I say as I follow to tease him. I sit on the chair across from the tall guy.
"Just eat."
He said while pushing the food and opened the water bottle in front of me.
"You're so kind. I'm sorry for calling you a bastard before."
"Can I grab your boobs now?"
"Bastard, I was just kidding!" I said and his annoyance rose again. Sure, Sarawat doesn't like messing around. He doesn't talk much, doesn't like being the center of attention. But he's the opposite with someone he's close with. He would talk so much. He would be so annoying and so perverted.
"I am serious."
"Fuck. You are scaring me..."
"When do you get off?" He asked me while I'm eating. I feel like he is going to swallow me whole.
"I don't know. What about you? Did you go to the club today?"
"No. My hand hurts." I lowered my head to look at his finger. When I saw the plasters, I was relieved.
"Don't strain yourself next time. Take a break. Human life must always know how to set the time. Even the clock adjusts itself to 00.00 at midnight."
"How? Normally, mine's 24.00."
"Can you stop killing my vibe? And are you going to heal in time for the music event?"
"Are you worried about me?"
"Don't be silly. It has nothing to do with you. I worry about the club." We both become silent with each other. Sarawat lets me eat with joy as he's busy managing the non-stopping notifications on his phone. His followers on Instagram are increasing overwhelmingly. I am sure the sound of the notifications right now are from the seniors and friends in the cheerleading team.
"Sarawat, I tagged you on your Instagram. Give it a like, please." My senior shouted. The focus is on that.
"Like it," I told him.
"Lazy."
"I'll do it for you. Give me your phone." I held the spoon in one hand, and the other open. I wiggle my fingers and he gives me his precious phone. Apparently, he is not using the Samsung Hero anymore.
"Woah..." I was amazed to see so many pictures that tagged Sarawat. There aren't just photos of the food today but also a bunch of photos that captured every moment of his movements. They tagged him and captioned the photos very creepily. Importantly, there are so many direct messages left there for so long. He never answered them. What a great guy.
"They messaged to you ages ago, why haven't you answered them yet?"
"Who sent the message?"
"Who else? Your fans! Look." I showed him the torch window.
"I don't know how to use it." Right. I am sorry. It is my fault. I totally forget that this is Sarawat who doesn't know anything about social media. He only signed up for Instagram with only one goal - chasing cool people like me to outwit Green. But Green never noticed it...yet.
"Should I answer for you?" I made a suggestion. I really want to help him rid of his stupidity with social media.
"There's no need. Just leave it." So I give him back his phone.
"Oh, a senior wanted me to ask." I finally thought of it, so I start a new topic - Sarawat's style.
"What?"
"You're not seeing anyone at the moment, right?"
"Don't be nosy."
"Want me to give you a bloody nose? I am serious."
"I said I am flirting with you. Who else would I be messing with?"
"I am not talking about the fake-flirting with me. I mean like for real. Is there someone you like right now?"
"Do you do it like this?" He is not at all listening. I wanna die a thousand times when talking to him. I see him looking up and down or some shit, so I just let him do his thing.
Ding~
My phone vibrates. Therefore, I am focusing on my phone instead.
Sarawatlism started following you.
I quickly look up at the guy sitting across from me. The tall guy is still looking down, staring at his phone. With his deep voice, he says and it is all clear to me.
"Yeah..."
"..."
"The person I just followed... That's who I like."
And my Instagram account is now the only account that Sarawat follows...