Chapter 4 - Chapter 4: You Fell Again

Have you ever stopped to think about what the night really is? Yes, the night. Technically, it's just the period between sunset and sunrise. Many people describe it as the end of the day, and very few see it as the start of something new. And if you ignore the concept of "time," night could very well be viewed this way, right? So why am I bringing this up? Just to say that the night can be both a beginning and an end, and at that moment, it was the backdrop for the start of something that didn't have a shape yet but was already getting its first outlines.Wave had resumed his relentless search for his keys in the dark expanse of the park, following a brief burst of happiness after hearing Dan's first words. Dan, for his part, was helping with full dedication. Nearly an hour had passed since the search began, and the key still hadn't shown up. But Wave refused to give up and muttered to himself:"Come on, Wave! There's no way you're not going to find this; things don't just vanish like that."He was already exhausted, straining his eyes with the beam of the flashlight and beginning to feel a bit dizzy. Fatigue was written all over his face, but he kept bending down and examining every inch of the ground with meticulous attention. His main concern at that moment was the other guy, who, despite the darkness and evident frustration, stayed close and continued searching with the same intensity."Dan, you can go home. It's late, and I don't want one of my juniors wandering around alone at night; it's dangerous," he said, watching the other guy crouched and focused on his task."...""Did you hear me?" He approached and grabbed Dan's shoulder, who briefly looked up with relaxed shoulders and a neutral, almost indifferent expression. Without stopping his methodical hand movements exploring the ground, Dan returned to his task. Wave seemed to get the message: "So stubborn."He moved on to searching other areas, but his eyes felt heavier and heavier, and his brain seemed to spin slowly in his head; something felt off. He briefly remembered that it had been many hours since he had eaten; that was probably why he felt this way, but it shouldn't be too worrying, right? So he kept his focus.The problem was maintaining that focus for more than a minute without needing to steady his vision. His mouth was dry, and his legs weren't as firm as before. He considered maybe stopping to rest and resuming the search later, but that idea remained just that—an idea. Before he could act, his body began to sway to the side. He braced himself against a tree and tried to rub his eyes to clear his vision."Damn it..." was all he could whisper before feeling his consciousness momentarily slip away.He was bracing for the impact with the ground when he felt two strong arms catching him firmly from behind. Slowly, his body was guided down to the grass, and his back was supported against the tree he had been leaning on moments before. His vision was still blurred, and it took some time for him to make out Dan's worried face in front of him. The boy's warm hands were gently exploring his face, as if trying to detect any changes in temperature. Soon after, Dan appeared with a bottle of water, pouring it directly into Wave's mouth, who was taken by surprise."Dan... Dan!" Wave tried to protest as he drank the liquid. "That's enough, that's enough! I'm feeling better!" he finished after realizing he had drunk almost the entire bottle.Gradually, he started to feel better—still a bit unsteady, but less dizzy. It was probably just a sudden weakness from going too long without eating, combined with the stress and effort of the whole day.Dan, seeing that Wave seemed better, grabbed his phone and typed something, then pointed at Wave's hand, which made the other phone beep."You sent me a message? I thought we'd moved past this phase..." Wave grumbled, his eyebrows furrowed and the corners of his mouth turned down as he unlocked his phone's screen.[Dan Zanon]How are you feeling? What happened?"Why don't you just speak..." Wave muttered before looking back at Dan and starting to reply. "I'm fine. My blood pressure must've dropped, but it's nothing serious. Relax, I don't die easily."Dan tilted his head slightly, and his eyes seemed to be asking, 'How do you know?' This made Wave let out a small laugh."You're so literal, Serious Boy."Dan picked up his phone again, and Wave continued to watch the chat screen, knowing something would appear soon.[Dan Zanon]When was the last time you ate?"I don't remember, probably a few hours ago," he answered without much thought and then gave a sidelong glance at the guy in front of him. "Why? Are you taking me out for dinner?"Wave asked this jokingly, and never, I repeat, never, would he have imagined that the "Serious Boy" would actually take him out for dinner. But to the surprise of our nature-loving boy and ourselves, Dan turned out to be unpredictable at that moment, and yes, he took Wave out for dinner.Without saying a word, Dan pulled his senior by the arm out of the park and put him on the extra seat of his bike, leading him to a simple restaurant nearby. Wave spent the entire ride not understanding what was happening but was too curious to interrupt the process. Before he knew it, he was sitting in a somewhat noisy place with the tattooed guy in front of him."Offering a meal to your senior? I never thought you were that kind of person, Serious Boy," Wave said with a nearly angelic smile. "I'm so proud!"Dan ignored him and just placed his order with the waitress. Wave did the same right after. The older boy couldn't contain the smile spreading across his face and his eyes shining with excitement; it was as if he had moved up another notch in the 'get closer to Dan Zanon' game, and this made him boast about his social skills, even though everything had been caused by a sudden fainting spell rather than a tactic he had created."Serious Boy, now that we're here, we can actually talk," the smile grew wider and wider, but the other guy didn't even look at him. "So, tell me, have you lived your whole life in Thailand? Or did you spend part of it in another country? Are you also from Italy like Marco?""...""Come on! You've spoken to me before... Okay, it was four words, but still," he leaned forward, trying to get into the guy's line of sight. "Serious Boy, Serious Boy, Serious Boy! Dan, Dan, Dan!"After the insistence, the guy shot a nearly freezing glare at Wave, who immediately noticed that he was feeling uncomfortable. But Wave didn't care; he wanted Dan's attention, and he had gotten it."If you don't want to talk, at least you could type!" He was a bit frustrated. "Okay, okay... let's talk about something else." He thought for a moment and then came up with another topic cheerfully. "University! Why did you choose engineering?"Wave's gaze seemed magnetized by Dan's features, even noticing the relaxation in the tension in some parts of his face at the mention of the topic. His eyes also softened and seemed more receptive, but he still didn't respond.'Okay, I've found a topic that bothers him less, but not enough to make him respond. I'm getting close!' Wave thought to himself while still scanning Dan's face. He lowered his attention to part of the dark design that vaguely appeared on the side of the guy's neck, originating from the nape."Your tattoo..." He pointed to Dan's neck, who instinctively placed his fingers there. "It's super cool and somehow suits you. But what is that design exactly?"Bingo! Wave realized he had managed to peel away another layer of protection. Dan's expression changed completely with the question; his eyes, previously almost opaque, were captured by Wave and showed a hint of lightness and interest. He hadn't noticed it before, since the guy rarely made eye contact, but he found it easy to read what Dan was thinking without him even saying a word. This was confirmed when Dan picked up his phone and began typing.[Dan Zanon]It's an Eye of Horus.Wave read the message on the screen and broke into a wide smile. He had genuinely caught the guy's attention."That's it! I knew I'd seen that design somewhere before. An Eye of Horus! I've read about that legend at some point in my life. It's an Egyptian symbol associated with protection, linked to the sky god Horus, right?" He was excited and knew all the history behind it. "And you were really clever to place it in such a visible spot like your neck, you know? Because the legend says that the Eye of Horus brings protection and defense, shielding a person from negative influences and ensuring safety. The legend also says that Horus lost his right eye in the battle against the Seven who..."After that, Wave began recounting all the legends and sacred messages involving shamans, nature, animals, and Egyptian mysticism related to the symbol. Deep down, he wasn't sure if he believed in all of it, but he was very interested in legends and sacred things from ancient peoples and always ended up reading stories about these topics. In one of those readings, he had studied everything about the amulet, but at the time, he must have been around thirteen and thus didn't immediately connect the designs.The legend was quite interesting, but what I really want to highlight about this moment is Dan's reaction to that flood of information. He was completely taken aback, and it was obvious to anyone with a sense of observation. His eyes were wide open and blinking rapidly, probably trying to grasp how the guy in front of him knew so much about such an obscure subject. But even I couldn't say if he found Wave utterly fascinating or extremely odd."Enjoy your meal!" A female voice interrupted Wave's thoughts, placing their food on the table.Wave was quite pleased to see that Dan seemed more open and interested in what he was saying, and this seemed like the perfect moment to bring up the topic he really needed to discuss with the guy. So, after a few bites, he started:"Dan," he called, and the younger man immediately looked at him. "Can I ask you something?"Dan merely nodded slightly, almost as if he were hesitant to agree."So, what got you into theater?"He had ventured into completely wrong territory, as Dan's forehead lines soon hardened and his breathing grew as heavy as a hammer. When their eye contact was abruptly broken, Wave realized how much it bothered him, but he couldn't back down. Deep down, he knew Dan had been forced into joining the company due to some family issue, because Marco had told him that, but he wanted to hear the story from Dan himself."Um... I just wanted to understand, you don't seem to like being there very much." With the lack of reaction, he started to change tactics. Now the only way to get an answer, even if it was just a look, was to push a little more. "I think I know what you want! You dream of being an actor, don't you?"That hit its mark, as Dan nearly choked on his food and his eyes widened as he looked at Wave as if he had just uttered one of the greatest blasphemies of life. Then, the tattooed guy shook his head vehemently, though it wasn't really necessary."No? I thought..." He had to lie. "So... you'd be more comfortable with a behind-the-scenes job, maybe in production?"Dan's breathing turned into a nearly relieved sigh, and Wave noticed that his eyes wanted to say 'yes,' even though he hadn't given any sign this time."That kind of job really suits you better," Wave began. "The problem is, even if you don't want to be an actor or anything like that, all new members have to go through auditions and work at least once on stage, even if it's just as an extra."He lied. Wave could count on one hand the number of times he had lied in his entire life. But he had a small plan in his head and knew that, unfortunately, he had to start with this little lie. In reality, no one was required to audition if they didn't want to; that would only bring discomfort and highly undesirable situations in a theater company where the goal was to make everyone feel comfortable. He felt bad for lying, but his intentions were so much greater that he tried to forget about it.Dan seemed like a guy who was going through an unwanted situation in his life at that moment and was placed in the theater as a sort of punishment. That was terrible; after all, if the theater was a punishment, how could he see it as something good? This made Wave feel that his mission there was truly difficult, but he was motivated because it troubled him that someone could view something he loved so much as a burden. He genuinely wanted to make Dan like, even if just a little, the theater.When he mentioned the false rule that everyone had to participate in auditions, Dan reacted almost in complete agony, even though his expressions didn't change. It was all in his eyes, those extremely expressive and striking eyes."Actually, if you're that uncomfortable, there's a way for you to avoid even the auditions..." Wave started, casting a very obvious bait, which Dan quickly bit. "I'm an Assistant Director, you know that, right?"The question was rhetorical, but he stopped there, saying nothing more. He knew he had Dan's full attention at that moment and wanted at least some response from him to keep the conversation going—something more than just a nod. The tattooed guy wrinkled his brow and bit his lip, drumming his fingers on the table for a few seconds before grabbing his phone and typing something quickly:[Dan Zanon]What do I need to do?"Well, I don't know if you noticed, but at the next meeting we'll have the first auditions, and I can make sure you don't have to go through them if you meet with me the night before." He had a genuine smile on his face.[Dan Zanon]Meet you where and for what?"Well, that'll be a surprise," he said, still looking at the message on his phone and then turning to his junior. "Trust me, okay?"A sigh was his only response, and the rest of the dinner wrapped up quickly with only a few monologues from Wave and no real expressive reactions from Dan. Soon, they were on their way out. And now, you want to know about the car key? Well, when they biked back to the park and were about to resume their search, Wave found the shiny object, clearly visible, lying next to his vehicle. He was very confused and swore to the other guy that he had looked exactly in that spot but hadn't found anything.To this day, we don't know if it was fate, elves, or just Wave's inability to look for things properly. But it didn't matter, right? They both went home that night, but the older guy had a smile on his face as if he had leveled up in a really tough video game.Two days later, at university, Wave was with his friends, Neo and Tee, at a table outside the building, discussing random topics:"I think you're being too hard on the freshmen just to impress the girls!" Tee was debating with Neo, accusing him of intensifying some of the punishments for the newcomers.In recent days, Neo had made several freshmen run more than fifty laps around the engineering campus just because they forgot to greet him. He was a somewhat grumpy guy who intimidated the newbies, but it was all an act, and he took advantage of it. Wave and Neo were good friends and got along well despite being completely different from each other."And since when do you think I need that kind of thing to get the girls' attention?" He bragged.The discussion continued for a few minutes while Wave watched a bird that had landed nearby. Then, in the direction of the same bird, he spotted a tall guy with an Eye of Horus tattoo on his neck, sitting at a table studying with some classmates. Involuntarily, Wave stood up and waved happily at the guy, who saw him and turned his face away completely."What are you doing?" Neo asked, grabbing Wave's shoulder, and when he looked in the direction Wave was staring, he added, "The mixed-race freshman—where do you know him from?""I've seen him around," Wave replied casually, still looking in that direction, pressing his lips together when ignored. He then pulled out his phone and began typing in the chat with the guy.[Wave Nawat]Hi! Why didn't you wave back? Serious Boy, it's really rude to do that to a senior.Dan picked up his phone, read the message, and put it back in his pocket without any reaction or response, which made Wave even more determined.[Wave Nawat]Hey! Hey! Are you really going to ignore me like this?This time, the guy didn't even take his phone out of his pocket when he heard the notification sound, which made a challenging smile appear on Wave's face.[Wave Nawat]You really think you can ignore me?Serious Boy!Serious Boy!Serious Boy!Serious Boy!With each message sent, the notification sound echoed from Dan's pocket, causing everyone at his table to stop their conversations and raise their eyebrows, casting furtive glances in his direction. Wave could only see him take a deep breath, pull out his phone, glare at the screen with a sharp look, and then return that look to the person on the other side of the outdoor area.Wave grinned widely at this and waved at the guy, who didn't move a muscle to respond, prompting Wave to start typing again:[Wave Nawat]Now that I've got your attention, I want to confirm our plans for tonight!

Here's the address—meet me there at 8 PM.

50 Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok

I'll be waiting for you, okay?