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Candidate #3
Name: Amy
Age: 25
Occupation: BL Writer

"So Arthur jumps off the same cliff Kingston fell off a year ago. His reason for living is no more. Kingston was his everything, his life, his love, his happiness. As he free falls, memories of his love flash through his mind. Beautiful smiles, wonderful laughter, playful banters, tender caresses, and passionate lovemaking all play like a movie. Arthur closes his eyes bracing himself for impact and hopes to find Kingston in the afterlife." Amy clasps her hands to her chest and openly sobs.

"Uh, here's a tissue." Singto gives a meek awkward smile to all the onlookers at the gallery. Apparently, his date is a better exhibit than all the art pieces in the room. Some people were giving him the stink eyes like he made his date cry in public.

"What kind of man makes a woman cry like that? He should be ashamed of himself. Just awful."

More than a couple of people have already mumbled the same thing passing by. They weren't even close to just being a whisper.

"Don't you think it's beautiful and tragic?" Amy looks at Singto with her eyes all puffy and mascara running down her cheeks.

"Of course. It's absolutely beautiful. Just like Romeo and Juliet. Why don't we check out that piece over there." Singto tries to lead his date to the far corner of the gallery. The less crowded the better. Hopefully, the colorful canvas over there will inspire a more joyous plot than all the tragedies he's heard so far. Those poor characters Arthur and Kingston have already died five times in many painful ways. Thank God they are only fictional characters.

"Huhuhu...huhu...this is so beautiful. I can imagine them in love dancing above clouds with beautiful wings on their backs. Can't you see it? Look." Amy points to a patch of yellow and white acrylic paint.

"Not really. Maybe if I tilt my head a little to the right. Nope. I'm sorry." Singto tries to entertain his date but he really can't see what the fuck she is talking about.

"I really pegged you to be better than this. You're so uncreative. Can't you use your imagination? The only reason I picked an art gallery for our date is to see how cultured and how open-minded you are. I can't be with someone so uncultured. Goodbye." Amy walks away. She can't imagine wasting another minute with someone who can't relate to the beautiful love between her characters Arthur and Kingston. Watch, someday her stories will get adapted into a series or a movie played by Kongpob and Arthit. She doesn't think she can even listen to this man over the radio anymore.

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"That's it! This is fucking ridiculous. How or where are you guys finding these women?" Singto glares between Fiat and Krist.

Krist runs his tongue around his teeth. He's had a rather filling lunch. "We've obviously picked them from all the listeners that are interested in you. And they all fulfill your criteria. They all like music, indie movies, traveling, sunrises, sunsets, strolls along a beach..."

"That's almost everyone! You gave me a generic checklist to tick off."

"Well, if you want to write a 20-page personal essay about your profounding perspective on love and life, be my guest. Just don't expect me to read it." Krist doesn't get what's the big deal. So what if another date didn't go well. You move on and go on another one. If it was so easy to find your soulmate then why would they even be doing this? Besides, this campaign is mostly just for boosting ratings and advertisements. This guy can't really think he's going to meet his soulmate. Give him a break. There's no such thing.

"Just admit that you are purposely doing this to me. You're purposely trying to mess with me." Singto pushes himself up with his palms on the conference table. He wants to reach over and wring Krist's neck.

Fiat quickly gets up pulling Singto back. "Singto, honestly on paper, and by looking at their pictures, the ladies fulfilled your criteria. I thought so too. Okay, maybe not the psychic but she looked so hot. And that President of KAFC, I had no idea it was a fan club. I just thought she must've been really smart and successful to be the president of a company at such a young age. As for the writer, I thought she would be perfect for you since you love reading so much. I thought you two would have endless intellectual discussions. I really didn't expect any of these dates to turn out like the way they did. Krist really isn't trying to mess with you."

Singto sinks back into his seat and looks away from both men. Despite not trusting Krist, he trusts Fiat. He knows Fiat wouldn't deliberately mess with him.

"Look, are you being open and honest with yourself? You know, I won't judge you. So maybe if you just tell me more about yourself and what you're looking for, then maybe it'll get better." Krist leans back. That's the best he can do. If Singto is so gung-ho about finding his soulmate, then maybe he'll try a little harder. Maybe if he admits that he likes men, then he'll pick some male candidates for him.

Fiat eyes for Singto's reaction closely. He nervously bites his bottom lips while he watches the scene before him plays out. What will Singto say?

Singto takes a deep breath and exhales. He's not ashamed of his sexuality or anything. Anyone that knows him long enough would find out anyway. As a matter of fact, most people in their office knows that he's bi-sexual. Most have met either his boyfriends or girlfriends in the past. He has never tried to hide it but he has also never made any efforts to so-call 'come out' to anyone. Because it's none of anyone's business, and he finds it ridiculous. He's never heard of straight people coming out, so why do gays, lesbians, bi, and all the other labels have to 'come out?' For what? If he happens to run into someone he knows while he's on a date with a man or a woman he would just introduce them as his date. That's it.

However, he's well aware of the fact that there's still a lot of close-minded people out there that get butt hurt over other people's business. And being in showbiz is where it gets sticky. Because even if all their listeners are accepting, which he is 100% positive that that won't be the case, there's also their sponsors and probably some higher up management that won't agree with his lifestyle. So airing his love life is not ideal and that's why he really doesn't like this stupid campaign. And another thing is, if he never had to 'come out' to even his parents, he's not about to 'come out' to Krist. They found out just casually like everyone else. So whatever. Seven more. Just seven more of these stupid dates. He tells himself.

"Nothing. I have nothing to tell you. Just try not to set me up with any more weirdos." Singto says and leaves the conference room.

Krist rolls his eyes at Singto's reply. All this talk of true love, soulmates, and romance bullshit when the guy is a closeted gay who can't even be honest with himself. How is he supposed to help the guy if he won't help himself? So, this guy deserves a few bad dates. And of course, every date is going to suck if he's not attracted to women to begin with. Well so be it if he wants to continue to hide. He has other things to worry about, like what he's going to wear tonight.

Fiat quickly follows behind Singto. "Are you okay? For a minute there, I thought you were going to tell him."

"Tell him what? What is there to tell? It's none of his business." Singto keeps marching ahead, making Fiat almost have to jog alongside in order to keep up.

"Well, are you still going to Tay's birthday party tonight?"

"Do I even have a choice? He throws this huge bash every year and basically demands everyone go. The only way out of it is if I'm on my deathbed or I'm working on location. So yeah, I'll see you tonight."

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"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank you all for joining our son Tay's 29th Birthday. We are so proud of him. And we're so happy that he has so many wonderful friends and colleagues here tonight. Please enjoy yourselves." Tay's father exits the stage and the DJ immediately takes over again.

Krist has never attended Tay's birthday party in the past due to his work schedule. This is the first time he gets to see what's all the commotion about. Also, this is his first time seeing Tay's family wealth. Everyone knows Tay's family is loaded because they own a chain of jewelry stores and a bunch of luxury car dealerships. Why Tay wants to be in the broadcasting industry is a mystery to many.

Tay's family mansion is massive with a huge yard that can fit hundreds of guests for a party such as the one that's currently taking place. They spared no expense throwing this party with all the lavish decorations and amazing spread of food and drinks. People looked like they were all having a great time dancing and eating.

Tay is on the dance floor with three women surrounding him. Krist can tell Tay knows how to have a good time too. Krist makes sure he looks presentable before approaching the birthday boy for a well wish. But along the way, he hears a sudden burst of laughter coming from the group on the other side. He looks over to find Fiat and Singto with a bunch of their colleagues laughing and dancing. He looks over to Tay again, and he seems preoccupied with all those ladies anyway. So, he figures he'll just wish him later.

Krist grabs a glass of champagne along the way towards the group. It's seriously some good stuff. Two sips and he finishes a glass already. So he grabs another one. As he approaches the group, he can see a girl dancing really close to Singto. She's practically grinding her body all up on him. The poor guy must be so uncomfortable. People don't know he's gay. Well, he's lucky to have a co-host like him. He'll rescue the poor guy. Krist strolls over to the group and dances with them.

"Hey, Krist!" The group greets him. That's everyone except for Singto and the girl that's busy rubbing up against him with her behind. Krist can see Singto is clearly trying to put some distance between them, but the girl is damn persistent. Krist sips another glass of champagne before dancing his way over to rescue Singto. Singto in his party getup looks pretty good, he can't even blame the girl for trying.

"Hey, Singto!" Krist comes up from behind Singto and dances next to him.

"Hey, Krist! Singto smiles. Earlier, he had thought about his exchange with Krist, and maybe he wasn't being fair. No matter who Fiat and Krist chose for him, they have no way of knowing what those candidates were really like. They couldn't have predicted that those dates would turn out so weird. And truth be told, all the candidates were very pretty so he can understand why they picked them. So he kind of feels bad for going off on Krist today. Just a tiny bit.

Singto turns around and faces Krist while dancing. Krist's face is slightly flushed and Singto actually thinks he looks kind of cute when he's not being a smart ass like he usually is at work. Gradually they started dancing closer and chatted about their favorite funny calls. The girl was soon gone since Singto's attention was no longer on her, but Krist figured he should stay close just in case another girl makes Singto uncomfortable. Drinks kept flowing and the two kept dancing.

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Krist tells Singto that he hates how Singto makes him seem like a playboy when he's just a free spirit. He just doesn't want to be tied down. Singto in turn tells Krist how he hates Krist for making him sound like some ancient prude.

"But you are! You sound so fucking romantic that it's unreeeeel." Krist slurs a bit and rocks a little from side to side. He takes a step forward stabbing his finger at Singto's chest.

"Ouuu...What's wrong with believing in forever? It might not always work out, but it's my goal. I want to find my forever."

"Yuk!" Krist feels sleepy so he leans on Singto. Singto feels warm and smells nice.

Singto shakes his head and blinks a few times. Then a breeze sobers Singto up just enough to make him look around their surroundings. Where did his group go? Where's Fiat? The party is pretty much over. There were only a few people still around.

"Hey Krist, we should leave." Singto staggers a bit supporting Krist.

"Back to my place baby," Krist mumbles, wrapping his arms around Singto's waist.

Singto holds Krist up from slumping and makes their way to the exit. Luckily he sees a taxi coming and he quickly flags it down. He places Krist inside the taxi first. He figures he can just grab the next one.

"Krist? Krist? Where do you live? Krist, you need to tell the driver." Krist only groans in his sleep and rolls to the other side.

The driver also refuses to take a passed out passenger. Left with no choice, Singto hops inside the taxi too and takes Krist home with him. It's going to be a long night.

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AN: Sweets, I'm so sleepy. Please excuse any typos.

Long night ahead. So what do you think will happen next?

Cursty,
Lana ❤️