W...Wife?????

"Nosy", the person who is supposed to be Tan's wife, took out the ice in Phum's glass and threw it at Mick. Just barely missed the forehead by a hair's width. Shit, he's brutal. If it really got hit, Mick would really hurt. Fortunately Mick was able to dodged just in time, still chortling with glee.

I was like a person who was under anesthesia. My mind was so foggy that I didn't know what to focus on first. I admit that I am very shocked by what I just heard and saw. My symptoms right now aren't drunk, nor completely sober. It's like being half-asleep, dazed, and confused, unsure if what's happening is reality or just a dream.

Amidst the awkward silence, I swept my eyes around the table. Each person was sitting still. I glanced at the man sitting to my right, who gave me a dry, heartbreaking smile before reaching out to take a glass of liquor from Beer and drank it all in one go. Then he grabbed a bottle of liquor and poured himself a few shots. On the fifth or maybe sixth shot, I grabbed his hand to stop him, snatched the glass and drank it myself.

Oh shit!!! Water! Water!!! Please give me some water!!! What the fuck is this liquor??? There were all kinds of liquor on the table. Many of them were brands I had never seen before. I didn't know where the hell this came from, but the shot just now tasted like wormwood mixed with neem. It's not that bitter, but it smells really bad. It's unbelievable that the person who threw the water bottle to me was Phum. I received the water bottle with surprise, and of course I didn't thank him😝.

I drank a big gulp of water and cleared my throat softly when I heard a heavy breathing from Tan, like it was a call for encouragement for himself. In fact, there was no need to explain anything at all. Because from what Mick said and the reconciling scene a moment ago, it was clear what was going on.

"Guys, I..." was all he said and then fell silent.

Only a moment of silence passed. It was Chan who asked.

"How long?"

The person asking and the person being asked didn't look at each other. But each of them rolled the glass in their hands.

"We're just getting started... for a while."

"You don't have to say it! I don't want to listen! No, I don't want to listen to anything. Go away!" Pan shouted loudly.

He put his hands over his mouth as if holding back tears and then shook his head and turned his back to us. Then we heard him sobbing. You played big. You probably wanted to compete for an Oscar. You wrote the script, acted yourself, directed it yourself. Soon he turned around, soon, that is, right away, while holding onto his own neck that was probably strained.

I saw Tan pursed his lips tightly (from suppressing laughter or because of pressure, I wasn't sure). When Pan leaned in front of me to stare at Tan's face closely and earnestly, it made me sandwiched between them. My body automatically tensed. I didn't know where to put my eyes. I didn't even dare to turn to look at Tan sitting next to me. I just looked around and saw Q bowing his head and playing with ice in a glass. Chan crossed his arms over his chest and pretended to look in another direction. Beer and Mick all silently bent down and played their cell phone. As for the person who was the cause of the whole matter - what's his name? Fang? - sat and shook his head to the rhythm of music, smoked happily and didn't give a shit about the world.

Finally, I accidentally made eye contact with Phum again. He still sat with his face remained calm as before. What more is that he stuck out his tongue at me 😛. What the fuck!! Is this the right time?

"Pan, I... I'm sorry... It..."

"Sorry? Why are you keep saying sorry? What did you do wrong?"

This bastard was too much. Please listen to your friend until he finishes talking. And Q probably thought the same as me, so he reached out his hand and smacked Pan's head. Then he pulled him back to a good sitting position before nodding his head signing to Tan to continue speaking.

Tan said in a firm voice, "Fang and I, we are dating."

Both his eyes and his voice were firm enough that I could feel it. I saw Tan make eye contact with Fang, then the other party pursed his lips slightly like an arrogant cat, turned his head and look at the other way. Tan then turned to look at us, "I didn't want to hide it from you guys."

"You didn't hide it, so why did Mick and those guys know first?"

I thought the issue wasn't who he's dating. The reason Pan made noise probably because he didn't know the news along with everyone else.

Tan gulped, as if he was organizing his thoughts and his words. "Well, it's... well, it's not an easy thing to tell, yeah, but I had already planned to tell you today. So I made this appointment with all of you. Then I was arguing with Fang as you saw. He thought it was stupid...uh..." Tan stopped when the person he was mentioning glared at him.

"No, no, it isn't stupid. I mean, we just have different opinions about it. Fang didn't want me to tell you. He thought it was ridiculous to announce and report to others what we are to each other. But I want to tell you. I want you all to know. Previously, I had tried to I told Peem. But it happened...that matter happened first." Tan stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, glancing at Phum to hint what the matter was.

[T/N: His self preservation instinct is really impressive 😂. Guess it's a must-have for every husband.]

Tan clearly had a serious expression on his face as he looked at us. He let out another long breath before speaking.

"I think I've finished now."

It was like the sound around us was suddenly cut off. I didn't know what was going on down there. And there was the sound of clapping and whistling echoed from downstairs at the exact moment that Tan finished speaking. I leaned over to look down. It seemed like there was a surprise proposal. Q and I accidentally turned to look at each other, and for some reason we clapped our hands together.

[T/N:👏👏👏👏👏 😂]

When Pan and Mick saw this, they applauded accordingly. We didn't join in the applause to congratulate the couple who just decided to spend their lives together but we were applauding the courage of our friend.

Tan had a blank expression on his face at first, but soon his tense face slowly revealed a smile and turned into a laugh. His eyes shone brightly like stars.

"Damn it, you guys, I..." Tan was speechless. He could only say one word and couldn't continue. He purse his lips as if he was about to cry and smile at the same time. Q and Mick got up and locked him by the neck and helped each other fill him with liquor until he choked.

"Don't cry. If you cry, I'll tease you." I said, half laughing, feeling so stuck in my throat that I couldn't speak. Tan smiled widely, pushed Q away and hugged my neck tightly.

"Punishment for hiding it from us. Tonight, I'm going to fill your throat with alcohol. Fuck you! You're bad. I'm asking the truth. Why did you hide it from us?" Q started chanting.

"I'm afraid you guys will..."

"will?"

"I mean, like, you can't accept that I like men."

"Oh my gosh! What the fuck did you think? I'm running out of words."

Tan laughed, "So you guys are okay, right? Why did you seem so quiet at first? It seemed like you weren't quite okay..."

"That's Fang." Chan replied immediately.

"Yeah, it's me. So what?"

"I've had my eyes on you for a while ka!"

[T/n: Ee Chan, you're playing with fire 😅]

"Oh, " Tan looked at Chan with warning eyes. We all laughed, including Fang who smiled and gave Chan the middle finger.

"Just kidding, I'm just kidding. But about what you guys talked about, I really agree with Fang. You really don't have to tell anyone what's going on. When you dated women, you never revealed anything with us. You just brought your girlfriend to let us get to know."

"Oh, what the heck." Q immediately added. "If you like or love someone, it's your right. Just like just love. Why do you have to ask permission? Why do you have to confess to someone else? It is enough for just the two of you to confess your love to each other. And you don't have to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. What we think about your love is not important at all. After all, we don't have the right to be okay or not okay with your love. But we were shocked because the other person was Fang. How is it possible???"

"What with me again, you bastard?"

"Yeah, why? Why are you guys not okay with Fang?" The sad-faced guy asked in a teasing voice.

"Well, the point is you two used to be friends, not about gender. I was shocked because how can you like your friend, Tan? I even saw you guys in the lounge together before."

"This is where the nickname Tan comes from, he's a person who can't live without friends." said Mick, as if sleepwalking.

"Oh, you bastard, you made a friend to be your wife. How can you not let me be shocked? If it was you, wouldn't you be shocked? Imagine I were dating Peem, wouldn't it be weird???"

"It's weird because you're giving me as an example, Q."

"Oh, really, how can you take a friend as your faen? And one day if you break up, what will you do? How will you look at each other? Have you thought about it yet?" This guy is even weirder than me. Everyone turned to look at Pan.

[T/N: Knock on wood]

"Oh um, I haven't thought too far. I'm not in a hurry."

"But honestly, I think I knew that you might like men." I said with a smile.

Tan turned to look at me. His eyes were shining. Not only me, but Chan and Q should know too. We are friends, had been together like that, it's probably enough to know something. But since Tan has never talked about it, we have no right to ask. Unless he is the one who speaks out and defines who he is. Because only he has the right to tell the world who he is.

"How do you know? When do you know, Peem?"

I haven't even opened my mouth yet, Q jumped in and answered first, "Oh Tan, when you were in Mathayom 3 (US grade 9), you stopped by Pak Khlong Talat to buy roses before going to school every day. And do we have girls at our school? What the heck?"

* Flower Market Pak Khlong Talat is a market in Bangkok, that sells flowers, fruits, and vegetables.

"And you were also crazy for Phi... what's his name? The one that Tan tried to please him? The kid in the French class?

"Phi Fan."

"Oh yeah, Phi Fan. You complimented him all day and night that he was smart and cute. You were crazy for him to the point you bought him a gift on Valentine's Day. He took your heart away. How could we not know? So why didn't you flirt with him then?"

"Ahem, you guys, that's enough." Tan cleared his throat, winking rapidly, signaling to us to shut our mouths. He glanced at his boyfriend, who was sitting with his arms crossed and his face still. "It's just the past, darling. I just had fun, nothing else."

"From what I've seen, I know who controls the game. Let's celebrate the tiger losing its stripes!"

A chorus of cheers, the sound of glasses clinking, echoed throughout the rooftop. Even though I didn't know Fang and these guys but I joined in the celebration with joy. Because this is something that should be rejoiced and celebrated, not something to regret. There is no reason for Tan to apologize or be worried about being in love.

Then I remembered that Tan had said that he brought a person he's serious about into his house. Hey, don't tell me that... that person is this handsome Omo* skin man. Even though I was a bit annoyed that Tan thought too much and kept it to himself. Normally we share everything with each other. We almost never keep secrets from each other (even though I'm doing it, it's really cool). No matter how trivial the matter is, we always discuss with each other.

* a popular detergent powder brand

But for this matter, if I put myself in his shoes, it probably isn't easy to say. Thinking about it, it is also sad. Why did Tan have to feel guilty just because he's in love? He used to like women, but now he likes men. So why does my friend have to suffer because of this? Just because he's different. Different from what society has framed. Difference is already human nature, isn't it?

Until Tan knows what he likes, until he is able to understand and explore his own identity, how difficult a time did he have to go through? How much strong did he have to be? And how great would it be if one day no one would have to suffer from these things again? I can only hope that one day that day will come.

"You guys aren't angry at me anymore, right?" Tan asked in a bright voice but I didn't know why I thought this was such a sad question. So why must we be angry that our friend is in love? Deep down, I was probably sad because I sympathized with my friend. But the other feeling was probably because I myself was still trying to understand myself. I was curious about my own identity as well. And I hope that one day I might find the answer, just like Tan has already found his answer.

"If we're angry, will you break up with Fang?" We all turned around to look at Chan with different expressions.

"Bastard, dog mouth."

The person who answered was not Tan, but the handsome man with the title of his boyfriend. My friend smiled happily. I wondered if they forgot that they were still fighting. As for Chan, he was almost on the floor laughing.

"Your face just now was so funny, Khao Fang. You lost yourself to him already, right?"

"Could there be anything left?" And once again, Mick's words were so infuriating.

"I know you guys aren't angry at me, but even if you're angry, I don't care. Because I love my boyfriend very much. I can always find new friends but my wife is so cute. I can't find another one."

After Tan finished talking, we all booed. I almost puked at how cheesy he was.

[T/N: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣"兄弟如手足，女人如衣服"。但宁可断手断脚，也绝不裸奔。]

"Now speak smoothly again, bastard. Just now your face shrunk to two fingers. Next time, if you ever suffer from keeping everything to yourself again, I'll even kick you. You were so stressed and depressed because of this, right?" Tan nodded in response to Q's question.

"Shit! Did you really think that we would break up with you because of this? How can you underestimate on us!" I pushed his head away in annoyance. "Rich friend, sugar daddy, often buy me food. I would be stupid to break up with you."

"You bastard, I'm sorry, Peem. I feel better, haha," Tan cursed and laughed. "Well, I was afraid at first. It's hard to say. Just me fighting with myself when I first started dating Fang, I was really tired."

"Did you fight with yourself too? All I could see was Fang fighted with you." Beer said jokingly before getting a fierce glare from Fang, so he held up his hands in surrender.

"Honestly, I'm not worried about you guys breaking up with me. I'm sure none of my friends would care about the gender of my lover, but this is something new for me. You know, it's something I'm not familiar with. So I  wasn't quite sure."

"Really? Still not sure? You've just try to comfort your sweatheart in the middle of the restaurant, you bastard. Today you have to treat us. I'm angry that I found out later. I didn't have a chance to tease Fang! Damn it."

As soon as Q finished speaking, Tan jumped up and hugged everyone. I just shook my head and smiled at him. The only reason I'm going to break up with him is because he dipped the hem of his shirt in my glass of liquor, you bastard.

"Any way, thank you very much for telling us this important matter. I'm happy for you."

"Damn it, I told myself that I won't cry. Fuck you Q. You're such a badass. I'll definitely tell your mom you made me cry."

"Oh, Phi knows. Phi is a badass."

"I love you guys so much. You guys and Beer, Mick and Phum. But I love Fang the most."

Tan shouted love words. He looked up at the sky to keep himself from crying. We laughed happily. When the tear glands were controlled, the lonely Tan disappeared, what left was the guy who bounced like he just sucked flesh*. He got up and sat with his boyfriend and started snuggling with him without being embarrassed by his friends. As for his boyfriend, he didn't seem to have the slightest bit of emotion, both pushing and turning away. Hahaha. Oh my gosh, this is a picture I never expected to see, that Tan would be ignored like this.

*ดูดเนื้อ (lit) suck flesh , is a slang means smoke weed.

The more you look at Fang's face, actually his name is Khao Fang, but they like to call him just Fang so I call him accordingly, the more handsome he is. I said so many times that how handsome he is. And now the two of them become lovers. Is this what they call being suitable for each other like gold branch and jade leave*?

* กิ่งทองใบหยก figuratively means suitable for each other (used to compliment a couple who are getting married).
It's interesting 🤔 The original Chinese idiom 金枝玉叶means a person of noble birth. In Vietnamese we use the loan translation "kim chi ngọc diệp" (sino vietnamese) or "lá ngọc cành vàng" with the original meaning.

"I never thought that Fang would be gay."

"So what do you think a gay person must be like?" Fang replied calmly. His face was expressionless. In his hand was a fresh, unlit cigarette.

Tan smiled brightly and proudly gave a thumb up to his boyfriend's answer. A smile of happiness spread all over his face. He started clinking glasses with everyone. Soon he will be completely gone. Believe me because he is a lightweight. As for Fang, it was obvious that he was really annoyed with my friend. Hahaha, trying to keep himself away from Tan's arms all the time. Then he turned his eyes towards me. His eyes are very beautiful, but a bit fierce, giving off a familiar vibe.

Fang stared at my face for a moment and then asked "Who is this?".

Again? Am I the forgotten person again? Have you been sitting there with your head high for so long? Now you've just seen me?

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you to each other. I'm sorry. Peem, this is Khao Fang. He's a friend in Phum's gang. But he's my faen. Fang, this is Peem, the friend I once told you about. Darling, do you remember?"

"Peem? Oh, is this the person who picked Phum's fruit. The one knocked him down? Hahaha."

[T/N: 🤣🤣🤣 I like him 👍]

Phum wasn't knocked out. I'm the one who was knocked out. Fang laughed. He looks a hundred times more attractive when he smiles. I'm not surprised at all why Tan is so obsessed with him. As for the person being referred to, he snorted. He took his eyes off of staring at my face, turned to glare at Fang. And that was the end of it which I was quite surprised about because normally, if someone says something like this, Phum will immediately offer them his legs*. And most importantly, I don't think anyone would dare to talk to Phum like this. Tan's boyfriend must definitely be extraordinary. Wow!

*= kick

I made eye contact and smiled with Fang, but not for long then I looked away. This man was very difficult to describe. He is the kind of person who just sits there and can make people feel scared. Especially when his big eyes flick at you, it was as if you are being hypnotized.

Then Tan further explained that Fang was another friend in Beer's group, but I had never met him because he had just returned from a relative's funeral in Italy. He came back on the day Tan was about to introduce him to me.

"I'm Fang, nice to meet you. You're so cute. I like you."

Tan choked on his drink and looked at me like he was looking for trouble. Your boyfriend is the one who said this and then you were hostile to your friend. I'm going crazy.

We drank, ate, talked and laughed until I started to get closer to the three new friends. Well it's men once they have alcohol, give it some time friendship happen as easily as a spell. The more we talked the more we got along with each other. Soon we were in tuned together. But even though I got along well with Mick, Beer, and Fang within a short time, Phum and I didn't even have a word with each other. I didn't know if anyone noticed the grim vibe between me and him. Or maybe I was the only one who felt that way. Because Phum looked normal.

But how can I stop being worried? If Phum go crazy and order me to do my duty as his servant right now, my life would be done.

Don't say anything at all. Just being able to sit together at the dining table is great compared to the explosion that he and I often made when we were together. I didn't know why I didn't want to look at Phum's face. Since the day I ate that wonton noodles, I've had a strange feeling. It's true that I despise him, but again, the heart has its reasons, which reason knows nothing of. All I know is that it's strangle and it's really bad that I can't answer myself what the strange thing was. So I solved the problem by drinking alcohol, drinking until I'm drunk, until I'm crushed.

When we started to get drunk, Mick, Q, and Chan were not be able to sit still because it was time to go hunting. They all moved downstairs, leaving only Beer, who smiling sweetly and spreading his charm twice. I didn't know who he was spreading on because up here there were only empty bottles and mosquitos. Normally, Beer's eyes are already sweet and gooey. The more the alcohol absorbed his body, the sweeter they seemed, like he had sucked flesh. I was afraid ants would bite his eyes.

As for Pan, he was slurring, still not giving up his effort to invite Tan to discuss the issue of democracy. Meanwhile, Tan denied everything because he wanted to snuggle with his boyfriend. He almost possessed Fang. Single people like me could only wipe the corners of my eyes to extinguish the fire of jealousy.

"Tan, it hurts. Oh, don't bite me, Tan! I say it hurts!"

Fang pushed Tan away after he had been huddling in his neck for a long time. Fang is really fierce. No wonder Tan is a sick dog. Got glared by his boyfriend, but Tan still looked at him with gooey eyes. He was starting to get drunk. Fang grunted with an irritated expression, but allowed Tan to continue snuggling.

[T/N: 😅 such a lovely-dovey couple]

"Your friend is really annoying, you know that?" Fang raised his eyebrows at me.

"He deserves to get beat. Do you want to do it?" I laughed, looking at Tan who didn't know that his friend and faen were teasing him. Because he was too busy sniffing Fang's neck.

I lost interest in the light-rated scene, turned around and clung to the iron railing to watch below in case there was anything pleasing to the eyes to see. A group of drunkards the same age as me were having fun. They were drinking, eating and chatting loudly. Some sang along with the singers. Some were swaying to the rhythm. Some walked and clinked glasses and make friends with the people at the next table. One of them was my friends.

Q and Mick were sitting at a table with a group of girls. They talked and laughed cheerfully. As for Chan, who had ever touched a cigarette in his entire life, now he was standing in front of the restaurant smoking a cigarette and talking to a girl. Faster than light, my friend Chan.

And then the colorful night passed slowly but was filled with the utmost happiness and fun. The later it gets, the more fun it is. The more fun it is, the wilder it gets. Until the clock hands pointed to number two of the new day, it's time to say goodbye to alcohol and music.

Today, in addition to get free alcohol, good foreign spirits to my heart's content, I also gained three new friends. As for Phum, I didn't want to count him because our relationship is quite complicated.

T/N: Nah, you don't want to count him because you don't want to be friends with him.

TBC >>>>>>>>