Bittersweet Love // #KaoEarth AU

3

Earth sighed in relief when his lecture finished for the day. He grudgingly put back his belonging in his backpack and was about to stand up when shadows overlap his own. He looked up to find several people standing before him.

Earth automatically put on a smile; it seems he was too accustomed to smiling at everyone because of his work.

"Can I help you with something?" Earth asked with a polite tone.

Don't get him wrong, he was a sophomore already, but he never hung out with the people in his department because he was too busy with his part-time job. So, he was trying to recall his freshman activity; just what are their names again?

The one at the front chuckles, "It's rare to see you since our freshman year...Earth, right? We were wondering if you want to join a group blind date with us? We are short on one person."

Inside his mind, Earth was shocked. A group blind date?

"You are too straightforward as always, Gulf. You can at least ask how he was doing, or some small talks, you dummy," a girl behind the guy called Gulf smacked her friend's head.

Earth stays silent.

The girl then turns towards Earth, "Hi there, you probably don't remember our names, so I'm Ploy, he's Gulf," she pointed to the first guy, then turn her finger beside her, "He's Sing, she's Namtan, and the last boy is Phuwin."

"Hey! I'm a man, Ploy!" Phuwin whined, making Ploy and Namtan giggled.

Earth nodded his head, "Yeah, sorry, my name's Earth."

Sing grunted, "We knew already," he whispered loudly, making Earth winced inside at how cold the guy was.

"Do you want to join us?" Namtan asked Earth again.

Earth makes an apologetic expression; he gives a soft smile, "I'm sorry, I need to fill in my co-worker's schedule at my part-time job tonight."

The five of them then leave Earth after much of Phuwin's whining and Sing's curt expression. Earth then started walking towards the bus stop near his university building. With nothing much on his mind besides listing what he needs to do when he checks in on his co-worker's shift tonight. Working two shifts in a day wasn't that unusual for him. At least he gets more money to put on the table, rather than doing nothing besides homework when he gets back home. 

A group blind date? 

He has heard of that term before but never actually witnessing or experiencing it himself. He also heard that many couples met on blind dates these days. The group blind dates usually come from different majors, different faculties, universities, or maybe between university students and people from the same company at work. 

Earth shook his head, and he can't really think of dating when he can't even organize his life. He would need to focus on paying off the debts first before even thinking of meeting new people.

On his way from the bus stop to the cafe he works in, he passed by a few bars that university students often visited. He could see that they are full of people even though it was still evening. He wishes he could be that carefree and enjoy his university days like those people.

"Don't dream the impossible, Katsamonnat," he scolded himself.

His eyes are back, looking at the few bars with a different ambiance—classy and expensive ones. From the half greyed glasses on the window, he could feel a different atmosphere from the people inside gave out. Then, he was surprised to see Gulf and his friends in one of those bars.

Earth's legs which were walking slowly towards the cafe, stopped as soon as his eyes caught a familiar face. The one he recognized was subtly smiling and sitting together on the other side of the group blind dates with Gulf and his friends. A tall man wearing a collared emerald shirt and a long brown coat looked so different from what Earth could remember.

A man that Earth hasn't seen and forgotten for a long time. 

His first love, Kao.

to be continue

a/n:
No side note, I guess, lol. I will probably update more chapters today because I have finished grading my student's reports. Yay.

Updated on the 18th of March 2021,

junijunipers.