Ebb and Flow - Book 1

Twenty four

Gulf was at the summit of a ladder, fixing a damaged window shutter when it happened. Through the easy tourist chatter and lazy beats of chill-out trance that drifted across the swimming pool, a familiar voice that made him whip around, almost losing balance.

Where?

In a hypnotic state, Gulf descended the ladder and walked around the busy poolside - not hearing the drink orders of the sunburnt, shaven-headed man, not even feeling the touch of the woman who stroked his arm suggestively as he passed by (her pupils still dilated from the effects of whichever party she had stumbled home from that morning).

Cold, a little warmer, warmer, getting hot, hotter, scorching, until finally Gulf stood in the resort's small snack bar hut, staring up at the television mounted on the wall.

Mew Suppasit was talking. His hair was darker - almost black - and his voice a little different, a je ne sais quoi...a sort of edge to it. But it was his Mew. Gesticulating animatedly in his familiar way.

Shaking his head clear and sinking slowly into a bar stool, Gulf tried to focus on the words being spoken. He seemed to be talking about a song. Yes - a song that he had written and was going to showcase on today's programme. Wait - Gulf's brain snapped into action - Mew was performing now? He was showing his music publicly? Gulf's heart filled with the warmest sunshine of pride, a smile (awkward in its unfamiliarity) spreading across his lips and upwards into his eyes. It had been more than two months since he had left Mew behind in Bangkok, but nothing had changed for Gulf - that much was clear.

"It's a song that I've written for my special person", Mew was explaining to the host, "A person that has inspired me to be myself, and shown me that I do not have to be a self fulfilling prophecy. My life will be made up of my own choices. But the song is not about discovering myself. In fact, it's about discovering ourselves together. Because I want to say to that person that I care about them and that they don't have to be scared of anything anymore. I cherish them just for being themselves and that's all. So I hope they hear this song and pay close attention to the lyrics".

Mew turned to face the camera directly: "What I want to tell them...what I need them to understand is 'You can ebb and I can flow, but we'll grow as we go'".

Gulf's breath caught in his throat. He gripped the seat of the bar stool, shaking with adrenaline, eyes glued to the screen above him.

Mew had picked up an acoustic guitar as the lights of the studio dimmed. A gentle spotlight illuminated his face - expressive eyes shining as the light danced in reflective bursts at every movement of his dark, silky hair.

He began to softly strum, as his tender lyrics were birthed into the world for all to hear. His voice like infracted rays of sunshine, a prism's rainbow travelling across the miles and seas, to the young omega in the snack bar hut.

And the others in the hut gradually turned to look, one by one, whispering and giggling behind their hands, gesturing to the young man on the bar stool with the heart eyes and pink cheeks. Staring up at that celebrity on the screen - with pure love.