Love Letters ( English Translation)

10

translator : chawee

Chapter 10: The regular across the hall

Even on weekends, Puwanat had always worked afternoons without exception. But this weekend, Pannawat asked him to come in the late hours of the morning because someone on the morning shift had left. He sleepily awoke to his phone's alarm clock, and as much as the sleepy boy didn't want to get out of bed, he knew he had to if he wanted to eat breakfast before going to work. Puwanat washed his face and brushed his teeth before going out to find something to eat at a shop nearby. After buying shrimp congee to eat back at home, he also stopped by a convenience store to grab a crunchy snack. Today he would get off work as early as he came in so he figured he'd stock up on snacks for watching a movie or reading R.K. 's letters after work.

Upon thinking of that puzzling man and his flirtatious letters, Puwanat smiled. Seeing his own name on the last letter made it feel even more real; in a way he hadn't quite felt in the letters before, it was like R.K. was speaking directly to him. And yet the other continued to tease him by still only signing his initials on the letter. And so became Puwanat's plan to ask for his name directly. The seventh letter was to be delivered the next day anyway... why not leave a note out today?

Puwanat's mind wandered on the subject up until returning to the condo. The elevator arrived at the 12th floor and the young man stepped out to go home as usual. But he hadn't even made it to his door when he saw a tall young man, whom he recognized as that cafe regular, stepping out of the room at the very end of the hall. Puwanat went to flash a smile as a neighborly greeting, but the other had stopped in his tracks and rushed back into the room before it had even reached his lips.The smiler just raised his eyebrows and figured the customer had forgotten something inside and was too preoccupied with that to be bothered with formalities.

But once inside his room, Puwanat remembered having seen that man on the elevator once before. It's no wonder he felt he'd seen him somewhere before- turns out they were neighbors afterall! Puwanat, being typically friendly and well mannered with the cafe's customers, had always found this stern looking man hard to get through to. He looked mature; Puwanat had no idea how to even start a conversation with him. Now knowing they have the same place of residence, not to mention their rooms being on the same floor, he finally had something to talk about next time he serves that customer.

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Rashane stood panting behind the door after his totally smooth and not at all creepy escape back inside. He felt like ripping out his own hair after the embarrassing move, but his brain had practically turned off at the unexpected encounter with Puwanat. Was his little loaf going to think he was some sort of weirdo now? Everytime their eyes met he turned to stone; their future of being able to talk face-to-face was not looking too good.

The stern young man let out a heavy breath and lifted his wristwatch to check the time. He left for the cafe at this time almost everyday and never once ran into Puwanat, so it wasn't unusual for him to be caught off guard like this.He stood for another moment, regaining his foothold before slowly creaking open the door again. It was only once he was sure the other's door was shut tightly that he made haste to the elevator.

Once the time came for work, Puwanat didn't have to check stock as usual since he came in later in the shift. Usually the weekends weren't too busy compared to weekdays, so there weren't many customers sitting in the shop; Puwanat spotted Rashane sitting at his usual table the moment he stepped up to work his register.

But he thought, as much as he loves his job and sparking up friendly chats with regulars, it wouldn't be appropriate to suddenly walk up and say hi to one he's never spoken to before unless he were serving him an order. Especially while he's so focused on writing in his notebook as he was now.