The Other Man

Ch1 - The second knock on the door

They exchange a glare. A glare turns into an uncomfortably long stare. For a man who is standing with his husband-to-be on the altar, staring other men isn't a moral virtue. Thankfully New turns his face towards his fiancé Earth just in time before anybody catches the heat of it. He is happy. He is marrying the man he has loved for a long time now. Five years to be precise. However, his heart pains a little for the man standing down the porch and smiling at him with all the love New could ever imagine he could receive. The love, New did not even know how to receive and reciprocate. Given slightly different circumstances, may be New would be marrying Tay right now and not Earth.

New recites his vow. Tay suddenly feels a surge of emotions that were hanging loose just to creep in at the right time, but who said this is the right time? A fucking wedding is going on. The last thing that he would want is, for people to divert their attention from the couple on the altar to him when he breaks down. He tries to maintain a calm demeanor although his hearing is lost. With the fog in his brain, he couldn't even hear Earth's vow. 'I pronounce you husbands', is the last thing he heard when for a split second the fog in his brain had wavered. He didn't have to hear this. He wasn't supposed to be here. He just couldn't say no to New. He can't take it anymore.

As the husbands kiss, Tay discreetly moves out of the place and makes a run to the rest room. His breath is hitched as he stares at his reflection in the mirror and there it is the creeping feeling of despair. Is it a panic attack? He throws up into the nearest WC. After few minutes, a little relieved, he washes off his face, looks at his pathetic self in the mirror and let the tears flow. He washes off again as soon as the sniffing stops, he makes an exit from the venue. As he is standing outside the venue, he stares at the building decorated with lilies. He is going to hate the lilies forever. He felt miserable for five long years but given a chance to live his life again. He would still choose to do every single thing he did and take the same decisions he took, again. Even if it means he has to hate the lilies for the lifetime.

Is it possible? To feel miserable and relieved at the same time. Because that is exactly how he is feeling right now. He lived in confusion - whether New would ever be his? Anyway, now he knows the answer. This newly gained clarity feels like a privilege after he has known what confusion tastes like. He knows he doesn't have to hope now. He was tired of hoping and wishing until everything came crashing down at him a few weeks ago when New made the revelation that he is going to marry Earth.

***

A week passes by and Earth & New resume their jobs after their honeymoon. They meet Tay in the office lobby. All three of them work with the same company they got hired by in campus placements three years back. Ever since then they have made quite a progress in career.

"Oh, hi! Look at you two newly-weds. Congratulations once again." Tay speaks with a forced smile that is under-layered with genuineness. New stares at him sharply with a slight smirk.

"Thank you so much, Tay." Earth responded with a smile.

"Why were you missing in the wedding party?" New asked.

Tay immediately felt his nerves getting all tensed. "I had to run for some emergency." 

New simply stared at him with now, a knowing smile.

Before the atmosphere turns suspicious and Earth catches the heat, Tay asks the couple again, "Forget about that. You tell me, how was your honeymoon? Mauritius, I heard is great during these months."

New is least interested in this whole conversation Tay is attempting to make. He looks everywhere else but at Tay.

"Oh! Mauritius indeed was great. This man here, he enjoys beaches the most," Earth replied looking at New to which New vaguely nodded. 

Just as Earth rolled the entire sentence out, Tay's phone came alive with a ring. He smiled and excused himself to attend to the call from one of his clients. He has never been so grateful about morning client-calls before.

He may take some time in adjusting with this whole sight of these husbands. Nonetheless, the pace is commendable. Just last week he wasn't able to breathe when he saw them together getting married. And today, he flaunted that smile and exchanged four full statements, one about their honeymoon. The magic of having clarity in his head. He deserves a pat on his back. 

If you ask him, deep down within, he was prepared for this. He knew this was one of the possibilities. The possibility of New not marrying him. He had prepared himself even before New told him about his marriage. Call it his hunch but his sub-conscious had had him prepared.

***

It's been four months now. Tay is still adjusting to New's aloofness. Shouldn't it be him, who should treat New that way? Shouldn't it be him who should act like he is in oblivion after how New just left him alone? Then why is New behaving like that with him, as if he doesn't exist for him. May be that is what he does, that is what he is good at—taking people to the peak and leave them hanging, all confused.

They had promised that even if they cannot be life partners, they will remain friends for life but the way New gives his full attention to Earth and zero to his friend is just making Tay really sad and pensive. He was ready to lose a label-free relation but he wasn't prepared for losing a friend. New doesn't even spare him a single glance now. Unlike before, when he used to hover over Tay's desk at least 2-3 times a day.

Tay knows he is wrong to have those expectations from his 'friend'. And the way he is feeling—is his problem, he has to deal with it himself. He has to understand and accept the new dynamics; and if things still don't pick the right course, he will simply switch his job. He cannot breathe in an atmosphere where his past is the biggest elephant in the room. Enough with the past, enough of his pathetic self. It's time to reinvent himself. Get in the market. Find himself a date. Join art courses. He decides to give himself one month and if his head is still not in the right place, he will simply resign, serve one more month as notice period and get another job.

He goes to home with this conviction, feeling all pumped up and for the first time feeling happy in the period of four-months' time with this newly found willpower. He freshens up, eats his dinner and comfortably sits on his couch to find a new art course he can take up after his job hours. Just then, he hears a knock on the door. 

He opens it to find none other than the mighty New Thitipoom Techaapaikhun or Pirapat, is it? "Newwiee," a deep breath, "what are you doing here?"

"Are you not going to invite me in first?" And right there. All of his gathered power goes down the drain.

***