The Other Man

Ch8 - Children of hollowness

Tay's stomach did a somersault with New lying beside him. He felt giddy knowing that New was here when inside there was a party going on with Earth in it. He still continued to look at the sky. New breathed-in the cold breeze and basked in the sound of waves and the scent of the ocean.

After a while New spoke, "Do you think we can capture sea, in the dark?"

"I am not giving you any more photography lessons. Last time I gave one, you beat me to it."

They both laughed at it, "It feels like it was a long time ago, yet it's so fresh in the memory. You taught me well, Tawan."

"I felt happy when you won that prize. It was the best picture indeed."

New smiled and nodded.

"And by the way, I still have your trophy and certificate with me. You never collected it." Tay recalled.

"You can keep it if you want."

"No. It belongs to you. And besides, you won it for your grandpa's picture. You should definitely keep it."

"Hmm."

New looked at the dark sky as he spoke again, "Do you think, he became a star?"

Tay looked at him. "Yes. I think he has become the brightest star," looking back at the sky and pointing towards the most shining one, he spoke again, "See that. That must be your grandpa."

New smiled and sighed. Tay couldn't move his eyes away from him. The light from the moon glowed on his face. Giving it a silver hue.

"Wait. I forgot to ask, what was your rank in that photography competition?"

"Don't ask."

"Why? C'mon tell me."

"Third."

"That's not bad. Te - the photographer," New spoke nudging at Tay's shoulder, "and who scored second?"

"Some guy named Pete." Tay said with a mocking face, "Seriously, if you saw his face, you would lose your appetite for days."

New laughed at Tay's irked face, "At Pete's? Why?"

"I don't know. His frowned brows were like his permanent feature."

New laughed again, "I had never seen him but had heard his name a thousand times."

"Really? Was he that popular?"

"No. I heard he hardly came to the campus. But one of my classmates, Kao was crazy after him. He talked about him all the time."

"Just like PeteKao in DBK!" Tay mentioned which landed them both in the memory of how they had watched DBK in Tay's condo. But none of them dared to go there.

"Who taught you photography?" New asked to wipe the reminiscence of the memory of the kiss he shared with Tay that day.

"No one. I had a camera at my home which belonged to my late grandfather. I loved to play with it."

New laughed how Tay chose the word 'play', "What other things did you love?"

"Puppies."

"Every kid loves puppies," Both of them ended up laughing, "And what things did you hate?"

"I disliked sports and I hated 1st rankers."

"Hey, I am a first ranker all my life." New offensively objected still wearing the smile.

"You are lucky, you are an exception New Thitipoom. You used to help other struggling students."

"But why did you hate them?"