Through time

Calm

"Hey isn't that Krist?"

"Huh? Where?" Singto looked around for Krist, not noticing the time until New pointed to their Nong. He was supposed to meet Krist after the latter's class, waiting for him at the benches by the Economics faculty.

"There." New pointed. "He's coming from the auditorium with Gun... and some guy."

Singto closed the book he was reading to focus on Krist. He was indeed walking with a guy that Singto has never seen before. "Who the heck is that?"

"Dunno man. First time I've seen him."

"And why is he with Krist?

"And Gun." New pointed out. "See? Gun's there too. Don't just look at Krist, Sing. Broaden your sight. And I'm going to say it now. Ask first before you jump into any conclusions."

"Yeah. Yeah. I'll ask before I get ahead of myself."

"Oh! P'Sing, you're here. Hey P'Newwiee!"

"Hi Krist! Hey Gun! Where've you been?"

"Auditorium. We had a seminar with a few Econ alumni." Gun answered. "Oh! This is P'Palit. He's an alumni of Econ college. He was one of the presentors earlier."

"Sawadee krap Khun Palit." New greeted.

Singto stood from his seat and wai-ed.

"Oh! P'Palit, these are our friends P'New and P'Singto. They're from the Engineering faculty."

"Sawadee." P'Palit greeted.

At that moment, New and Gun exchanged looks, their gazes communicating, looking from Singto, seated at the far corner of the table and Krist, standing beside P'Palit at the other end. They looked from one to the other, then at each other. Their gazes saying:

New: What's going on?
Gun: What?
New: Why is Krist ignoring Singto?
Gun: He's not.
New: Isn't he? (Head nods towards Singto)
Gun: Crap!

"Um P'Palit, let's sit." Gun ushered Palit to the seat nearest him, far corner from Singto, sitting beside him immediately, leaving the empty spot for Krist. New, Gun and Palit on one side, Singto and Krist seated across from them.

As soon as they were seated, Singto visibly lost a few notches of the tension surrounding him, though not completely. Krist was seated beside him, not as close as he wanted. His boyfriend's attention on the Palit guy, asking about random things.

Palit felt Singto's stare said, "So, Engineering huh? I'm guessing you're 3rd years like Krist and Gun?" At the boys' nod he continued "You know I almost studied Engineering too."

"Really P'? Why didn't you?" Krist asked, facing P'Palit, completely ignoring Singto.

"My Por wanted me to study Engineering, he was a Civil Engineer. I even took the entrance exam for Engineering at another university and passed. I took the Economics exam here and passed too. It all came down to what I really wanted to study. I said to myself, 'Peck, follow your gut.' So I graduated Econ, now I'm here."

"Wow P'. It must have been a difficult decision." Krist replied, head resting on his hands, elbow to the table.

"I bet." Singto mumbled from beside Krist. "New, we have class, we've got to eat before that." Singto stood, wai-ed at P'Palit then said "Gun, feed this guy." pointing to Krist. "Kit, see you later." After that, he took his bag and turned to go.

New hurried after Singto, while looking at Gun, tipping his head at Krist. "Khun Palit, Sawadee."

"Krist!" Gun hissed.

"Oh! Wait. Um... P'Palit, would you excuse me?" He got up and rushed after Singto.

New saw Krist running towards them, called "Hey Sing, wait up." Singto stopped and turned to New who was a few steps behind. New steered Singto to a corner.

"P'Sing! P'Sing! Wait!" Krist caught up with them, out of breath.

"Hey Sing, I'll go ahead. Save you a seat."

Singto nodded at New. "Kit."

"P'. Kothot na." Krist was bent over, catching his breath.

Singto, though a little pissed off rubbed Krist's back. He took a bottle from his bag and offered it to Krist. "Here, drink this."

"Thanks P'." Krist drank the water from Sing in one go. He glanced at Singto as he was drinking, seeing his P' looking everywhere but at him. "P'. Look at me." Krist said as he lowered the bottle. He stepped closer to Singto, knowing full well what the result would be. He knew his P'Sing. "Sorry P'." Krist said in a soft voice. "I was excited to talk to P'Palit and didn't even ask you how you were."

"It's OK." Sing replied, obviously not OK but not as mad as he was before.

"P'?"

"Hmm?"

"Hi." Krist said, whispering. "I missed you." He said with a smile.

"Not fair Kit." Singto answered just as softly.

"What do you mean P'?"

"You're not playing fair."

"Huh?"

"You can't do that. You can't just ignore me one minute then be all this" Singto gestured at Krist from head to toe "the next. You know I can't stay mad at you."

"So you're not mad anymore P'? I'm really sorry." Krist said, his hand playing with the ends of Singto's shirt.

Singto stepped back. "Go back to Gun and Khun Palit, Kit. I have class and I haven't had any lunch yet."

Krist took one step closer. "Aw... Why didn't you eat yet P'?"

"We were waiting for you and Gun so we can have lunch together."

"Sorry. The talk run late. Go eat now P'."

Sing stepped back, held Krist's hand who was reaching for his shirt. "Kit. I told you I have class. I have to concentrate. Did you eat?"

"Not yet P'." Krist answered, lacing his fingers with Singto's. "I'll eat with P'Gun."

"Yeah. I have to go. We'll talk later. Go eat."

"P'Sing?"

"What?"

"Can I get a kiss if you're not mad anymore?"

What's wrong with this guy? We're in public. He's usually the one that's shy about these things. "Here Kit?"

Krist turned his head, seeing no one around, he felt a little bolder. "Just a little."

"You asked, it's your move." Singto challenged, wanting to see if Krist would kiss him out in the open.

Krist went on tip toes and gave Singto a peck in the lips. "Concentrate on studying P'." He skipped away after saying that.

"Kit!" Singto called. When Krist was a few meters away, he turned around. "See you later."

"Later P'!" Krist called, daring to throw a flying kiss then skipping away.

Singto walked to their cafeteria to look for New, he didn't realize he was smiling.

"I take it you made up." New teased.