SMILING PINK MILKSHAKE

33 (ENGLISH)

Off was opening the boxes that were in the back room of the shop when he heard the doorbell tinkle softly. 

Someone had entered the store...

With a slight growl, he placed the knife on the box he had been trying to open for more than five minutes and, rising laboriously, took a couple of steps to loosen his legs but above all his toes, which, after being for so long in the same position, he didn't even feel anymore.

"No one has come in all morning .. why do they have to do it right when I go indoors to replace the bought products? "

However, despite his discomfort, the young man came out to the main room with a wide smile on his face. A smile that froze as soon as he saw the person that was in front of him ...

"It can't be ...", he said to himself as his eyes scanned the features of the boy who was just a few meters away, "I'm going crazy ...".

Then, with trembling steps, he slowly approached the newcomer who, with a smile on his face, was checking several caps that had been placed on one of the shelves.

- "Good morning" - he muttered with a trembling  voice, making the young man finally turn towards him to point , after noticing the T-shirt with the logo of the store that he was wearing, to one of the caps that were on the shelf.

- "I'll take two of these"

"Even the voice is the same", Off thought as he felt dizzy as his heart began pounding in his chest.

- "These caps bring the option of having a name engraved on the visor. Do you want us to carry it out or do you prefer to take them as they are?"

The boy frowned to, after a few seconds, smile broadly.

- "I want the names of Win and Krist in each one of them, please"

- "Right away .." - Off muttered as he turned towards the machine that carried out the engravings.

"I already knew it wasn't possible ... it couldn't be", he though while feeling a bit disappointed.

--------

Win looked at the clerk.

There was something about him that he couldn't define. A sense of recognition that he didn't know where it came from but that made him, just after the man turn his back on him, frown as his mind tried to remember where he knew him from.

"Maybe from a party ...", he said to himself as he watched him put the first of the caps on the machine and operated it.

A few minutes later, on the counter, there was the first of the caps. Completely ready.

Win smiled as he ran his fingers over the letters of her brother's name.

- "For your boyfriend?"

-"What...?"- Win asked, a bit shocked.

The clerk placed the second of the caps on the counter and proceeded to prepare the bill.

- "It is just that this is normally made for couples and for your expression I though...."

-"NO!" - Win exclaimed while abruptly shaking his head - "it is for my brother and for me .. the anniversary of a very important date for us is approaching and I want to surprise him".

Off nodded as he watched the young man, then he placed a slip of paper with the bill in front of him.

- "I hope I have not bothered you" - he said while waiting for the boy to finish counting the money.

- "Don't worry" - Win replied while giving him a smile - "It is not the first time that people told me something like that..."

Then he laughed as he recalled some of the occasions when they had been mistaken for lovers. The last a few days before his brother left for the capital.

His brother..

- "By the way, Do you know where Madam Zuzu's School is?" - Win asked after taking a quick look at his wristwatch - "I have to meet my brother at the front door and I don't know where it is...".

Off frowned as his gaze fell on the cap that had Krist's name engraved in white. A few seconds later he turned towards the boy who was still watching him without saying a word, waiting for an answer.

- "Your brother ... won't it be Krist Perawat?"

Krist walked out of the school gates looking everywhere and with a worried expression on his face.

What if he's lost?

What if something happened with the train?

"I should have called him," he said to himself as he pulled his cell phone out of his pants and took a quick look.

There are no new messages ...

The young man sighed as he looked back at the group of people gathered around the large entrance doors. Some were smiling as they greeted the person they had come to see, others grunted or frowned as they looked at their wristwatches, evidently wondering where those they were waiting for could be.

Krist identified himself with those of the second group, who were looking towards the door of the building as if all their hopes or regrets were behind them.

- "KRIST!" 

After hearing his name, he looked towards a boy who was running down the wide avenue with a bag in his hand and a big smile on his face.

- "WIN! Can I know where you have been?" - Asked Krist while giving him a small crunch on the head - "I've been waiting for you for a long time".

Win grimaced as he clasped his hands together in a silent gesture of supplication.

- "Sorry. I was late because I went to buy something .."

Krist frowned as he looked at the bag and, above all, at the logo that he thought he had seen before, although he wasn't quite sure where exactly.

While he was trying to remember, his brother had already opened the bag to take out two caps and, with a happy expression, showed them at him expectantly.

- "Didn't you want a cap for your birthday?" - Win asked as he winked at him - "Well, I have bought two... one of you and another for me"

The boy giggled as he put the cap in the hand of his astonished brother who, as he had thought, was not understanding what the gift was for ...

- "A gift? Why? It is not my birthday .."

Win sighted as he slightly puffed out his cheeks.

- "Don't tell me you don't remember ... It's our anniversary!"

A silence immediately followed those words. Frowning, Krist turned around to meet face-to-face with several schoolmates who were watching them while muttering quietly. 

The young man swallowed with difficulty, specially as he could have sworn to have seen among them the faces of several of Singto's friends.

"Exactly what I needed, thanks bro...." Krist told himself as he imagined the comments  that his classmates were going to make, "it cannot get worse than this...."