Chavis! The three men standing on stage near the host must be company executives. One of them must be the owner... of Panoview, the luxury condo, the new project of the leading real estate company, his dream—the dream Chavis chose. The dream he chose.
Anupap stood still, the smile that had spread across his face when he walked in disappeared. Atid saw everything that happened. Whenever he was near Anupap, he never took his eyes off him.
There's definitely something between these two. Anupap and Chavis, the company owner. Both were shocked to see each other.
***
Chavis kept turning to look at their group frequently, as if wanting to come chat, but was tied up with important guests. Anupap was much quieter than usual, not chatting cheerfully as he normally would.'
"P'Nu, are you feeling unwell? I see you looking quiet," Atid sent worried glances.
"No. I'm just feeling a bit drowsy."
"It's still early evening," Atid looked at the Panoview project owner—he turned to look at them at the same moment. The two men's eyes met. Atid's gaze was hard and unfriendly. Chavis looked at him silently, as if assessing the situation.
"I stayed up late last night watching TV. I probably won't stay long."
"Then I'll take you home later. Just let me know when you want to leave," Atid said gently. "P'Nu, please don't refuse me again."
"Thanks, Atid. I can get home myself. You should wait to go back with P'Bud and Pojanee."
Atid looked disappointed. "Then I'll have to drop off P'Poj too because walking into that alley is dangerous," Atid said with subtle annoyance.
Why didn't he realize this was just an excuse to keep him away from Anupap?
Atid stood brooding because Anupap had rejected his good intentions. He had planned that tonight he would have a heart-to-heart talk with Anupap. He couldn't wait any longer. Atikom was pursuing Anupap too aggressively. He was afraid of losing the small chance he had, even though he felt deep down that his hope was like a flickering candle flame.
But as long as the candle flame hadn't gone out, he still wanted to try again and again.
He wanted to try to clearly tell Anupap what was in his heart—confess his love.
"I talked to Mark, and he said he could drop off P'Poj," Atid said quietly.
"Oh, isn't Mark going out nightclubbing with his girls?" Anupap was curious. Normally Mark would split off to party with women almost every time.
"Not tonight," Atid had begged Athip earlier to take Sombat and Pojanee home for once. He said that tonight he wanted to spend time with Anupap—his important day.
"What about you, Atid? Don't you want to go out somewhere with someone tonight? Everyone else is going out after this."
"I've never wanted to go anywhere with anyone. Tonight I want to take you home."
Anupap quickly looked for help. Atid had been drinking quite a bit. His fair face was starting to show red cheeks. His savior, Sombat, was chatting animatedly with a young teen actor. Pojanee and Mark had separated and gone different ways.
He expected that his savior would be someone he had been 'avoiding' for almost five years…
"The advertisement is very beautiful... absolutely excellent," Chavis stood behind him, his familiar soft voice close to his ear. The faint scent of cologne. The faint scent of his breath-his body.
Anupap still hadn't turned around. He noticed Atid's tense expression.
"Thank you very much," Atid said flatly, his gaze fixed on Chavis without looking away.
Chavis moved to stand beside Atid, looking at Anupap with meaningful eyes, ignoring his subordinates, not caring that the pale-faced young man was standing right there.
"Haven't seen you in so long. Tonight I'm really lucky. How are you, Nu? I've missed you so much," Chavis was bold. He was direct, different from the playful, fun-loving young man he used to be—Chavis at thirty two and at the executive level of a real estate company naturally had complete confidence.
"I'm fine. Congratulations on the great project's success," Anupap's voice was flat, his face expressionless. He felt like there was a hard lump stuck in his throat.
"I have to thank 'you' so much for helping make Panoview successful, actually. So many people are talking about our project. A big part of that comes from this advertisement."
Atid felt excluded from the conversation. These two were lost in their memories. Even though they were talking about the present, the way they looked at each other showed such intimacy. His throat went dry. His jaw clenched tight. His muscles tensed. His heart pounded hard.
Major Atikom hadn't made him feel this jealous over Anupap. Who is this man? In just a few minutes, he made him feel like he'd been kicked and thrown into a deep abyss.
Atid couldn't bear it. He had to walk away from here. He wanted to stand in Chavis's way, interrupt the conversation like he used to do with Atikom, but his brain commanded him to walk away.
He couldn't stand to see something so painful. Anupap's eyes. Chavis's eyes. These are like the eyes of former lovers.
Anupap watched Atid with pity. The young man excused himself and hurried away with his head down. His mouth pressed into a straight line, his eyes filled with pain.
"Nu... I've missed you so much, you know. All this time, I have never forgotten..."
"I haven't forgotten either. I remember everything, but that's the past. I only remember it to remind myself," Anupap wasn't sure if he was speaking from his heart.
Did he remember just to remind himself... or because he was still sad about the past... or because he was still drowning in the depths of the past like a deep sea, struggling to swim toward shore, but swimming with all his strength without reaching it?
"Are you still angry with m3e? You know I had to return to Thailand."
"No, that's not the issue. You wanted to do what you wanted more."
"But you know I had no choice. Back then I was still young. We were still young. We didn't know what was best."
"Vis, I don't want to argue about old things with you. What's past is past. There's no point in bringing it up again. Today isn't the same as back then," Anupap was starting to lose control of himself.
"My today still has you in it, just like before," Chavis looked at Anupap's face steadily. "That night I drove all night to Vancouver. When I got there, you were already gone. I asked everyone but no one knew where you went. I wanted to say I was sorry, wanted you to understand, didn't want to return to Thailand while we were still fighting."
Anupap remembered every scene clearly. That pain was unforgettable. Over ten years together, the good memories between them were countless. Everything collapsed because he wanted to own the real estate company as his father wished.
"Why bring this up again? It's over, finished. We've each been living our lives for a long time now," Anupap walked straight toward the door.
He didn't want to stay here any longer.
"No, it's not over. I still loves you. The love never stopped."
***