Somewhere else, a man was sitting in front of the television, clutching a lottery ticket tightly in his sweaty hands. His eyes were glued to the screen, his body trembling with excitement.
"The winning number of today's lottery starts with… 6122013…" the announcer said, dragging out the suspense.
Athit glanced at his ticket and then at the glowing numbers on the screen. His eyes shone brightly as he fidgeted in his shark onesie, yelling at the TV, desperate for the woman to announce the rest already.
A few feet away, another man sat calmly at the dining table, slurping noodles while reading a book.
He looked over at Athit and sighed, watching the older man grow increasingly impatient. Shin chewed his noodles slowly, keeping his eyes on the screen as the rest of the number appeared.
"6122013714…"
"Yes! Yes! Finally! I'll be rich!!" Athit screamed with joy, clutching his ticket number: 61220137142.
"The ticket number that wins 10 million Baht is… 61220137143."
At that moment, Athit froze, his face falling in disbelief.
"Noooo! Why?! Whyyy?! I was so close!" Athit wailed dramatically, punching the couch in frustration. Shin simply shook his head in amusement.
"I told you to buy the one ending with 3 too, but you never listen," Shin said loudly.
"Shin! Don't rub salt into my wound! Damn it! I lost my chance to be rich!" Athit whined, curling up on the couch, still pouting at his losing ticket.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Shin glanced at Athit, still sulking, and decided to answer it.
"What the hell happened to your face?!" Shin shouted in shock when he saw Navin standing there.
He quickly grabbed the bag from Navin, who stepped inside and dropped onto the couch next to Athit. Both Shin and Athit stared at him in shock.
"Damn, that looks painful! At least your teeth are still intact," Athit muttered, roughly grabbing Navin's face to examine the bruises.
"Fuck! That hurts!" Navin yelped, his face covered with bandages and his upper lip split.
"Looks like someone hit you straight on. They weren't trying to knock you out, just leave a mark," Shin said thoughtfully as he studied Navin's face.
"Yaa, a couple of thugs picked a fight with me," Navin replied arrogantly.
"Nope. That punch was strong but not hard enough to knock out teeth. The attacker wasn't that powerful," Shin pointed out.
Navin smiled awkwardly, realizing lying was pointless.
"Damn it! Fine! A girl punched me, happy?!" Navin admitted, frustrated at how long his injuries would take to heal.
"Did you piss someone off again? Serves you right!" Athit scolded, poking Navin's injured lip on purpose.
"Athit!!" Navin cried out in pain.
"Explain yourself, fuckboy," Shin said seriously, sitting down at the table with his noodles.
"I don't fuck around, okay?! I just flirt! No kissing, no touching, just—"
"Fuck?" Athit cut in before he could finish.
"No! Damn it! I just smile and compliment them! It's not my fault they fall for me! The same thing happened this time too—there's this girl…" Navin started, but Shin raised a hand to stop him.
"Wait. This sounds like a long story. Let me grab more noodles."
"And get me ice cream from the freezer too!" Athit yelled after him as Shin walked away.
Navin scowled, glaring at his Phee for treating his tragedy like entertainment.
Soon Shin returned, handing Athit the ice cream before sitting across from Navin.
"Alright, you can continue now," Shin said, slurping his noodles.
Athit licked his ice cream, leaning closer as Navin sighed in defeat.