07:21 AM
It seemed like the sun had done its job because the light was beaming through the curtains in my room. But I didn't care. I put on my headphones to listen to music comfortably, until everything in my head disappeared. I stared at the screen that showed YouTube and Facebook open in different tabs.
Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Easter, or "Ter" as my friends call me. I'm a first-year Veterinary student, and someone who can't wait to start life as a student, because the semester starts next week.
I moved into the dorm last week with a randomly chosen roommate. His name is North. We hadn't met before, but North was a very calm and quiet person, so we became friends quickly. Our dorm was the best we could find for 3,500 baht. Actually, a room with a fan would be cheaper, but my mother was afraid that I would die of heat in the summer.
North said he was a local, but he didn't know the place at all. Since he came from another nearby province, did he consider himself a local?
I chose to study veterinary medicine because I love animals. Dogs, cats, chickens, birds, snakes, I love them all. Even fish, pigs, and cows, I like them a lot. I also like to eat them LOL.
Oh, if you're wondering why I have to travel so far to study, it's because of some family problems. Actually, I'm from Rayong. Like I said, I came here empty-handed, only bringing a blanket and a pillow. No friends and no knowledge of the people here.
I don't even understand the northern language and I have no acquaintances. I started getting to know North since I signed up. Since then, we started getting to know each other, while asking for directions and looking for
information.
Before I go any further, let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Easter which comes from the overseas holiday of Easter, which my mother apparently liked so much that she took it as my name.
I also have a younger sister, named Christmas, and she is a year younger than me. I haven't spoken to my sister for a year. I was separated from my family, but not completely disconnected. My mother was always there to take care of me and protect me, even when it came to university. She was the one who helped me find a dorm, she was worried that it was too far away, but I told her that whether I studied near or far, I would never go back home, so she relented.
I decided to apply for a student loan, which was a scholarship at the university. The only condition was that during my studies, I had to have a minimum GPA of 3.25 each semester or I would lose my scholarship and I would have to do activity hours to help me complete my studies.
I had money for other expenses of 2,000 baht a month and otherwise everything was going well. I didn't mind, because my mother didn't mind paying the rest of the tuition. I am still left with 2,000 baht a month, which should help ease a lot of my mother's burden. This stage is like the beginning of a new life for me. University life could go
well…
If only I hadn't had sex that time...
But it wasn't just for this reason, it was also because of someone...
It was my fault. I chose to meet him. And it was me who told him my feelings!
Why didn't he go to university in Bangkok? I thought he was there, that's why I tried to escape by coming to live here. At the northernmost point of Siam!
Oh, and not only that, it turns out he's also studying medicine at the same college I just applied to. If I had known this four or five months earlier, I would have taken the entrance exam somewhere else.
But now, what can I do? Oh no, my mother will definitely kill me if I ask to transfer somewhere else. I never thought that someone like him would come to study at a place like this. He never mentioned it to me before. Well, he probably wouldn't tell me all his plans either. But that doesn't matter, does it? Oh, it doesn't matter anymore! So why do I feel disturbed!
"Ter, why is it so bright?"
North sat up in bed sleepily. I took off my headphones and turned around to tell him.
"Don't you see? It's already morning."
"Hmm, what time is it now?"
"07:30."
"Damn, it's so early in the morning. Why did you wake up so early in the morning?"
"No, I didn't just wake up, I haven't slept yet."
Since I woke up in the middle of the night, my blood pressure had skyrocketed and I decided to play on the computer, so my eyes are still wide open.
"Really? Did you have another nightmare?" North sat up, turning himself towards my direction.
"Well, one of the reasons I can't sleep anymore is because of that. But I shouldn't have turned on the computer to play, because it kept me wide awake."
"I don't think so."North shook his head, before standing up and walking towards me. "Tell me what you dreamed about. It definitely wasn't anything good since it kept you up at night."
"It's not a good thing, but it's not that bad." Who dares to say what it is that keeps me awake? Oh, I'm not crazy!
"Hey Ter, you have to tell me. Besides me, you don't have anyone else." North sat on the chair next to me with a serious expression.
"What? If I don't tell you, will you stop being my friend?" I don't want to say anything. North, can you stop being so nosy about this matter?
"You don't have to be afraid. I'm fine, you're my friend. I won't leave you." My friend tensed his face tighter than before. His eyes were very serious. Does he know the truth? Or is he just worried? How do I know? Did he dream of some premonition?
"North…" I felt a little weak when I said North's name. He was worried about me and I was here without saying anything. My friend was upset and couldn't sleep all the times I awoke yelling and it was very important. "Is this a ghost?"
"Hey, what?"
"Is there a ghost in our room?"
"Wait, what are you talking about?"
What kind of ghost is he talking about?
"I see you like this and I'm worried. You said it was a nightmare, but you couldn't sleep all night. What's wrong with you? You must have seen a ghost!" North wasn't joking when he asked last night. His face was anointed. "If you don't explain it to me, I'm sure we'll be moving dorms soon. I'm not scared yet, but you seem really scared."
"Oh, North, okay, let's change bedrooms right now, because there are a lot of ghosts here. When are we going to move?"
"Shit!"
There is no ghost, I'm just upset because I saw one a few days ago.*
*(He means Hill)
"I was just kidding, lol."
"Are you feeling better?" North asks.
"Do you want me to kick you?"
North ran away in panic. Hahaha. That's North. In this way, we quickly became close. No matter what he said, in conclusion, North wasn't afraid of me at all.
"Hahaha, Ai'North, are you scared? Tell me, are you really an electrical engineering student? Haha…"
"Maybe not?" he replied without thinking twice.
"Can I ask something?"I turned to North, who was about to take a shower. He paused for a moment before turning around to answer.
"What?"
"If there was someone you hated so much that you didn't want to face them at all, what would you do?" I asked, as if there was anything wrong with that.
"I wouldn't look for them." he replied.
"What if you meet them by chancmee
"So, that person hates me too?"
I never thought about whether he hated me or not. I just thought that I hated him.
"No... I don't know."
"If he doesn't hate me, I'll pretend not to see him. I won't look at him, I won't talk to him" North said, "but if he does hate me, he probably won't show his face either, he'll only do it if he wants to cause trouble."
It was true what North said, if he hated me too, even if he knew I was studying here, he probably wouldn't care. Does he hate me...? Why should he hate me? I didn't do anything. He was the one who did it, so he deserves to be hated by me for what he did!
"But in any case, hatred is divided into two kinds. There is good hatred and bad hatred. If I hate him because I don't like his face, he doesn't deserve any kindness; or perhaps I hate him because I loved him in the past."
"Huh?"
I tilted my head suspiciously because I was confused. Why did he say that all of a sudden?
"If you hate him because you loved each other before, I suggest you don't see him. Don't choose to know about him. Don't let him see your face at all. That would be better." He then walked back to the bathroom, but before that he said, "I can see how much this matter stresses you out. Besides, you came and asked me this question, so… that person, is that the one you love?"
"No! That's not love, that's pure hatred."
"Hahahahaha. If there's anything else you're worried about, don't hesitate to ask me. I'm going to take a shower now." Then my roommate disappeared into the bathroom, leaving me to think a lot more. I admit, I loved him a lot, but that was then. There's no way I still love him or feel anything, I'm sure. 100% sure!
So, according to North's comprehensive analysis, even though we live in the same city, Hill and I are different people. We won't bother each other and we won't meet. So I don't need to tell him that I'm studying here, right? Wow, this looks like it's going to be tough…I'm sleepy now, I better sleep…
Drrrrttt.....
Just as I was about to get up from my computer chair and lie down on the bed, my cell phone rang, showing on the screen that the incoming call was from 'Foam'.
"Hello…"
[Are you awake?]
Foam is my closest friend in college. Even though we just met, I think his personality is good, he's someone easy to talk to. Right now the people closest to me are Foam and Typhoon.
"Not really. I haven't fallen asleep yet."
[Oh, why aren't you sleeping yet? What's wrong?]
Shia!
North and Foam reacted the same way. Is it really weird that I hadn't slept yet? It's normal to stay up all night playing games.
"Nothing, I was just playing on the computer." I wasn't lying, in fact I
spent most of the night in front of the computer.
[Our group promised to meet this afternoon, remember?]
"I don't really remember." I don't recall, what promise is he talking about?
[It seems that way. Phi Yao already made an appointment, so you should go. She said that the meeting was also to talk to you about the student loan fund, related to your scholarship.]
"But I'm very sleepy. I haven't slept at all. What time is the
meeting?"
[Four o'clock.]
"Then let me sleep first. At 3:30 pm, please call me and wake me up again."
[Typhoon and I are planning to go to Marry Me. Do you want to go?]
"Marry... What?"
[It's a cafe to meet up, study and read books, they also offer food and desserts. It's close to campus.]
"Why should I go?"
[You can sit down, play and read a book or something. It would be better than staying in your room doing nothing.]
"No, I think I'll go next time, I'm very sleepy."
[Hey, hey... come on. If you fall asleep and don't answer the call, it'll be a problem, so you'd better come sleep here so I can wake you up in time.]
"Can I sleep there? I don't want to bother anyone else."
[You can sleep, it's a 24-hour store open for people to read, isn't there people who accidentally fall asleep while reading?]
"Are there a lot of people there? I would be embarrassed to sleep in front of a crowd."
[The second floor has many private rooms. In conclusion, are you coming or not?]
"Okay, okay. Since you praised and promoted this store so much, you should be given a salary for advertising and so on. So, will you pick me up later or now?"
[Hurry up, I'm downstairs from your room. I've already booked a table.]
"That was quick. Then, I'll take a shower first. Wait a minute."
If he had been waiting downstairs, he shouldn't have pretended to invite me over and waited for me to accept, because I might have refused. How crazy! Not long after, North emerged from the bathroom. I then proceeded to take a shower.
"Oh, I thought you were staying in bed" North said, looking a little curious as he dried his hair.
"A friend asked me out, and my group also has a meeting today."
"Ter, are you okay? You haven't slept at all."
"I'm fine. I'll find a place and take a nap." I said, as I went to the bathroom and took a quick shower. Then, I changed into my school uniform because I thought I would have to be ready soon either way.
"I'm leaving." I said to North, who was sitting on the bed playing with his phone. He was already dressed and ready, he would probably be leaving soon too.
"See you." He looked up from his phone screen to answer me.
"Yeah." I said before closing the door and running downstairs and found Foam sitting on a motorcycle, waiting for me. Upon seeing me, he gave me a helmet and we headed to the store.
*****
@Marry Me [open 24 hours]
This shop is really a reading shop as Foam said. There is a counter like in other cafes, but there are tables for reading and shelves placed in various places with academic books, novels and comics.
There are people sitting around reading books or working on assignments. You can even bring your laptop and charge it with the power outlets provided by the shop. Ah, does that mean the shop is not suffering from big losses? People come, sit for a long time and still manage to use the electricity of this place like this. Wow!
It all fits perfectly with the concept that the store wrote on the counter:
"Time to work, read and drink coffee."
But looking at the prices of the food, I
now know where the store's profits come from...
"Ter, what would you like to order?"
"Do I have to order?"
"Oh, you think you're just going to come and sit for free. Order something."
Foam said it was cheap, but after I looked at the prices on the board, the only price I could accept was…
"A bottle of water, please…"
"Twenty-five baht."
The clerk handed me a small bottle of water. Oddly enough, 7-Eleven still sells them for five baht.
"Seriously, are you going to buy water? I thought you were going to order chocolate."
"A cup of chocolate costs almost a hundred baht here. But outside, it costs 25 baht. We only traveled less than 1 km, so why is the price so different?" I said quietly as I walked to the second floor.
Arriving on the second floor, I saw Typhoon sitting and reading a detective novel at a special Japanese-style table, which was located on a higher floor than usual. It was as if we had to climb two or three more steps to be able
to sit down, because if the person sitting on the floor was parallel to the feet of the person sitting at the table, it was usually not good.
"Perfect, I can sleep here. Let me get my blanket." I forgot to mention that I brought my blanket. It's my bed partner and I always bring it along.
"Are you going to sleep?" Typhoon asked.
"He played on the computer all night, he probably didn't sleep at all." Foam answered for me.
So I went ahead and made a little barrier to cover myself a bit. I spread out my blanket and used my arms as a pillow.
"Oh, he only bought water and he still comes to sleep, how scary."
Typhoon joked when he saw that I only bought a bottle of water, before adding. "Look, he's even charging his phone. "
I chuckled after he made fun of me for using the store's facilities to charge my phone. I was already here, so I might as well make the most of it. Then, I slowly fell asleep without realizing it.
"Ter, I'm sorry, I have to take Typhoon to get some things he forgot in the room. Can you stay here alone?"
Foam shook my body a little, which startled me and woke me up. I then looked at the clock and saw that almost an hour had passed.
"Okay, be careful driving," I said as I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. I was so sleepy I didn't know what was really going on.
"Will he just sleep here alone?" Thypoon said.
"It will be fine. There aren't many people and we'll be back quickly," said Foam.
"Then wait a moment Ter, we have something to do. If there is a problem, call me immediately."
"Okay." Once I saw them walk down the steps, I laid my head down and fell asleep again.
*****
3rd person POV
One person fell asleep because this was a place for reading books and there was almost no one making noise, so rhythmic breathing could be heard. The sweet face that showed no expression was really cute, but it would be cuter if he smiled, although sometimes he was cuter when he was angry.
A faint smile appeared on the mans handsome face. If a woman saw it, she would probably faint. The handsome man gently placed the tray containing the items he had just ordered onto the table, taking care not to wake up the person in front of him.
If the handsome man woke him up, he would definitely get into trouble. But the man couldn't help but reach out to caress the white cheeks and brush the lock of hair away from his sleepy face.
The scene in front of him really made him unable to look away, but he could only sit and watch. Although, he could spend the whole day watching the sleepyhead, if the other party allowed him to…But he better hurry up before the cutey wakes up.
'Ahh! But I want to take the memories with me.'
He took out his phone to snap a photo, but hesitated. Oh, what could happen? Is this the best angle? After taking the photo, the tall figure walked down the stairs and chatted briefly with the staff before leaving the cafe.
*****
"Ter, Ter, Ter! Wake up." Foam's voice was like a dream destroyer. I was having a beautiful dream. Damn it!
"What are you doing? Can't you see that I'm enjoying my dream?"
"I saw you ordered something, so I woke you up. Don't you mind that your chocolate is almost melting?"
Foam lifted the plate so I could see it. Huh? What? When did I order?
"You ordered this?" I asked confused as I rubbed my eyes to see more clearly.
"What did you say? When we came back, this was already on the table. Are you talking in your sleep?"
"Really? I don't remember when I ordered it. I was fast asleep. In fact, I'm still only half-awake. Or was it sent to the wrong table? Seriously, I…"
"Mmm, this is delicious."
Foam and I turned to look at Typhoon who suddenly let out a happy sound, because he had tried the chocolate cake, before sliding the plate back to me.
"I like it. It feels so smooth on my tongue."
My friend's compliment made me have to try it, although in my heart I was still afraid that it shouldn't be for our table, but it looked so perfectly delicious. It was the chocolate cake that I really liked. Oh, the taste and texture were perfect, I think I will be a fan of this chocolate cake.
"The food is ready."
The staff downstairs brought the food to serve. As soon as it was placed on the table, my friends saw the food, frowned, and looked at me. What? Oh my God! Grilled pork steak is one of my favorite dishes. I could eat a lot of it and the plate would still be full of fries. Who
cares, I immediately started eating with gusto.
"Did you order it?"
My eyes couldn't stop looking at the pork steak in front of me.
"Did you ask for it, Ai'Phoon?"
"Hey, I didn't do it. Are you crazy? I couldn't afford a five hundred baht plate of food." he replied, the tone at the end of the sentence becoming a little softer.
"So, did they send it to the wrong table? We didn't order this, let alone the chocolate cake." I turned to tell the employee. Though most likely at that point the employee was thinking, 'Oh, they said that They hadn't asked for it, but they almost ate it all.'The employee quickly grabbed the tablet and opened it to view the order.
"The order for table fifteen above: chocolate drink topped with whipped cream, chocolate cake with soft frosting, and a roast pork game with a side of fries. What was placed on this table was the correct order."
"Then it's okay. But we didn't ask for it."
"But the order has been placed and already paid for. Enjoy your meal." The employee smiled at me, then turned to leave.
"What?" Foam turned to Typhoon and me with a puzzled look on his face.
The three of us couldn't understand why, how or what was happening. But in the end we ate anyway because the meal had already been paid for.
"Maybe something was wrong. Maybe they wrote down the wrong order and then the order came out. Maybe that was it, " Foam said. His reasoning was very reasonable.
Besides, everything had been paid for, otherwise we would have to wash the dishes and our hands would wrinkle like prunes. Oh, I feel sorry for the person who ordered this. But today is my lucky day. Thanks to you, I can eat all my favorite foods for free.