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There was no denying the absolute charm of the little cafe, tucked away in its own corner of Bangkok. It had a cute and homey feel with the exterior and garden boxes. The interior was brightly lit and clean. And apparently, according to Yo, the desserts were exceptional and worth trying. The only shame, in Pha’s opinion, was that it was on the complete other side of the city and approximating hell to get to in the early evening traffic from their university.
Still, Yo had pouted and Pha had to concede that his most recent stint of medical lab classes had left him with very little time to spend with his precious little boyfriend. With the choice of being cut off from more time with Yo or spending time in two hours of traffic just to eat desserts for thirty minutes before heading back in more traffic to study for exams, the choice was obvious.
And Pha was, of course, whipped. (Pete Pitchaya’s words, not his.)
Yo rambled in the car about classes and his other friends in his major, gave suitable smiles of delight once they reached the cafe, and quietly looked over the menu while pointing out things he could compare to Pharm’s creations. Pha spent as much time as Yo allowed wrapped around the shorter boy while the cafe owner, Kay, sighed and giggled.
At last, delicacies chosen, the pair sat down to chat while waiting.
The end of the wait came with its own surprise.
“Pete?! What are you doing working here?” Yo asked as their order came.
“I’m not Pete?” said Pete’s doppelganger. To the doppelganger’s credit, his face was completely straight and earnestly confused. “My name is Tutor.”
“He’s really not Pete,” Pha said, eyebrows raising. “His voice is a bit different. And the eyes, Yo.”
“Uh… If there’s not anything else…”
“Oh, can I have a photo with you?” Yo asked quickly. “It’ll drive my friend crazy when he sees it.”
“I uh…” Tutor looked around at the other tables waiting for service and winced. “Really quickly, sir.”
“Sure sure, sorry!” Yo whipped out his phone and after asking Tutor to lean in, snapped several quick shots. Tutor ran off the second Yo had finished saying, “Thank you!”
“Make sure we leave him a nice tip for humoring you,” Pha said as he arranged the plates of cakes. “But how insane to find Pete’s would-be twin, huh?” Pha looked up and found Yo staring at his phone screen. “Yo?”
“I mean, but the resemblance is really really good. It’s not just nearly identical strangers. It’s… literally identical.” Yo showed Pha a side by side comparison he’d made on his phone. “That’s literally the same face.”
“Let’s talk about it later, I don’t want to weird him out any further,” Pha said as he passed Yo a spoon.
Yo tapped his screen a few more times before accepting. “Yes, P’Phaaa…”
Miles away, Pete looked up from his journal at the sound of a text message. The disappointment at finding out it wasn’t Ae was quickly mitigated by the shock of the picture Yo sent. Pete bit his lip and his finger hovered over his mother’s number before remembering she was overseas for a business meeting. Pete was alone with his thoughts until his phone rang again with a special ringtone.
“Ae, do you have some time tomorrow?” Pete asked as he answered.
“Hello to you too,” Ae said with a laugh. “I don’t have practice tomorrow. Did you have something in mind, Koon Chai?”
“Would Ae like to come with me to a cafe? It’s a little far though…”
“We could do dinner there,” Ae said casually. “And I could stay at your place tomorrow night…”
Pete shivered at the lower tone of Ae’s voice and the prospect of a long night. “I’d like that…”
“Can you pick me up or should I come to the IC building?”
“I-I can pick up Ae…”
—---
The following afternoon, after picking up Ae, Pete drove on to the cafe Yo had mentioned, his heart pounding. Pete’s nerves were only slightly mitigated by chatting with Ae. To his own benefit, Ae had picked up on the tension and nerves rising up in Pete and placed a hand on one of Pete’s at a stoplight.
“Koon Chai, it’s not like you to be so nervous for a date, is something wrong?”
“Ae, what would you think if I had a twin?”
“I’d think it was cool, although I can’t imagine what it’d be like if there were two of you.” Ae pinched Pete’s cheek and Pete felt some of his tension fade from the familiarity of it. “You’re already so sweet, if your twin was as sweet as you, I’d be worried about you both all the time.” Ae then smirked. “So should I be asking if I’m about to have an opportunity with twins?”
“Aeeee!”
“Joking, joking!” Ae pinched Pete’s cheek again and Pete could only pout. “This Koon Chai is enough for me. I don’t know if I could keep up with two of you.”
“Ae has plenty of stamina,” Pete said while the blush bloomed on his face. “Anyway, we’re almost there…”
“What’s got you thinking about being a twin?” Ae asked. “You’ve never expressed anything about wanting to be a twin and… You’ve not really talked about having siblings?”
“I have a half-brother,” Pete said simply. “I don’t talk about him much because father…” Pete frowned and drove forward as the light changed. “It’s complicated.”
Ae nodded. “If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here.”
“Ae… We… Might have a lot to talk about after today.”
“...if you say so, Koon Chai.”
With their early departure from campus, the pair found themselves in the same corner of Bangkok that Yo had mentioned with much less difficulty. Pete thought the cafe was as cute as Yo had described and Ae agreed it looked promising. The surprises started early as Pete walked into the cafe and was immediately hugged by one of the staff.
“Oh Tor, good, you’re here early!” Pete’s expression turned puzzled.
“I’m… not Tor?”
“Of course you’re Tor!” The man pressed the back of his hand against Pete’s forehead. “Are you sick?”
Ae moved to step in front of Pete, but Pete gently removed the man’s hand and smiled. “I’m sorry phi, but there’s really a misunderstanding, I’m not Tor.” Pete held up his student ID card, “My name is Pete.”
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry!” The man slapped his own mouth playfully and Pete giggled. “P’Kay is sorry nong! You look just like my waiter and assistant!”
“P’Kay?” Kay and Pete turned around to see what was very well a clone of Pete, only dressed as an engineering student. “What are you… Who are you?!”
Pete straightened himself out and offered his hand. “Hi, I… think we might be twins?”
—---
Tutor fell back into his bed, his head swimming and beyond thankful that Kay had taken pity on him and given him a full day’s pay despite not working his shift.
“Finding out you had another family when all you thought you had was something else is a lot,” Kay had said after giving Tutor a comforting hug. “Take today off, we’ll manage here. You need to think about what you want to do with this new information.”
“What else am I supposed to do with it?” Tutor asked the air around him. “Whatever N’Pete says doesn’t actually affect me. I’m not… He’s not really my…”
Despite Tutor’s assertions, there was a small part of his heart that asked, what if?
What if Pete is your twin? Why then, did a rich mother abandon you to suffer under a gambling addict father? Who is really your sibling? Your sister or this new boy who claims to have been born with you? Is this why you don’t actually look like siblings despite how much you love your sister? Is this why your mother says she loves you and yet…
Tutor’s mind spiraled until he heard the doorbell ring and he groaned.
“Damn it, P’Fight is here for his tutoring session…” Tutor pulled himself up and hit the intercom button. “P’Fight, today’s not a-”
“Uh… Tor?” Fighter’s voice was distinctly confused. “Is… Is there a reason why there’s a copy of you down here?”
Tutor pulled at his hair. “Leave him down there and you can come up.”
“P’Tor!” Tutor heard Pete’s complaining voice and grit his teeth. “I just came to drop off some food for you! I’ll send it up with P’Fight! Have a good night!”
When Fighter finally reached Tutor’s apartment, he found the young man curled up next to the door.
“Tor?” Fighter’s hands hovered over Tutor. “Do you-”
“I’m fine.” Tutor batted Fighter’s hands away and stood up on his own before casting a glare at the bag of food in Fighter’s hands. “And throw that away.”
“If you don’t want to eat it, it’s fine,” Fighter said firmly. “Don’t waste good food just because-”
“Then you take it home and eat it,” Tutor snapped. “And you can forget about today’s tutoring session. Just go. Take the food as compensation for wasting your time.” Tutor shoved Fighter out the door again and locked it, ignoring the hurt expression on Fighter’s face.
—---
“Has Tutor seemed… off to you?” Saifah asked as he sat down next to Day, his eyes clearly on Zon and his gang of friends at another table. His gaze received the appropriate response of Zon giving him the middle finger.
“He’s certainly distracted,” Day said as he mixed his rice. “It’s the first time I’ve seen him mess up a problem that basic in our math class.”
“Please stop talking about me when I can hear you,” Tutor said as he slammed his lunch tray down.
“Then talk to us!” Saifah said while shaking Tutor’s shoulder. “Bad enough you won’t talk to us about P’Fight and won’t finally let me ask you for help about -”
“Everyone in engineering knows you’re desperately flirting with N’Zon,” Day announced. “We’ve all just collectively agreed to let you suffer for your playboy ways and laugh in your face.”
“Wait what-”
“It was in our meeting notes from last class meeting,” Tutor said in agreement. “Majority vote and everything.”
“Now I know you’re lying because no one ever votes for anything with an overwhelming majority during those meetings!”
“You’d be surprised how funny everyone thinks your misery is these days after the Cute Boy Competition,” Day said around the spoon in his mouth. “Especially since the world saw those eyes you kept giving Zon.”
“This is unreasonable and cruel!” Saifah pushed his tray away and rested his forehead on the table. “It’s discrimination!”
“So now that he’s distracted, what’s wrong with you,” Day said plainly. “It’s not anything to do with Hwahwa is it?”
“No.” Tutor stabbed at the egg on top of his rice and found no satisfaction in letting the yolk run all over the plate. “I… I got some news yesterday.”
“Is your mom okay? Your sister?”
Tutor frowned. “No it’s…” Tutor pushed his food around his plate. “I… found out I might have a twin.”
“There’s two Tutors?” Saifah finally turned his head to look at Tutor. “Two of you? Two incredibly intelligent but emotionally constipated-”
“I am not emotionally constipated! I’m just…” Tutor paused. “Just because I don’t… go around saying things carelessly doesn’t make me emotionally constipated.”
“That’s true. You’d have to be good at acknowledging your feelings in the first place to get that far.”
Tutor turned to go after Saifah, but Day stopped him. “So how might you have a twin and not actually have a twin?”
“He tried to talk to me about it, but… we haven’t done any tests or anything to confirm outside the fact that…”
“You literally have the same face?” Everyone at the table turned to see Fighter’s attempt at a nonchalant expression. “He’s a carbon copy of you, Tor.”
“This doesn’t concern you.”
“It concerns you,” Fighter replied. “So it kinda does concern me.”
“If I say it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” Tutor said dismissively. “And if you have time to stick your nose into my business, you have time to study for that English exam you have coming up.”
—---
When Tutor showed up at the cafe for his shift, Kay pulled him aside immediately to point out Pete and a beautiful woman sitting at a table. “They came and asked for you,” Kay said softly. “We’ve got plenty of time before a rush comes in. Go talk to them and see if it helps you figure things out.” Tutor frowned but walked over anyway.
“Hello,” Tutor greeted with a wai. “N’Pete and…”
“Petch,” the woman said with an unreadable expression on her face. “And you…” She reached a hand out and then pulled it back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t-”
Tutor took a seat and sat opposite the two of them. “I suppose N’Pete told you he found me here.”
“He did,” Petch said while nodding her head. “And it seems… I must come clean about things to you both.”
“Mae?” Pete put his hand on top of his mother’s. “Are we really…”
“Yes,” Petch said firmly. “I kept it from you because of your father but… When I was pregnant, it was with twins.” Petch gestured to Tutor, “He was born first, older than you by five minutes.”
“But why did you have to give one of us up, mae?” Pete looked at Tutor. “It’s not as if back then father didn’t-”
“Your father,” Petch said with an edge to her voice, “Insisted that only one child would be enough. He had no interest in raising two sons.” Petch looked down into her cup of tea. “If I’m honest, I don’t know if he had any interest in even raising the one.”
“So you gave me up,” Tutor said with a scoff. “To a poor family.”
“I did no such thing,” Petch said. “Your… mother… She was a dear friend of mine. Her family was doing well and she had said her husband had a good future. I thought they’d do fine with you… But then we fell out of contact and…” Petch looked up from her tea to stare into Tutor’s eyes. “I won’t deny that I should have tried to do more to find her, help her. After Pete told me he found you, I reached out and heard…”
“We don’t need your sympathy. I’m managing to pay off my father's debts just fine on my own.”
“I didn’t offer her money,” Petch said quietly. “I offered support in whatever way she wanted it, but she refused.” Petch looked down at hers and Pete’s hands. “I make the same offer to you. Money doesn’t mean much, but… if you ever want it, you have another family with us.”
Pete used his other free hand to hold one of Tutor’s and was surprised to not be rebuffed. “I just… want to get to know you if you’ll let me,” Pete said softly. “I don’t expect you to just… magically want to be really close. But, we are family, right? At least let's get to know each other enough before we decide to go separate ways.”
“I…”
“I’ll leave you both to discuss it,” Petch said as she got up and picked up her purse. “I know the two of you will have things you want to talk about in private as siblings rather than with your mother around.” Petch pinched Pete’s cheek and he smiled back at her. “If you want it, have Pete give you my number. I will answer any questions you want, um…”
“Tutor.” Tutor looked up at Petch and gave her the smallest of smiles. “My name is Tutor.”
“N’Tutor,” Petch said with a warm smile. “I hope I get to invite you over one day for dinner so i can tell you about all the embarrassing things your twin has done in your absence.”
“Maeeee!” Pete objected and Petch laughed before waving them both off and leaving. Pete pouted before turning to Tutor who had still not shaken off his hand. “P’Tor…” Pete started. “I know you have work now, and I’m so sorry we keep interrupting you, but… Would you like to have dinner with me and my boyfriend later tonight? So we can talk?”
“Boyfriend?!”
“Yes!” Pete’s expression brightened. “Ae, the boy you saw me with the other day, he’s my boyfriend! You can bring yours if you like too.”
“I… do not have a boyfriend.”
Pete blinked. “But wasn’t that senior with the really nice eyebrows at your apartment the other night your boyfriend?”
“NO!”
Pete tapped his chin. “Do you want him to be?”
Tutor frowned and tossed Pete’s hand off of his own. “I changed my mind, I don’t want to be your brother anymore. And how did you get my address?!”
“Torrrr! That was easy! I asked P’Kay so I could give you the food you forgot when you left early. And what about that senior? You didn’t answer my question!”
“I refuse!”
“That’s okay, let’s exchange LINE info so I can text you where to meet us for dinner! We can talk about it then!”
“P’Kay! Help!”