Chapter Text
Pran didn’t like kids. They were noisy, dirty and even rude sometimes. He just couldn’t handle them. The worst of it all was the screaming and crying; it rang in his ears and made him want to rip his hair out. He was trying to enjoy his lunch; it was one of the only days that he had enough time to get out of the office and eat at the park next to his building. But he was starting to get annoyed because a kid was crying, and they wouldn’t stop. He finally looked up, letting out an annoyed sigh to see what the hell the parents were doing. A little girl was holding a doll between her hands as she sobbed. He looked around and got concerned when he saw that there was no one around. Putting his lunch back in his bag, he got up and walked up to her.
“Hey,” he said and she immediately got startled and took a step back. But at least she stopped crying. “Are you lost? Where are your parents?”
She stared at him but didn’t say anything, maybe she didn’t understand English, she didn’t look like she was from Singapore. He was in trouble if he couldn’t communicate with her.
“Are you lost?” He tried his luck with Thai, and the girl perked up, but she still didn’t answer. She held the doll up to her face, covering half of it and took another step back, clearly afraid of him. Pran sighed and looked around, trying to see if he could find her parents or another person who could deal with that.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m not supposed to talk to strangers…” she finally replied, but she still looked wary of him.
“You’re also not supposed to leave your parents’ side, but here we are…” He said and shrugged, she frowned up at him.
“But that dog took my doll and ran away!” She yelled and started crying again. “And he ran so fast! It’s my favourite doll and he just threw it away!”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Pran said, trying to stop her from crying. “You got your doll back, right? Now let’s get you back to your parents. I’m Pran. What’s your name?”
“Nari…”
“Okay, Nari, do you know where your mom is?”
“Home.”
“Then how did you get here?”
“My Pa brought me to play,” she said, and Pran sighed; he hated talking to kids.
“Okay, where was he the last time you saw him?”
“I don’t know, I’m lost!” She replied and cried harder. Pran sighed and rolled his eyes. He crouched down and tried to get her attention.
“Is this the first time that you've come to this park?”
“Yes,” she mumbled and wiped away her tears.
“Okay, let’s go find your dad.”
“But he said that if I get lost, I shouldn’t move.”
“Yeah, that’s usually if you haven’t run away from him. Come on, let’s go find him,” he told her and extended his hand for her to grab it. She seemed hesitant, but she grabbed his hand, and Pran straightened up to walk in the direction he thought she came from. He didn’t think it would be too difficult to find her dad.
“Now my doll is all dirty…” She mumbled as she sniffed through her tears.
“You can wash it when you get home.”
“But it’s dirty now, so I’m getting dirty…”
“You ran all that way to get a doll you don’t even want to hold?” Pran asked and looked down at her.
“Can you hold it?” She said and extended her hand with the doll.
“No, it’s dirty,” Pran said, but he immediately regretted it when he saw that she was going to start crying again. “Fine, give it.” He let out a sigh and grabbed the doll.
They walked for a while but didn’t find her dad, and nobody seemed to be looking for a child.
“What does your dad look like?” He asked her as he looked for him.
“He has black hair.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down.”
“He’s old like you!” She said, and Pran gasped, offended.
“Hey, I’m young! I know I may look old to you, but your dad is probably older, trust me.”
She gave him a weird look, like she didn’t believe him, but she didn’t say anything.
“Are you from Thailand?”
“Yes!”
“Do you live here?”
“No, Pa has work,” she replied and Pran nodded slowly, still looking around for anyone looking for a child.
After walking for a while, he still didn’t find anyone; most of the people walking around the park were just taking a stroll or walking their dogs. It was a big park, so he wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t finding it, but at the same time, he wasn’t too stressed. At least she was safe with him, and nobody dangerous had got to her first.
She suddenly started crying again and Pran looked down, confused. He realised that he’d been walking a little too fast for her, but his legs were long, he was walking slowly, and she was still getting tired.
“I want my Pa…” She mumbled and started crying again, holding her free hand up to her eyes.
“Are you tired?” He asked and she nodded as she cried. “Okay, come here,” he said and leaned down to pick her up. They’d been walking for a while, so he wasn’t surprised that she was tired, especially if she was trying to keep up with him.
He settled her between his arms after he put the doll on his bag so he could grab her. She stopped crying and sniffed for a couple of times before she wiped her tears to look at him.
“It’s okay, we’ll find him,” he told her and she nodded.
She looked at him and smiled now that she was closer to his face, she raised her hands and poked her tiny fingers on his dimples, which made him chuckle and try to move his face away.
“Cute,” she said as she poked and squeezed his cheeks.
“Me? You’re one to talk…” He said and bounced her a couple of times on his arms before he started walking again.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her cheek on his shoulder. He just hoped he could deal with it soon because his lunch break was definitely over and he needed to get back to work. Right when he thought about that, his phone started ringing.
“Shit— Sorry,” he apologised right after he cursed, remembering that he still had a child in his arms. He held her with one arm and tried to grab his phone from his pocket to pick up. It was his boss, so he sighed before he picked up.
“Pran, hi, where are you?” She asked him and Pran let out a sigh.
“Hey, sorry I’m late, I’ll be there soon. An emergency came up.”
“Something happened?” His boss asked him, concerned.
“Nothing major, I just found a lost kid and I’m trying to get her back to her dad. I might just go to the police station because I can’t find him,” he explained and flinched when she heard her gasp.
“Is it a little girl?!”
“Ye–-yes, why? You know who she belongs to?”
“Yes! Oh my God, the owner of a company we started working with is looking for his daughter. He said he lost sight of her at the park and has been looking for a while. He was just about to call the police too… Wait.” He heard someone talking to her on the other end before she spoke to him again. “Her name’s Nari?”
“Yeah,” Pran answered as he started to walk back in the direction of his office building. “I’ll be there in a few. Tell him she’s fine.”
He placed his phone back in his pocket and looked at the little girl, she was now resting her cheek on his shoulder, clearly tired.
“Looks like we found your Pa, wanna go see him?” She gasped and raised her head, she hadn’t understood a single word of his conversation, but she seemed excited to know that she was going to see her father.
“Yes!”
“Okay, let’s go.”
His office building was only a couple of blocks away from the park, so it didn’t take too long, thankfully. Nari was tiny, but holding a three-year-old child was still tiring after a few minutes. There was a daycare at their building since a lot of their workers had children and worked extensive hours, so he guessed that the guy probably just took his daughter from daycare during lunch break so she could get some air, just like Pran did.
When he walked into the building, he saw a few people in the lobby. He could tell there’d been a commotion for sure. People were still hanging around to see if the whole issue would be resolved. They all turned immediately when Pran walked in with Nari in his arms.
“Nari!” He heard her dad exclaim, and when he finally turned to look at him, he froze in place.
The familiar face was enough to make his heart skip a beat. He stood there, immobile, as her dad took her from his arms to hug her. He was so ecstatic about seeing his daughter again, safe and sound, that he barely even noticed Pran.
“Thank y—” He started to say, but froze up too when he saw who was in front of him. “Pran?”
Pran tried to keep his composure and not think about the fact that he’d been holding Pat’s daughter the whole time. He took a deep breath and showed him his best fake smile.
“Pat, hi,” he said and Pat frowned, seeing right through him, he always did that. Even after all those years. He opened his mouth to say something but everyone immediately swarmed them to check on Nari. They were all swooning over how cute she was and how happy they were about her being fine after all.
Pran completely dissociated from the situation, even though he knew that Pat was only looking at him while everyone tried to get Nari’s attention. She was hiding her face in Pat’s neck, clearly overstimulated but still happy to see her dad. Pran just couldn’t stop thinking about Pat having a daughter and probably a wife back in Thailand.
“Pran…” Pat tried to get his attention again but Pran shook his head, trying to come back to himself.
“She was really tired, you should probably let her take a nap… I’m gonna go back to work,” he told him in Thai, knowing that nobody around them could understand them. He left before Pat could say anything else.
During the afternoon, everyone came up to him to ask him about the lost child, apparently they’d all heard what happened. He wasn’t surprised; someone losing a child always put everyone on edge. He explained how Nari had run after a dog that took her doll, so it wasn’t really Pat’s fault. It probably took two seconds of looking the other way to completely lose sight of a little girl. He couldn’t imagine how scared Pat must’ve been.
The disbelief of Pat having a daughter is what kept him too distracted to even focus on his work, even though his boss came to congratulate him on finding Nari. He hadn’t seen Pat in so long, the last thing he expected was to find out Pat had a daughter during the time he hadn’t seen him.
His biggest mistake was thinking he was over him, because in the middle of the afternoon, he had to get up from his chair and go to the bathroom before anyone saw him tearing up. Seeing Pat after so long only brought up buried emotions; he was back at that stage, holding onto a guitar he lost all those years ago as he sang about his love for Pat.
Pat was his first love, a high school crush. Anyone would tell him that he should’ve gotten over him years ago, but he knew Pat wasn’t easy to get over with. He’d known him since he was a little kid, they were attached at the hip for sixteen years. The second he saw him again, he knew he was never going to get rid of those feelings, especially when Pat caught his fake smile the second he pulled it. Pat knew him just as much as he did, even after all those years.
He stayed at his desk even after his shift was over, burying himself in work so he wouldn’t think about anything else. The sun was coming down and he was alone on his floor. The silence was disrupted by a voice he knew all too well.
“Pran!” He snapped his head up when he heard Nari yell and ran up to him, Pat was walking behind her. Before he could react, she jumped into his lap to hug him.
“Hey,” he said and picked her up, happier to see Nari than Pat. He couldn’t even dare to look up at him.
“You have my doll!” She exclaimed and Pran suddenly remembered the doll in his bag; he’d been too in his head to remember that.
“Oh, right, yeah. Here,” he reached down with one hand to grab his bag and gave her the doll.
“She used it as an excuse, she just wanted to see you,” Pat told him and he finally dared to look up at him. Pat smiled as soon as he had his eyes on him, Nari still on his lap and hugging him and her doll. “Thank you for finding her, by the way. I just… I took my eyes off her for one second.”
“She’s a fast runner?” He asked him and they both chuckled as Pat nodded. There was a moment of silence between them before Pran finally said what he’d been thinking. “You have a daughter…” He mumbled and Pat nodded slowly. He grabbed the chair from the cubicle next to him and sat down in front of him.
“I know. Kind of— Just happened…” Pat replied and shrugged. “I didn’t know you worked here, by the way…”
“My boss said you were the owner of a company we were working with, and with a daughter… I was expecting someone older.”
“I know, well… I had her at twenty-one, and my dad made me take over the business at twenty-two. I feel like I’m speed-running this whole life thing,” Pat said as he chuckled. Pran finally smiled.
“You’ve had help, right? Your… Wife? She told me her mom was back home,” Pran said and dreaded the answer.
“Yeah, she is. I came here on a business trip. But we’re not together. Never were, honestly, it was a one-night stand…” Pat explained as he chuckled, Pran gave him a surprised expression.
“Really? Is that why you brought her?”
“Yeah, she was too busy to take care of her. We get along really well, actually. I just have her more often.”
“So you’re a single parent?” Pran asked, hating the fact that he sounded hopeful.
“I’m single and I’m co-parenting,” he corrected and Pran smiled, happy that Pat wasn’t alone in that and that he felt confident to talk so well about Nari’s mom.
Pran looked down when he heard a snore and he chuckled when he noticed Nari had fallen asleep on him. She was probably still exhausted from the day she had.
“You don’t like kids, do you?” Pat asked and Pran snapped his head up when he heard him whisper that.
“How’d you know?” He whispered back, trying not to wake her up.
“The way you’re holding her,” Pat replied and chuckled as if it was obvious. “Like she’s a bomb about to explode and you can’t wait to get her off of you.”
“I’m sorry…” Pran said immediately and Pat shook his head.
“Don’t even worry about it, I can take her, don’t worry.” Pat got up from the chair to grab her from his arms, but as soon as they moved her slightly, she wrapped her arms harder around Pran and whined. She was clearly still awake but falling asleep slowly. They both chuckled.
“Well, you might not like kids, but she definitely likes you,” Pat told him and Pran threw his head back, trying not to make too much noise. “I should take her home, though… Let me invite you to dinner at least, I wanna thank you for finding her and… Maybe we can catch up?”
“Actually, I should—” Pran started to say and looked back at his laptop.
“Pran,” Pat interrupted him, getting his attention back. “Just say yes.”
“Okay,” Pran replied immediately without even thinking about it.
“I would take you out to a restaurant, but I should get her to sleep. So, you don’t mind getting takeout at my place, right?”
“No, it’s fine,” Pran said and closed his laptop after saving what he was doing.
Pat was renting a place near the office, which meant that he either had been there for a long time or he was going to stay there long enough not to get a hotel. Or maybe it was easier with the kid. He followed Pat’s car until they got to the building’s parking lot. He got out of his car, and Pran saw Pat unbuckle Nari from her car seat. She was still half asleep, but awake enough to ask Pran to hold her instead of Pat.
“Can you? I have to pick up her bag,” Pat asked him and opened his trunk. Pran wasn’t used to holding toddlers, and he wasn’t a fan, but Pat looked like he had his hands full, so he grabbed Nari in his arms and she immediately gripped his neck. She was like a tiny monkey, he was sure that if he removed his hands, she wouldn’t even fall from how hard she was gripping him.
Pat’s apartment was as clean as any other Airbnb, but he had toys scattered around the place.
“Sorry about the mess…” Pat said as he left his bag on the living room table and picked up one of the toys from the floor.
“It’s fine, I can only imagine how hard it is to keep anything clean with a kid.”
“Do you want anything to drink?” Pat offered him and walked into the kitchen to open the fridge. Pran left his work bag on the table too and followed him into the kitchen.
“Yeah, sure, what do you have?”
Pat turned when he heard him so close.
“No, leave her in the living room, she doesn’t like the kitchen,” Pat instructed him, but Pran had already walked into the kitchen with Nari in his arms. He looked at her when she brought her hands up to cover her ears as soon as they walked into the kitchen. “Yeah, she always does that, even when I’m not cooking, I don’t know why…” Pat explained and chuckled as he opened the fridge.
Pran frowned and looked up. There was a moment of silence, and before he took her to the living room, he walked around the kitchen aisle and unplugged the toaster. Pat turned to give him a baffled look when he heard that, but he was even more surprised that Nari stopped covering her ears.
“What?”
“The plug,” Pran pointed out, holding the cord in his hand. “It was making a beeping sound.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Yeah, look,” Pran told him and plugged it again. Pat frowned and leaned closer. It wasn’t until his ear was right next to the plug that he noticed the high-pitched sound the plug was making. Nari covered her ears again, and Pran unplugged it.
“How can you hear that?”
“It’s annoying,” Pran mumbled and shrugged.
“Oh my God, you know how difficult it has been trying to feed her without going into the kitchen?”
“It’s probably just because it’s old, just keep it unplugged,” Pran told him. Pat chuckled as he nodded.
“Yeah, I will…”
“You’ve been staying here for long?”
“A little over a week,” Pat replied and grabbed two Cokes from the fridge to open them. “You wanna leave her?”
“I don’t think I can,” Pran told him and moved one of his hands away to show him how hard she was holding onto him, Pat raised his eyebrows, surprised.
“Jesus. Nari, hey, aren’t you hungry? Let’s eat dinner and go to bed, okay?” Pat told her and tried to get her off his arms. She hid her face on Pran’s neck, making him chuckle.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind.”
“I ordered some food while I was on the way, and it should get here soon. Hopefully I still remember what you liked.”
“Seriously? We haven’t seen each other in, what? Eight years?”
“I have good memory,” Pat said and shrugged. He still took some stuff from the fridge to make Nari’s food.
“So,” Pran started and leaned against the counter, still holding Nari in his arms. “How did this happen?”
“Well, Pran, when two people really love each other…” Pat started to joke, and they both laughed.
“Fuck off…” Pran rolled his eyes and gasped when he saw Pat whip his head up. “Shit— Sorry, sorry,” he apologised for swearing twice. Pat shook his head as he laughed.
“Careful, she’s a quick learner. If she goes back to Thailand swearing, I’m blaming it on you.”
“Her mom’s gonna be mad?”
“Very,” Pat said as he cut up an apple.
“Who is it?” Pran asked hesitantly.
“Uh… Her name’s Noi. She went to college with me. She was friends with some of my friends, and we hit it off during a party. But it was a one-night stand.”
“So it didn’t work out?”
“No, not at all. We tried because of our parents. But— Yeah, no, it’s completely platonic. Honestly, I prefer it like that. I feel like if we faked it just for our parents, we would end up hating each other, and it would be worse for Nari. We’re really good friends, I wanna keep it like that.”
“That’s good, it’s better than faking it and getting a divorce down the line. They probably told you to marry her, right? Knowing your dad…”
“Oh, definitely,” Pat said and chuckled. He perked up when he heard the doorbell, so he went to get their food. Pat was right, even after eight years, he still remembered Pran’s favourite food and how spicy he liked it.
He cleared the table and set up Nari’s high chair so she could eat too. Thankfully, it wasn’t too difficult to put her there; Pran was a little afraid she still wouldn’t want to let him go. Pat moved a toy away from her when she tried to reach for it and told her to eat.
“Hey, I had one just like that when I was a kid,” Pran pointed out and grabbed the toy, it was a little wooden train car. Pat chuckled and sat down in front of him.
“It’s kinda hard getting her toys that she likes…”
“She really liked that doll, even left you to go and get it,” Pran pointed out and left the toy aside as they both started to eat.
“Nong Nao? Yeah, it used to be mine, but she stole it from me, didn’t you?” Pat accused her, and she laughed at him. “Once you have a kid, nothing is ever really yours,” he told Pran, and they both laughed. “But, enough about me, what about you? I haven’t seen you in years.”
“Should we… Address the concert situation first?” Pran mumbled as he brought his chopsticks up to his lips after checking that they were the same length.
“It was not our fault, and I didn’t want you to leave,” Pat said immediately and Pran nodded.
“Yeah, my mom is still… A little much sometimes.”
“Why did you never come back? I kind of thought you would eventually show up. You know, for summer break or a birthday, anything. Or is it that we never overlapped when we went home?”
“No, I never went back… I did two years of international boarding school in Thailand, and then they sent me away to the UK for college.”
“Wow, ok.”
“I wanted to do a master’s and the best program was in Singapore, so that’s why I’m here.”
“Been here for long?”
“Almost two years now…”
“I knew you were in Singapore, I just didn’t think we would meet at the same company.”
“You knew?”
“Yeah, your mom bragged about it when you got this job,” he said and they both laughed. Of course his mom would.
“Why are you here?”
“Expanding the business?”
“Singapore? That’s an important expansion.”
“What can I say, I’m a better businessman than my dad,” Pat bragged. “Maybe I should’ve gone into business instead of Engineering.”
“Wait, what?” Pran asked, baffled. “You had a daughter during your last your of your engineering degree?”
“Yup, wasn’t easy.”
“‘Wasn’t easy’? Pat, that’s impossible. How did you even manage? I wanted to die in my last year, I can even imagine adding a baby into that.”
“I had help,” he played it off, but Pran didn’t really believe him.
“That’s still very impressive, Pat.”
“Thank you,” Pat replied genuinely and Pran felt his heart skip a beat the second he saw that soft smile; it was like being right back in high school. How could he ever think that he would get over Pat?
“I’m done!” Nari yelled, and they both flinched. She’d been so quiet so far, too focused on eating her food.
“Well done, are you full?” Pat asked and leaned over to clean her mouth a little bit. She shook her head. “Do you wanna try this?” He asked and stole a dumpling from Pran’s plate.
“Pat, that’s spicy…”
“Mh, it’s okay, she likes it,” he told him and left it on her plate. She got distracted opening it and eating the filler slowly before she even ate the dumpling. “ She can definitely eat more spicy food than I can.”
“She’s very well behaved…”
“Are you saying I’m a good dad?” Pat asked and raised his eyebrows a couple of times, making him laugh.
“You just want compliments, it’s probably all her mom doing,” he bit back. They both chuckled. “Wait, now that I think about it, you were both still in college, right?”
“Yeah, she’s a year younger than me…”
“Did you live together when she was born?”
“No, we alternated; whenever she was busy, I had her and vice versa. I went back to my parents' house because I couldn’t take care of her properly at the dorm I was staying in, plus Paa wanted to move in with her girlfriend, so we just both moved out.”
“Paa has a girlfriend?”
“Oh my God, yes! It’s Ink!” Pat exclaimed, like he suddenly remembered to tell him.
“What?” Pran asked, baffled. “Are you serious? Ink, the one I know, right?”
“Yeah, same one.”
“The one… You had a crush on?” Pran mumbled, and Pat chuckled, nodding slowly.
“I was over her when they started dating, don’t worry. I didn’t mind.”
“I miss Auntie Ink,” Nari suddenly whined. Pat gave her a side-eye.
“You only miss her because she’s the only one who buys you candy without asking me first,” he told her with a pointed finger, which made Nari let out a chuckle. “She has a soft spot for her,” he explained to Pran.
“I don’t blame her, she’s very cute.”
“You don’t like kids.”
“I can make an exception. Like I said, she’s very well behaved and cute,” Pran pointed out and left his chopsticks on his plate when he was done eating. “I’m sure she’s a real… Ladies' magnet.”
“Oh, she is!” Pat exclaimed and brought a hand up to his forehead as he sighed. “If you ever want to get a date, just take her out to the park without a ring on, suddenly everyone wants to know her name and tell me how cute she is,” he explained as he laughed. “Noi can’t even get a man to talk to her after they find out she has a daughter, but now I’m suddenly the hottest man in all of Bangkok.”
Pran leaned his head back and let out a loud laugh. He bit his tongue and didn’t tell him that he thought he definitely was the hottest man in Bangkok, to him, probably the world.
“Yeah, double standards, I guess,” he said and shrugged.
“And it’s not even just the people that approach me. Everyone I know has been trying to set me up on blind dates since the day Nari was born.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, it got annoying pretty quickly. When you have a baby and finals, the last thing you want is to perform for a random girl you don’t know. Plus, I had to find someone to take care of her. It’s just… Yeah, it’s so stupid.”
“So you’ve been single this whole time?”
“Yeah,” Pat replied and shrugged. Pran couldn’t believe him. “I think I would’ve given in a little if people weren’t so pushy about it. But the more they tried to convince me to find somebody, the more I wanted to be left alone. Plus, I don’t want to introduce her to just anyone, you know?”
“Yeah, I get that,” Pran mumbled and turned to look at Nari. He saw her looking at the toy that was next to him, so he reached over to grab it and give it to her now that she was done eating. “So Noi has been single too?”
“No, she had a boyfriend last year, but… It did not work out.”
“They broke up?”
“Yeah… Partially my fault…” Pat admitted, and Pran gave him a confused look. “I didn’t like him. I mean, she can date whoever she likes, I don’t care. But Nari… I draw the line at that, I didn’t want him around her, and it really strained their relationship.”
“Why didn’t you like him?”
“He wasn’t a bad guy; he was just young, a little immature . He partied a lot, he was always hungover, he was forgetful and a gaslighter sometimes. He even smoked and drank beer around her, so I never let her stay with Noi if I knew she was with him. We had a lot of fights about it until they finally broke up,” Pat explained and shrugged. He didn’t look like he regretted it.
“So if she doesn’t like a future girlfriend you have…”
“If her reasons are valid, I will understand. But I haven’t given her any reasons not to trust me or my judgment.” Pran nodded slowly; he wasn’t used to seeing such a mature side to Pat, and it only made him want him more. He needed to go before he made any bad decisions.
“Uhm… Shouldn’t she go to sleep?”
“She’ll fall asleep when she gets tired. I don’t like the whole… Forcing her to fall asleep or take naps, you know?”
“But isn’t it better so that you can sleep through the night?”
“I’ve never slept through the night, not even before I had her,” Pat reminded him and Pran threw his head back, laughing.
“Oh, right, can’t count the number of times I woke up to go to the bathroom and I saw you awake in your room.”
“Yeah. If I stay up and she hasn’t fallen asleep yet, it’s not a problem for me. And if I need to take a nap during the day, I will,” he said and grabbed his phone to check the time. “But I should call Noi, she likes talking to her before going to sleep.” Pran saw him type on his phone, probably looking for her contact to call her. “You wanna talk to Ma?” Pat asked and pressed call.
“Yes!” She exclaimed and grabbed it, her mom picked up the call after a few seconds.
“Hi baby!” Pran heard Noi’s voice on the other end, he couldn’t see the screen, but it was a FaceTime call and Nari immediately smiled when she saw her mom.
“Wait,” Pat told her as he grabbed the phone from her to put it on speaker since the volume was so low.
“Pat, let me see my daughter,” she complained, and Pat rolled his eyes.
“I said wait,” he told her again and gave the phone back to Nari after putting it on speaker. Pran chuckled and started to get up.
“I should probably get going…” He told him, low enough so that he wouldn’t disturb their call.
“Are you with someone?!” Noi asked immediately when she heard him. Pat looked at the screen over Nari’s shoulder.
“None of your business. Talk to your daughter, I’ll be right back.”
He left them alone and walked Pran to the door. Pran could hear Noi and Nari talking excitedly on the phone and it was the cutest thing ever.
“Thank you for… Finding her, by the way. I was genuinely crashing out,” he said and opened the door for him.
“It’s no problem. I may not like kids but I wouldn’t leave a child alone in the middle of a park,” Pran replied as he walked out and turned to look at Pat.
“You know, I don’t believe you. I think you don’t like children when they’re annoying, and you’re definitely a little afraid of them. But everyone is when you don’t have one, I definitely was,” Pat said and leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed. “She really likes you and she doesn’t just like everyone, so you must’ve done something right.”
“Ah, I was just her saviour today, watch her forget about me in a day.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Pat asked teasingly and raised an eyebrow at him.
“Well, I’ll probably be two floors up from the daycare, buried in work…”
“I’ll be sure to check up on you,” Pat said with that teasing smirk that drove Pran crazy. “We’ll be staying here for two more weeks, probably. Well, I definitely will, Noi might come and get her at some point, but I don’t know…”
“Cool,” Pran said with a smile, a little too hopeful for his liking.”
“Do you—?” Pat started to say, but he was cut off.
“Pat, what is this about you losing my daughter?!” They heard Noi yell on the speaker phone.
“Oh, shit,” Pat mumbled and looked back. “I should probably go handle that…”
“Yeah…” Pran said, but didn’t make a move to leave or break eye contact. He took a step back and tried to snap out of it.
“Pat!” They heard Noi call for him again, and they both chuckled awkwardly.
“Go,” Pran told him and finally turned around just as Pat started to close the door. He raised a hand and brushed his hair back, his heart hammering away in his chest. When the elevator doors opened, he saw the silly smile he had on his face that he hadn’t even noticed. He was truly right back in high school.