Chapter Text
(POV Phum)
I was at my family home, Peem was busy, and I didn't want to stay alone at the condo.
I had asked the guy to come over, but it seems like everyone is busy when I need them. When I mentioned it to Fang, he said he was planning to spend the evening working but that I should come over so we could at least share our loneliness.
As they say, “if you're going to do nothing, you might as well do nothing together,” except that in this case, I was the only one with nothing to do.
So I went home with one goal in mind: to work!
Normally, I always wait for Beer to help me, and since I'm good at it, it works, but I thought a little evening of work between brothers would be nice.
And jackpot ! In one evening, I caught up on a week's worth of homework, an unparalleled level of productivity. It just goes to show that being surrounded by studious people really pushes us to do better.
Around midnight, I was done, but Fang wasn't. He was too tired to continue, so we said good night and headed to our respective beds.
At least,
that's what I thought.
I woke up for one of the most stupid reasons, which is obviously: to go to the bathroom.
I picked up my phone: 2:17 a.m. Is that really a decent time to go to the bathroom? I don't think so.
I left my room, and my body froze.
The living room light was on.
Of course, it was Fang sitting on the couch. What the hell was he doing there in the middle of the night?
I exclaimed, “WTF, bro??? You scared me. Why are you still here? Aren't you tired? Do you want help finishing your work?”
Well, looking back, that might be a lot of questions...
That's when I noticed his phone in his hand, his gaze fixed on the black screen.
He was barely moving, and I recognized that attitude. Fang doesn't sleep when something is bothering him.
Fang turned to me, looking just as surprised:
“You're not sleeping?” he asked me.
“I need to use the bathroom,” I said jokingly. “Are you sleeping?”
“Yes,” he replied.
How can someone lie so casually?
I sat down across from him.
“What's wrong, Fang? Can't you sleep?”
No answer.
I continued.
“Are you stressed about school? About your parents? Or is it Tan?”
At the mention of his name, I felt my brother react. It was subtle, but I saw it. Then
silence.
Then, almost imperceptibly:
“I had a weird dream.”
What was your dream about?
Fang looked down and bit his lip, clearly embarrassed. “I'm not telling you.”
All right, I raised my hands before continuing. “Instead of looking at your phone, why don't you call him?”
"call who ?"
"Fang, you know who i am talking about, call him"
“He's asleep.”
“So?”
Fang hesitated.
He doesn't like to disturb people.
He doesn't like to need anything, or rather, he doesn't like to show that he needs anything.
Well, I had to do something. I am his wonderful little brother, after all. I couldn't let my brother sit there for another hour staring at his phone without doing anything, so I took the phone from his hands and pressed call.
He gave me a murderous look.
Too late.
Two rings.
“Fang?” Tan answered, his voice still sleepy.
My brother's face changed.
Completely. Between panic and relief.
“Sorry... did I wake you up?”
“No.”
An obvious lie.
“Are you okay?”
Long silence.
Then, quietly:
“I had a strange dream...”
“What kind of dream? Do you want to tell me about it?”
Fang paused for a moment, then waved me away.
It clearly meant “go away.” How ungrateful to treat me like that. Anyway, I headed for my room, but not too far away.
I couldn't leave you without the end of the story (oops).
After a long silence, Fang said :
"I dreamed that you left without telling me."
I had never heard Fang say anything so raw.
On the other side, Tan sat up. I could hear it in his breathing.
“I won't leave without telling you.”
" It's not the same."
" Then I won't leave at all. "
Silence.
Fang closed his eyes.
“That's silly.”
“No, you're never silly.”
Pause.
“Do you want me to stay on the line?”
A slight nod.
“Yes.”
And Tan stayed.
They hardly spoke.
They just breathed together.
From time to time, Tan would say something sweet or silly that made my brother laugh.
At 2:41 a.m., Fang was asleep. He stayed asleep in the living room.
The phone was still pressed against his ear.
I stayed for a few seconds before going back up to my room and immediately coming back out. With all that going on... I had forgotten to go to the bathroom, but at least I had understood one thing. My brother wasn't jealous, he was just afraid of losing what he had finally found. Love.
With all this nonsense, I wanted to call Peem, but at 3 a.m., he would never answer. I went to another call, the one from my comforter.