Chapter Text
Lantern light flickered across the river, warm gold scattering over the water like trembling constellations. The air carried the faint sweetness of incense and melted wax, mingling with the scent of street food and smoke. Somewhere behind them, a burst of laughter followed the release of another krathong drifting gently downstream.
Duang stood before Qin with flushed cheeks and unwavering determination; his confession still suspended in the space between them like something fragile and irreversible.
A few steps away, near the riverbank—
Tong stared at his phone as if it had personally offended him.
Kim clapped him on the back, laughter already breaking through his attempt at sympathy. “Bro,” he said, grinning, “you just got ditched at a festival. That’s tragic.”
Tong didn’t look up. “She didn’t ditch me.”
“She said she was here.”
“She is here.”
Kim arched a brow. “And yet.”
That made Tong glance up, incredulous. “Cherry wouldn’t do that.”
“Oh my god,” Kim muttered. “You’ve known her for three weeks. You don’t even know what she looks like.”
“That’s by choice,” Tong shot back without hesitation. “She’s not comfortable sending photos.”
Kim let out a sceptical snort. “Mysterious girl. No photos. Only late-night flirting and cryptic emojis. And now? Vanished.”
“She didn’t vanish.”
He typed before Kim could respond.
Tong: Where are you?
He hit send and lifted his head, gaze sharpening as it moved deliberately through the crowd. Lantern light glowed across couples, families, groups of friends weaving through each other in easy laughter.
“Watch,” he murmured. “I’ll find her.”
Kim blinked. “What are you planning?”
“She’ll read it,” Tong said calmly, scanning faces with quiet precision. “And when she does, she’ll look at her phone.”
“You’re stalking through notification timing?”
Tong ignored him.
His phone vibrated lightly.
Delivered.
He adjusted his stance, attention narrowing.
Then.
Ding.
The sound was close.
Very close.
Tong’s head turned instinctively toward it, his pulse kicking hard in his chest before he could stop it. Just past the lantern stall, someone lowered their phone, the glow fading from their screen.
His lips curved slowly.
“Told you.”
He started walking.
But before he could close the distance—
“Good luck with that, then.”
Qin’s voice carried cleanly over the noise. Calm. Controlled. Untouchable.
Duang froze.
Tong blinked once.
Then twice.
“Is he breathing?” Kim muttered.
Duang swayed visibly, his composure dissolving in real time. Jamie lunged forward first. Pae caught Duang’s other arm just in time to keep him upright.
“I can’t feel my legs,” Duang whispered.
Tong let out a quiet laugh. “Dramatic.”
Kim elbowed him lightly, though he was clearly entertained. “You’d pass out too if Qin looked at you like that.”
“Please.”
Qin adjusted his sleeve with unbothered ease. “I’m heading home.”
Kim nodded immediately. “We’re going with him. We’re not splitting up in this crowd.”
Tong barely registered Kim’s words. His attention was elsewhere.
Cherry had said she was here.
He typed again.
Tong: I’m by the river near the food stalls.
Delivered.
He scanned the fairgrounds once more, lanterns swaying overhead, shadows shifting between bodies.
Then—
Ding.
Closer this time.
His heart jolted again.
Near the lantern stall. Someone lowered their phone.
He took a step forward.
Then another.
But Duang’s dazed voice carried across the space as Jamie and Pae half-dragged him past. “Good luck… he said good luck…”
Tong barely spared them a glance. Just a silly group.
When he looked back, the figure near the lantern stand had already disappeared into the moving crowd.
Kim grabbed his sleeve. “Let’s go.”
“Just wait—”
“Tong.”
Kim tugged harder. “You can text her later.”
Tong cast one last look over his shoulder.
Gone.
“She was right there,” he muttered.
“Sure she was,” Kim replied dryly. “Come on, Romeo.”
Tong glanced down at his screen.
No reply.
The bruise to his pride settled deeper than he liked.
Tong: You saw my message, didn’t you?
“She saw it,” he murmured.
“Or she played you.”
Tong shot him a look. “Cherry doesn’t play games.”
But the screen remained stubbornly silent.
𓂃 𓈒𓏸
A few meters away, Pae kept his gaze lowered as he steadied Duang’s weight. His phone glowed faintly in his hand.
Tong’s message stared back at him.
He didn’t reply.
°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡
By the time Tong got home, the festival felt distant and unreal.
His room was dim except for city lights slipping faintly through the curtains. He tossed his keys aside and fell back onto his bed fully dressed, staring at the ceiling.
Still no reply.
It was ridiculous.
He had never been stood up before.
Not once.
And definitely not by someone who refused to show her face.
He unlocked his phone and scrolled through their messages. Cherry’s words were still there — teasing, observant, bold in ways that never felt rehearsed.
She wasn’t the type to disappear.
He typed.
Deleted.
Typed again.
Deleted.
Finally:
Tong: You disappeared.
He let the phone rest against his chest.
Two minutes.
Nothing.
He reached for the lamp—
Ding.
His body went completely still.
He didn’t move for a full second, as though reacting too quickly would somehow shatter the moment.
Then he picked up his phone.
Cherry: I’m sorry…
His jaw tightened.
Another message followed.
Cherry: I got nervous.
Nervous?
He sat up slowly.
Tong: Nervous?
Three dots appeared. Disappeared. Returned.
Cherry: You looked exactly how I imagined you would.
A slow smile tugged his mouth.
Exactly how I imagined.
His wounded ego mended quietly.
Tong: And how did you imagine me?
𓂃 𓈒𓏸
Across the city, Pae lay flat on his back, staring at his ceiling, heart still racing as though he had just outrun something.
Cherry wouldn’t hesitate.
Cherry was bold.
He typed carefully.
Cherry: Confident. Like you knew I was watching.
Tong exhaled slowly, remembering the way he had scanned the crowd. The certainty in his own posture.
Tong: So, you were watching me.
Cherry: Maybe.
There it was again. That spark.
Tong: Then why run?
Pae swallowed.
Because if you looked at me like that in real life, I wouldn’t survive it.
Cherry wouldn’t say that.
Cherry: Because if I stayed any longer, I might’ve done something embarrassing.
Tong’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
Tong: Like what?
Three dots. Gone. Back again.
Cherry: Walked up to you.
That answer settled somewhere warmer than he expected.
Tong: You could’ve. I wouldn’t have minded.
Pae’s breath hitched despite himself.
Behind a screen, this was manageable.
Cherry: Easy to say now that I’m not there.
Tong huffed a quiet laugh, the earlier frustration dissolving into something far more interesting.
Tong: Next time, don’t run.
Next time.
Pae stared at the words.
Cherry: Maybe next time you’ll have to catch me.
Tong leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees.
Tong: Careful, Cherry. I always win when I chase.
Pae’s pulse quickened. He’d seen Tong flirt before — effortless, practiced. But this felt sharper. Focused.
Cherry could push further.
Cherry: Are you sure you’re ready for that?
Silence stretched.
Then—
Tong: Try me.
The air in Pae’s room suddenly felt too warm.
Try me.
This wasn’t harmless anymore.
𓂃 𓈒𓏸
Tong stared at the message for a long moment, thumb hovering.
Most people flirted predictably. Lines recycled. Reactions rehearsed.
Cherry didn’t.
Cherry watched without revealing herself.
Cherry ran — and still came back.
He liked that.
Tong: You still haven’t answered my question.
Cherry: Which one?
Tong: What you were doing at the fair.
Across the city, Pae rolled onto his side, glancing at the open sketchbook beside him.
That, he could use.
Cherry: Observing.
Tong: That’s vague.
Cherry: I like watching people.
Tong tilted his head slightly.
That tracked.
Tong: That sounds suspicious.
Cherry: I’m an art student. It’s normal.
His brows lifted.
Tong: Art?
Cherry: Mm. I draw.
He waited.
Tong: What do you draw?
Pae angled his phone and snapped a photo of the corner of his sketchbook — loose lines, nothing identifiable.
He sent it before he could reconsider.
Tong opened the image and studied it longer than necessary.
Messy. Confident strokes.
Tong: You drew that tonight?
Cherry: While waiting.
He looked at it again.
Tong: You were really there.
Cherry: I told you.
Tong leaned back slowly.
Tong: So, you saw everything.
Cherry: Yes.
Tong: Then you saw how long I waited.
The typing bubble flickered.
Cherry: You don’t look like someone who waits.
A faint smile touched his mouth.
Tong: I don’t.
Another sketch followed — the vague silhouette of a tall figure near water. No face. Just posture.
Tong studied it carefully this time.
Tong: You draw from memory?
Cherry: Mm
Tong: You were watching me that closely?
A pause.
Cherry: Maybe I like watching you.
Tong shifted forward again.
Tong: Next time, don’t hide.
The reply didn’t come immediately.
When it did—
Cherry: Next time… you might not like what you find.
He huffed softly.
Tong: I doubt that.