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1.
After an hour of convincing Pete to go with them, they were finally at the gambling den. It had taken pleading, bargaining, dramatic sighs and Jack accusing him of becoming boring.
Now, exactly an hour later, Pete stood at a table with a beer in his hand while his friends enthusiastically lost money.
“Are you sure you won’t play?” Thua asked, swiping his hair back as he nervously waited to see the result.
“Nah.” Pete took another sip of his beer. “I told you I don’t gamble anymore.”
“I don’t understand how you’re smiling,” Jack grumbled after another bad hand.
Pete laughed.
“I told you not to bet on that one!”
“You always tell us right before we lose-”
Tao wandered over, wearing the kind of grin that usually means trouble.
“Pete!”
“Hm?”
He subtly pointed to one of the roulette tables. “What?”
“The girl who deals the chips!”
Pete raised an eyebrow.
“What about her?”
“What do you think of her?” Jack joined the conversation, suddenly in a much better mood.
Pete looked over.
The young woman was confidently dealing at the table, a composed expression on her face as she smoothly handled the chips. Her long dark hair slipped over her one shoulder every time she leaned forward.
“She’s pretty.” Pete shrugged.
The trio immediately looked at each other.
“Pete thinks she prettyyy~” Thua gasped as if Pete just confessed to a murder.
Jack threw an arm around Pete’s shoulders.
“Go talk to her.”
“… Why?”
“Because she’s pretty?”
“I already acknowledged that.”
“Go introduce yourself!”
Pete looked genuinely confused.
“I already know her. She used to deal at my table.”
The trio leaned in expectantly.
“Soo what’s her name?”
“I forgot.”
Tao let out a groan loud enough for nearby gamblers to glance over.
Before the trio asked yet another question, Pete’s phone started to ring, he pulled it out and glanced at the screen. Almost instantly, his expression softened into a small smile.
“Hello?”
The others exchanged a look.
Pete listened for a few seconds before nodding. “Oh, okay.”
He finished his last sip of beer and set the empty glass on the nearest table.
He looked at his friends, “Continue without me,” he mouthed as he waved.
Jack grabbed at his sleeve.
“Where are you going?”
“Niran’s here.”
Pete slipped out of Jack’s grip as though that answered everything. The trio watched him disappear into a sea of people.
“Aow! He left!” Jack frowned.
“For Niran…” Tao added.
Thua threw both of his hand in the air.
“We spent an hour convincing him to come here!”
“And Niran called once…” Tao blinked confused.
2.
The trio invited Pete to eat noodles with them at a small, cheap noodle shop for old times sake. It was the kind of place they always used to end up at after work or after gambling away every last baht they had. The owner already knew them well enough to start cooking the moment they walked in.
Four bowls of noodles landed on their table within minutes. Thua dug in immediately and started loudly complimenting the owners cooking. Jack was about to agree before glancing around the shop.
“… Hey.”
Tao followed his gaze.
At the table beside the window sat a group of young women. One of them glanced at their table and quickly looked back down at her bowl while her friends exchanged knowing giggles.
“The girl behind you.” Jack nudged Pete with his elbow.
Pete turned just enough to glance over before looking at Jack with a questioning stare. “What?”
“I think she’s checking you out!”
Pete looked over again.
The young woman happened to look up at the same time. Their eyes met for barely a second before she smiled politely. Pete returned the smile, gave her a small nod then turned back to his noodles. The trio waited excitedly for Pete’s next move, instead all he did was go back to slurping his noodles.
“Aren’t you going to do something?”
Pete looked down at his bowl.
“I’m eating.”
They collectively sighed.
“No, not that!” whisper-screamed Jack.
Tao practically bounced in his chair.
“Go say hi!”
Pete shook his head.
“Can’t. Niran is picking me up in a minute.”
“What? Now?“
Pete nodded.
“He promised to take me for dessert.”
Jack frowned.
“Can’t Niran wait?”
Pete looked at him weird.
“No.” He answered like it was obvious. “We already made plans.”
“But, but what about her?”
As if on cue, a car’s horn sounded outside. Pete looked through the window, his expression brightening immediately. Before any of them could protest, he was already half way through the door. The trio watched as Niran stepped out of the car, walked around to open the passenger door, and closed it after Pete got in. A moment later, Niran climbed into the driver’s seat and drove away.
They stared at the empty street in confusion.
“The dessert must be really good.”
3.
The trio agreed that Pete needed help.
One evening they were out for a drink and came up with a new “fun” game (not fun for Pete or so he claimed.) They would each pick out a girl and point her out to Pete and see if anyone succeeds. They pointed out different women throughout the night. Pete was sure they’re picking for their own taste but he didn’t comment on it.
“Her.” said Thua for the hundredth time.
Pete looked over.
“She’s beautiful.”
The trio’s eyes went comically wide.
“Okay, then go talk to her!”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know her.”
Jack threw his arms in the air.
“That’s the point!!” Tao added looking defeated.
“You can’t reject someone because you don’t know them!”
“I just did.”
The evening continued pretty much in the same manner.
A woman actually approached Pete, it turned out they knew each other and started chatting easily. The trio thought they were finally getting somewhere, but the pair soon said their goodbyes.
“That one.”
Pete looked confused.
“What about her?”
“She likes you.”
“She was saying hello.”
“She smiled at you.”
“People smile.”
Jack was on the verge of losing his mind.
“Pete, are you allergic to romance?!”
Pete opened his mouth to answer. The front door opened. His attention shifted immediately.
“Niran?”
Niran walked over glancing around the bar. Pete’s shoulders relaxed, and the passive expression he’d been wearing all night disappeared.
“What are you doing here?”
“Can’t I come to see you?”
Pete narrowed his eyes.
Niran smiled.
“Maybe I missed you.”
The trio, who had been watching from behind Pete looked at each other, making sure they all heard it.
Tao closed his open jaw and asked. “Did he just-?”
But before he could finish, Pete rolled his eyes.
“You’re annoying.”
Yet he was smiling.
Niran smirked.
“See you missed me too.”
Pete shook his head but didn’t argue. Instead, he asked: “Have you eaten?”
Niran blinked.
“It’s almost midnight.”
“Exactly. Have you eaten?”
Niran looked away. “…No.”
Pete sighed like he expected that answer.
The trio still unable to say a word watched as Pete started walking toward the exit.
“Where are you going?” Jack asked finally finding his voice.
“To get food for Niran.”
Jack stared.
“You just spent the evening refusing to talk to anyone.”
“Because I didn’t want to.”
“But you’ll leave with Niran?”
“Yes. He’s hungry.”
Pete answered so naturally that nobody replied for a moment.
Niran looked at the three, “Don’t worry, I’ll return him,” and followed after Pete. The door closed behind them.
“Huh,” said Jack.
4.
The trio had finally accepted that randomly pointing out girls wasn’t working. Pete wasn’t shy. He simply… wasn’t interested. Which, according to Jack, was a much bigger problem.
They were hanging out at Pete’s/Niran’s sharing snacks. Pete was quietly eating his crisps when suddenly Thua leaned forward.
Pete looked up.
“We need to ask you something.”
Pete immediately became suspicious.
“Why?”
“Just answer.”
Pete sighed.
“What’s your type?”
Pete blinked. “My type…?”
“We’ve been trying to understand you for months.”
“Have you?”
“Mhm.”
Nodded Tao and started counting on his fingers.
“We showed you girls in the gambling den”
Jack continued.
“We pointed out girls who were clearly interested in you.”
Thua added.
“We stepped back and let you do your thing.”
Pete nodded slowly. “And?”
“And you rejected everyone!”
Pete shrugged.
“I wasn’t interested.”
The trio groaned and demanded answers one way or the other.
“Pretty?”
“Not important.”
“Rich?”
Pete thought about it seriously and gave a cheeky smile.
“I wouldn’t complain.”
“Loud?”
“No.”
“Give us something Pete!”
The trio was practically begging.
Pete was silent for a moment.
“Someone who listens.”
The trio leaned in.
“See! We’re getting somewhere!”
Hearing the noise, Niran wandered downstairs.
“Why are you all staring at Pete like that?”
Tao points at him.
“We’re trying to figure out his type!”
Niran scoffs through his smile.
“Good luck.”
They all looked at him. “What why?”
Niran smirked.
“He’s almost impossible to impress.”
5.
The trio were genuinely curious after making Pete describe his type, so they decided to test it. They invited Pete to a nice café and started their mastermind plan.
The girl they introduced to Pete was perfect according to their checklist:
- Pretty? Yes.
- Rich? Comes from a good family.
- Funny? Yes.
- The quiet type? Yes.
- Can hold a conversation? Yes.
They were confident.
Pete sat across from her, and surprisingly, it started well. The girl was laughing at his jokes, Pete was laughing at hers. The friends watching from another table were starting to celebrate.
“Look at him smiling!”
“We did it guys!”
But all it took was one question…
“What do you like doing in your free time?”
Pete answered honestly.
“Depends.”
“On what?”
He thinks.
“On whether Niran is busy or not.”
The trio froze.
The girl smiled. “You two close?”
Pete nodded his lips curling into a small smile.
“Yeah.”
“How did you two meet?”
Pete started talking, and that was the problem. Because suddenly Pete had more to say about Niran than anything else. He talked about how he likes to act tough but gets hurt easily, how he forgets to eat sometimes, how he always pretends he’s fine. All while having the softest expression on his face.
The girl listened. The friends listened. None of them interrupted. Because Pete, who usually gave one-word answers, had been talking for several minutes without stopping. And every single word was about Niran.
The trio looked at each other and for the first time neither of them said anything. They didn’t need to.
+1
After all their failed attempts, the trio had mostly given up. They were saying their goodbyes after work when they noticed Pete didn’t immediately head home. Instead, he sat down outside, checking his phone.
“What are you doing?” Tao asked.
Pete looked up.
“Waiting for Niran, his mission is close by.”
Curiosity got the better of them, so the trio decided to keep him company.
Niran instantly spotted Pete.
“You’re here.”
Pete looked up, his expression softening.
“Finished?”
Niran nodded.
“You waited?”
Pete gave him a smile.
“Mhm, you told me you had a mission close by.”
The friends were quiet. Because Pete had been waiting. Not because Niran asked him to, not because Niran needed anything, just because Niran said he was close by.
Then Niran reached over and fixed Pete’s necklace, which had turned around. It was such a small gesture, something so natural between them that neither of them even thought about it. But the trio noticed. Because suddenly every moment from the past few months replayed in their heads. Pete smiling at Niran at the bar, Pete leaving without hesitation when it comes to Niran, Pete talking about Niran like there was no one else in the world worth mentioning.
Neither Pete nor Niran noticed their realisation. They stood up to leave, Niran turning around asking if the trio needed a ride home.
The friends looked at each other.
“No.” They all said in unison.
“We need to walk.”
Niran and Pete looked at them confused .
“We need time to process.” was all they said.
Once the trio left Niran glanced over.
“Your friends are weird.”
“They’ve always been weird.”
Niran smiled.
“They were staring at us.”
“I think they’re curious…”
Niran studied him for a moment.
“About us?”
Pete looked away.
“Probably.”
A small smile appeared on Niran’s face as he reached for Pete’s hand and started walking toward his car.
Fin
(Cue the trio having an existential crisis around the corner😭)