Chapter Text
“Gemini! Gemini!”
The screams of the fans were almost enough to burst the eardrums of the twenty-five-year-old actor despite the hair-pulling and pushing happening all around him. Nevertheless, Gemini Norawit Titicharoenrak continued flashing his toothpaste smile.
On either side of him, practically sandwiched between two groaning men, were Mark Pakin and Aun Napat, his two bodyguards who were desperately performing miracles just to get him through the sea of women.
“Gem! Gemini! We love you!” the fans screamed.
“Thank you! Thank you! I love you all too!” he yelled back, waving and blowing kisses to the crowd.
The fans became even more enthusiastic about swarming them. They looked like pieces of meat being fought over by a school of piranhas.
The two bodyguards could barely keep up with blocking the fans with their bodies just to protect the handsome actor, but Gemini didn't seem bothered. He simply kept smiling and waving even as his hair was pulled and his body was nearly crushed in the crowd.
“Sir! Do you have a death wish? Why didn't you use the backstage entrance earlier?” Aun, his driver-slash-bodyguard, complained when they finally managed to miraculously get inside the van without their bodies being torn apart.
It was already midnight, and the two bodyguards looked like they had just returned from a battlefield, sporting several scratches and torn clothes. Gemini, on the other hand, despite being sleep-deprived, exhausted, hungry, with messy hair and rumpled clothes, could still pass for a men's facial wash commercial.
The handsome and currently most sought-after actor in the Thailand showbiz industry looked aghast at the bodyguard's statement.
“What's wrong with you people?” he said passionately. “Don't you watch Spider-Man? With great power comes great pain in the ass!” he exclaimed.
“Isn't it ‘With great power comes great responsibility’?” Mark shot back.
But apparently, the actor's ears were closed to criticism because he completely ignored the remark and continued talking.
“Everyone has their own gift. Mine is my face. It would be a sin against humanity to deprive them of it.” He crossed his arms with the intense self-righteousness of a child insisting he should be Red One in the Power Rangers.
The two bodyguards sighed.
Aun discreetly searched for his earplugs so he wouldn't have to listen to the narcissistic man who was somehow even more narcissistic than Narcissus.
“How can I blame them when even I get stunned by my own handsomeness every time I look in the mirror?”
And, as if by magic, the actor somehow produced a mirror.
“See? Even with eyebags, I'm still handsome!”
The two bodyguards wanted to bang their heads against the car window.
Was this really the man every woman in Thailand fantasized about?
“Mark, for the love of God, make Sir stop,” Aun pleaded with his colleague.
“How about we record him one day and upload it to YouTube so the fans can find out what Sir is really like when there's no camera around?” Mark hinted.
But their boss was far too busy admiring his incredibly handsome face to waste time listening to their remarks.
After no less than five minutes of admiring his own reflection, Gemini picked up his iPod and put his earphones on.
“Don't be noisy. I'm concentrating,” he scolded the two bodyguards while listening to the device.
The two ignored him and were just about to gossip about him when, out of nowhere, something blocked their black armored van.
“What the—”
Before Gemini could finish his sentence, they were surrounded by men dressed in black. Before the three startled men could even blink, the men had already opened the car door. How they managed to do it, none of them had any idea.
“What the hell—”
But for the second time, Gemini couldn't finish what he was saying.
A thick cloud of gas entered his throat, making him cough uncontrollably. The last thing his consciousness registered was the face of a man he could only describe as the epitome of ugliness.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
“How high was the concentration of sleeping gas? Why hasn't he woken up yet?”
From the land of Wonderland, Gemini heard a voice.
It was the exact type of voice he avoided at all costs—cold and completely devoid of emotion, much like his father's. The kind of voice that only saw fault in everything. He wondered, was he having a nightmare?
“Sir, maybe he's just pretending. His two bodyguards are already awake.” another voice said.
“Hmm…” The voice fell silent for few seconds. “Should we slap him to wake him up?”
Gemini's eyes immediately snapped open.
Heck, dream or no dream, he wasn't going to let anyone ruin his handsome face. In movies, sure, but without a camera around? No way, highway!
“W-Where am I?” he asked hoarsely, slowly looking around the room.
The first thing that registered in his mind was the lack of light.
It looked like he was inside a horror movie.
But unlike the usual horror movies where the house looked like it was about to collapse from old age, this place seemed more like a hidden palace. The walls and furniture were golden, everything classic and elegant. The kind of place he imagined would be found in the palace of Wales.
He was sitting on a French chair at one end of the room, facing the door.
The next thing he noticed wasn't nearly as pleasant.
A man who looked like the absolute worst nightmare of every fashion designer and makeup artist alive.
Gemini wanted to close his eyes again to spare his retinas from the terrifying sight. But for some reason, he couldn't look away.
He continued staring at the man, his eyes wide with horror as he took in every horrifying detail of his features and clothes.
For Gemini, all the man needed was a long black wig and he could probably face off against the ghost from The Ring.
He was tall, though Gemini was sure he was taller.
The man wore a black long-sleeved shirt and black slacks paired with black boots that reached his knees.
His hair was pitch black, making his pale face stand out even more.
And his eyebrows.
Oh, dear Lord.
His eyebrows!
Gemini wanted to cry.
Had this man never seen tweezers? Or a razor? Or a salon where they used thread to remove unwanted hair?
His eyebrows were so thick they almost met in the middle.
And apparently, tweezers weren't the only thing this man had never heard of.
It seemed he also hadn't received the good news about contact lenses or laser eye surgery.
Gemini would bet his lifetime supply of Skintific products that a nine-millimeter bullet couldn't penetrate those ridiculously thick eyeglasses.
He was completely stunned by the man's pitiful appearance.
Somebody please get him out of this place so he wouldn't have to look at this man.
“Thank you for waking up.” The man's emotionless voice interrupted his thoughts.
Absentmindedly, Gemini looked at the thick eyeglasses.
“I'm Fourth Nattawat Jirochtikul, and in case you haven't noticed, I kidnapped you.”
Gemini froze.
Then his eyes widened as he remembered what had happened.
“What the—”
“Listen to me first,” the man interrupted before he could start shouting. “Sorry if we scared you, but I want to ask you to date me for one month, starting tomorrow night.”
Gemini paused.
His eyes automatically darting around the room, searching for hidden cameras.
Is this a prank?
Variety shows pranking celebrities were trending these days.
“This is not a prank. This is for real, Gemini,” the man said, as though he had read his mind.
Gemini stared at him before flashing his dazzling smile.
Grace under pressure.
That was what he was going to show in this prank show.
“Yeah, right. Come on, guys, cut the crap. I've seen too many Punk'd episodes to be fooled by this,” he said arrogantly.
The man fell silent.
Gotcha! You think you can fool me? This is Gemini Norawit we're talking about!
After several seconds of silence, the man finally spoke.
“Okay. Maybe this will change your mind.”
He pulled out a remote control.
A one-hundred-and-fifty-inch television descended from one of the walls.
After a few presses of the remote, voila!
One of Gemini's deepest, darkest secrets appeared on the screen.
The club isn't the best place to find a lover…
All of his grace evaporated, and he cracked hard under pressure.
He gasped in horror when he saw a video of himself in high school, back when he had once covered an Ed Sheeran song.
He was sure of it.
He couldn't possibly be wrong.
He had deleted that video!
He had even tracked down all his old classmates just to make sure there was no evidence left that, once upon a time, the great Gemini Norawit had gone through an embarrassing phase.
He stared at the video in utter shock.
But the teenager on the screen was clearly him—the arrogant nose, the prominent jaw, the round boba eyes…
And the clothes!
Goodness!
How could he ever forget that colorful jacket?
Or the hairstyle that had clearly been the victim of a barber's bad day?
His hair had been cut so ridiculously short that he had spent years being nicknamed “Lizard” because of it.
Still experiencing the shock of his life, he almost failed to hear what the man said next.
Fourth pulled out a piece of paper and read from it.
“You spend two hours in the bathroom every morning, use an entire arsenal of beauty products every night, were dark-skinned and skinny when you were a child, pooped in your shorts in Grade 2, have a collection of Pokémon manga, and memorized even the evolved forms of the Pokémon charac—”
“Stop!”
Gemini freaked out.
Despite the cold air-conditioning, sweat trickled down the actor's face.
“You!”
Fear filled his eyes.
“Who are you?”
The man's expression remained blank.
“I'm Fourth Nattawat. Now, date me for one month—”
“Huh!” Gemini snorted. “Over my dead, freaking gorgeous body!” he snapped.
Nightmare or not, he would not be caught dating this man.
The man remained silent for a moment before saying, “Don't worry. I'll pay you.”
Gemini gasped dramatically.
Seriously, why do people look down on attractive people so much? Just because someone is handsome means they're greedy for money?
Oh, the prejudice!
The injustice of the world!
He smiled before raising his chin and facing the man with pride.
“Even if you offered one billion, I wouldn't be able to tolerate dating you for even one day,” he said.
There were only a few principles in his life, and one of them was to never, ever date an ugly person.
“Hmm…” the man hummed before speaking again.
“Then I'll just spread your pictures and videos from—”
“I'll date you!” The veins in his neck practically burst as he yelled.
The man seemed to let out a quiet sigh of relief.
“Thank you,” was all he said before he pulled out some papers from seemingly nowhere. “These are the terms and conditions of the contract.”
He turned to one of the men standing nearby.
“Est, call the lawyer so we can have this notarized.”
Gemini glared at him furiously.
This man was a control freak.
He even had a lawyer ready. He felt like a prey animal that had been cornered by a cat.
Still annoyed, Gemini read the contract.
It was short.
The dating period would last a maximum of one month, but Fourth had the right to end it earlier if he wanted.
It also stated that it was Fourth's prerogative whether he wanted to answer Gemini's questions.
Gemini rolled his eyes.
As if he would even ask anything.
Fourth also had the final say in decisions concerning their relationship during the one-month period.
It further stated that Gemini was forbidden from revealing anything about the contract, or he would have to pay the corresponding damages.
Huh. The nerve!
Him?
Spread the contract?
The lawyer arrived, and Gemini grew too tired to continue reading the rest.
He was exhausted, sleepy, and had a shoot scheduled in five hours.
He didn't want to think anymore.
With his jaw clenched, he simply signed the document.
“Thank you,” the man said again as he took the document.
“I'll message you the details of our date tomorrow. As for the payment, tell Est. You'll receive one-fourth every week until the one-month dating period is over.”
Fourth turned to the man he had been speaking to earlier.
“Est, take him and his bodyguards home.”
Gemini was about to leave when he remembered something.
“Why are you doing this? Do you really like me that much?” he asked.
Fourth looked at him straight in the eyes.
“Page two, paragraph three, line number two. It's my prerogative if I want to answer your questions. In this case, you don't need to know the answer to that,” he said, then looked away and focused on what he was about to do.
Again, Gemini rolled his eyes.
He knew it.
This guy was just like his father. Damn, it felt like a nightmare re-run of his childhood.
Article three, clause seventeen of the Titicharoenrak constitution, blah blah blah...
He inhaled sharply, frustrated to his core.
Shit, He really hated people like him.