Chapter Text
there had always been three.
duang, jamie, and pae.
three names that somehow belonged together.
if duang was making a stupid decision, jamie was usually encouraging him, and pae was usually standing behind them both with the exhausted expression of someone who had already predicted exactly how badly things were going to end.
they had been like that for years.
three people.
one group chat.
countless inside jokes.
and a thousand promises that adulthood wouldn't change them.
"we'll still be doing this when we're old," jamie had once said.
they had been sitting on the floor of pae's apartment, surrounded by takeout containers and empty drink bottles.
duang had laughed.
“old?”
“yes. old.”
“you're already old.”
“shut up.”
pae had laughed so hard he'd nearly dropped his drink.
“you two are impossible.”
“but you'll still be here,” jamie had said.
pae had looked at him.
“always.”
he had meant it.
maybe that was the problem.
because pae had never considered that “always” might only mean something to one person.
things changed slowly.
so slowly that pae didn't notice at first.
duang met qin.
there was nothing wrong with qin.
in fact, pae liked qin immediately.
qin was warm, patient, and somehow capable of making duang behave like a normal human being.
the first time duang introduced them properly, he'd looked so ridiculously happy that pae couldn't help smiling.
“so,” jamie had teased, “this is serious.”
duang had immediately thrown a napkin at him.
“shut up.”
qin laughed.
pae smiled.
he was happy for them.
he really was.
and when jamie eventually met marvis, it happened almost the same way.
one day, jamie was single.
the next, he was staring at his phone with a smile that made pae suspicious.
“who is that?”
“no one.”
“you're smiling.”
“i'm allowed to smile.”
“not like that.”
duang leaned over to look.
jamie immediately turned his phone away.
“none of your business.”
pae laughed.
“oh, he's doomed.”
“i am not doomed.”
he was.
completely.
within weeks, duang and jamie were both in relationships.
and pae was genuinely happy for them.
he celebrated duang and qin's first month.
he listened to jamie talk about marvis for hours.
he teased them.
he supported them.
he even helped duang pick out a gift for qin.
he didn't mind being the single friend.
not really.
what he hadn't expected was how quickly the three-person friendship would become a two-person friendship plus him.
at first, it was little things.
the group chat became quieter.
duang and jamie would make plans without him.
sometimes they forgot to tell him.
sometimes they remembered after the plans had already happened.
“sorry,” duang said one evening.
pae stared at his phone.
“about?”
“we went out.”
“i know.”
“we thought you were busy.”
pae looked at the message for a long moment.
he wasn't busy.
he hadn't been busy in months.
but he typed:
it's okay.
because it was easier than saying you could have asked.
then it happened again.
and again.
and again.
one friday evening, pae sat alone at a café they used to visit together.
their table had always been near the window.
three chairs.
three drinks.
three phones placed face-down because jamie insisted they were supposed to “actually spend time together.”
now there was only pae.
one drink.
one phone.
and an empty chair across from him.
his phone buzzed.
for a moment, he thought it was one of them.
it wasn't.
it was tong.
you alone?
pae frowned.
yeah.
another message came.
kim and i are nearby. want to join us?
pae stared at it.
he barely knew tong and kim.
they were friends of friends, people he'd spoken to plenty of times but never really spent time with.
still, something inside him softened.
okay.
twenty minutes later, tong arrived with kim.
kim immediately dropped into the chair beside pae.
“you look miserable.”
pae blinked.
“hello to you too.”
“hello,” kim said cheerfully. “you look miserable.”
tong laughed.
“kim has never learned subtlety.”
“subtlety is overrated.”
pae couldn't help smiling.
“where are you two going?”
“nowhere,” tong said. “we saw you and decided you needed rescuing.”
“rescuing?”
“from that tragic-looking cup of coffee.”
pae looked at his drink.
“it's perfectly fine.”
“that's what someone in denial would say.”
for the first time that evening, pae laughed.
and tong noticed.
he noticed how pae's entire face changed when he laughed.
how the tension disappeared from his shoulders.
how his eyes became brighter.
tong didn't know why he noticed.
he simply did.
that night, the three of them talked until the café closed.
kim told ridiculous stories.
pae laughed.
tong listened.
and when they finally walked outside, kim bumped shoulders with pae.
“we're doing this again.”
pae smiled.
“sure.”
“not sure,” kim corrected. “definitely.”
tong looked at pae.
“you'll come?”
pae hesitated.
then nodded.
“yeah.”
he didn't know it yet, but that tiny yes was the beginning of something.
because while duang and jamie were busy building their relationships, pae was slowly building a new place for himself.
and tong was beginning to realize that he wanted to be part of it.