Music To My Ears | 2gether Short Stories

Say Something - Chapter 04

A Year Later

Tine got off the bed, and showered in scalding hot water like he always did after sleeping with Wat.

He scrubbed himself raw to wash Wat's touch off his body so he wouldn't keep pining for him, knowing full well that he could never scrub it off his soul.

That he didn't want to scrub it off his soul.

Tine closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall.

Just one more month, Tine. Just keep it together until then.

*

The year with Wat had simply flown by like a dream.

Tine had decided after that first night with Wat that he would go back to being the way they were before that night.

Tine wasn't capable of wallowing in self-pity or holding grudges. Negativity took too much energy and time, neither of which he had enough to spare.

Wat had been crystal clear from the very start. He had not given any false hopes or hidden any facts.

Tine owed him professional courtesy.

He would simply be Wat's companion on call in exchange for money to support his family.

And if they slept together again, then he would simply see it as a part of his job description. Delivering customer satisfaction.

Or at least that's how Tine convinced himself that he wasn't headed for the heartbreak of his life.

Wat would call him once a week, sometimes more, and sometimes fewer. Tine would be the perfect date, charming the people he met, being attentive to Wat's needs, talking him up wherever he went.

Soon, he came to be recognized in the high-society social circuit as Sarawat's boyfriend. A claim that neither of them had made or denied.

Wat was the same as always - respectful, considerate, caring, kind. He was free, unreserved, funny and flirty with Tine when they were alone. And they had slept again, many times, since the first.

And in the light of the morning, Tine would always ask Wat to say something to make him feel like less of a whore. And Wat would always reply "I love you".

And neither of them meant it.

Tine's siblings adored him for his sweet charm, his willingness to speak their language and play with them. He didn't try to talk over them or dismiss their opinions like most adults did.

Even Echo had warmed up to Wat when he saw that his beloved brother genuinely enjoyed his trysts with a different world, the world that only Wat could show him, well suited to Tine's intellect, grace and class.

Tine found himself falling deeper in love with Wat with every passing day.

He would keep fiddling with his phone for a message or a call that would come only once in every thousand times that he checked.

But when it did, Tine would feel like the luckiest man alive.

Four months later, Wat took Tine with him on his first overseas trip to Japan for four days.

It coincided with Tine's semester break and Wat arranged for the children to spend that time in a beach house, overseen by Mae.

While Wat attended meetings during the day, Tine wandered around Tokyo, exploring lesser known areas and taking plenty of pictures with his old, worn out camera.

In the evenings, they had a formal dinner with investors one day, a crazy karaoke party with a Japanese rock band on the second day and a night at an exclusive discotheque owned by one of Wat's art patrons on the third night.