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Written by Phong | Translated by Timothy Do Nguyen
Chapter 1 - My neighbor is Tay Tawan
Jumpol couldn't believe the newly arrival in his neighborhood he saw last night was actually Tay Tawan!
He and Tawan were in a group of close friends that, counting since their first meeting at that party, had known each other for probably two or three years. Tawan was a social butterfly; he could start a conversation and make friends with anyone. Jumpol wasn't an exception to this; one dinner party and they became fast friends. Tawan called him "pengyou", which according him fit well with Jumpol's Chinese family origin. Having very similar interests, they often get together, even meeting the other's other half. Jumpol knew Tawan's "housemate" was a Thitipoom with fair skin, lovely eyes and a sweet tooth. It seemed like fate as Jumpol's Atthaphan was the owner of an incredibly popular bakery cafe.
But that was just about it between Jumpol and Tawan, two very private men who wouldn't prod too deeply into each other's life. Their conversations usually revolved around their hobbies, work, a new movie, or surface-level anecdotes about the other halves. That was it. Not to mention, they bickered. A lot. It would take very little for their conversations to turn into playful sarcasm-fests that it never turned into anything philosophical or more personal. Any detail about how Tawan and Thitipoom met or their family situation was not known to Jumpol. On the other hand, Tawan knew nothing about the long years that Jumpol and Atthaphan had been together and that they were raising a kid together.
Until Tawan moved to Jumpol's neighborhood.
Actually, Jumpol had known that Tawan was moving since last month; it came up when they went to play badminton together. Tawan mentioned he was looking for a more convenient place for his daily commute to work, and that it would be closer to the boys' school and after school work. "Oh so they have sons", Jumpol thought but didn't ask further, and the moving story faded right away to the back of his mind. Until this morning at breakfast, Atthaphan told him that the pretty house two doors down from theirs had new owners, and the moving trucks arrived the night before. Jumpol gave a non-verbal acknowledgement of the news, and as he walked outside, briefcase in hand, ready to take his kid to school on the way to work, he looked over but found it completely still.
Around lunch, Jumpol got a call from Atthaphan.
"Papii!! It's P'Tay! Our neighbor is P'Tay!" - His voice was elated, like a warm energy that rings thousands little silver bells in Jumpol's heart, making him realize how much he had missed his special one despite just being away from each other for half a day.
But the news he brought has some shocking value to it.
"P'Tay who? You mean Tay Tawan?"
"That's him! After you left with Mon in the morning about an hour, he came by to say hello! I was really surprised!"
"..."
"Papii! P'Tay invited us to dinner to officially mark the occasion. He said he would bring his two sons."
