2gether AU: Be You, be Mine

Chapter 3: Salawad As in the Temple? No, Sarawat is My Name

"Oh my God! Sarawat! He's so damn cute!"

Earn squealed in excitement, she made a minimal effort in controlling her behaviours. Everyone in this crime lab is crazy anyway, there was no point acting like a normal person. That would just make you weirder among the investigators. Although Sarawat managed to cover his ears almost immediately, he could still feel the impact of Earn's high-pitched scream against his eardrums. He thought he might need an eardrum replacement, if that was a legit medical surgery. On the other hand, Tine winced uncomfortably, once again, he was unprepared.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Earn?"

Sarawat growled impatiently, his head pounding more intensely. Great, now, he needs another cup of coffee from that machine, he is going to make Earn buy him the next cup of coffee. Sarawat threw his hands into the air and slammed his laptop shut, not caring if he had saved any of his work. He was way too frustrated, he was certain that he got off from the wrong side of the bed this morning. For Christ's sake, he only had two hours of sleep after he finished booking the suspect into custody.

"Salawad? Salawad as in the temple that we usually go to give our prayers?"

Tine said comically, tilting his head slightly and he looked at Sarawat innocently with his round eyes. His hands formed a triangle above his head, gesturing to the roof of a traditional Thai temple. Still recovering from the shock earlier, Sarawat felt his blood pressure rising after listening to Tine's words, this was probably the first time he felt like dying. He pinched the bridge of his nose frustratingly, trying to figure out if the newbie he saw earlier was the same person standing in front of him now. Or maybe it was the newbie's doppelgänger. How can someone be so sassy yet so adorable at the same time? Earn burst out in laughter, she couldn't believe their luck, their crime lab definitely needed someone like Tine. Or at least, Sarawat needed someone like Tine to save his pathetic self.

"Oh God, Tine, I wasn't joking when I said you are so damn cute."

Earn had to wipe her tears off, she was literally laughing and crying at the same time, she coughed violently after laughing for a solid five minutes. Sarawat's chest heaved heavily from the accumulating madness, his nostrils flaring rhythmically as he took in deep breathes to calm his raging anger. I am not a temple!

"Hehe, thank you. Uhm, how should I address you, phi?"

"Don't call me phi, please. Just Earn will do, phi sounds like a grumpy salutation. So, how was your morning?"

"I am so sorry for being late on my first day, I was caught up with something unpleasant this morning."

Tine fidgeted a little as he thought of his encounter with Mil this morning, wasn't exactly a good way to start his morning, but he knew he had to suck it up and be professional in the lab. He had gone through so much to score a position in the lab, and he wasn't going to be an idiot.

"No worries, Mae Godji told me what happened, Sergeant Mil is an asshole in this lab, no one likes him anyway."

Earn landed a punch onto Sarawat's left shoulder, eying Sarawat to say something to welcome Tine. Sarawat glared at Earn before diverting his focus back on Tine, the anger in his eyes, although dissipated by a little, was still prominent and it made Tine shiver in fear. Tine was almost 100% certain that this senior investigator who was named after a temple, was the aforementioned weirdly hot senior investigator in the lab. Earn was way too sweet to be called a weirdo. Sarawat extended his right palm sulkily, he was shouting in his head loudly that he wasn't a temple.

"Sarawat, not a temple, and I do handshakes with the newbies around."

Tine's face burned in embarrassment, he bit his lower lip with his bunny teeth and looked down shyly. He didn't know if Sarawat was just teasing him, or if Sarawat was serious about doing handshakes with the newbies around. The longer Sarawat stared at Tine's crown, the more frustrated he felt, Tine wasn't looking at him when their palms touched. Sarawat's fingers were aching to lift Tine's chin so that their eyes would meet. He wanted to see the true colours behind those orbs. Tine looked up timidly and saw Sarawat smirking at him playfully. The frown threatening to form in between Tine's brows loosened and Tine smiled at Sarawat gratefully. It was at the moment, Tine knew that Sarawat would have his back no matter what happened in this lab. And suddenly, facing Mil in this lab wasn't as haunting as Tine had expected it to be.