Roundabout Way to You

12. Male Bestie

"Khun Bern, do you have any plans for the lunch break?" Ayut asked as Bern entered his office.

"N- No" Bern was frigid as he stood in front of Ayut.  He had no idea why he was there.

"Oh? Why are you still standing there?" Ayut asked as he raised his eyes from the desktop screen. "Please be seated." He gestured at the couch in the lounging area of the office. "Make yourself at home."

"Khrab," Bern said awkwardly. He looked quite stiff as he sat down on the couch.

"So, Bern, since it's just the two of us, I think we can drop formalities." Ayut pressed the buttons of his wheelchair and drove it to the lounging area where Bern was sitting.

Bern's eyes widened. He had heard that Ayut was gay and was very interested in handsome men. He had initially ignored it as he thought that all of those were merely rumors. Yet now, seeing the way Ayut was talking to him, being all friendly and comfortable, he was starting to doubt if the rumors were true.

"Bern?" Ayut called out, seeing no response from the latter.

"Khrab?" Bern snapped out of the daze.

"Are you okay, Nong?" Ayut asked in concern.

"Khrab, I am alright," Bern stated. He was trying his best not to look disrespectful.

"You wouldn't mind joining me for lunch, would you?" 

Bern gulped. He was internally panicking. "I wouldn't mind." 

"Is there anything you prefer to eat?"

"No, Khrab. I eat everything."

"Good."

Ayut started asking Bern about his work and related stuff. Bern answered all of them carefully with his guard up.

Suddenly the office door was pushed open, and Boyo entered the office with a handful of paper bags.

"Bitch, you are late," Ayut commented. "Your boyfriend here looks like he is about to cry."

Boyo dumped the paper bags on the coffee table between Ayut and Bern and gave the former a middle finger. She sat down next to her boyfriend. "Darling, did he hurt you?"

Bern internally sighed in relief. It seemed that his girlfriend and Ayut knew each other. He shook his head with a smile.

Ayut rolled his eyes seeing Boyo's actions. "Where's my coconut pudding?" He asked as he looked through the paper bags.

"That's in there somewhere," Boyo answered and turned to her boyfriend. "By the way, this is Ayut, my bestie. Ayut, this is my boyfriend, Bern." She said hugging Bern's arm.

"I know, Madam." Ayut tsked. "Now, will you tell me why you brought so much food? There are only three of us here. How are we going to finish this all?"

"Oh, that?" She looked at her boyfriend questioningly. "Didn't you say that Mihit was also coming here with you? Why didn't you invite him?"

"That it was Khun Ayut who invited me. I didn't get a chance to call him." Bern answered honestly.

He had heard several things from Boyo about her 'male bestie' and he had been wary of the person's existence. But now seeing that it was Ayut, he didn't know why he was feeling relieved.

"Mihit? That tall guy?" Ayut asked.

"Yeah, the one who helped you the other day. Don't you want to thank him?" Boyo asked with a teasing smile. 

"That kid is scared of me," Ayut muttered as he unpacked the boxes of food from the paper bag.  

"Scared of you?" Boyo scanned her friend from top to bottom. "For what?"

His friend was really tiny and harmless. Why would someone like Mihit be afraid of him? She wondered.

"I don't know. I think it is all because of some nonsense that asshole Sa spew to him." Ayut fumed. He had noticed that Mihit didn't look comfortable seeing him in the meeting.

"Sa?" Boyo frowned.

"You don't remember Sa? Sarth! The guy who used to be my best friend back in high school. The one that got his hair bleached and had piercings. " Ayut explained so that Boyo could remember.

Even though both Ayut and Boyo had gone to the same high school, they weren't close back then. They became best friends after they entered university.

"The Sa on whom Rain used to crush on?" Boyo asked.

"You know, P' Sa?" Bern enquired.

"You know Sa too?" Ayut asked in response.

"Yes. He works in our company and since I am Mihit's best friend, I have known him since high school." Bern answered.

"Wow! What a small world!" Ayut was amazed.

"Stop wasting time and call Mihit over. The food is starting to turn cold," Boyo urged her boyfriend.

Bern got up and went to the balcony to make the call.

The two best friends were left alone.

"You shouldn't have called him. That kid was really uncomfortable seeing me throughout the meeting today," Ayut said as he opened the lids of the food containers.

"Oh really? Were you paying attention to him throughout the meeting?" She teased.

"Boyo, I am not joking around. I am being serious here." He looked at her with a serious expression.

"Did something happen between you two?" She asked. She could sense that something wasn't right.

"Mihit, He lives in the apartment across the hall."

"Wow," Boyo smiled brightly. Her smile dimmed when she saw her friend looking at her with a stoic expression. "Yes, you continue."

Ayut went on to explain about what all had happened and how they found out that Mihit was his neighbor. "He had been avoiding me like plague in the last few days."

"I don't understand why people automatically associate the term 'gay' with 'perverts'. It's not like a gay guy goes around groping every other guy he sees." Boyo fumed.

Ayut scoffed. "Your boyfriend is the same. You should have seen the way he was acting till you came here."

He used to think that he was already used to this type of treatment from other and it wouldn't matter to him. But today, he realized that it did. It did hurt him and it hurt him deep.

He wasn't ashamed of his sexuality but that didn't mean that he was okay with the fact that he is being treated like a perv.

"I am really sorry, Yut. Wait a minute, I will go teach him a lesson!" Boyo stood up angrily. 

"No need," Ayut pulled her back from rushing over to her boyfriend. "It is my fault. We should have gone to some restaurant instead of having lunch here, in my office."

"It is not your fault, Yut. I am sure that you would have held this meeting between you and Bern at the best restaurant if not for your broken leg." Boyo squeezed his shoulders. "If he is homophobic, it is his fault."

Boyo had seen how homophobic people used to target Ayut over years. She never imagined that the man she was dating was on among them.

If that was the case, she needed to break up with him. Because, when asked to choose between Ayut and Bern, she would always chose her friend. Not because she had any feelings for her friend, but because she could trust her friend more than any other man on earth.