Secret Admirer

7. Tattoo.

"I swear I personally went through the whole guest list, there is no one by the name of June. " Ciro told his best friends who were at his office early in the morning to find details about June.

"How can that be? I saw him at the party, Ciro! I saw him with my two eyes. He saw me too!" Buri felt aggrieved.

That night after seeing his ex-boyfriend, he really wanted to talk to him, clear their misunderstandings, and ask for a second chance in their relationship. It had been so many years, but he was still stuck at the time when June left him. He hadn't been able to move forward. He wanted June back.

"He is right, Ciro. I saw June there too. He saw us too. But he ran away as soon as he saw us." Yen added.

"Great. I think he felt that the two of you are still together." Ciro sneered. "Why did you two have to appear together?"

"Nothing is going on between us, Ciro. You know that better than anyone," Buri said with a hint of frustration in his voice.

"I know. But June doesn't! If he did, you two wouldn't have broken up like that!" Ciro retorted.

"Guys! Guys! You two need to calm down," Yen separated her two friends. "Ciro, I do understand what you said but neither of us was expecting to run into him there." She gently pressed Ciro on his shoulder. "Ciro, help him na."

"I am trying my best to help, Yen. I have already sent someone to the hotel where our party was held to check if someone by the name of June was there on that day. I don't have much hope that there would be any luck there as well."

A crispy knock was heard, interrupting the conversation.

"Come in," Ciro commanded.

A middle-aged man walked in. The man was the person Ciro had sent to the hotel to enquire. 

"Did you find anything?" Ciro threw the question impatiently.

"I am sorry, Khrab. There was no information about that person." The man reported.

"Damn it." Ciro cursed under his breath. He could see visible disappointment in his friend's face. Sighing to himself, he said. "Alright, you may go now."

"Khrab," The man bowed and turned around to leave. But he paused, turning to face Ciro and his friends again. "Khun Ciro Khrab."

"Is there anything else?" Ciro raised his head.

"Well, I don't know if I should say this but... there is indeed one person by the name June who attended the party but is not on the guest list."

"What?" The friends exclaimed in unison.

The man pulled out his phone and fiddled through it to find a photo. "Can you please check if the person you are looking for is this?" He handed his phone to Ciro.

Buri and Yen were quick to peek at the photo on the screen. "Yes! It's him!" Seeing the smiling photo of his ex-boyfriend, Buri was elated.

"How did he attend the party if he is not on the guest list?" Ciro questioned as he returned the phone to the man

"Nong June came as a family member, Khrab." The man replied.

"A family member?" Ciro frowned.

"Khrab." The man tugged the phone back into his pocket. "He is also taking part in the employee bonding program today, Khrab." 

"Whose family member, is he?" Ciro had introduced an employee bonding program for the employees and their nearest family members like spouses and children could attend to the company a few years ago. The bonding programs had been a hit since the first year.

"Khun Kayu's, Khrab. He is Khun Kayu's boyfriend." The man answered.

"Kayu has a boyfriend?" Ciro was surprised. "How come I never knew of this?" He had always assumed that Kayu was single, given how the latter had always rushed to his aid no matter what time it was.

The new information made him feel oddly uncomfortable. The news wasn't sitting well with him.

"Nong June comes here to pick up or drop Khun Kayu often, Khrab." The man said. "Khun Kayu introduced him to all of us not long ago."

Ciro's mood worsened. He couldn't comprehend why Kayu would hide the matter from him while introducing the man to other employees. He was annoyed.

"Ciro? Ciro!" Yen shook him forcefully.

"What?" Ciro snapped out of the daze and stared at his friend. 

"We were saying that let's go to that resort where that employee bonding program of yours is going on. We can meet him there." Yen said.

Ciro quickly agreed. The three of them quickly set off to the resort.

The resort was on the outskirts of Bangkok. Thanks to the city's never-ending traffic, it took them nearly two hours to get there.

As soon as they got there, they set out to locate Kayu and June with the help of the resort staff. And they did.

They found Kayu and June near the pool. Kayu was sitting on the lounge chair next to the pool while June was swimming in the pool.

"Let's go over!" Yen pulled her friends along with her.

"No. Wait!"  Ciro stopped her. "What will we do if we go to them just like that?"

Both of them looked at Buri, who seemed to be lost in his own world. 

"Buri? Ai Buri!" Ciro smacked his friend out of gaze. "What are you staring at so much?" They followed his gaze and saw June getting out of the pool, wearing swim shorts.

"It's gone," Buri muttered.

"What's gone, Buri?" Yen asked.

"The tattoo."

"Tattoo? What tattoo?"

"The couple tattoo. The one I had inked on him." Buri rolled up his sleeves, revealing the tattoo of an arrow going through an infinity loop. "I inked the counterpart of this tattoo on his forearms myself. But he got rid of it. It was the symbol of our love and he erased it."

Buri felt helpless. He felt his hopes being squished. Even when he heard that June was dating someone else, he didn't feel this way. He strongly believed that as long as they talked they could get back together. But the fact that June had removed the tattoo had left him broken.

The tattoo was the one he had designed himself. One of the first tattoos he had done. It held a lot of meaning for him.

Ciro and Yen empathized with their friend. They tried their hardest to console him.

"SAY YES! SAY YES!" The cheer caught the attention of the trio. They walked closer to take a look at what was going on. The scene they saw shocked them.

 June was on his knees, holding a ring box in front of Kayu. Kayu look really surprised. The proposal came out of the blue.

"So? Will you marry me?" June asked.

Kayu was hesitant. They had just started dating and this proposal was way too fast for him. But he didn't want to embarrass June in front of all the people who were gathered to watch them. So he nodded gently and extended his hand.

June smilingly slid the diamond ring into Kayu's finger, before kissing it. He stood up and pulled Kayu into his arms. "Thank you, my love." He muttered.

Everyone around them was cheering. Everyone but the three friends.