Roommates - Not in Bangkok anymore [completed]

Chapter 12

Tin's POV

By the time they made their way down to the courtyard to meet up with Jonathan and Irene, Tin was halfway composed again – though seeing how handsome Can looked in the outfit he had chosen for him, it wasn't easy.

Tin had also convinced him to use a bit of hair gel to style his hair properly for once, arguing that if Can wanted to become a famous football player, he needed to be on top of his hair game. He looked like he was going on a proper date – now all Tin needed to make sure was that he was going with the right person.

Him.

Jonathan was already waiting in the car.

Tin didn't really know how he pulled it off to trick Irene into sitting in the front seat next to Jonathan and leave him with Can on the backseat, but somehow, she just got into the car when he opened the passenger side door for her.

After giving Jonathan the coordinates of the restaurant, Tin leaned back into the car seat and went through his plans for the evening in his head, while Can was already asking Jonathan about the team's match (they won) and how everyone had performed.

Irene was kind of sulking in the front seat.

As they drove through the dusk towards the restaurant, Tin pretended to fall asleep and conveniently dropped his head closer and closer to Can's shoulder next to him. Nobody in the car commented on it, but when he blinked once, Tin thought he had caught Jonathan's gaze in the rear mirror.

If anything, tonight, Tin would find out whether Jonathan had any interest in Can as a man or not, because there would be no way he would let Tin act like that if he did.

They had been driving for a while, when Jonathan suddenly addressed him:

"Tin, are you sure these coordinates are right? The satnav is sending me to a weird place."

Tin opened his eyes and tried to hide his annoyance – the question was legitimate, though. He should have anticipated it.

"If it's sending you to a very small village off the coast that looks like it has nothing but a bunch of houses and a hundred sheep, then it's correct."

"There's a Thai restaurant in a village like that?"

Tin shrugged.

"Yeah. It's in a residential house, looks like someone's living room, too. But I assure you it's real and it's the only one who knows how to cook proper Thai dishes around here. It's actually run by a local woman, believe it or not. She has been married to a guy in Thailand for more than thirty years, goes there as often as she can and runs the restaurant here in the meantime. She's a really nice old lady, you'll like her."

Jonathan looked somewhat sceptical – and Can seemed to get melancholic at the mere mention of going to Thailand as often as one could. Tin suddenly hoped this plan wouldn't backfire and make Can more homesick instead of less.

It didn't take them much longer to reach the village and the house that didn't look like a restaurant at all, just as Tin remembered it. The only thing that gave a hint that there might be something Thai there was the Thai flag that hung on the balcony on the first floor.

However, as they entered, they could see that it was a proper restaurant. Tin always felt like he was stepping into an overly kitschy version of his grandparents' living room – though for him this wasn't a plus, he didn't have the fondest memories of his family in general.

For him, it was enough to see Can's eyes light up at the sight like a British kid's on Christmas.

"Woah," Can exclaimed, "it really looks like home."