My New Neighbour

Chapter 12

Tae looks at the phone screen and sees Tee's name flashing as the caller which instantly brightens up Tae's face. Niran glances at Tae while driving the car and realises that it must be the "girlfriend" calling that makes Tae so happy.

Tae picks up the call and talks to Tee. He lets Tee know that he would be directly reaching Kim's pub with his brother so he should reach later with his friends. All the while, Tae's eyes are sparkling and there's a faint smile on his lips. 

Just as he cuts the call, Niran asks, "Was that your girlfriend's call?"

Tae just says no, so Niran raises his eyebrows at the blatant lie from his little brother but drops it for now. Anyway he would be meeting Tae's date tonight at Kim's pub.

Tae looks out the window with a light smile on his face that makes him look even more love-struck.

Niran smirks softly looking at his little brother's direction and thinks, "Baby bro, you think I don't know that you are dating! I even know who you are dating..." 

Thinking about 'that person', Niran gives a deep sigh and then decides to put on a smile for his little brother. Because all that matters is that Tae should be happy... 

Both reach Kim's pub. There is a snake-like line out of the pub with a lot of people waiting to get inside. Tae and Niran enter right away as every one of the staff members knows them as Kim's friends. They both greet Manee, Kim and Bas affectionately. As the pub gets more and more crowded, the three friends are not able to give any attention to Tae and Niran and they just direct them to the best table of the place.

While on the other end of the city, the three friends have finished with their work at the hospital and were getting ready for the party. The three of them were quite excited for this party as it had been a long time since they had been to a party. The other reason was that each of them would be meeting with their crushes. Though for Tee, it was definitely more than a crush.

Tee was one of the first ones to get ready and as he had time, he had given a call to Tae in order to hear Tae's voice. But now that very phone call made Tee serious.

Tae had said, "I would be directly reaching Kim's pub with my brother so you should reach later with your friends..."

The words seemed to echo in Tee's head.

"reaching Kim's pub with my brother.."

"with my brother.."

Tee wondered if he should meet with Tae's brother right away. Specially this being a Valentine's party, what if Tae's brother figures out that both of them are dating! 

Tee thinks all negative thoughts.

"I don't want to meet with Tae's family yet.. what if they make us break up?!"

"What if Tae's brother gets angry at Tae for dating me?"

"What if Tae's brother tells his father about us and he fires me from my job?!"

"What if.... Tae will side with his family and decide that he really did not like him enough to fight with his family and stay as his lover?"

"Do I really like Tae enough to fight for him?"

Tee holds his head with both hands as he feels a headache coming over and mumbles, "I'm definitely overreacting."

This catches the attention of the two friends who are busy getting ready for the party. 

Godt raises his eyebrow and looks at Cop. Copter goes close to Tee and taps on Tee's shoulder and jokingly says, "Have you finally lost it?"

Tee glares at Cop for a second and slowly his gaze turns sad and he looks down on the floor. Cop realises that something is wrong with his friend so he hugs his shoulder from one side and asks him, "What's wrong?"

Tee just shakes his head. Cop pinches Tee's cheek and asks him again, "Tell me what's wrong or else I will not leave your cheek."

Tee says, "Ow, ow.. ok, ok... there's nothing wrong... I am just not in the mood to go to that party."

Cop looks surprised to hear that! 

"Weren't you all excited till now? What happened that you are not in the mood now?"

Even Godt comes closer when he hears that Tee is not in the mood for the party!

Godt pulls the other cheek of Tee and asks, "What happened? Tell me."

Tee slaps both his friends' hands away and lets out a sigh and says, "Tae is bringing his brother to the party... and I don't want to meet with Tae's family right now."

Godt and Cop look at each other as they try to come up with some answer to Tee's problem.

Godt offers a solution.

"If you don't want to meet with Tae's brother then don't meet him. Ask Tae to meet you somewhere else and afterwards if you are okay to come then come over and enjoy the Singles After party with all of us. What say?"

This finally puts Tee in a better mood. All three of them leave for the party venue and soon reach the place as it gets more and more crowded with people.

Godt and Copter enter the pub while Tee calls up Tae and asks him to come out. Tae leaves his drink aside and tells his brother that he is going out for a while and leaves without further explanation.

Niran is left staring at Tae's back while he wonders what made Tae leave this party even before it had started? 

In the meanwhile, Godt and Copter greet Kim, Bas and Manee and soon all of them gather at the table that was occupied by Niran. Kim introduces Niran to all of them as his close friend and Tae's elder brother.

Once everyone settles down at their seats and have their drinks in their hands, Niran shifts closer to Manee and asks her, "Where did Tae go off?"

Manee knew about Tae leaving early as he had messaged her that he would be coming back after a while. She could guess the reason for it as she was quick on the uptake.

So Manee answers him, "Tae will be back in a while, don't worry P'."

Niran speaks in a low tone, "He should not have left you here alone, specially today. My little brother seriously ..."

Manee cuts him off and asks, "Why should he not leave me alone? And why today?"

Niran says, "Because YOU are his Valentine. It's not good to leave one's date waiting for long."

Manee is speechless!