A Few Words

ii

it's quite a struggle getting the microphone from bright. as per usual, tutah and bright have their own little banter and a short stare-off before bright smiles cheekily at his friend and hands over the mic over to tutah.

    tutah rolls his eyes in a fashion before addressing the audience before him.

    "thank you, bright," says tutah, "that was very . . . touching."

    he momentarily sees bright flicking his tongue at him, and he rolls his eyes once more with a smile.

    tutah then addresses the crowd and says, "i'm one of arthit's friends. i know, i know, you guys must be asking how such fabulous person as i became friends with a grumpy old man, but we'll get to that later."

    he then turns towards the newlyweds with a warm smile and says, "but first of all, i would like to give my sincerest congratulations to both of the grooms."

    the crowd cheers once more, and arthit can no longer hide his smile, hiding behind the shoulders of his husband, kongpob.

    "we both know how the two of you came to be such a couple we already know and love," tutah continues, "but most of the people here don't know how you guys are really like."

    he turns to the audience in a comical manner, winking at the crowd and saying, "they're both sickeningly in love with each other you guys have no idea."

    there's a glare on arthit's eyes that has tutah chuckling, but the blush on his friend's cheeks says another thing.

    "what i'm about to share with you guys was probably a moment that stuck with me and impacted me as a person," from the teasing tone of his voice, tutah mellows to a warm one, "it's when i truly knew that not all relationships are perfect, and not all the best ones out there are the right one for you."

    tutah shares a private smile with kongpob which his junior mirrored.

    he turns to the audience once more and heaves a deep breath. "it all started when i had my heart broken, yet again . . ."

--

tutah remembered it vividly, like it had just happened yesterday.

    they're months away from graduating, and tutah got dumped for the 5th time that year. feeling more exhausted than frustrated, he sought comfort from his friends.

    thinking carefully about it, none of his friends were actually qualified to give any advice aside from knott who seemed to have his life all figured out, but tutah figured knott had gotten tired from listening to his woes, so he sought a willing ear from someone else.

    he never thought he'd find solace from kongpob, his junior and arthit's boyfriend.

    he's always been jealous of what arthit and kongpob have. they seemed to have it all figured out – this relationship thing. whenever tutah would see the two, kongpob would be all over arthit while his friend pretended to not like it.

    tutah would never understand why his friend would shy away from that kind of attention and affection. most people were seeking for that level of love, and if he's in arthit's shoes he'd give back just as much if not more to kongpob.

    seeing those two would always remind tutah of how lonely he was – not like he'll tell anyone about it. arthit and kongpob were like that couple everybody envied in high school because of how perfect they were.

    "do you have time, kongpob?" he masked his pain with a sweet tone.

    kongpob's in front of his laptop, typing away as their juniors prepared for the finals.