The Boyfriends Series

Cold Feet

The longest Tine's been with anyone is six months. But even that one relationship that lasted him half a year wasn't serious by any means. He was with her mostly because she looked pretty on his Instagram feed and she had an okay personality. Tine basically fell out of love as fast as he fell, and the cycle continued with every person he dated.

Until Sarawat.

He was a different story. Sarawat messed up every preconceived notion Tine had about a perfect relationship, or as a perfect as a relationship could be when you're twenty. Frankly speaking, Tine was terrified. Terrified of what being with Sarawat meant for who he was --- to his friends, his family, and well, to himself.

Who am I? What a Gen-Z thing to say in a world full of chaos.

"Tine, you've been spacing out."

Tine blinked rapidly, looking to his left and seeing Fong staring him curiously. "Sorry. I stayed up late talking to Sarawat." Tine watched Fong's face closely for his reaction. He had come out to his friends a few weeks ago but Tine couldn't help but feel nervous every time he mentioned his boyfriend.

A grin stretched across Fong's face. "You're whipped, man."

"Not as whipped as Sarawat is for his tua woon wai though." Ohm commented breezily, clicking on Sarawat's latest IG post and showing his friends.

"Aw! That's sweet!" Puak pretending to fan himself before breaking out into laughter. It was good laughter, the kind friends reserved for teasing each other.

Tine narrowed his eyes to look at the picture and felt his face warm. It was a screenshot of the last few messages they exchanged over LINE last night, showing a bunch of emojis, good nights, and a selfie Tine sent of himself.

sarawatlism: I hope my tua woon wai had a good night's sleep.

Sarawat hadn't posted the video Tine sent him after the last selfie, pouting and saying he didn't want to go to bed yet. He turned redder at the thought of Sarwat's fan club seeing him act like a clingy boyfriend. What can Tine say, Sarawat was hard to say goodbye too.

That last thought sent a fleeting thought of sadness through Tine.

"I hope he doesn't get sick of you too soon, Tine," Fong teased good-naturedly, "The last time you acted this clingy, you got dumped."

Tine laughed nervously, his stomach in knots at the thought of Sarawat getting tired of him. "He won't."

His three friends looked convinced. Tine wasn't.

---

At the next music club meeting, Dim had announced that the school wanted all the clubs to shoot a short promotional video to show at the school festival next month.

"You guys don't really have do to anything special," Dim explained, rubbing the back of his head. "The film club is going to come to a few club meetings and performances and take videos of us doing our thing."

Air rolled her eyes at her partner's brief explanation. She turned to face her juniors. "Think of it like a documentary. They'll conduct short interviews and take pictures and videos of you practicing your instruments. Act as you normally would but keep in mind that the video will be shown to visiting students and parents so behave."

The club members all nodded and whispered excitedly amongst themselves. The project seemed pretty fun, and everyone wanted to get a little bit of screen time so they could share the video on social media.

"It'll end up being focused on Sarawat anyway," Dim joked, "Since he's the most photogenic out of all of us."

Sarawat ignored Dim's comment and stared at Tine from across the room. "Tine's the prettiest." Tine wanted to melt to the floor in embarrassment. Sometimes Sarawat was just too much for his heart to handle. Sarawat sent him a small smile; Tine couldn't help but smile back before averting his eyes.