Toxic [2gether]

Part 3

Tine was having lunch with coworkers when his phone buzzed in the pocket of his dark slacks. Curious he looked at the screen and was baffled.

wat_expo liked your picture

Watexpo?

Wat? As in Sarawat? Tine's eyes winded horrendously as he clicked on the name with his pale finger and sure enough, it appeared to be Sarawat's instagram account. It was even verified with a blue sticker and everything. His brows flew up to his hairline and almost out into the outer space. Seriously, what was that guy trying to do? Tine's own account was probably going to be flooded by Sarawat's crazy fans soon. Shit. He pinched his nose bridge, trying to find some inner patience, if there was any left by now.

"Tine, why do you look so weird?" One of the female colleagues asked him, chuckling at his bizarre expression.

Tine laughed awkwardly and pocketed his phone quickly, trying to suppress the urge to write a nasty retort to that idiot but also to refrain from going into full stalking mode on Sarawat's account. He would leave that for later, already counting the hours in his head until he would be able to get off work.

***

"Sooo," Green said expectantly and took a sip of his iced coffee, playing with the straw. "Where did you disappear to last Saturday?"

Tine just shrugged his shoulders and hunched over his own coffee, nudging the paper cup with his chin. The roasted fragrance of the beverage was all the more heady in the hot midday air.

"I went home," he breathed out and the surface of the dark, acid liquid rippled.

"What?!" The other screeched, almost knocking over the take away cups on the table and just that short of slapping Tine in the face when he flailed his hands in frustration. "You can't be serious!"

Tine pouted and looked up at Green. The other man melted at the puppy eyed look, sinking back in his chair. He fanned himself in exasperation, looking at people passing by in the narrow street that they had found themselves seated at. It was a tiny café with an outdoor serving.

"God, the sheer stupidity," he muttered and Tine frowned his slender brows.

"Um, he has been liking my pictures on intagram," Tine muttered sheepishly. This made Green perk up.

"Go on," urged excitedly.

"And nothing." Tine downed the coffee as if it was a shot of strong liquor. "I asked him to stop, since his fans have been busy digging up all my old social media accounts. You can't believe what kind of stuff they have been writing."

"Humor me."

"That we're secretly married!" Green laughed giddily at this and Tine droned on in a higher tone of voice, getting riled up. "Apparently, there has been a wave of South Korean idols confessing having secret spouses and children, so yeah-" He waved to get the rest of the meaning across and shrugged helplessly, now deflated and back to moping. Green clucked his tongue, thinking so hard that Tine could hear the wheels turning in his head.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop."

Tine's phone lit up with a notification.

Speaking of the devil, Sarawat had just liked Tine's post with the carefully crafted picture of the beverages that they were having. Instantly a bunch of comments and reactions from unknown users followed.

"Look! Just look at this!" He shoved the device in Green's face. "Why is he doing this to me?"

"Have you considered making your account private?" Green asked, snickering as he made gabby hands for Tine's phone and scrolled through all the nonessential comments.