ᕼEᗰᑭ ᖇOᑭE

Complication.

11.30 am.

The occupant of room 1019 blearily got out of the comfort of his bed. His hand turned off the air conditioner. Then he walked, scratching his belly, to turn on the fan. Wearing clothes to sleep wasn't his thing, since he was prone to overheating. He also loved the feel of the bedsheet against his skin. Among the belongings he had in the room, his bed sheet was one of the few items that had both a price and quality.

 

“What do we have here?" He opened the refrigerator door to find it empty. Luckily, he still had some ham and eggs. A fried egg would do.

 

"Up!" The young man woke the younger man on his bed with his feet—the gentlest way of doing so.

 

Ever since he let this stray cat into his room, the cat has made itself at home. When the swimming club had a tryout, Win would leave his door unlocked until the brat showed up with his pillow.

 

Team had no qualms waltzing into his room, plopping himself on the bed, curling up a little and sleeping away. The room owner was left to look at the little surface he had gone to sleep on and crawl in after...Who would do that!? Win grunted. Any attempt to push the kid aside to make some space was cut short when the younger man's expression grew uncomfortable. Fine, go ahead and sleep your way!

 

Win once handed Team an extra key so the junior could come in anytime, but Team refused, citing that he didn't want to go if Win wasn't there. This was why he stayed awake until two in the morning.

 

"You were so damn late last night."

 

"I studied with Pharm." Team yawned; he rolled left and right on the soft bed. After a kick or two, he got himself up to wash his face. This afternoon, the swimming club held a tryout to select a representative to compete against K University. Based on this result, the coach would determine who would be selected for the national team.

 

The club members were enthusiastic yet pressured. Team was restless all day long yesterday; he lost focus. Studying English with Pharm made it all better; it helped him forget about the tryout. He stayed at Pharm's condo until midnight before returning to his dorm. He did try to sleep on his own bed, but at last, he had to grab his pillow and go knock at Win's.

 

What surprised him was that Win wasn't sleeping. The room was well-lit, and the low TV noise provided background ambience. Team didn't want to think that Win was waiting for him. But maybe he did.

 

After a good sleep, his nightmares and uneasiness were gone, and he found joy in a simple meal like a fried egg, ham, bread, and milk.

 

"What time is your class today?" Pharm asked, wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He had no class today because he had a meeting with the club's coach to prepare for the afternoon tryout.

 

"One o'clock," Team responded, buttoning up his student uniform. He'd moved up a level, having his clothes kept in Win's wardrobe.

 

"Then leave with me." Win picked up his big bike key and shoved his wallet in his pants pocket while gesturing to the junior to hurry it up.

 

"No. You're raging on the street." Team shook his head, not liking the thought of speed.

 

"We'll have a tryout this evening. We're coming back together anyway."

 

"Not the bike; I don't like feeling unsafe on the road. Team made an ultimatum.

 

Phawin exhaled. He fished out his bike key and put it back on the table for the first time in years. He raised his hand, palm to the confused junior.

 

"Your car key." Win wiggled his fingers.

"...." The owner of the car frowned.

 

"Come on," Win insisted.

"My car, I drive."

 

"If I were the passenger, I'd get sick and puke in your car." Team rolled his eyes, cursing at heaven and hell before handing the other his key.

 

 It bothered him at first to be a passenger in his own car, but at traffic lights, he could just sit, play with his phone, or hum. Team realised the good in all this as the driver was there to drop him right off at the Faculty of Economics with ease.

 

"You have someone dropping you off." The young lady twirled her finger in her hair; her eyes sparkled with banter. Manow almost squealed when seeing it. She had no idea who it was, but from a quick look, she was positive it was a man.

 

"That was my car." Team sat down with his two friends. Today, they had class in a sloping auditorium where students in groups dotted the area. The teacher wasn't present yet, so Team dug out his phone to check out social media.

 

Manow raised her brows. "Oh, so who was driving?"

 

"Hia Win."

 

Manow pondered it, then nodded. Man, it was just his senior at his club. And she thought her instinct was reliable.

 

"So why did he come with you?" Pharm wondered out loud.

 

"We're in the same dorm. Hia's is on the tenth floor, mine is on the ninth. He wanted to come by to pick up his big bike, man. I won the argument, so he caved and drove." Team didn't stop complaining; he'd forgotten how comfortable he was just now.

 

Manow and Pharm stole a glance at each other. She wanted to ask why they didn't just ride and drive their own vehicles if they wanted different things. What was the reason they needed to commute together?

 

"You keep asking, what about you yourself?" Team turned his mobile screen toward his friend, showing Pharm and Dean talking by a car. When Pharm went red and stuttered, Team felt like teasing him even more. He elbowed his best friend. 

 

"You're moving to the next level. You couldn't even talk and look him in the face back then."

 

"Next level, my ass!" Pharm smacked his friend's elbow repeatedly. He exclaimed when Team leaned down to rest his head on his "I'm still sleepy."

 

Pharm rolled his eyes. This sack wouldn't budge, no matter how many times he told him to get up. So, he had to let his friend have his way. Pharm ignored the girls' squeals about them while Manow leered.

 

Why did Team sidestep the subject? She must check out this 'Hia' Team was talking about at the swimming club. It seemed her instinct was still reliable, though.

 

The swimming club was quite chaotic. The members who had no class helped prepare the tracks for the tryout. Everyone wished to be a representative to compete with K University. The competition was certified by the Swimming Association.

 

A sign of 'no entrance' was put up in front of the club's room, marking where the locker room was. The president, vice president, coach and fourth-year students were discussing.

 

"... There's Open House at the end of the month, right?" The coach checked a document from the University for his consideration.

 

"Also, an exam after Open House." Phawin circled a date on a paper. "They have three months to train before a competition with K University."

 

"Then we'll discuss the training schedule after the tryout result is out." The coach closed his notebook and clapped their shoulders. They all smiled dryly. 

 

"Have they finished organising the tracks for the tryout?"

 

"'ll go check.."Dean, the swimming club president, offered, but the coach stopped him.

 

"I'll take care of it. You guys still have to submit all those documents to the university. Better take care of that first." The coach gestured to a tall stack of documents. When he saw the three guys, he heaved a sigh collectively, and he shook his head with an endearing smile before leaving.

 

Dean's brows furrowed as he brushed his hair back with his hand. He handed the club's budget sheet to his best friend, the vice president, for review. Other details on the tryout, he gave to Pruek, the fourth-year student.

 

"If this goes well, our club may get more funds." Phawin looked over the numbers in the document, his other hand typing into a calculator so fast that the other two looked at him in awe. Leave mathematics to him.

 

"Oh, I informed my family about getting our club members to a vacation as a reward if they performed well. The raft resort in Kanchanaburi is still available. I have decided on that one. Good price and not too far." Also, leave the vacation business to him.

 

Dean clicked his tongue, pondering something. He kicked his friend's shin and asked. "May I bring one external party to Kanchanaburi too?" Since they were set on rewarding the kids, regardless of their performance.

 

"Who is this external party, Mr President?" Leave being nosy to him. Phawin picked up a pen, poking it to his friend's lips as if it were a microphone. It was smacked away.

 

"Jackass."

 

"Nong Pharm, isn't it?" The quiet, kind-hearted guy like Pruek from the fourth year offered a smile on his lips. Dean's expression went flabbergasted while the blond vice president gave his senior a mental thumbs-up.

 

"There's still an empty bed in the reserved room. You should bring him to fill it."

 

"Will pay for him myself." Although he was the club president, Dean didn't want to abuse his power.

 

Pruek nodded, arranging the documents. "So are you two together?"

 

"P'Pruek's awesome." Win laughed, then laughed harder when Dean's face grew sullen.

 

"Not yet." Dean stomped on his friend's feet.

 

"Oh wow. Not boyfriends yet, but I saw a photo of you two on Facebook and Twitter." 

 

Win showed Pruek a photo that Pruek had tweeted. "Looky here, bro. They were dating. This guy picks up and drops Pharm off at the faculty." Pruek gave a faint smile. 

 

"What about you? I saw you dropped our club member off this morning."

 

“….."

 

"Are you serious?" Dean stopped whatever he was doing and turned to his friend. 

 

"To be honest, I expect a relationship with our club's members to be off limits, especially Team."

 

Not only was Team a first-year student, but he was a top candidate for a national team selection. Team himself was pursuing that dream. Dean would hate to see an affair break the kid's future. Phawin levelled his eyes at his friend before shifting to P'Pruek. They gave him a hard stare until he sighed.

 

"Dean, you know I don't do double-dating. Of course I'm serious."

 

"But your kindness is all over the place. You're looking after Team more than anyone else. If you're not serious about it, don't give him false hope. He could mislead your kindness for something else."

 

Phawin wet his dried lips, lowering his eyes to the documents as he took the time to speak. "Team and I have slept together."

 

"Hmm?"

"What?"

 

Even Pruek was flabbergasted. He thought Phawin was just flirting. A relationship to that level was beyond his anticipation.

 

"We had sex, alright. It was consensual." Win raised a hand to stop Dean from reprimanding him. "I don't know what makes this feeling. But I'm positive that finding Team endearing is not about sex." His hands re-adjusted the messy bun on his head. "It's a good feeling. I want to know him more, I want to support him in doing what he likes and..."

 

Win didn't usually speak about this to anyone; his face grew hot. He feigned a cough, trying to save himself.

 

"I get worried... I worry whether he sleeps or eats, if potato chips are his only food. I get worried about this, about that. Damn, I'm shutting up now. What's with that look, P'Pruek?" He whined at the senior who kept smiling at him.

 

Pruek laughed again. He got up and brought the files of documents to the shelves. Dean continued signing that document, paying Win and his outburst no attention.

 

"Why does P'Pruek know so much about Dean and me??" Of course, someone like Win refused to be the receiving end of this banter. His smile grew wider when his senior stopped in his tracks.

 

"It's just an observation." Pruek pushed a glass up his nose, seemingly untrue.

 

"Hey, Dean. That cute friend of Pharm. What's her name?"

 

"Manow."

 

Thud. A folder fell to the floor. A big guy, Pruek, quickly picked it up; his demeanour looked alarming.

 

"Hmmmm." Dean and Win mewled. They enjoyed seeing their seniors awkwardly misplace the folders. What are the odds of them liking people of the same group?

 

The tryout result was as expected. Team won first place since he had slept well. Gone was his drowsiness, replaced with elated hype.

 

"Yesterday you were withering, now you're just too hyperactive," Phawin said as he pulled up to the curb and parked the car in front of a popular food vendor. He lowered the car's window to order chicken rice.

 

"No chicken skin, and I want chicken breast, Hia."

 

"Picky!" Win muttered, but he passed Team's order to the uncle at the store.

 

"Man, I did well today. Let me eat more." They both got themselves two big boxes. Soon, the uncle brought them a bag of food with chicken bone soup. As the senior talked with the uncle, Team noticed Win had three piercings. There was a faint mark of a tattoo behind the undercut. But Win's current hair length curtained over it.

 

The young man reached for that mark, but Win happened to turn back after he finished talking. Their faces were a breath apart.

 

"...want to see your undercut.." Team mumbled, not knowing how to react. Phawin flashed a smile. He bumped his forehead against the other, dissolving all the awkwardness. "That hurts!"

 

"You're nosy. Save it for later."

 

Team pouted but said no more. Once they reached their dorm, Team sprinted to the tenth floor and stomped in front of room 1019, rushing the other to hurry up.

 

"Hungry, hungry, hungry."

 

"Grr, go sit and behave!!" When it came to food, the brat was so in his way. Even getting food into plates or soup into bowls was difficult with Team around. Win shooed him to sit at the Japanese floor table. Finally, he was quiet.

 

When Phawin turned around to put their food on the table, he found Team in the corner, bending over something.

 

"What are you up to now?" Isn't there an end to his energy?

 

"Look.." Team showed a guitar. "Dusty, it doesn't sound so good." He wiped some dust off his clothes and tuned the guitar, which surprised Phawin.

 

"You play guitar?" Team nodded, running his fingers along the strings after he'd done tuning it up. "It's yours, isn't it?"

 

"No. It's my brother's." It was his brother's guitar that he had used at the university. That guy believed it was a shortcut to getting girls. Sadly, he didn't get any until his fourth year, so it was passed on to Win, who knew nothing about music. Truth be told, he forgot the existence of this guitar.

 

"You don't play guitar?"

"I don't know how to."

 

"Man, what a waste. Hey, I like the tone of this song." Team shook his head before he hit the strings into a chill pop song. He hummed, never went vocal.

 

That night, Team didn't stay over, and Win didn't hold him back. Before they parted, Win asked the title of the song.

 

"The singer's name is Sin. You can look it up yourself." Phawin almost kicked the brat. But on that night, he decided to look for that song on YouTube, trying to recall the melody. Then he found it; the song's tone was sweet and lonely. Team might have picked up that song without a thought, but it was so engraved on Phawin's mind that he couldn't sleep that night. Who Am I To You - Sin.