In Love With An Idiot

Special Chapter 3: Milun

My name is Milan. It comes from combining my parents' names: my mother is Mina, and my father is Saran, which became Milan. I didn't change it when I entered the entertainment industry.

 

I'm a young actor, though I'm not particularly famous. I'm quite small and a little short, so there aren't many roles available to me. I don't take acting all that seriously. It's just something I do on the side while I figure out what job I really want.

 

I've just graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the pink university. The company I'm interested in working for is Araya. It's one of the country's leading property companies and has an interior design department too. I visited Araya on a study trip while I was at university, and that's how I met P'Erng.

 

P'Erng seemed interested in me, and I wasn't seeing anyone. I admit it was exciting to be courted by an executive of such a huge company. It was like something out of a television drama. But after we'd talked for a while, I got busy, and P'Erng had a lot of work, so we only saw each other occasionally.

 

And it seemed that P'Erng already had someone else in his heart. When he looked at me… it was as though he were seeing another person instead.

 

Strangely, that didn't make me sad. Eventually, I realised I probably wasn't in love with P'Erng. I'd simply been excited that someone so important was interested in me. So I went to his condo to end things.

 

That night, I met the person who was really in P'Erng's heart: Paopei, an employee in Araya's Public Relations department. I'd met him before, but what confused me was that he kissed me. P'Erng was extremely upset. He wasn't jealous of me; he was jealous of Paopei. Then I understood whose substitute I'd been.

 

Paopei was similar to me in quite a few ways, so it stung a little. I thought things between the two of them weren't going very well, and I pretended to be friendly with Paopei just for fun, since he was my fan.

 

That probably makes me sound like a horrible person. But actually, Paopei was a genuine, wholehearted fan of mine. We never talked about P'Erng. Pei never tried to trick information out of me or act superior to me. We chatted like close friends.

 

I knew Pei had won the trip to Hong Kong with me, but it turned out that only his friend came. He was a tall man who always looked irritated. He didn't seem like one of my fans at all, and he constantly stood apart from everyone else. My manager said he was probably simply uncomfortable around the fan club. Everyone fussed over me so much that he felt out of place.

 

But Pong was wonderful company throughout the trip. Although I could never quite read his expressions, whenever I slipped away to rest, he always managed to find me and offer me some water.

 

I thought we could become good friends. I wanted to be friends with Pong. Unfortunately, by the time I realised that, the trip was over, and I hadn't even asked for his LINE contact details.

 

Thinking about Pong made me feel unlike myself for several days. In the end, I decided to message Paopei. I couldn't work out how to begin asking him about Pong, so I sent him a group photograph and pretended I just wanted to chat about the Hong Kong trip.

 

Luckily, Pei didn't notice anything. He even sent me a photograph of Pong and me together.

 

[I told my friend to take it for me. Such a shame I couldn't go with you.]

 

[Your friend's called Pong, isn't he? Pong's really nice.]

 

[Yessss! Really, really nice! (Sticker)]

 

[Were you friends at university?]

 

[We work together. Pong's super clever. He graduated from the university that plays football against yours. He's brilliant at work too, and his salary is ridiculously high. I'm so jealous!]

 

Without thinking, I saved the photograph of us together. I was smiling a little stiffly, while Pong wore dark sunglasses and a serious expression. At the time, I'd been surprised that someone outside my usual, familiar group of fans had won the trip.

 

[I'd quite like to apply to Araya myself. I'm getting a bit bored of acting. Are they hiring? Hehe.]

 

[Yesssss! Come on! Which department do you want? I'll ask for you.]

 

Paopei really was a wonderful friend. The very next day, he sent me a LINE message saying the interior design department was hiring and that I could submit my portfolio.

 

Araya was such a large company that whenever it recruited employees, it held something like an open day. People could come and look around, students could visit the exhibitions, and there was a job fair too. In fact, that was the very event where I'd first met P'Erng.

 

I hadn't originally intended to prepare a portfolio and apply. I was still undecided about my acting career. Even if I wasn't particularly famous, small jobs kept coming in. But interior design was the work I'd always dreamed of doing, so I decided to treat the application as a trial run. Here goes!

 

Applicants couldn't just hand in their portfolios at Araya. First, they had to tour the exhibition like everyone else to get to know the company. Although I'd been there several years earlier, walking around again was a good experience. I got to see the designs for almost all of Araya's famous projects, along with their histories and how they'd come about.

 

I stood waiting for enough people to gather for the exhibition tour. Araya didn't run its open days half-heartedly. One of its employees actually led each tour as a guide.

 

“Hello, I'm Pongkhun from the Marketing department.”

 

Pongkhun?

 

I whipped my head away from the executives' vision board towards the man in work clothes standing prominently at the front. Even though someone was standing in front of me, I could see him clearly.

 

“Araya has now grown to become the second-largest company in Thailand's property industry…”

 

Pong had a deep, pleasant voice. Unfortunately, none of what he was saying registered with me. I was far too busy looking at a smile I hadn't seen before. He certainly wasn't making that irritated face he'd worn throughout today's Hong Kong trip.

 

For some reason, I pretended to lift my phone to photograph the condominium designs, but turned it towards Pong instead. I quickly took a picture and turned back to check it in secret.

 

Oh, no! Why was Pong looking straight towards me in the photograph? Would he know I'd secretly taken his picture? Aaaaargh! What was I going to do?

 

But whenever I tried watching him, he still acted as though he hadn't noticed me and continued leading the tour, giving his explanations until we reached the end of the exhibition hall. There, one passage led to the job fair while another led to the sales gallery.

 

You really could do everything in one day: learn about the company, apply for work and buy a house straight afterwards.

 

I quickly lowered my head and followed the group heading to the job fair. But someone stepped directly into my path. I tried moving left, and the owner of a pair of gleaming black leather shoes moved left too. When I tried right, he followed again.

 

“Er… could you let me past, please? Ah… Pong!”

 

“You're here too? Why didn't you say hello?”

 

Although I'm an actor, I'm not very famous. Today, I was dressed smartly for a job application, so I didn't look like Milan the fashionable young actor. I was even wearing thick-framed prescription glasses.

 

“You were busy, Pong. I… um… came to apply for a job.”

 

“Don't want to be an actor any more?”

 

“I graduated in architecture. I want to work in interior design. Besides, I can't keep playing teenagers forever. I'm nearly twenty-six.”

 

“What? Are you actually older than me? I thought you were a secondary school kid. So you're Uncle Milan!”

 

“That's not funny! I just look young. Move, I need to go and apply.”

 

“Don't puff out your cheeks when you're angry. They won't believe you've come to apply for work. Human Resources might say, ‘Young man, the student tours are over there. Oh, and children in nursery school aren't allowed to work yet. Go and have your afternoon nap.’”

 

“I'm not that much of a child! Get out of my way!”

 

“I'm only teasing. Come on, follow me. I'm heading inside anyway.”

 

He'd come over to annoy me, and now he wanted me to follow him? What sort of person was he, exactly?

 

I handed in my portfolio. The staff checked my documents and said they'd contact me by email. This was the first company I'd ever applied to, and there were so many applicants that I couldn't help getting nervous.

 

“Don't worry. You'll either get the job or you won't. That's all.”

 

“But I've never applied for a job before. Did you have to do all this when you applied, Pong?”

 

“Yeah. But I'm clever, so I was pretty sure I'd get in.”

 

Pei had already told me how intelligent Pong was, but hearing him say it himself in that annoyingly cheeky tone made me want to hit him. Unlike him, I had such poor grades that I almost didn't graduate. I'd been relying on last-minute miracles from first year through fifth year. When I was rushing to finish projects, my manager had nagged me endlessly about how I looked so exhausted.

 

“What if I don't get in?”

 

“You should be thinking more about what you'll do if you do get in. It's a full-time job, so I doubt you'll be able to accept many acting jobs. There'll be meetings with clients, visits to sites, overtime… Are you ready to give all that up?”

 

“I'll think about that if it happens. But I'll probably choose regular employment. It's much more secure. I want to buy a home of my own as soon as possible.”

 

“Permanent employees get a thirty per cent discount on every Araya development.”

 

“Seriously?”

 

“Mm-hmm.”

 

That meant a ten-million-baht condo I was looking at might cost only seven million. Three million baht was a lot of money to save. I had some money put aside from acting. It wasn't seven million, of course, but with a deposit and a loan, I thought I could manage.

 

“Can we go and look at the sales gallery? I'm so excited.”

 

“Sure. I'll tell you which areas are worth buying in and aren't too expensive.”

 

“You know all that?”

 

“Of course. Marketing has to promote every project. If we didn't know about them, we'd be in trouble. We have to survey the locations, find the area's selling points and advertise them. If the units don't sell, the whole department gets shouted at. Khun Achitphon's bloody fierce. He chews up every department.”

 

I followed Pong to the sales gallery. Pongkhun was warmly welcomed by the sales staff. He was clearly a very sociable man, completely different from how he'd been in Hong Kong. Or perhaps he simply hadn't liked me back then?

 

“Why are you frowning?”

 

“Do you not like me, Pong? You looked so uncomfortable in Hong Kong.”

 

“No, it's not that I dislike you. I just didn't know how to act. I'd gone there expecting a holiday, not a fan-club event. I couldn't adjust when it turned into a fan trip.”

 

“So you do like me, then?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I-I mean you don't dislike me. You don't mind seeing me. N-not in that way! I just mean… you know, like friends.”

 

Oh, my face was burningggg! Would he think I was some kind of weirdo? We barely knew each other, yet I was saying such strange things to him.

 

“You worry too much. Have some confidence. Here, look at this condo. It's a new phase opposite Chofa. Prices are similar to phase two. Key-card access, a swimming pool, fourteen million baht, but the presale price is twelve. Employees get another thirty per cent off, so that's about 8.4 million. Great location, not far from the Skytrain.”

 

“That's a little over my budget. If I borrowed about five million, I might be able to manage…”

 

If I took out a joint mortgage, perhaps I could buy it. But who would I take one out with?

 

“I'd quite like a place in this development too,” Pong said. “It's a little more expensive than phase two, so it's a few million over my budget. A joint mortgage might work, but I don't know who I'd share one with.”

 

“Ah…”

 

W-why was he thinking exactly the same thing?

 

“What?”

 

“N-nothing… When will it be finished?”

 

“Construction starts at the end of this year. It'll probably be another four or five years before anyone can actually move in. By then you might be able to get a loan on your own—or you might have found a boyfriend to take out a joint mortgage with.”

 

I didn't know why, but the moment Pongkhun mentioned a boyfriend, my face became burning hot. He hadn't said a single thing that referred to me, yet there was something about his strange little smile that made me nervous and unsure of how to act.

 

“What are you blushing for? I didn't ask you to take out a mortgage with me.”

 

“I'm not blushing! I'm just thinking that by then I might have found a boyfriend to help me get a loan too.”

 

“Ooooh, I belieeeve you. Maybe I'd better come and reserve a place later. I can't trust you. First you secretly take photographs of me, and now, if we moved into the same development, you'd probably be spying on me. I wouldn't be safe.”

 

“I wasn't secretly taking pictures!”

 

H-he saw me! Oh, Milan, you've really messed up!

 

“I hadn't even said whose name I meant. Feeling guilty, are you? Has the defendant confessed to secretly photographing me?”

 

“Don't accuse me! I'll sue you for defamation.”

 

My threat only made Pongkhun laugh.

 

“Go ahead. I'll countersue. Secretly taking someone's picture sounds like a much more serious offence.”

 

“I don't want to talk to you any more!”

 

What a horrible man. The nice Pongkhun from the Hong Kong trip must have drowned on the flight back to Thailand, leaving only this infuriating, sarcastic Pongkhun. I turned and hurried away, but before I'd got far, the owner of those shiny black leather shoes strode ahead of me and blocked my path again.

 

“Do you think you can do whatever you want just because you've got long legs? Move! I'm going home.”

 

“Are you angry just because I teased you a little? Why are you so sulky?”

 

“I'm not sulking.”

 

“You're stubborn. If you're sulking, just say so.”

 

“I'm not!”

 

“Really…? If you're not sulking, then I can't make it up to you.”

 

“You don't need to make it up to… Ah…”

 

Pongkhun's teasing smile made my face feel as though a volcano was erupting inside me. I had no idea what to do. I couldn't get past him, because he kept moving to block me. All I could do was hang my head in embarrassment. Oh, I wanted to go home. Milan, what on earth are you doing here?

 

“Stop sulking, all right? I won't tease you any more. Come and have a coffee with me.”

 

“I don't like coffee.”

 

“I know you like iced lattes.”

 

“You're making that up…”

 

“It's written on your fan-club page. How could I be making it up?”

 

“You follow my fan-club page?”

 

“I just glanced through it to be polite.”

 

His smug expression annoyed me so much that I stamped hard on one of his gleaming leather shoes. This time the infuriating man glared at me. But I'd fight back! I wasn't going to let him tease me without doing anything about it.

 

“Just admit you've secretly become one of my fans.”

 

“I don't want to be your fan. You're not even famous, and you're about to quit the industry. It'd be a waste of time. I'd rather be a fan of i-dle.”

 

“Oh, really? Then move. I'm going home. If you want coffee, go to Korea.”

 

“How come I'm the one you're angry with? You're the one who secretly photographed me and stamped on my foot.”

 

“Got a problem with that?”

 

“No, sir. I surrender. So, are we going for coffee? My treat.”

 

“You're trying to make it up to me with coffee?”

 

“Well, I was thinking about making it up to you by inviting you to take out a joint mortgage with me, but it's a little too soon. Could we make up for now and have another argument in about five years?”

 

Bloody idiot! Who flirts with someone at a house-and-condo sales event? And he did it with that irritating face and foul mouth! Why was I blushing so much? What was romantic about being invited to go into debt together to buy a home?

 

“You're absolutely rubbish at flirting.”

 

“I'm not flirting. If a friend sulks, another friend has to make it up to them, right? You're full of yourself.”

 

I hated that casual, innocent act of his.

 

“Oh… all right, then. So we're free to find ourselves boyfriends during the next five years, aren't we, *friend*?”

 

“Whatever.”

 

He was still being stubborn, but now he was frowning as he turned and walked ahead of me. How had I ended up being the one he was sulking with?

 

I wasn't following him to make it up to him, of course. I just wanted a free coffee.

 

I wasn't thinking anything else… There were still five whole years to go.