~published at early afternoon on April 24, 2020~

A/N:

The thing about MingPha/PhaMing work... unlikely the other work of mine, sometimes when I didn't stop, I just can't stop....

*

Phana checked his cellphone several times since morning. But he forced himself to focus on his book again when the professor entered the classroom.

During lunch break, Phana checked her phone again. But Ming's last reply was still just,

"It is very tiring."

Saturday morning Phana asked if Ming had a plan for the day.

Ming replied that he would play games with his friends. Short. Ming didn't try to keep on chatting.

On Sunday, Phana asked again if Ming had a plan.

Ming said he was preparing to start SOTUS on Monday.

Before the lunch break, Phana asked again how SOTUS was his first day. And that was Ming's answer.

"It is very tiring."

Phana huffs. He is reaaaally bad at keeping a conversation.

He sits with Beam and Kit in their usual table on the foodcourt. He is going to open a book while waiting for his order, but then he put his book back to his bag. He will try to start a normal conversation. Like how Ming said he could start.

He can start with what they were doing....

"How was your weekend?" Phana asks Beam and Kit who are laughing at some video in Kit's phone.

"I haven't done my homework!" Kit answers without listening Phana's question. And then he stunned. "Eh? My weekend? You didn't ask about the homework for 1 PM class?"

Beam just blinks. Phana never interested in anything but work.

Phana nods. "What are you doing during weekend?" he asks again.

Kit turns to Beam for safety. "Was he really asking or was that a trap?"

"I don't know." Beam answers honestly.

Phana chuckled. Beam and Kit are funny.

Beam and Kit gasps.

"Did you hear that?" Beam asks Kit. "He was chuckling, wasn't he?"

Kit nods.

"Why was he chuckling?" Beam asks Kit again. Now a little bit scared.

Kit gulps. "I don't know."

Phana smiled. He shakes his head. "I was playing piano. Been a while since I played. I played in a studio nearby. I was thinking to get my standing piano here from home."

Beam and Kit are stunned.

"He is really asking about our weekend." Kit is amazed. He then coughs to clear his throat. "I uhm... having a date with my girlfriend. We were watching movie and had dinner after... at The Cloud." He says but worried at the same time, just in case Phana scolded him for doing something un-productive.

But Phana smiles. "Yeah? Sounds fun." And then he turns to Beam. "How about you, Beam?"

"I... went to... t-the bar." He is scared. Not even his mother gonna make him scared with that question. But usually he will just yell at Phana that this is not his business, but... Phana looked very.... "Had fun... a little. And sleep my Sunday away." He coughs nervously.

"Ah." Phana just nods.

Silence.

Beam and Kit are too shock to say anything anymore.

Just then their order arrived.

Phana is thinking... what was it, after.... Ah!

He can continue with what they are doing....

But they are having lunch together right now, so he skips to what they will be doing.

"What's your plan this afternoon?" Phana asks.

"I was going to do my lab report." Beam answers firmly. This second question, he know for sure if he answered with another un-productive thing, Phana would be suuuuper mad.

"Me too." Kit hurriedly says. "And the homework for tomorrow morning class."

"Yeah, that too." Beam adds.

"Nice." Phana smiled. "Glad that you can manage your time. I hope we will get an A together."

Beam and Kit nod. They are still confused with sudden conversation Phana started.

"Let's enjoy our lunch." Phana starts eating.

Beam blinks.

Kit blinks too."What just happened?" he asks Beam.

Beam shrugs. He takes his spoon and starts eating too.

***

Phana blinks. He holds his phone with both hands. Should he texts Ming again?

Ugh.

Phana holds his head with both hands with frustration.

And then he sends a message.

"... my revised grade was just out today. Professor Aunty give me A plus after the additional assignment."

Ming replies. "It's good then. Congratulation."

Phana sits straight on his bed receiving the reply and hurriedly replies back. "Thanks to you, Mingkwan."

But Ming just read it without another reply.

"Ah...?"

***

Phana bites his lower lip. Today Kit is having lunch with his girlfriend. So there are just Beam and him during lunch break. "Do you want to eat out?" he asks Beam when Beam is browsing the stalls with his eyes.

Beam is stunned. "E-eat out? You hate eat out." He says in disbelief. "Moreover we have class at 1 PM. You don't want to risk coming late to our class."

"There is a dimsum place nearby." Phana says. "We could make it in time."

Beam blinks. "Huh? Where?" Phana never tries new places.

"... uhm. Nearby the Engineering students' dorms." Phana says.

"How did you kn...." Beam nearly asked but well... Phana is friends with Forth, ofcourse he knows. "Sure. Let's go there."

Just like Phana thought, many times the Engineering students eat out during their lunch break there. He can see Ming with his friends. He nearly waves at Ming when Forth greets him.

"Hi, Pha! It's rare seeing you here." Forth says. "Rare as in never....?"

Beam stares awkwardly at Forth.

Phana smiled seeing his friend turns shy. Beam is always confident, but while Forth nearby, he lost everything. "Hi, Forth." He returns the greeting.

Beam just slightly hides behind Phana.

"Do you want to join us? Busy hours. You wont get free table." Said Forth.

Phana glances a second to Ming but Ming seems busy with his friends in SOTUS T-shirt so he nods and sits with Forth and his friends.

Beam growls but joins the table too. He sits next to Lam.

Lam nearly drops from his seat when Park pulls his chair away from Beam, closer to him.

*

Later that night, Phana texts Ming again. "I tried the dimsum. It's great, just like you said."

Ming reads it without replying but a thumb up.

Phana sends another message. "I saw you but you were with your friends and Forth asked us to join his table."

This time Ming replies. "It's OK."

Phana blinks. "Ah."

***

As much as Phana is always confident in most occasion, he lost confidence on initiating another conversation with Ming. He is not good at it.

Maybe he should know more about Ming first. Start with his hobby maybe.

Phana bites his lips when typing Ming's name on Google to find his social media account.

Stalking is wrong, but he just....

Phana froze when he found it.

The last post was before the gathering. Ming's earlier day in the university.

Phana smiles thinly and locks his phone after seen enough.

He won't text Ming anymore.

He was just one of many.

No. He wasn't even one of many.

Ming was just being nice through the Moon gathering days.

He wasn't....

Tear breaks on Phana's eyes.

He was just tooo ahead of himself.

Phana closes his eyes. He lies his back to the bed to sleep.

Ming was just another Beam.

He's a playboy.

And he's not even play with boys.

Phana tries to stop his tears but he ends up sleeping with tears wetting his pillow.

***

A/N:

How many of you ever fall to an asshole?

How many of you admitting that sometimes you being an asshole?

Oh man, ... going down a memory lane 🤣