Chapter 2: Wisana’s Decision Part II
“Uh... hello, Orn. You had an exam today, too?”
“Yes, I did. It was my last exam.”
She said, then she smiled. It was so sweet that Wisana got carried away. His body beca weak, feeling like his legs would give out, and he would fall. Luckily, he grabbed his friend’s shoulder like a handrail before he was about to fall. The one who served as a handrail chuckled again, leaving the girls confused before they started chatting with each other again.
Orn or Warunya, a popular girl, star of the faculty of communication arts, was the girl that Wisana secretly had a crush on to the point that he could not compose himself in front of her. She was pretty, with the best personality. There was no doubt that everyone loved her, but it seed that no one would be able to win her heart. Well, of course, Wisana was one of those who did not seem to win, too.
Wisana had attempted to confess his love more than thirty tis, and his best friend could guarantee that he would fail every ti. Not because he would get rejected, but he didn’t have the guts to be straightforward and say it to her in person. He always got chickened out before he could get to it.
“No matter how many tis I see this I never get tired of it,” Tunwa said.
“I know right. I can’t get tired of her smile, either. And she smiled at just now. Did you see that?”
“I an you being such a coward that I won’t get tired of. Hilarious!”
Wisana paused, staring at his friend’s annoying face.
“Did you take my love for her as a joke?”
“Yeah, I did. It’s kind of funny.” Tunwa burst out in laughter. “Dude, when you were at Chiang Mai, have you ever eaten rice noodles? or you only eat them with nam ngiao? Next ti try eating them with nam ya[1]! Really hopeless you are. Man, you don’t really know how to flirt. If it were , she would probably be with by now.”
“Like how you flirt with Nuch?”
Wisana’s coback brought Tunwa’s turn to pause. He creased his mouth.
“You’re so annoying. I better go tell Orn that you have a crazy amount of feeling for her.”
“Try. Let's see how the martial arts I learned from my mom work out on you.” He let out a long sigh. “Hey, you really didn't tell anyone about this, right, Tunwa? I started losing trust in you.”
“Na, I might be foul-mouthed, but never leaky-mouthed.”
“So, you’re always aware of how your mouth always is?” Wisana drew back a bit.
“Whatever, I’m telling you that your secret is safe with .”
“I hope that is true. And what about Nuch, did you tell her?”
“Dude, if I already did, you would know, the entire world would, too.”
The two best friends smiled at each other knowingly. They both knew Nuchjaree very well. Her favorite thing to do was to play cupid, and how she shot her love arrows was not fun at all. Well, it was true that she just helped her junior confess to his crush, however, it cost a huge amount of embarrassnt.
Why?
Well, she asked her friends from the choir club to sing his love confession song, in the middle of a cafeteria, during lunch break. Even though his love was accepted, Wisana was not sure if that girl actually had that sa feeling for him, or she was just too embarrassed and wanted to get out of there.
Wisana got goosebumps while thinking of it because if Nuchjaree wanted to be a cupid for Warunya and him, too, he would rather die. He had no idea what weird and embarrassing ways she may co up with for him to confess his feelings. Plus, Warunya was one of her best friends. So, the scene she would produce for him had to be so grand that the stage play of Phantom of the Opera couldn’t top it for sure!
“So, Nuch, let’s play today. Yesterday I tried out the items that dropped from the monster, it was really cool.”
“Sure. I’ll be there. I heard that there will be new quests open, too, and it related to those monsters. So, it’s like killing two birds with one stone. I also have to practice my new skills, though.
“That’s right. Well, I’m still clumsy with new skills, too.”
“Oh, and before I logged out, I also got so good items from the market. I’ll show you later. You're gonna love it. It’s such a sha that there was only one piece. I wanted to buy you one, too.”
“Really? What is it?”
Wisana, who was eavesdropping on the girls’ conversation, raised his eyebrows. Too many unfamiliar terms coming out from them made his head spin and lose the context. Eventually, he looked at his best friend and whispered.
“Tun, what are they talking about?”
“They’re talking about the Pride.”
Tunwa answered casually, but it made Wisana pause for a mont.
“Orn plays it, too?!”
Wisana got so surprised that he gave a start. The girls turned to look at him with questions. He awkwardly waved his hand to tell them there was nothing to worry about. Then, he dragged Tunwa away in the other direction.
“What is it now? You’re so troubleso.” Tunwa creased the lips.
“Spill it all out now. Since when did you all hang out together? Why did I never know she played the ga with you two?”
“Well, you never asked.”
Tunwa scratched his cheek.
“I don’t see how this is a big deal. Everyone is in the ga. Well, everyone, but you, you’re in a cave. Anyway, we're at the sa party. We farm together frequently. Sotis we hunt the bosses...”
“Farm? What farm? Can you not speak nerd?”
Tunwa let out a long, exhausted sigh.
“Briefly, we’re in the sa team. We stick together all the ti. We help each other get EXP to level up, sothing like that.”
“Really?!”
How fabulous it was to be together all night. Why did he never think of this before? This could be a chance to spend ti with Orn, couldn’t it? Wait, no. It was the chance that she could see him embarrassing himself, and the ga would be his grave.
Realizing that he sucked at gas made him sigh, thinking that he had better given up on the idea of pursuing her in the ga since it seed too difficult, especially when his playing skills were even weaker than a kindergarten kid's.
While Wisana was having a mont with himself in outer space, Tunwa saw his mouth gasping up and down like a goldfish. Then he knew what this goldfish was thinking. And there was no way that he would let this opportunity go. A cunning smirk showed up on the half-Arican’s face.
“Yeah, really. And I have to tell you sothing, Orn is very hot in the ga.”
“What?” Wisana blinked for a second.
“Well, we can dress however we like in the ga, right? And her outfit is so sexy. When combined with her cute look, many guys get so attracted to her.
“For real?!!”
Wisana yelled and made the girls flinch again. They looked at him with questions as Tunwa covered his mouth and waved to brush them off like they weren’t being weird at all.
“Listen carefully, Na” He whispered in Wisana’s ear. “This is just my guess, but don’t you notice that Orn doesn’t really date any guys who flirt with her? So, I think that maybe she already has a boyfriend in the ga.
“No way. Who actually dates in an online ga?”
“Damn.” Tunwa shook his head in frustration. “You really are a caveman. We’re in the digital age. What I’m trying to say is her boyfriend could be from another city or another country, and they et up and hang out in the Pride every night.”
“W... well, it’s just your guess.”
Tunwa smiled widely because he knew this gullible person started to agree with him.
“I really don't want to imagine it. This ga is so well designed. You can actually feel the physical touch, like kissing or holding hands. You can’t go further than that, though. But to be honest, just thinking about how she would have a good ti with her boyfriend in the ga... gives goosebumps.”
Wisana paused in shock.
“No, it can’t be. She’s not dating anyone.”
“Well,” Tunwa grinned. “She might not be, ...yet. But it's possible. She’s even hotter in the ga than she is in real life. There may be no one she likes at university, but there may be soone she likes in the ga.”
“No. Not gonna happen.”
“Yes. Believe . I’m telling you this because you’re my best friend.”
“Nooooooo!” After he screeched(?) out, Wisana ran away, disappearing from Tunwa's sight as the girls flinched for the third ti before they saw soone run off like a lunatic and vanish amid the satisfied laughter of Tunwa the Scoundrel, who had just successfully, thoroughly fooled his friend.
“What is wrong with him?” Nuchjaree said, looking confused.
“Don’t worry about him. You will understand soon enough. Well, why didn’t I think of doing this sooner? I’m such a genius.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“Yeah, well, you’ll know, soon enough, no longer than tomorrow.”
Hearing that, the girls gave each other a concerned look while the scoundrel continued to laugh so loudly, his laughter echoing through the building as if he could never be more satisfied.
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“Hey Dad, It’s ”
Wisana just ran from his major’s building straight to his car in the parking lot. He drew his phone out and dial the numbers. He shouted when the other picked up.
“Hey, kiddo, What’s up? Is there gonna be a storm in town, tonight? It’s so strange that you call first.”
A lively voice answered as Wisana stopped in front of his black Civic Honda car.
“No nagging now, please Dad. May I ask you a favor?” He said, impatiently.
“I heew it! What can I do for ya? Oh, you decided to move into my house, and needed help with your stuff? Alright. I’ll send soone to your condo right away.”
“If I actually move there, mom will kill .” Wisana creased his lips. “Besides, it’s not like and your girlfriend get along so well.”
“So, is it about money, then? I told you just the money from your mom wouldn’t be enough. I can transfer so for you now. Give your bank account number.
“Nah, I don’t need your money. Mom always told not to ask you for more money, or she’ll drag back to Chiang Mai.”
“Then what is it? Oh, no, did you get soone pregnant? Okay, I can talk to them. I understand an attractive guy can be sward by girls, and I’m not gonna judge you or anything.”
“No! I didn’t!! Stop guessing, Dad!!” His patience was pushed off its limit as he screeched again, sending the security guard jumping from his nap, looking left and right in confusion. Wisana waved at him as a gesture of apology for unintentionally waking him up.
“Okay, are you ok? Is it urgent? You sound nervous, kiddo.”
So nervous that it made the father a bit nervous, too.
“Do you still have those Pride ga consoles left?”
“Ga consoles?” He repeated it in a high tone. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I need it to play the ga. Do you have it or not?”
After he finished, the other side of the phone went silent. He was quiet for so long that Wisana had to pull his phone away from his ear to check that they were still connected, and the call didn’t drop.
“DID YOU AN IT, SON?!”
“Darn, lucky, I didn’t put the phone on my ear, or I’d beco deaf with this thundering shout.”
Wisana complained with a sour face. He was not surprised by his dad's weird behavior, but still needed a mont to adjust his mind, then he said,
“So, you have the console? With that mory stick thing??”
“Yes, I do. I have everything ready for you to play! So, you find my ga interesting now, huh?”
“Well…" Wisana rolled his eyes. “Yeah. You can say that. Most of my friends are really into the ga, so I want to join them, too.”
He said that and smiled knowingly to himself because he wasn’t planning to tell his dad that he actually wanted to join in the ga just to snoop around the girl he is flirting with (or intending to... but dare not, to be precise) and to keep those flirting pests away from her, too!
“I’m so proud of you. I’m going to cry.”
“Dad, don’t be extra,” Wisana said, deadpanned. “And could you send them to my place, please? I don’t want to drive all the way to your office. Too far.”
“Sure, no problem. I can even have my driver deliver them to you today.”
“Yes, I do need them by today, Dad. Sooner, the better.”
“Darn, my gar spirit has just awakened in you or what? But I'm so glad. I thought you would grow up to be too much like Lady Wimon, you know, self-centered and not fun.”
Wisana sighed again, tired of his dad's nonsense rambling.
“So, please send them by today. If your driver arrives just give it to the receptionist in the lobby, on the first floor. I have sothing to do for Mom. I'm not sure what ti I’ll be back.”
“Alright. Done. Don’t forget to co by my office soti, okay?”
“Okay. Later dad.”
He pressed the end call button and whistled in relief. It was convenient that his dad had the console and was ready to ship it to him by today. So, he didn’t have to wait too long. He could log in to the ga and see if Tunwa was right about his beloved Warunya today.
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[1] Nam ya: This word has two anings in this context: one is the na of a Thai curry often made from fish or chicken and eaten with rice noodles, and the other is ability, capability, skill, or expertise.
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