Chapter 27: Forgotten Already?

"Do you need help with anything else, Pa?" Fourth placed his Pa's cooking equipment into the trunk of his parent's car before stepping back and closing the trunk. "Aren't you going to shoot at the home studio today?"

"Unfortunately, no." Gun sighed as he adjusted the cap on top of his head to shield himself from the blaring heat of the late summer Thailand sun. "Your dad has some kind of surprise for me so he wants me to go with him. As if I don't already know what he's about to gift me."

Fourth couldn't help but smile. Yes, of course. How could his dad ever keep secrets from his husband? Pa Gun always managed to guess what Dad Off was going to gift him, but sill, he pretended to be surprised every time he got a gift. He guessed that was how twenty five years of married life felt like. 

"Jing la, khub?" Off arrived at the garage at that instant, a bag slung over his shoulders and another one that he tossed into the back seat. "We're all set to go, ja."

"Where are you guys off to?" Fourth asked because he was feeling lonely. "Can I come with?"

"Ye-"

"NO! No." Dad Off gave his youngest son a glare before taking out his wallet and handing him a 500 baht bill…a habit he had whenever he was taking Pa Gun on a date and didn't want any interference from his litter. "Here. Order pizza. Or those jajjang noodles or whatever. Enjoy your day, na, luuk?" 

"Oho…dad!" Fourth sighed in exasperation. "You can't even buy one pizza for five hundred nowadays!"

"La?" Off scoffed at him, before taking out another five hundred and handing it to him. "Any more and I'll have you eat raw eggs on rice the whole week."

"Meshai, por." Fourth gave a nervous laugh. "This is more than enough."

Off patted his son's shoulders with a forced smile and Fourth couldn't help but crack a smile of his own. "Dai, por. Drive safely."

"Good boy." Off grumbled before heading to the driver's seat. "Don't burn down the house while we're away!"

As the car drove away from the property, Fourth returned to the house where Joong was patiently waiting for his nong to show up with a wide grin on his face. "How much did you get?"

"One thousand." Fourth handed the bill to Joong, who gave a shout of joy and skipped into the house happily.

"Arai wa?" Pond asked from the dining table, still glued to his phone like he had been since early morning. "Why are you getting so happy over five hundred baht? Don't you earn enough already?"

"You won't understand! Dad made me lose money for cleaning the house!" Joong sighed, shaking his head at the younger ones. "Interrupting him before his 'date' is the only way to get it all back!"

"Wow. I never knew you could be this petty." Pond gave him a deadpan look. "It was your party that went wild. If you had money to buy all that booze, you should have enough to pay the cleaning crew after."

"Oye!" Joong grumbled with his hands on his hips. "This is exactly why I don't invite you to my parties!"

"You don't invite me because I don't want to be invited." Pond stuck out his tongue at Joong. "Because I don't want to stay in the middle of all the ruckus you're about to cause."

"What about me, Phi?" Fourth looked at his eldest with puppy dog eyes. "Why can't I come to the party?"

"You still have to ask?!" Joong and Pond snapped at the same time, making Fourth pout even harder.

"Ah! Where's Love gone off to?" Joong asked after he had stowed away the money. "I haven't seen her since morning."

"Not surprising considering your morning starts at eleven thirty." Fourth returned the insult. "But she's off to P'Nirin's café with a new friend of hers."

"Ah!" Pond nodded, suddenly looking down at his phone with a frown. "Okay, I'll go to my room to finish working on a couple assignments. Remember to order to food and don't burn the house down. And while you're at it, throw away the trash as well."

With that, Pond made his exit and the door to his room slammed shut a few seconds later.

"Aarai wa?" Joong frowned, before his phone beeped with an incoming message. He looked down at it, before a slow smile tugged at the corner of his lips. And then he too was springing out of his seat, stretching his arms above his head like he was dead tired, even though he had woken up not even an hour ago.

"Oder for me too, Fourth!" Joong was climbing up the stairs before Fourth could even blink. "Remember to throw the garbage! Now!"

"Huh?" Fourth looked in the direction of both his brother's rooms, flabbergasted. "What the hell!"

Not only had his brother's abandoned him, they had left him with a pile of work to finish while their lazy asses went back to their rooms to continue to laze around.

"Why you little…UGH!" Fourth yelled in frustration as he stood up from his seat. "You think you can dump your chores on me and get to eat bulgogi for lunch? Just you wait! I'll order you all green salads!"

With that, he stormed to the kitchen and gathered all the trash bags, before storming out of his house to throw out the trash before the garbage man left.

However, when he reached outside the gates of his house, what awaited him wasn't something…or someone…he had expected.

"Gemini…" Fourth whispered, feeling all his anger and annoyance dissipate as he saw his boyfriend standing in front of him, with his guitar in his hands.

"One year ago…you sung this song for me for the first time." Gemini told his boyfriend, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Today, let me sing this for you, to celebrate the first song you ever performed for me."

A smile lit up Fourth's lips, his eyes twinkling brightly in the sunlight as he watched his faen strum on his guitar. And soon, his melodic voice filled the air.

*

chan koey bpen ik kon, nai meuang haeng kwam ngao jai

ti mai koey mi dtua dton, jon ter kao ma krop krong hua jai

meuan wa hong kong chan glap bplian si bpai

man suay ngam geun gwa ja pob dai ti dai

Fourth came to stand in front of Gemini, his slightly husky voice joining him in singing the next verse.

o wela dang yut, kleuan wai

meuang ni mai ngao ik dto bpai 

kae wan ni chan mi ter

And then they were singing the chorus to their favorite song together, a song that had once described Gemini at his best. The boy that Fourth had met while singing in solitude, the boy who had become a better part of his life.

ter yu dtrong nan, yeun yu kang chan

chan mai koey mae dtae fan

wa ja dai pob ter tam glang, kon tang meuang ik bpen lan

doi mai dtong dtam ha krai… meua ter krop krong chan

*

Gemini put his guitar down, and reached up to wipe a stray tear from Fourth's cheek. "Why are you crying? I haven't even apologized yet. I'm sorry for…almost forgetting how important this song was to me. But if there's one thing that I never wish to forget, it's how important you are in my life."

"Stop!" Fourth broke into a smile, wiping at his eyes once again. "Stop making me emotional, ai sat!"

Gemini couldn't help the giggle that escaped his lips.

'Ai Sat…'

Those had been the first words that he had heard from Fourth, when he had picked up the call that had been meant for Alan.

"You know…that song you sang…the one where you turned the entire lyrics into cuss words…that was kinda cute."

Fourth's jaw dropped upon hearing the confession. "How? How did you know?"

"When you called Alan, I was the one who picked up his phone." Gemini finally confessed. "You're really cute when you're drunk."

"And how did you happen to stumble upon Alan's phone?" Fourth raised an eyebrow, not having known that Gemini had been friends with the class President at that time.

"We used to attend tuition classes together." Gemini shrugged. "And he left his phone unattained, so I picked it up. Luckily, he hadn't heard what you said…or you'd have been in big trouble."

'No wonder he let me off so easily', Fourth thought to himself, shaking his head. "Khob khun, na."

"For what exactly?" Gemini asked, just to be sure. "I mean…I know I'm an amazing boyfriend…but it won't hurt to know."

"Enough, enough." Fourth shook his head, placing his hands on Gemini's shoulders as he drew closer to him. "Khob khun…for being the best thing to ever come into my life."

With that, Fourth wrapped his arms around Gemini's shoulders, embracing him tightly. And despite Gemini's reservations against PDA's, he too wrapped his arms around Fourth, burying his face in his shoulders, taking in the familiar scent of his boyfriend.

**

From the terrace of the Jirawatthanakul house, Pond and Joong watched their younger brother and his lover share a moment together, their smiles just as bright as the overbearing Thailand sun.

"Ahhh! That ended well." Pond sighed, taking a picture of the couple hugging in front of the house gates and sending it to his own boyfriend as proof that all was right in the world.

"Since when has Fourth had a boyfriend? Did you know beforehand?" Joong asked his younger brother, his brows furrowed.

"Only for a very short period of time." Pond shrugged. "Phuwin let me know that Gemini forgot some important anniversary and then he was rushing to our house to make up for it."

"So you helped them?" Joong asked.

"We both did." Pond smiled. "You read my message and told him to take out the trash as well."

"I guess." Joong nodded, however, there was one thought that didn't leave his mind.

"Let's go back. Let the couple enjoy their sweet moment." Pond turned and headed towards the door, but when Joong didn't immediately follow him, he turned back to look at his older brother. "What's the matter?"

"Oh nothing…just thinking about how fucked up the situation is about to become."

"Huh?" Pond frowned, not understanding what he meant. "What do you mean? What's so fucked up?"

"You're dating Phuwin, right? Gemini's older brother?" Joong asked, raising his eyebrows. "And Fourth is dating Gemini."

"Yeah…so?" Pond didn't see anything wrong with it. "So what if we brothers are dating in the same family? It's not illegal."

"It isn't…" Until Joong realized that he had had a one night stand with their eldest brother…someone he was starting to have feelings for.