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“I was in love with you during college” says Mork and Pi is so shocked by the notion that he stops his movements all together.
Maybe he heard it wrong, maybe Mork is trying to say something else and Pi heard what he heard because of the tube in his mouth and all.
“What?” he asks, just to be sure, just to know.
Mork looks at him, gaze lidded due to the anesthetics Pi gave him. “I was in love with you during college. It started our first year, when you helped me with the coping machine. You were so cute, with your messy hair and big glasses”
“I don’t remember ever helping you with that” says Pi, racking his brain, but no memory comes to mind. He remembers seeing Mork around the university, especially in those shared lectures between faculties, but the two of them didn’t really interact.
Mork’s tone is sympathetic. “I know you wouldn’t, I was just a small inconvenience in your day. You pulled that paper out and you went on with your day, bringing my heart with you”.
Pi blinks a couple of times, deciding to rest his instruments on the table, before he makes a mistake. “But you never said anything, or did anything”.
“I was too scared to approach you. I know you didn’t like me very much, even if we didn’t interact during lectures or during parties. You were like the moon up on the sky, I could only stare at you, but I could never have you”.
Pi waited, waited for Mork to say that this was all an elaborate prank he had decided to pull on him. He waited, but Mork remained silent, no laughs or cries, nothing more. He just looked at Pi, waiting for a reaction, a word, a smile, a laugh, a scream, but the room remained silent.
“I won’t have this conversation with you now, Sutthaya, because if this is a way to make fun of me, then I won’t let you do that, but if this is how you really felt all these years ago, then I don’t think this is the way you wanted me to know”
“All these years ago?” said Mork, confused.
“Yes, years have passed and…”
“And I still feel the same Pi, everyone I went out with had to face the comparison with you, and each one of them failed at taking my mind off of you”. Mork is frantic now, the tube discarded next to the sink, hands moving to accentuate his words.
Pi got up from his chair, removing his surgical mask in the process. “You can’t say things like that, Sutthaya”
“It’s the truth” says Mork, turning around to see Pi walking around the room.
“I don’t care if it’s the truth,” says Pi, before his voice breaks. He takes a deep breath in, before he continues speaking, tone calmer. “You can’t come in here and say that”
“But…” Mork is now sitting instead of lying on the bed.
“Sutt, stop” says Pi, opening the door and calling for the assistant. “Naily, please get this patient a new dentist, I can’t work with him”
Before Pi can leave the room, Mork is getting up from the seat, trying to stop him. He barely reaches Pi’s arm, pulling him back.
“Mork…”
“So it’s Mork now?” says Mork, mouth a little dumb. “Stay, Pi, stay and talk to me”
Pi is looking into Mork’s eyes, but there’s something holding him back. It’s the years that have passed, it’s the fact that he never even tried to be his friend, it’s the fact that Pi is an adult now, more confident, more sure of himself and his feelings.
“Naily, I don’t feel well, I think I’ll go home”. Pi is breaking free of Mork’s hold, not looking back to see if Mork’s still watching and what his reaction to him actually leaving is.
When Pi gets home, his brother’s boyfriend is there, sitting on the couch.
“Hi” says Meen, eyes focused on the papers in front of him.
“Hi” replies Pi, sitting on the armchair next to Meen.
“What’s with the tone?” asks Meen. If there’s something Pi has always liked about Meen, is his ability to know how one’s feeling just by the way they talk to him, he doesn’t even have to look at Pi to know that something is wrong.
“Something weird has happened to me today”
“What?”. Meen puts the papers on the table, turning to give Pi his whole attention.
“My last patient of the day went to the same university as us, he studied Medicine like you, but he was in my year”
“A friend?”
Pi thinks about it. “Not really. We never had any important conversation. Anyway, I gave him anesthetics and as soon as they start working, he begins saying how he liked me when we were in university”
Meen smiles. “Well, it might have been unexpected for you, but also, it’s nice, don’t you think?”
Pi stares at Meen, confusion clear on his face. “Well, you told me that when you were in university, you always felt invisible, and that you felt like people talked to you only because they wanted to get something out of it, out of you. Now you find out that there was someone who not only saw you, but he liked you too”
There are a million thoughts running around Pi’s mind, and he can’t seem to make sense of them at all.
“What else did he tell you?” asks Meen, clearly interested in the situation.
“He told me that he still likes me…”
Meen’s eyes double in size and his jaw almost hits the floor. “Still? How many years has it been since the last time you saw him?”
Pi thinks about it, the day he finally graduated university. “Five or six years, give or take”
“All these years, no contact, and he still likes you?” asks Meen, and Pi can only nod. “And he didn’t date anyone else in the meantime?”
Pi shrugs, before he answers. “He said that he did see other people, but he kept comparing them to me”
Silence falls into the room. Pi is thinking, but he’s always been that kind of person that needs an outsider's input, so he removes his gaze from his hands to look at Meen.
“It’s oddly endearing, don’t you think?”
“Is it?”
“Yeah, but that’s my opinion. I won’t tell you what to do, Pi, because that’s your decision alone, but maybe you could give this guy a chance, maybe get to know him a little,” Pi hums to show Meen that he’s listening. “If life brought you back together there’s a reason, don’t you think?”
With Meen’s words still ringing in his ears, Pi makes his way to his room.
***
Next time Pi meets Mork, the other boy is sitting in the waiting room, a bouquet of flowers in head, a serious expression on his face.
“Do you have an appointment? The secretary didn’t tell me”
“No, actually, I came here to apologize” says Mork, eyes shifting from Pi to his own shoes.
“That’s why you brought flowers?” says Pi, a little laugh escaping his mouth.
“Yeah” says Mork, before remembering that the mentioned flowers are still in his hands, so he sits up and gives them to Pi.
“They’re very nice flowers, Mork” says Pi, sniffing them a little.
“Yeah, Nan told me to give you something to show how sorry I am..” starts to say Mork, before Pi interrupts him.
“You don’t have to worry so much, the medicines we use are pretty strong, and people say and do crazy things during them”
Pi tried to give the message loud and clear, he was trying to give Mork a way out, a way for him to take everything he had said back and blame it on the medicines.
Mork is growing, and the realization hits him. “I am sorry for the way I said it, but I’m not sorry for saying it. It’s the truth, Pi, I liked you back then and I still like you now. If you don’t believe me, ask Nan, he’s the one that had to listen to me talk about you”
Pi’s mind is racing. There’s no backing down now, either he acknowledges Mork’s feelings for him and goes on with his life, or he takes a chance on him.
“Why did you like me?” asks Pi instead, before the question has been on the back of his mind since Mork’s confession.
“Did I need a reason?” is Mork’s response, but Pi will not accept half answers.
“Yes. Why do we eat? Because we’re hungry. Why are we hungry? Because we haven’t eaten till morning. There has to be an explanation, reasons, something”. Pi is slightly rambling at this point, conscious of the other people present in the room staring at him.
“Alright, I’ll give you a reason” Mork looks around. “But not here, is there somewhere more private where we can talk?”
“Yes” says Pi, before turning around and starting to walk to his room. “Now, talk”
“I told you already, you caught my attention that day with the coping machine. I had tried for almost twenty minutes to remove the paper, but I didn’t know where it was. Then you arrived, and without even looking at me you knew exactly what my problem was and you helped me solve it.” Mork smiles at the memory. “I’m not even surprised you don’t remember, you didn’t even stay around enough for me to say thank you, you just disappeared”
“That’s it? I was nice to you once, and you fell for me?”
“No, that was just the beginning. Ever since that day I started to notice you, around campus, I always saw you alone or with your brother, never letting anyone get close to you, in class, when you answered the professor’s questions and you were always right. I could only stare when I saw people getting advantage of you, I didn’t dare intervene because I didn’t know how you would react”
“Probably would have screamed at you that I didn’t need a knight in shining armor to help me”
“I liked you back when you still wore your glasses and preferred to be invisible, and I liked you when you decided to change yourself, because I was in love with you, the whole you, not just the way you looked”
Silence fell, Pi didn’t know what to respond and Mork didn’t know what more to say to convince Pi of his true feelings.
“But I’m here, standing in front of you now, Pi, and I’m asking you for a chance. I promise you that after that I’ll leave you alone”
“Okay”
“Okay?”
“I’ll go out with you. There’s a part of me that still can’t believe what you’ve told me, but a friend of mine told me that things happen for a reason and that I should try to give you a chance”
“Really?” asked Mork, big smile and shining eyes.
“Really” said Pi, and before he could add anything else, he was being swept into Mork’s arms and they were spinning around the room.
“Let me, Sutthaya” said Pi, hitting Mork’s back and arms.
“I will” said Mork, lowering Pi to the ground again. “But this is the last time I will ever let you go. I did it once and I won’t do it twice.”