The mouthwatering scents of exotic culinary boasting with various spices wafted through the open-air restaurant. The seaside restaurant was lively with foreign conversations and waiters were scurrying around with trays of steaming food. A ceiling fan spun and whirred, stirring up the warm night air.
However, none of that mattered at the moment.
There were tears streaming down my cheeks. My throat was being tormented and my tongue was no doubt on fire. Nothing could soothe the burns on my taste buds.
I let my tongue loll out like a dog. There were still traces of that outrageously spicy dish sizzling on my poor tongue. No matter how many glasses of water I drank, it was pointless.
Through my blurry vision, I glimpsed a widening grin on an ever-smiling face. Eyes bright with amusement, the Thai man sitting across from me continued to watch me gulp down yet another cupful of water. Aegaratt never seemed to be affected by the spices of his native cuisine, and I must admit, I envy him a little for having that ability. It was always astonishing to see him eat everything on his plate and survive without flushed face.
"Done, yang?" he asked teasingly.
"Yeah," I replied, speaking through the tissue pressed over my sniffling nose and tear-stained cheeks.
He raised his hand, calling for a waiter. After a quick exchange of words with the waiter, he paid for our meal. I couldn't help but frown a little. He knew very well I'd rather share the expenses, but he'd always have the kind smile on his face and answer, "Mai pen rai, greng jai." It's okay, it's not a problem. I gave up on protesting out loud after learning that he'd only be as stubborn as ever.
I descended the stairs that directly led to the sandy beach and began the walk back to the resort. I liked the beaches here, a little better than the cities in some ways. One of the reasons why was because of the weather. Thailand could be pretty humid year round, save perhaps a week or two when it's cooler than usual. But here on the beaches, it's at least breezier. However, Aegaratt's spiky hair waving in the wind would always make me wonder something. I always thought his hair was strange. A couple of hours earlier, we went snorkeling at the coral reefs surrounding the turquoise waters of this island. Aegaratt's hair was completely matted to his head after surfacing, but as soon as it was dry, it immediately defied gravity and perked up again. I'm pretty sure he didn't use some sort of hairspray.
A couple of minutes later, I noticed a small crowd of people. They were dispersed into groups around stations of lanterns. As I got closer, I realized that most members of each group were either young couples or a family with a child or two. They wrote something on the rice paper lanterns then lit a candle in the hollow cylinder.
"Ah, khom loi! You want to do one?" Aegaratt tugged my hand like an overexcited child in Disneyland.
"Do what? What do you do with sky lanterns?"
"We write wishes on them. If they rise upwards, that means our wishes become true," he explained, pointing upwards at the glowing pinpricks of flying lanterns dotting the dark sky.
"But they don't stay in the sky forever, do they?" I objected in puzzlement. "They're going to fall down anyway."
"Of course they fall," the carefree Thai chuckled at your seriousness. "It's just for fun, (name). Let's do it, na?" Aegaratt's pleading eyes met mines.
"I-I guess I'd like to know if wishes come true or not," I conceded. I somehow could never to turn down Aegaratt's puppy eyes.
"It's settled then," he said cheerfully.
Flashing a smile, he broke away and purchased a lantern from the saleswoman. I strode over to the lantern he chose and racked my mind on what to wish for. As I waited for Aegaratt to pass on the pen, I noticed that he was grinning. It wasn't weird for him to be optimistic and grin in practically any situation, but this time I sensed something peculiar hiding behind his smiling face. He passed me the pen a few moments later and I quickly wrote my wish whilst shielding my words from Aegaratt's prying eyes. After returning the pen to the woman, Aegaratt turned to me.
"Ready?"
"Sure."
"Neung… saawng… sum!"
We lifted up the lantern. An unexpected flare of nervousness stirred in my chest wavered for a moment. Fortunately, it soared skywards, riding the wind out to the ocean and clouds high above. I quietly sighed in relief as the speck of light became undistinguishable from the glittering stars.
"Does that mean my wish will come true?" I wondered aloud a few minutes later. Since we had to clamber over some rocks, I had to carry my sand-crusted slippers. After climbing, I left them on the sand, out of the way of the waves, of course. I then waded into the water until it was halfway up my knee and buried my feet in the soft sand underneath. Aegaratt was close behind and I could hear the wet sand suck on his slippers.
"Possibly, if you're lucky," he answered indifferently. He was standing shoulder to shoulder with me when he added, "But I know mine will."
"How could you be so sure?"
As I craned my head to look at him, the first thing I noticed on him was the mischief dancing in his dark brown eyes. I instantly knew I shouldn't have spun around, but it was too late now. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him, drawing me so close that our faces were a mere centimeter apart. Eyes wide, I was about to shove him away but he was too fast. He brashly kissed me on the cheek, right below the eye. An instant later, before I could recover my senses, he skipped away, dodging my flustered, flailing hands, and filled the night with his triumphant laugh. I entirely flushed deep red the moment I realized what he did.
"I told you, wishes do come true!" he laughed, reveling at my stunned reaction.
"Your wish…?" My jumbled brain was barely able to register what was going on after the surprise attack.
"Chai! Now you tell me your wish!" Aegaratt strolled next to me, this time slippers in hand and ankle-deep in seawater.
"Absolutely not!"
"Na?" he begged, the biggest smile I've ever seen stretching across his face.
"Never!"
"Haah? Tum mai a?"
Why? Because if you knew my wish just came true, I'll never get the end of it!