41
Aontakarn
1 Apple's truth
We're back together... She's the best and only person in this world for me. I will never let her go again now that I get my second chance after my grave mistake.
I'm looking at the oval face of the person who's soundly sleeping due to exhaustion. I have to admit that we went the extra mile in our reconciliation this time. It's not unusual for us because it wasn't our first. It's just that we haven't done it in a while, so it took a while and took up a lot of our energy.
She's so beautiful...
It's great that I get to look at her this closely again. I remember how lonely I felt and how I thought that we could never get back together. I felt like I was shattered. I didn't know what to do. Reading my mother's letter made me realize how big a mistake it was for me to push Chris out of my life.
"Thank you for coming back."
"Ummm…"
I was startled a bit when the arrogant-looking woman replied to me. But when I look again, I'm certain that she's deep asleep and is probably having a good dream. Seeing her sleeping happily like that makes me not think to wake her up. I want to continue to look at her like this.
I can look at her like this all my life.
We've come this far despite the fact that we didn't seem to get along well at the start.
As I contemplate this, I can't help but let out a smile and stroke the cheek of the person who's deeply asleep. She's lying on her side, clueless.
Going back to that time...
I remember being very angry and slapping my hand onto her cheek, out of control. I was anxious and couldn't sleep when I got home. No matter how much we couldn't get along, I shouldn't use force on her.
But I wasn't going to apologize...
What Chris did at that time was as if she were constantly trying to pick a fight with me. She asked about my very personal matter until I was uncomfortable. And she was butting in on matters between Toy and me. Yet the next day, someone arranged to meet with me.
"My name is Meen. I'm Chris's friend."
Meen came dressed as if she's about to go workout. It's as if she wasn't prepared to meet me, yet she was there.
"You said that you have something important to talk to me about. What is it?"
"How dare you slap my friend?" The person in front of me asked me this frankly. She stared at me as if she were ready to slap me back. "You're not a little girl. Can't you talk civilly? Did you have to use force?"
"Did your friend tell you why I did that?"
"Yes... she butted into your personal business."
Right to the point...
"Yes."
"But you shouldn't have used force anyway. Moreover, you don't know how heartbroken she is that you did that."
"Huh?" T shrank my neck. The person in front of me sighed and sipped her coffee, then crossed her arms across her chest.
"Chris has a crush on you. I know that she has an arrogant face and never says what's on her mind. It makes things difficult and uncomfortable. But how do you think the person who really loves and likes you would feel to be slapped in the face like that?"
"Really loves and likes me?" Okay. I was really surprised to hear that. The Chris that I know doesn't appear to have those feelings for me at all. "You have the very wrong idea about what's going on."
"No, I don't. Chris really likes you. She will guard the TV when you read the news. She stares at you with admiration. Why would someone who hates you send you letters of encouragement as Apple?"
Thump Thump...
I was stunned for a while. The word 'Apple' had a huge impact on me. And the person in front of me was telling me Chris was related to the person who wrote me that letter.
"But you probably have a lot of fans, so you don't remember who Apple is. Let me explain it to you..."
"I remember." I replied flatly before I asked with interest. "You're saying that Chris is Apple?"
"Absolutely."
"Are you falsely claiming this?"
"False claiming?" Meen looked like she saw a ghost. "Is Apple someone famous? Is she one of the BNK 48 members? Why would I falsely claim this? She just wrote a letter to a sports news announcer."
When I follow her train of thought, I can understand what she was trying to communicate. Why would someone falsely claim to be Apple when Apple is just a fan who wrote a letter to me? Moreover, I've never told anyone about Apple because there's no one I'm close to in this world anymore.
The only people who could possibly know about the letter are those who are somehow related to it.
And Chris is Apple.
"Is Chris really Apple?"
"As real as it can get. I was the one who took her to buy those letter papers. She was consulting us on how someone could send encouragement to idols..."
Meen went on to tell me everything, including how Chris consulted her friends about having a crush on idols, how she had a crush on me, and also her strange little habits. She told me how, though Chris looks arrogant, she's a kitten when it comes down to it. Everything she told me matched how Chris appeared when she was in front of me. So I started to feel better.
Actually, I liked Chris when I first met her... But her arrogant look made it hard for me to approach her. And she acted as if she disliked me.
So that was what she was really thinking.
"If you don't believe me, try getting her drunk. You will see the real Chris, who's hidden inside. She's very hot. She's a slut. She's someone you would never see when she's her normal self."
"We're not so close that I can get her drunk..." reply with concern. I admit that I felt guilty when I found out how much she really liked me.
"She's quitting the website, no? Give her a farewell party and get her drunk."
"Quitting? Chris is quitting?"
"Would you stay if it was you who were slapped by someone you have a crush on? She's heartbroken. She's weak. She has allergies because she lives in Bangkok. She's locking herself in her home, looking like a zombie."
Wow...
And it was, as Meen told me. Chris announced that she wanted to quit AppTalk. Everyone on the team tried to stop her but was unsuccessful. No one knew what happened to make the arrogant one decide to quit except for me, who knew everything and was feeling very guilty inside. So in the end, I made a suggestion.
"Shall we have a goodbye party?"
"Okay. We've worked together for many months; it's a bit too sad to just leave. Let's have a farewell party today... What shall we eat, BBQ pork or shabu?"
"It's a farewell party. There should be alcohol."
Everyone seemed surprised, but they agreed to it because I was the one who suggested it. They agreed because they wanted to have fun and drink. The only person who looked uncomfortable was the person who was the center of attention. She seemed to be afraid of something.
She was really afraid of getting drunk... So there must be something behind it. I wanted to know if she would turn into another version of herself when she's really drunk, like what her friend told me.
A while after we got to the place, Chris excused herself to sit outside alone. I took that opportunity to follow her with beers in my hand. I handed it to her and forced her to take it.
"Drink up."
"Huh?"
"The beer... cheers." I grabbed my mug and forced a cheer before I stared at her. "You have to drink it out of good manners."
"Ah... but... I can't handle alcohol well."
"Phony."
I was a bit shocked at what I just said. But I did good because I was able to force the arrogant-looking woman to drink the beer. And because I wanted to see quick results, I pushed the mug to force her to bottom up.
"You can drink it just fine. Why say you can't?"
"It doesn't mean I should bottom up like this. Damned. Damned."
The concerned look on her face almost made me laugh. Why was she so worried when she only drank one mug? She was completely overreacting. If she knew that I drink beer like water every day, she would surely be shocked.
As I was getting a bit drunk, I talked to her about this and that. I didn't forget to apologize for what I did the other day. And I was more impressed by Chris. She didn't seem mad at all. I can't find a trace of that on her face or in her eyes. She seemed to understand everything, though she acted as if she hated me all along.
"I'm sorry... I'm talking about that day when I unintentionally hit you in the face."
"Ah... It's okay. Anyone would be angry at what I said."
"So, you're not angry with me?"
"Why would I be? I like you a lot."
I glanced at the person who just said something strange to me. What she said, which contained the word 'like' in it when she talked about me, didn't go with how she looked at all.
I like you a lot.
Was I hearing things?
"Huh?"
"I…"
And the arrogant-looking woman fell down on her back. I was shocked because I didn't expect that to happen. I quickly put my mug down and ran to her. I poke at the person lying unconscious on the floor.
"Chris... what happened? Chris!"
"…"
"Are you shocked because you drank too much beer? Chris!" I panic. I was about to go ask for help, but my wrist was grabbed before I could go find help. "Huh?"
"I'm okay. I'm very cool." "Huh?"
"You're so cute when you're panicking, Little Awn"