Chapter 23
Sammie opened the door once she heard it rang. Aof along with Som, Nam, and Faai stood before her.
“Whoa! What are you guys doing here?” she asked.
“Is Teng here?” Aof asked, inviting himself in. The others following behind.
Sammie closed the door right after them, “Geesh come on in” she said sarcastically.
“Tengneung!” Aof called from downstairs. “We need to talk to you
“He’s in the studio” Sammie answered. “Why are you guys here anyways?”
“We need to have a talk. It’s about our daughters.” said Aof.
“What about Mint? Did something happened to her?”
Faai shook her head, “No, it’s nothing like that.”
Tengneung came out of his studio and went to sit down with the rest of them, “What’s this important thing you needed to tell us that you couldn’t tell me over the phone?”
“Mint is dating the same guy Yaya is talking to.”
Sammie and Tengneung looked at each other confuse, “What are you talking about?”
“Me, Aof, and Faai were at IST spying on Yaya and we saw her talking to that Nadech guy.”
“You were spying on our daughter?” Som asked hitting Aof.
“Well I needed to know who that Narry guy was.”
“And did you see him?”
“No. All I saw was that Nadech guy talking to her.”
Tengneung shook his head, “Wait, wait. So you’re saying Nadech is cheating on Mint with Yaya?”
Aof nodded, “Or that he’s cheating on Yaya with Mint.”
Som rolled her eyes, “What’s the difference dude?”
“And how do you guys know he’s cheating?” Sammie asked. “Was he kissing her, holding her hands?”
“No” Nam, Aof, Faai answered at the same time.
“Then just talking to her doesn’t mean anything Aof” said Som.
“Babe, you’ve heard of a woman’s intuition right? Well my man intuition is saying that guy is a player. I affirm!”
As they were talking, they heard the door open and everyone became quiet. Mint walked pass the living room and all 12 eyeballs were staring at her.
“Hi…” she said awkwardly.
“Hey…”they greeted back.
“What are you guys doing here?”
Sammie got up and walked towards Mint, “Oh, it’s nothing baby….we’re just hanging out and I just invited them for the dinner party tomorrow.”
“Oh……”
“So…Nadech is coming right?”
Mint nodded, “Yeah…he’s coming…”
“Good. Grandpa wants to meet him when he’s in town…”
Mint nodded sheepishly and headed upstairs. It was bad enough she lied to her parents and now she has to lie to her grandfather.
----------------------------------------
Close friends and relatives came to the dinner party held at the Maneepakapan’s resident. It was no surprise Mak and Yaya tagged along with their parents. What was more surprise was Boy and Margie showed up as well.
“Hi Mint…” they greeted by the door.
“Hey….you guys are invited too?”
“Uh…Mak did…hope you don’t mind that we crashed your dinner party without you inviting us.”
Mint shook her head, “Not at all. I consider you guys friends so suit yourself/” Mint looks down and saw Boy and Margie holding hands and got suspicious, “Are you guys dating?”
Margie nodded shyly, “Yeah I guess you can say that…”
“Wow…I’m happy for you two…”
“What about you Mint?” Boy asked. “What’s up with you and Nadech? I have to admit I’m surprise that you two are dating..”
“Yeah…we’ve been dating for awhile now..” she said crossing her finger behind her back.
Boy nodded, “Well, we’ll see you inside okay.”
Nadech shows up half an hour later. Mint saw him and pulled him to the side to have a little talk.
“Finally you showed up” she said whispering.
“Sorry…I had to look my best.”
“You know if you were my real boyfriend, this would be a bad impression for my parents already.”
“Well they think I’m your boyfriend anyways so it’s already a bad impression but we’re pretending so I’m not serious about it.”
Mint took his hands, “Just to let you know, Yaya is also here.”
“Awesome!” he said smiling.
Mint took Nadech to meet her grandfather in the guest room where he was talking to her parents.
“Grandpa, mom, dad,…I like you to meet someone…”
They all turned around to look at Nadech.
“This is Nadech, my boyfriend. Nadech, this is my grandpa Samuel, my mom Sammie and my father Tengneung.”
“It’s nice to meet you all” he greeted them.
Tengneung was feeling a little skeptical about Nadech after what Aof had told him the other day. If he was really cheating on Mint, he didn’t want his daughter to get involve with this guy.
“How long have you two been dating?” Tengneung asked.
“Awhile…”Nadech answered.
“How long is awhile?”
Nadech looked over at Mint blankly. He was hoping she would answer for him.
“Three weeks dad” Mint said quickly.
Tengneung nodded slowly, “Hmph…three weeks eh? How do you know you guys know each other well enough to be boyfriend and girlfriend? How well do you know that person to think he’s sincere with you?”
Tengneung stared at Nadech really hard. Sammie elbowed her husband to quit staring at Nadech like that.
“Nadech? You’re Nikorn’s son right?” Samuel asked.
Nadech nodded, “That’s correct.”
“Okay, would you mind talking to me alone?”
“Okay…”
“Mint, are you sure about him?” Tengneung asked after Samuel and Nadech left.
“Yes…”
“How long have you known him to make him your boyfriend?”
“Since the beginning of school…..”
“And you guys just started dating for about three weeks now? How can you be sure he’s sincere with you?”
Mint was starting to get uncomfortable answering the questions, “He is. I know how Nadech is. He’s not that kind of guy.”
“You can’t be sure about that.”
“Why do you say that? Do you know something that I don’t dad?”
Tengneung became quiet.
“Sweetie, your dad is just concern about you, that’s all. He doesn’t’ want to see you get hurt.”
“Well, I’m not going to get hurt. I promise. I know what I’m doing.”
Mak came to sit and mope with Margie and Boy at the table, “So jealous of these two love couple here…” he teased.
Boy burst out laughing, “If you don’t want to feel any jealousy, why don’t you get a girlfriend then?”
“Who wants to be my girlfriend?”
Margie and Boy smiled at each other.
“Seriously dude, you don’t feel anything that Mint is dating Nadech?” Boy asked.
“Of course I feel something” he said, putting his head on his hand.
“Say what?” Margie asked.
“I mean…Mint and I grew up together and we’re always together. Where ever you see Mint, I’m always there and vice versa. Now that she’s hanging out with Nadech, I feel like a piece of me is missing. You know, that empty space. I actually felt like this since she started hanging out with Alex.”
Margie blushed, “Aw…so in other words, she completes you…”
“And does Mint know you’re feeling this way?”
Mak looked down and shook his head, “I never told her and I don’t think I will. She’s with Nadech now.”
“Mak, I think you should tell her” said Margie. “So what if she’s with Nadech. It’s not like you’re gonna break them up once you tell her.
Boy nodded, “I agree with Margie….”
Mak thought about it for a moment. He looks over Boy’s shoulder and sees Nadech pulling Yaya to the back of the house. He got suspicious so he got up to follow them without saying anything to Margie and Boy.
“What do you want? Yaya asked. “You know people could see us like this.”
“I miss you. I haven’t talked to you all night.”
“Well, it’s good that we didn’t talk. People won’t get suspicious then.”
Nadech wrapped his arms around Yaya, “You’re still mad at me?”
“When was I mad at you?”
“Even though you say you’re not mad, I know you’re mad. Tell me why you’re mad.”
“I’m not mad” She tried pulling Nadech’s hands off but he just held her even more tightly.
“I’m not gonna let go until you tell me why.”
Mak who was watching from afar slammed his hand against the house wall, “Nadech! How can you do this to Mint!”