After rain comes the clear sky (Kaoearth)

42. Breakfast

Ohm decided to sleep in as his morning classes got cancelled. It was late in the morning when he finally got up. He walked out of the guestroom and was greeted with the sight of a hungover Kao.

“Good morning, Phi.” Ohm chuckled at Kao’s sorry state.

“Morning.” Kao held his head and groaned. “Did you bring me back home last night?”

Ohm nodded. “You were so wasted last night that I had to carry you all the way to the room.”

“Thank you, Nong.” Kao stood up. “I’ll go freshen up. Damn, my head is killing me.”

Ohm chuckled and shook his head. His cousin wasn’t familiar with hungover mornings. 

Ding dong.

The doorbell rang, catching Ohm’s attention. As Kao was still in the shower, Ohm attended the door. It was a delivery man who brought their breakfast.

The smell of delicious spicy pad thai assaulted Ohm’s nostrils. He got the culinary for both of them and started digging in on his share of the food.

Kao walked out of the room in a fresh pair of clothes, drying his hair with a towel.

“P’ Kao, where did you order the food from? It is really delicious.” Ohm who was almost done with his breakfast asked.

“Food? I didn’t order it.” Kao looked at the food on the table with a confused expression.

Ohm frowned. “You didn’t order this? Don’t tell me that they delivered the food to the wrong address.” He looked at his almost empty plate worriedly.

Kao walked up to the table and stared at the food. “The packaging looks quite etiquette. I wonder which restaurant would pack their deliveries like this.”

“P’ Look at this.” Ohm found a sticky note on the packaging.

Hangover sucks, doesn’t it old man? Please don’t die so soon.
    -F

“F?” Ohm narrowed his eyes. “Fluke?”

Kao snatched the sticky note and stared at it. “How do you know Fluke?”

“Oh? He called yesterday. I picked it up.”

“What? He called?” Kao was shocked to find that Fluke actually called him. he pulled out his phone and checked the call history. He was stunned to see the number of missed calls from Fluke.

“Damn it.” he cursed softly. “What did he say? Was he angry?” he asked anxiously.

“He sounded more worried than angry,” Ohm replied. “He especially told me to tell you to call him.”

“Oh? Then I better call him.” Kao sat down to start eating. He groaned as the hot and spicy pad thai hit his taste buds.

The call went through in the second ring itself.

“Hello” Kao spoke first.

“Hello, Phi.” Fluke scoffed on the other end of the call. “How’s the hangover?”

“Pretty sick. I feel like my head is going to explode.” Kao supported his head with his palm and put the call on speakerphone. He didn’t mind Ohm hearing the conversation. “Thanks for the breakfast. It kind of hits the spot.”

“You are welcome.” Fluke snickered.

Ohm who was done with his breakfast was listening to the call. He was curious about who the kid was.

“By the way, how did you get my address? Don’t tell me that you tracked my phone.” Kao joked. But the silence at the other end of the call kind of confirmed his assumption. “What? You really track my location?”

“I just wanted to know if you were dead or alive,” Fluke said nonchalantly.

“Thank you for your deep concern, N’ Fluke. I am well and alive.” Kao rolled his eyes.

“Sooo well that you were crawling on your all fours last night.” Fluke chuckled. “If not for your cousin picking you up, you might have ended up sleeping on the roadside.”

Kao glanced at Ohm who was trying his best not to laugh. “Can you stop hacking into public properties, you know it is a crime.”

“Only a crime if I get caught.”

Kao facepalmed. He couldn’t get Fluke to listen to him. “Why did you want me to call you?”

“Nothing special. Just wanted to check on you. I don’t know if should call you a kind-hearted man or a coward.”

“Call me whatever you want. Just take care of him” Kao massaged his temples.

“As if I need you to say that.” Kao could see Fluke rolling his eyes at him.

“Yeah, I know you will.”

“P’ Kao… one more thing I wanted to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Phi, I have heard that the best way to move on from a heartbreak is to find another person…”

“So? What do you propose?” Kao had a gut feeling that nothing good was going to come out of Fluke’s mouth.

“Last night, when I called your cousin picked up the call.” Fluke started slowly.

Kao looked at Ohm whose interest seemed to have perked up hearing Fluke mention him. “Yeah. I know. He was the one who told me to call you.”

“From his voice, he seems to be handsome.”

Ohm raised his eyebrows.

“Given your family gene, it is only natural.” Fluke laughed awkwardly at the lack of response.

“What are you trying to get at Fluke?” Kao supported his head with his hands and stared at the phone.

“I was wondering if he was single.”

The cousins looked at each other and then at the phone.

“What if he is?” Kao asked cautiously.

“I was wondering… if… I should…” Fluke deliberately dragged his speech.

“If you should…?” Kao asked impatiently.

“If I should set up my best friend with him,” Fluke said in a wondering tone.
“Ai shat!” Kao cursed causing Ohm to be shocked. Kao rarely cursed. Ohm had never heard Kao curse before.

Fluke roared in laughter on the call. Kao turned red in embarrassment. He didn't mean to curse. It just came out of his mouth subconsciously.

He could feel Ohm's surprised gaze on him. He didn't want to look up. But when he thought of the probability of Ohm being together with Earth, his jealousy rose up.

Ohm rubbed the tip of his nose while being glared at by his cousin. “I am sorry to let you down, Nong. I don’t think I will be interested in your best friend.” He could clearly see the killing intent directed at him in Kao’s eyes a moment ago.

“Shia!” Fluke yelped in surprise. “I am sorry phi. I didn’t mean to curse.” He tried to salvage the situation. “Swadee Khrab, P’ Ohm. I didn’t know that you were nearby.”

“You are on speaker phone Fluke,” Kao spoke up.

Fluke was silent. He was a little ashamed that he made a bad impression on Ohm.

“It’s okay Nong. I am glad that I got to meet P’ Kao’s old friends like you.” Ohm said holding back his laughter.

“Likewise, Phi. Likewise.” Fluke let out an airy chuckle.