7. Chapter Seven Spin

Chapter Seven: Spin

A fter the meeting, I close my calendar app and look up to see P'Park finishing a phone call.

"See you soon," he says and disconnects before looking up at me.

"Did you take the Skytrain here?"

I nod.

"You can just ride with me, then. Aod and Daeng drove separately, and they're going to meet up with us in an hour."

"Where are we going first?" I ask as we walk to the elevators. I notice he's holding a bag of the leftover food from the meeting.

"To my neighbor's. She's babysitting my sister."

Once we're in Park's black Toyota Yaris pulling into traffic, I ask, "Do your parents work at night?"

"It's just me and my seven-year-old sister, Anya. I'm her legal guardian. Our neighbor takes care of Anya when I have to work and Anya isn't in school, and I do odd jobs for her when I can to pay her back. I called Khun Anong and told her I have to work late and will be dropping off their dinner."

"It must be rough being responsible for a young child," I say.

"I've been doing it for four years now, so I'm used to it. It gets easier the older she gets."

And I thought I had it rough with Nok.

P'Park lives in a small house just outside of Bangkok, which he tells me was fortunately paid off before his father and stepmother died in an accident.

"Having a place to live with a built-in sitter next door has made my life much easier than it would have been otherwise. Khun Anong is like family and insists she loves watching Anya; but even so, I feel guilty. Anya barely remembers her mom and our dad. I'm all she's got, and I should be home with her more."

After unlocking the gate to their fenced-in yard, P'Park holds it open for me. "Khun Anong's house is on the right and mine's on the left."

The houses look similar—both small, one-level structures made of concrete. The neighbor's front door is unlocked, and P'Park pushes it open. The inside of the house is stuffy from the lingering heat of the day. A box fan runs in the living room where an older woman wearing a simple house dress and a pretty little girl in blue shorts and a matching T-shirt are having a tea party at the bamboo table. P'Park said his sister was seven, but with her petite features and small stature, she looks younger.

"P!" The child jumps up and runs into P'Park's arms. My heart turns over at the sight of the handsome man smiling and hugging the little girl.

"I brought a friend," P'Park tells her, and when she turns around, I see she has a sweet, round face and dimples in her cheeks. She grins at me, revealing a missing front tooth. She's adorable.

"Anya, this is P'Spin," P'Park says.

"Sawasdee-kha," Anya greets me, giving the wai and looking at me shyly.

"Sawasdee-khap." I return the gesture .

P'Park introduces me to his neighbor, who is a warm, motherly type who looks to be in her sixties. After greeting her respectfully, I turn to Anya.

"Are you having a tea party?" I ask her.

"Yes!" Anya hops back onto the couch. "Would you like some?"

"I'd love some," I say before P'Park can tell her no. "Is this tiger your friend?" I ask, pointing to one of the stuffed animals lined up on the couch as P'Park and Khun Anong begin talking and disappear into the kitchen.

"Yes, P', this is Khun Tiger."

"Sawasdee-kap, Khun Tiger," I say, bowing over my hands before taking the plastic pink teacup from Anya. I pretend to take a sip and pull back. "Oh, it's hot."

Giggling, Anya says, "Try blowing on it, P'Spin."

I blow into my cup before taking another fake sip. "Perfect. Thank you."

P'Park walks back into the room, and Anya looks up at him.

"P', do you want some tea? P'Spin has burned his mouth on it, so be careful."

"Sorry, Nong Sau, I have to go out again for a while. I've brought you and Auntie some delicious pad Thai and chicken satay."

Anya pouts. "Oh."

"I'll have a tea party with you at home, okay?" P'Park ruffles her dark hair. "But you have to have your homework finished."

Anya's lower lip pushes out, and she lifts her arms to her brother. "I don't want you to go."

Squatting in front of her, P'Park wraps his arms around the little girl and hugs her tightly, whispering something into her ear. Her face lights up and she releases him, nodding .

Outside, I ask, "How did you make Anya okay with you leaving her?"

"I told her we would watch her favorite cartoon in the morning. It'll mean getting up earlier than I'd like to on the weekend, but it's worth it not to have her crying after me."

"She's really cute," I say, then add seriously, "And she makes delicious tea."

P'Park shakes his head, a small smile curling his full lips. "Thanks for playing with her."

"You don't have to thank me. I loved playing with her. I used to play with my little sister all the time to keep her out of my father's way. I would have played with Anya all evening if you wanted to stay."

"Anya would love that, but Daeng and Aod will be waiting for us at the bar."

"I think you're wrong," I tell him as we fasten our seat belts in the car.

"About what?" P'Park looks at me questioningly.

"You said that you're all Anya has, but you're wrong. She has Khun Anong, too. It's obvious how fond they are of each other. And Khun Anong is fond of you, too. I can tell. She's more than just a neighbor and babysitter. Am I right?"

P'Park is quiet for a moment before saying, "Yeah. You're right. She's been our neighbor for so long, and we've gotten close. I dated her granddaughter for a few months last year. When I broke things off, I felt a little weird around Khun Anong. But she never treated me any differently. She's great."

"It seems hard to date in this business. I mean, from what I've seen."

P'Park nods. "It is. Ship work means you have to keep your relationship under wraps, and a lot of girls can't put up with that. I've always found it difficult to give to a relationship when I have enough on my plate with work and with Anya. It's too much."

I nod because even though I'm not dating anyone, the job takes most of my time and I can't imagine trying to make room for someone else. "My friends Pravat and Rama make their relationship work, but I think that's because they're both in the business. They used to be paired together. Hearts Entertainment split them up even though they were a popular ship. It didn't change things between them, though. They're still going strong."

"Ah. I wondered about them," P'Park says. "Rumor was that they're dating, but you can't believe everything you hear in this business."

By the time we reach Sumkhumvit district and park the car, darkness has fallen and the city is lit up. We have to walk several blocks to the bar, passing many people already well into their Saturday night partying. A rowdy group stumbles out of a nightclub, one extremely drunk guy blocking my way on the pavement.

"Hey, you're cute. Want to come with me?" he slurs, leaning in close to my face, his whiskey breath strong.

Before I can say anything, P'Park steps between us.

"He's with me," he says, leading me away, his arm around my shoulder. When we reach the bar, the place is packed, and P'Park slides his hand to the small of my back as we make our way through the crowd. I can't see over anyone's heads, so I rely on him to find Daeng and Aod.

"Over there," he says, nudging me.

When we walk up to the table by the bank of windows where P'Daeng and Aod sit, P'Daeng's gaze immediately goes to P'Park's arm curled around my waist .

"Starting with the skinship right off the bat, I see," he says. P'Daeng has changed into a black shirt and jeans. Aod's wearing a green button-down over a navy shirt and a pair of dark pants. He recently had his hair streaked blond for the part of Bear, and it suits him.

P'Park sits to P'Daeng's right, and I take the chair between Aod and P'Daeng.

P'Daeng's gaze runs over me. "You look good tonight, Spin."

"Er, thanks." I glance down at my red sweater over my white T-shirt and jeans that I've been wearing since our meeting.

"Really. Red is a good color on you."

P'Park clears his throat and asks me, "Beer?"

"Sure."

He motions to a server.

I look around. Crowds make me uneasy, but I feel comfortable as long as P'Park's with me.

"Do you want to dance?" P'Daeng asks, and it takes me a second to realize he's talking to me.

"We're here to get used to our partners," P'Park reminds him. "You may be confident in your skinship, but we want practice. In fact, trade seats with me so I can sit next to Spin." He stands up.

Frowning, P'Daeng turns to Aod. "Come on, let's dance."

Aod follows P'Daeng to the dance floor, and P'Park takes his vacated seat as the server places our beers on the table.

"So, you know about me and my sister and why I'm determined to succeed in this business. What about you? You said you have a younger sister."

I nod. "Her name is Nok. She just started university, and I'm helping her pay tuition."

"Are your parents still alive?" P'Park asks .

"My mother isn't. I don't know about my father. He left us when I turned eighteen and Nok was thirteen." Smiling, I shake my head. "I didn't know anything about raising a teenage girl. The years since then have been trial and error on my part. Mostly error." I chuckle.

"I'm sure you've done a great job," P'Park says softly.

"Well, Nok's still alive. Although, one time I almost lost her in a crowd." My spirits fall as I remember that day. One minute, fourteen-year-old Nok was standing beside me, and the next she was nowhere to be seen. I was terrified. I finally found her coming out of a public restroom.

"Is that why you don't like crowds?" P'Park asks.

"One of the reasons," I admit. "It's hard being so small. I wish I were tall like you are."

"I think you're cute," P'Park says, taking a sip of his beer.

I roll my eyes. "There's that word again."

"There's nothing wrong with being cute. You said Anya was cute," P'Park reminds me.

I scowl at him. "She's seven!"

P'Park laughs, and, even though my height can be a sore spot with me, I find I really don't mind when P'Park calls me cute–in fact, I kind of like it. Kiet always says that I hate to be small and cute until the moment I can use it to my advantage.

"You obviously don't realize how difficult it can be to be tall," P'Park says seriously.

"Oh, please. Enlighten me," I say sardonically.

"Well, for one thing, every time I'm in a grocery store, I have to get something off the top shelf for at least one person."

"Poor baby," I say. "At least you don't have to be the one asking someone to get something off the top shelf. It's so embarrassing. "

"And people can't keep up with me when I walk," P'Park continues. "I have to keep slowing down for them."

I hum, unimpressed.

"And people always assume I'm good at basketball."

I raise an eyebrow. "You're not?"

P'Park smiles. "Okay, I am. But not every tall person is. I don't think."

"So lame," I say.

"No leg room on a plane?" P'Park tries, and I can't help but laugh.

P'Daeng and Aod return, sweaty from dancing.

"Sure you don't want to dance?" P'Daeng asks me.

"I'm not big on crowds," I say.

"Really? Why is that?"

"Not being able to see over other people's heads makes me feel trapped."

P'Daeng smiles at that. "Oh. Well, you're really cute, though."

P'Park snorts, and I smack his arm.

Giving me a mischievous look, he holds out his hand. "Come on. Dance with me. I promise to take care of you, and we can practice skinship"

Taking his hand, I follow him to the dance floor. P'Park chuckles as he draws me into his arms.

"Be careful around Daeng," he says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"He sleeps around," P'Park clarifies. "A lot. You don't want to be a notch on his bedpost."

I make a face. "You think I'm that easy?"

"No, but Daeng can be pretty charming."

"Don't worry about me," I say .

P'Park's a good dancer—which I already knew, of course. I never slow-danced like this with him, though, unless you count that dance to "Cry to Me" in Dirty Dancing , but that was different—more like a seduction while mostly standing still. Now our bodies are pressed together as we both sway to the music, and it feels more intimate than the kisses we exchanged yesterday during rehearsal because we're us , not Khao and Boom. Even more surprising is how safe I feel with P'Park while in the middle of a crowd. His big hands hold me gently but firmly against him, and it's so easy to just forget everything else.

When the song ends, we return to the table, and I nearly miss a step when I look up and see Daeng and Aod in the middle of a heated kiss.

They pull apart when we take our seats, and Aod looks a little disoriented, like he forgot where he was for a minute. P'Park must be right about P'Daeng—he's already got Aod enamored with him.

"Can we leave, P'Park?" I ask, feeling uncomfortable with the amount of people entering the bar and the way P'Daeng and Aod are looking at each other.

"Of course." P'Park places some money on the table to take care of the bill, and, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, says goodnight to P'Daeng and Aod and escorts me through the throng.

Outside in the fresh night air, I say, "Sorry. It was just suddenly too much."

"It's fine. I'm glad to get away from all the noise."

"Do you think Aod's okay staying with P'Daeng?" I ask, looking back at the bar.

"I'm pretty sure Cream warned him about Daeng's reputation the other day. I'm sure if he doesn't want the attention, he'll tell Daeng."

I think about Daeng sleeping around at work. "Is P'Daeng gay or bisexual? Aren't most bl actors straight? "

Park shrugs. "There are lots of straight guys in the business, sure. But when you think about it, what better job for a gay man than playing in a boys' love series? And I wouldn't be surprised if a few straight actors fool around with Daeng sometimes."

"Has he come on to you?" I ask.

"A while back, when I first started in the business."

I can't bring myself to ask him if he took P'Daeng up on it. Could that be the reason P'Park dislikes him so much now? Because P'Daeng used P'Park for sex and then ignored him?

As though reading my mind, P'Park says, "I never slept with him."

Relief washes over me. I don't like imagining P'Park slept with P'Daeng.

"You want to go somewhere else?" P'Park asks me when we reach the car.

"Don't you need to get back to Anya?"

"She'll be asleep by now on Auntie's couch. I know of a bar that won't be as crowded as that one. Want to try it?"

I nod, secretly pleased that he wants to stay with me. "Sure."