𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐋𝐄 (𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧)

𝟐: 𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

The meeting began between the partners who would launch the new website, 'AppTalk'. There were five of us. Puth, Jeth, Tho, myself and the last partner who would be the face of our website.

“You can call me Karn.”

"At first I thought Karn wouldn't take the job."

Jeth, who was the one who invited Karn (I'll call her that) to join us, she said.

“I wasn't going to do it at first. But... today there was a good event.”

Her nasal, TV-like tone of voice made my heart race. Although I maintained a calm exterior, no one knew that my toes were digging into the ground from shyness. Damn… She was so real, so fresh.

“I don't feel well. Our website is in its early stages, so there will be no revenue initially.”

Puth was unusually embarrassed. My rude brother said this with a dry smile. Karn did not respond. She just smiled and looked at me. Wow! I couldn't maintain eye contact. I was dying...

“This is Chris, my little sister. She will be the videographer and do all the editing. You'll have to work with her more than anyone else.”

Puth saw where the sweet-faced person was looking and introduced us. My brother's nervousness also made me nervous. My God. Couldn't he act normal? I was so excited that I couldn't control my facial muscles.

“Chris... say something.”

I stayed silent because I didn't dare say anything, then my brother pushed me. I looked at Puth a bit and responded briefly...

“Ah-huh.”

Had my voice trembled? If I talked more, I would surely cry. Ah... I shouldn't show that I was crazy about her. It was possible that she would feel uncomfortable if she found out about me. We had to work together for a long time.

Karn smiled a little at me and turned her attention back to the meeting. As for me, I didn't say a word because I was so excited to meet the news anchor I had just sent a letter to that morning. I felt very lucky. I must have saved the world in my past life to be so lucky. God...my heart was melting.

“The meeting went very well. Our website will be a sure success.”

Puth was now acting normally. I looked at my brother, who was babbling but was very quiet during the meeting.

“You are the founder, right? If you don't have confidence, how could you be successful? Why were you so quiet during the meeting?”

“Argh. I'm not good at talking. What's more... I was nervous. There was a beautiful woman there.”

Puth nudged me.

“Karn is so beautiful, isn't she? I thought she was beautiful on TV, but she is even more so in person.”

“Ah... I guess.”

I pretended I wasn't too excited because I wanted to stay calm. Even though, My Aontakarn was very 'awww', it wouldn't be ideal if the camera was too excited. ('Awww' means cute. Cute as a seal that screams: 'awww'.)

“Do you suppose so? Heck...women tend to be envious of another beautiful woman..”

“Why would I be envious?”

“You are envious because you are not the only woman on the team. God... you're beautiful too, sister. But you have to admit that Karn is very beautiful. How can a woman look good in every molecule? She sat up straight. Her hair was shiny. Her facial features are very delicate.”

“Delicate? She has a very high bridged nose. A great bridge.”

I argue unconsciously. That made my brother look at me with narrowed eyes.

“You are very observant.”

It's not called good observation; It's called scanning every inch. When I Googled it, I would have licked the computer monitor if I wasn't afraid of getting an electric shock.

“Her nose really stands out.”

“She seems very serene, but her eyes are very sad.”

My brother, who had experienced in his life.. described it as if he were reading an Ernest Hemingway novel. I twisted my mouth slightly before raising my eyebrows when I heard her next comment.

“I heard that her mother just died; Maybe that's why.”

“Oh.”

That's how it is. He could feel that I wasn't smiling fully. Initially, I attributed it to the fact that she was either a very polite person or a calm and collected person. But maybe it was because there was sadness in her, as my brother said.

“I heard that only her mother was left. Poor her. She should have someone by her side to take care of her.”

"Doesn't she have a lover?"

"I heard she used to have one."

So she didn't have one at the time... Great. Why was that cool?

“That's weird. Isn't she nice or something? Normally, someone this beautiful must have someone flirt with her or talk to her.”

“I heard they broke up around the same time her mother died.”

“She also broke up with her lover during a delicate moment. The guy couldn't handle it or something?”

“What I meant was that maybe he couldn't handle the pressure during that delicate moment.”

I really empathized with the fact that Aontakarn had been abandoned when she was alone and grieving. Puth looked at me and frowned.

“Do you hate her or something?”

“Why would I hate her?”

If I didn't like her, what would I feel? I knew more about her than I knew about myself. I was her biggest fan. Without a doubt, I would win an honorable award if I appeared on the show 'Biggest Fan' hosted by Panya.

“You always say negative things. You don't even know her yet, but you're already judging her.”

“Ah... just saying. Normally, someone so beautiful has to have people approach her. If there are none, then something is wrong.”

“Maybe it's inaccessible. It seems to have a high wall. She didn't say much at the meeting. She was very reserved. Do you think... I should try to flirt with her?”

“You have zero chance of success.”

“Hey you.”

“And you shouldn't flirt with a business partner. It is a basic rule that you should know. Large companies do not allow employees to have a relationship because it can affect their work. Maybe you are successful and madly in love. But if they separate, their business will go down the toilet.”

“Why do you have to be so serious? We haven't even started our website.”

“If you flirt with her, I will not be your business partner.”

My voice became stern and that stunned Puth. He waved his hands.

“Alright. I was just joking. I wouldn't be successful even if I flirted with her.”

“Do not even think about it. I forbid it!”

I repeated it, making my brother look discouraged.

“Good.”

Puth changed the subject and tried to sound optimistic when he saw that he was frustrating me. He probably thought I took our business seriously, although that wasn't the case at all.

“Talk about something else. Our first clip will be about reviewing what we already have, which are the cranes.”

“Cranes to lift things?”

“You are crazy? I'm talking about cranes for use with cameras. You should know more about this than anyone. It's good that you're just the videographer and editor, not the content creator.”

“Just kidding.”

“I think Tho already informed Karn about this. We will film in a park. Get ready... Karn will be free tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

I sat up straight, excited. My heart raced.

“What time will we film?”

“At night. So we can film when the light is beautiful. Think about the ideal camera angle and iconic editing style. You can put animations and stuff…”

Puth continued to inform me a little more. Honestly, I didn't hear much because I was excited to be able to meet Aontakarn again. I must have been the bravest soldier who fought side by side with King Narai or Okya, who saved our country in my past life. He was so blessed.. Your heart is full of emotion, Otchaou...

That was my first day working with 'AppTalk'. We didn't really have anything solid except our determination and the woman, who had experience as a newscaster. But reviewing something was something else, so we were all 'newbies', who are quite nervous. The reviewers for this clip were Puth, who was well versed in technology, and Aontakarn, who was a good communicator. They had already read the script and the brief before starting.

As for me, it was the camera that also had to do the editing. Normally, this type of work came easily to me. What made it difficult was that I had to look directly at the sweet-faced woman who was smiling as she spoke in her nasal tone of voice, looking directly into the camera. As I looked at my iPad screen, it was as if she was staring directly at me. So I turned so much from left to right that Tho, who was next to me, had to laugh out loud.

“What's the matter? Do you need to go to the bathroom? You're acting weird.”

I looked annoyed at the person who told me that. How could he interpret my shyness too mean that I needed to pee? I was so confused.

“I feel like I have a fever.”

“Is this your first job since you see again?”

“Yeah. If I make any mistakes, I apologize in advance.”

“Alright. We are all newbies, except Karn. Let's get to know each other more because we will work together for a long time.”

Why was everyone telling me that? I wanted to be closer to Karn than anyone else in this world. Tell that to the little woman, not me.

“Hey. Aren't you going to say CUT? We're done.”

Give me screams, and that's the end of that scene… There are many more scenes to shoot. Although the clips weren't very formal, I wanted them to look very professional. So my job was to brief Aontakarn on the angle of each scene. That was the first time we could really talk. My heart is full of emotion...

“It is really hot today.”

Karn's nasal tone of voice could be heard. It made everything silent. I didn't know who the little woman was talking to, so I didn't answer. Plus, I was very excited.

“Chris.”

“Huh?”

I looked up when I heard my name. Karn looked at me and smiled slightly.

“Can I call you Chris?”

“Ah-huh.”

The person in front of me had just said my name. Argh... What should I do? Should I faint? Would my head hit sleep too hard? I was too excited. I had to stay calm so she wouldn't notice… Awww, she was soooo cute, MY Aontakarn. Awww.

“How old are you?”

“The same age as you.”

I unconsciously bit my lips in frustration. Damn. I shouldn't act like I know too much. She would think I was a psychopath for looking for her.

“We haven't been able to talk much.”

“Yeah.”

My brief answers ended the conversation. Aontakarn pursed her lips a little and pretended to be admiring the birds and trees. She didn't know what to say because she didn't want to be too nosy so I started a conversation about work.

“For the next scene, I'll sweep the camera from bottom to top. You can enter slowly. I'll take the photos from the front.”

“Well..”

I set up the camera and prepared for the next scene. However, the announcer let something slip first.

"You don't like me, Chris?"

“What?”

I looked up and saw the eyes of the sweet-faced woman when I heard that. Light brown eyes stared back at me. What kind of question was that? So the answer was only one of two possible ones? … Do I like her or don't I like her? We were both silent for a long moment and I had to thank Puth for breaking the silence.

“Girls, how are we?”

"We haven't gotten anywhere."

I responded quickly, not meeting Karn's eyes.

“Let's hurry before we run out of power.”

Things continued as expected. Aontakarn continued to do her job well. Still, we hadn't finished our conversation because I didn't know how to answer her question. She wants me to confess my love or something... We're both women!

When she asked that, did that mean she wanted me to say, "Yes... I like you," right? Isn't it strange that I say that? We're both women and all that. Being in love with someone was so difficult.... It was a good thing I didn't respond. That was the best way out of that situation.

However, it seemed that... what I thought was a good outing was only good for me. That night, as I dazedly watched Aontakarn repeatedly on my Adobe Premier Pro program (I kept playing it to watch the announcer's smile in admiration), Puth burst into my room in a panic.

“Chris. You!”

“What? Why do you come into my room and yell at me like that?”

I bared my teeth at my brother for barging in while adding the song Otchaou Aei to a clip so I could watch it privately. However, my brother, he hit me on the head.

“Oh. That hurts. What is this...? I'm delicate. What happens if I become stupid?”

“You're already stupid. What happened today?”

“What happened?”

"What did you do to hurt Karn's feelings? She just called me to tell me that she no longer wants to be our partner.”

“ What? Why?”

This time it was me who panicked to the point of standing up.

“Nothing happened.”

“She said she can't work with someone she doesn't like. And that person is you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Since you hate her, she wants to leave the project. Moron!”

Perfect timing for comedy again...OMG!