Love at the Nth Time

The Pain in Your Warmth

Chapter 10

The next day, Hang Cxhi contacted me non-stop. She had access to my log-ins whenever I stayed in their country. I tried to take my phone to the main store to locate it. However, she had built-in access to the phone that only she could track down, as expected of a daughter from a CEO of a high technology company.

"You can roam around. Don't go much further, though. I'll be meeting someone." I put gold stud earrings in my right ear from the rook, mid and low helix, and triple lobe.

"What, I wanna go too." In a ready-to-state, Celine sat on the corner of the bed. I looked at myself on the mirror wall beside the bedside table. Since it was summer in Thailand in July, I would go with a plain gunmetal grey short sleeve Henley shirt, tropical wool knee-length shorts, an olive colour penny loafer paired with wayfarer sunglasses which I hung on the front pocket of the cream-coloured shorts.

"No dummy, stay here. You can't go around alone."

"Come on. I won't bother you. I'll stay behind."

Since I had to show her this side of me, I let her come with me. "Hello, babe," I greeted her, and this Thai woman turned around.

"Seth!" She squealed and wrapped her arms around my neck. I kissed her on the cheek. Awkward I was, as Celine was with another girl, and I treated them differently. Who would even discern I would be walking around in public with someone as simple as Celine? Not one of my women, and that was still a stupid facade.

"Uh, this is Celine, a friend. Celine, this is Hang Cxhi, my girlfriend." She smiled at her, Hang Cxhi bowed, and she bowed as well.

Hang Cxhi, who usually wore a backless halter dress for dates, heightened her well-endowed body. She's undoubtedly gorgeous and high maintenance. I get enthralled whenever I see a woman wearing high-quality and detailed fashionable clothes. It was just too good in the eye.

"I missed you. Don't tell me we have to date while she's around?" Hang Cxhi asked, glancing at Celine, whose eyes were elsewhere. The girl wore jeans again today.

"It's fine. Celine has this way of enjoying herself." This Thai woman carried on clinging onto me, and our feet took us to roadside restaurants. Her nude lipstick touched my cheek as we whispered about how our physical features complemented each other. Damn, it was exhilarating.

"Should we book a hotel room now? I know a new place," her luscious voice rang in my ear. I chuckled in delight.

"No, sexy, we have to eat first."

We headed to a fine dining restaurant. I ushered Hang Cxhi into her seat and looked at Celine, who stood before us.

"Oh, don't mind me. You didn't tell me you'd have a date." She glared at me for a second.

"Where are you going?" I asked normally.

"I'll walk around. Message me if we're going back." She smiled, and bowed at Hang Cxhi, then left.

"She can go by herself. She's not a kid, Seth. Let's go shopping now. I wanted to show you the place I told you about before." After our lunch, she asked me to go on a boat tour. The boat had only a few tourists inside. Some of them were going on a dive with the boat instructor. However, how could I enjoy this kind of trip if anxiety was eating me slowly because of a particular human?

CHAT APP

Seth: Don't go too far. Avoid strangers. Have you eaten lunch already?

Celine: I know. I'm not a kid.

Seth: You better come here after an hour|

Hang Cxhi took my phone suddenly and hugged me from the side-waist. "Could you please stop facing your phone?" She lifted it in the ocean.

"Yes, babe, sorry, just give that to me." Eyes widened, my hand intended to grasp the phone, yet it fell on the water.

"f**k, what was that for?!"

"Oops, sorry, I'll just buy you a new one." She smiled, I breathed out nervously.

"Hang Cxhi, you did that on purpose! Why do you have to do that?" I shouted.

"'Cause, you never focus on me, even though we're together right now! You told me I'm your girlfriend in front of that girl. Maybe you're just lying. You're acting with her!-"

"Damn it. Celine has a boyfriend! I won't even meet the woman I'm dating to another woman I'm also dating! Fuck..." I exclaimed.

It was the first time I had been aggravated for as long as I could remember. I did not know what to do. I did not have the calm posture I usually had. I ditched Hang Cxhi and even pushed her away. I became furious at how selfish she could be. I had already told her this would be Celine's first time travelling outside her country.

Anxious about the presumption, she was contacting me over and over now. I called from the hotel. However, no one noticed her. I bought a new phone and immediately called Win through the chat app. "Win, help me contact Celine..." I stood up at the same meeting place where we met Hang Cxhi. The sky was getting dim.

"What are you doing? You put your woman first before her? Do you even know if she knows how to receive calls there?" I looked at another way to calm myself, but it was not immense help.

"I know, I don't know, I don't know what to do anymore. It's been two hours since I tried searching for Celine. Win, help me, please," I pleaded.

"Do you know her contact number?" I squeezed my eyes close and groaned a little.

"No."

I waited for Win in line. It had been half an hour. Uneasy to wait.

"I talked to her. She's on the Khao San Road. She'll wait there."

"Oh my God, thank you, Win-" I hung up the phone and ran to see her immediately. I know the place; it was around the riverside bistro where Hang Cxhi and I ate.

I was panting as I stopped near her. She glared at me. Eyes lowered, I uttered, "I'm sorry." She stood up on the bench and passed by me.

"I'll go back to the hotel." I followed her.

"I'm sorry… I didn't expect Hang Cxhi would do that. I'm sorry." I explained, like I had made a terrible mistake. This stone-faced girl was not looking at me, a depiction of not acknowledging my unusual behaviour.

"It's fine. It happened already," Celine said. My hand clenched as I watched her walk in front of me, behaving as if it was no big deal. Was it not substantial to mind?

If she only knew how worried I was and the trouble it caused solely to find her.

I wanted to cry for a long time. I never did again. Frustrated, Celine did not think of the struggle, only to find her. It freaked me out inside, and these emotions built up how she treated me. I locked myself in the restroom, never thought I would cry again. Small tears continued dripping down my cheeks like a kid. Like the very last time, I felt so hurt but could not even put it into words.

"Seth, are you still there? It's been more than an hour. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," my voice quivered. I went out of the restroom for about another hour, ensuring Celine would not notice the redness in my eyes.

"What dinner do you want, Seth?" Bit my lip as I saw her looking at me, comfortably sitting on top of the bed. A quick flash of my memories of what happened again, even the emotions I carried along with it. Eyes were blurred from the liquid filling it. Slowly, I sat down on the floor beside the bed and covered my face. I cried in silence. "S-Seth, i-it's fine. I'm fine. I'm not mad! Huy…" Her hand caressed the back of my hair. It calmed me down.

"I- I got worried. I d-did every way I could think of to search for you. I'm not going to let that happen again," I uttered and bit my lip, holding back the tears and emotions that built up inside me.

She kissed the top of my head. The bed moved as she hopped off, and her warmth embraced me from behind.

"It's okay, you crazy. I'm so happy you cared for me even though you're with your girlfriend. I feel so bad I disturbed your date and thought of staying here in the hotel while you date her till we get home. I forgot I hadn't exchanged my money yet." She hugged me tighter around my waist. I chuckled a little, and sniffed. "This's my first time meeting someone like you, Seth, and I wish to have a friend who's a third-gender woman, a beauty too. I'm so happy I met you, and you're so nice. You're very caring. I can't stop being honest." She chuckled nervously.

Held the sheet of the bed tighter, I felt calm from Celine's warmth. It eased me, but this pain could not even let go or even know where to go.