Pride Online

“Uh... hello, Orn. You had an exam today, too?”

“Yes, I did. It was my last exam.”

She said, then she smiled. It was so sweet that Wisana got carried away. His body became weak, feeling like his legs would give out, and he would fall. Luckily, he grabbed his friend’s shoulder like a handrail before he was about to fall. The one who served as a handrail chuckled again, leaving the girls confused before they started chatting with each other again.

Orn or Warunya, a popular girl, star of the faculty of communication arts, was the girl that Wisana secretly had a crush on to the point that he could not compose himself in front of her. She was pretty, with the best personality. There was no doubt that everyone loved her, but it seemed that no one would be able to win her heart. Well, of course, Wisana was one of those who did not seem to win, too.

Wisana had attempted to confess his love more than thirty times, and his best friend could guarantee that he would fail every time. Not because he would get rejected, but he didn’t have the guts to be straightforward and say it to her in person. He always got chickened out before he could get to it.

“No matter how many times I see this I never get tired of it,” Tunwa said.

“I know right. I can’t get tired of her smile, either. And she smiled at me just now. Did you see that?”

“I mean you being such a coward that I won’t get tired of. Hilarious!”

Wisana paused, staring at his friend’s annoying face.

“Did you take my love for her as a joke?”

“Yeah, I did. It’s kind of funny.” Tunwa burst out in laughter. “Dude, when you were at Chiang Mai, have you ever eaten rice noodles? or you only eat them with nam ngiao? Next time try eating them with nam ya[1]! Really hopeless you are. Man, you don’t really know how to flirt. If it were me, she would probably be with me by now.”

“Like how you flirt with Nuch?”

Wisana’s comeback brought Tunwa’s turn to pause. He creased his mouth.

“You’re so annoying. I better go tell Orn that you have a crazy amount of feeling for her.”

“Try. Let's see how the martial arts I learned from my mom work out on you.” He let out a long sigh. “Hey, you really didn't tell anyone about this, right, Tunwa? I started losing trust in you.”

“Na, I might be foul-mouthed, but never leaky-mouthed.”

“So, you’re always aware of how your mouth always is?” Wisana drew back a bit.

“Whatever, I’m telling you that your secret is safe with me.”

“I hope that is true. And what about Nuch, did you tell her?”

“Dude, if I already did, you would know, the entire world would, too.”

The two best friends smiled at each other knowingly. They both knew Nuchjaree very well. Her favorite thing to do was to play cupid, and how she shot her love arrows was not fun at all. Well, it was true that she just helped her junior confess to his crush, however, it cost a huge amount of embarrassment.

Why?

Well, she asked her friends from the choir club to sing his love confession song, in the middle of a cafeteria, during lunch break. Even though his love was accepted, Wisana was not sure if that girl actually had that same feeling for him, or she was just too embarrassed and wanted to get out of there.

Wisana got goosebumps while thinking of it because if Nuchjaree wanted to be a cupid for Warunya and him, too, he would rather die. He had no idea what weird and embarrassing ways she may come up with for him to confess his feelings. Plus, Warunya was one of her best friends. So, the scene she would produce for him had to be so grand that the stage play of Phantom of the Opera couldn’t top it for sure!

“So, Nuch, let’s play today. Yesterday I tried out the items that dropped from the monster, it was really cool.”

“Sure. I’ll be there. I heard that there will be new quests open, too, and it related to those monsters. So, it’s like killing two birds with one stone. I also have to practice my new skills, though.

“That’s right. Well, I’m still clumsy with new skills, too.”

“Oh, and before I logged out, I also got some good items from the market. I’ll show you later. You're gonna love it. It’s such a shame that there was only one piece. I wanted to buy you one, too.”

“Really? What is it?”

Wisana, who was eavesdropping on the girls’ conversation, raised his eyebrows. Too many unfamiliar terms coming out from them made his head spin and lose the context. Eventually, he looked at his best friend and whispered.

“Tun, what are they talking about?”

“They’re talking about the Pride.”

Tunwa answered casually, but it made Wisana pause for a moment.

“Orn plays it, too?!”

Wisana got so surprised that he gave a start. The girls turned to look at him with questions. He awkwardly waved his hand to tell them there was nothing to worry about. Then, he dragged Tunwa away in the other direction.

“What is it now? You’re so troublesome.” Tunwa creased the lips.

“Spill it all out now. Since when did you all hang out together? Why did I never know she played the game with you two?”

“Well, you never asked.”

Tunwa scratched his cheek.

“I don’t see how this is a big deal. Everyone is in the game. Well, everyone, but you, you’re in a cave. Anyway, we're at the same party. We farm together frequently. Sometimes we hunt the bosses...”

“Farm? What farm? Can you not speak nerd?”

Tunwa let out a long, exhausted sigh.

“Briefly, we’re in the same team. We stick together all the time. We help each other get EXP to level up, something like that.”

“Really?!”

How fabulous it was to be together all night. Why did he never think of this before? This could be a chance to spend time with Orn, couldn’t it? Wait, no. It was the chance that she could see him embarrassing himself, and the game would be his grave.

Realizing that he sucked at games made him sigh, thinking that he had better given up on the idea of pursuing her in the game since it seemed too difficult, especially when his playing skills were even weaker than a kindergarten kid's.

While Wisana was having a moment with himself in outer space, Tunwa saw his mouth gasping up and down like a goldfish. Then he knew what this goldfish was thinking. And there was no way that he would let this opportunity go. A cunning smirk showed up on the half-American’s face.

“Yeah, really. And I have to tell you something, Orn is very hot in the game.”

“What?” Wisana blinked for a second.

“Well, we can dress however we like in the game, right? And her outfit is so sexy. When combined with her cute look, many guys get so attracted to her.

“For real?!!”

Wisana yelled and made the girls flinch again. They looked at him with questions as Tunwa covered his mouth and waved to brush them off like they weren’t being weird at all.

“Listen carefully, Na” He whispered in Wisana’s ear. “This is just my guess, but don’t you notice that Orn doesn’t really date any guys who flirt with her? So, I think that maybe she already has a boyfriend in the game.

“No way. Who actually dates in an online game?”

“Damn.” Tunwa shook his head in frustration. “You really are a caveman. We’re in the digital age. What I’m trying to say is her boyfriend could be from another city or another country, and they meet up and hang out in the Pride every night.”

“W... well, it’s just your guess.”

Tunwa smiled widely because he knew this gullible person started to agree with him.

“I really don't want to imagine it. This game is so well designed. You can actually feel the physical touch, like kissing or holding hands. You can’t go further than that, though. But to be honest, just thinking about how she would have a good time with her boyfriend in the game... gives me goosebumps.”

Wisana paused in shock.

“No, it can’t be. She’s not dating anyone.”

“Well,” Tunwa grinned. “She might not be, ...yet. But it's possible. She’s even hotter in the game than she is in real life. There may be no one she likes at university, but there may be someone she likes in the game.”

“No. Not gonna happen.”

“Yes. Believe me. I’m telling you this because you’re my best friend.”

“Nooooooo!” After he screeched(?) out, Wisana ran away, disappearing from Tunwa's sight as the girls flinched for the third time before they saw someone run off like a lunatic and vanish amid the satisfied laughter of Tunwa the Scoundrel, who had just successfully, thoroughly fooled his friend.

“What is wrong with him?” Nuchjaree said, looking confused.

“Don’t worry about him. You will understand soon enough. Well, why didn’t I think of doing this sooner? I’m such a genius.”

“What is wrong with you?”

“Yeah, well, you’ll know, soon enough, no longer than tomorrow.”

Hearing that, the girls gave each other a concerned look while the scoundrel continued to laugh so loudly, his laughter echoing through the building as if he could never be more satisfied.

-----------------

“Hey Dad, It’s me”

Wisana just ran from his major’s building straight to his car in the parking lot. He drew his phone out and dial the numbers. He shouted when the other picked up.

“Hey, kiddo, What’s up? Is there gonna be a storm in town, tonight? It’s so strange that you call me first.”

A lively voice answered as Wisana stopped in front of his black Civic Honda car.

“No nagging now, please Dad. May I ask you a favor?” He said, impatiently.

“I heew it! What can I do for ya? Oh, you decided to move into my house, and needed help with your stuff? Alright. I’ll send someone to your condo right away.”

“If I actually move there, mom will kill me.” Wisana creased his lips. “Besides, it’s not like me and your girlfriend get along so well.”

“So, is it about money, then? I told you just the money from your mom wouldn’t be enough. I can transfer some for you now. Give me your bank account number.

“Nah, I don’t need your money. Mom always told me not to ask you for more money, or she’ll drag me back to Chiang Mai.”

“Then what is it? Oh, no, did you get someone pregnant? Okay, I can talk to them. I understand an attractive guy can be swarmed by girls, and I’m not gonna judge you or anything.”

“No! I didn’t!! Stop guessing, Dad!!” His patience was pushed off its limit as he screeched again, sending the security guard jumping from his nap, looking left and right in confusion. Wisana waved at him as a gesture of apology for unintentionally waking him up.

“Okay, are you ok? Is it urgent? You sound nervous, kiddo.”

So nervous that it made the father a bit nervous, too.

“Do you still have those Pride game consoles left?”

“Game consoles?” He repeated it in a high tone. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I need it to play the game. Do you have it or not?”

After he finished, the other side of the phone went silent. He was quiet for so long that Wisana had to pull his phone away from his ear to check that they were still connected, and the call didn’t drop.

“DID YOU MEAN IT, SON?!”

“Darn, lucky, I didn’t put the phone on my ear, or I’d become deaf with this thundering shout.”

Wisana complained with a sour face. He was not surprised by his dad's weird behavior, but still needed a moment to adjust his mind, then he said,

“So, you have the console? With that memory stick thing??”

“Yes, I do. I have everything ready for you to play! So, you find my game interesting now, huh?”

“Well…" Wisana rolled his eyes. “Yeah. You can say that. Most of my friends are really into the game, so I want to join them, too.”

He said that and smiled knowingly to himself because he wasn’t planning to tell his dad that he actually wanted to join in the game just to snoop around the girl he is flirting with (or intending to... but dare not, to be precise) and to keep those flirting pests away from her, too!

“I’m so proud of you. I’m going to cry.”

“Dad, don’t be extra,” Wisana said, deadpanned. “And could you send them to my place, please? I don’t want to drive all the way to your office. Too far.”

“Sure, no problem. I can even have my driver deliver them to you today.”

“Yes, I do need them by today, Dad. Sooner, the better.”

“Darn, my gamer spirit has just awakened in you or what? But I'm so glad. I thought you would grow up to be too much like Lady Wimon, you know, self-centered and not fun.”

Wisana sighed again, tired of his dad's nonsense rambling.

“So, please send them by today. If your driver arrives just give it to the receptionist in the lobby, on the first floor. I have something to do for Mom. I'm not sure what time I’ll be back.”

“Alright. Done. Don’t forget to come by my office sometime, okay?”

“Okay. Later dad.”

He pressed the end call button and whistled in relief. It was convenient that his dad had the console and was ready to ship it to him by today. So, he didn’t have to wait too long. He could log in to the game and see if Tunwa was right about his beloved Warunya today.

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[1] Nam ya: This word has two meanings in this context: one is the name of a Thai curry often made from fish or chicken and eaten with rice noodles, and the other is ability, capability, skill, or expertise.