Part 1

Crying. Everywhere I look, there are girls crying. Not all of them but enough that it makes me worried. Even some of the ladyboys are bawling loudly on the shoulders of their friends. It may be my imagination, or maybe I’m being paranoid, but the crying seems to escalate as I walk by. Seeing some of my classmates ahead animatedly chatting, I hurry to join them.

“Hey!” I greet them with a smile and a wave. As a whole, the group stops talking and turns to look at me with wide eyes. Now, I’m really nervous. “What’s going on? Why is everyone being so strange? Even on the way here, there were so many people crying. Did I miss something?”

My classmates stand there as silent as statues. No one says a word. The quiet stretches out as I try to wait patiently for my answer. Finally, a tiny girl with big eyes gets shoved forward. Normally, Della is talkative and friendly to me and I find her comfortable to be around, especially since she has no romantic interest in me at all. Today though, she is trying to hedge back and refuses to look at me.

“Go on, Della. Ask him.” Fred, a tall, skinny guy with round glasses, urges her back.

“It’s none of our business.” Smacking Fred’s hand away from her shoulder, Della rounds on the rest of the group with narrowed eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her mad before. “I told you before that I have no interest in prying into the private lives of my classmates. If Phun wants us to know, he’ll tell us. If not, that’s his business. I’m his friend not some trashy gossip magazine.”

“Della, what’s going on? What gossip?” Walking up to her, I nudge her shoulder to get her to look at me. “I know you aren’t some crazed gossipmonger. You’re my friend. If there is some weird rumor going around about me, I want to know what it is. I’d rather hear it from my friend that from some stranger.”

“Fine, but I’m not asking if it’s true or not. That’s for you to decide if you want to tell us. I am only telling you what everyone is saying.” She takes a deep breath to calm her agitation. “Some people saw on your FB page this morning that your status changed. All those weeping girls you saw were probably because they either heard about it or saw it for themselves.”

“My status?” Really confused, I scratch behind my ear as I try to think if I had even been on my account since yesterday morning. I can’t remember logging into it though.

“Yes, your status. It was changed to ‘Engaged’ and at least half the females in our school are in mourning.” Taking a neon pink phone out of her bag, she brings up her FB and clicks over to my page. Then hands me the phone and points to a single word. “Engaged.”

Sure enough. It really does say that. I’m not sure why it says that, but it does. Handing Della back her phone, it only takes me a moment to realize what happened and I groan, slapping a hand over my face.

The other day, I had changed Noh’s status to “In a Relationship” without telling him. I admit I was jealous. I’ve seen the way people look at Noh when we are walking together. Since we started at Uni, Noh’s popularity skyrocketed. I thought it was bad when we were at Friday, but it’s at least ten times worse here since our university is co-ed. It doesn’t help that most of them think he’s single since he’s never changed his status to say differently. I know he was trying to keep nosy gossip out of our relationship since he can’t put on there who he’s dating. He’s still worried that I’ll be hurt in some way if people know about us. I know he’s only thinking of me but I really don’t care what people say. I love Noh and I have no problems telling anyone who will ask me, not that anyone ever does.

The other day I saw that some girls left flirty messages on Noh’s FB and asked if he wanted to meet up sometime for a meal. They were cute with long hair and sweet smiles and I hated them. I hated them for being able to openly flirt with Noh and I hated that I couldn’t say anything, so I did the only thing I could. I changed his status. I didn’t say who he’s in a relationship with but I at least wanted those girls (and the rest of the world that’s in love with my boyfriend) to know that he is off the market. He was pissed when he saw what I had done and the flurry of comments it generated on his page. I thought for sure that he would change it back, but he surprised me. He left it saying that he was too lazy to change it again. It wasn’t the truth. I know he left it for me, to reassure me, and that made me so happy. I should have known that wouldn’t be the end of it.

“Damn it, Noh.” My mumbled words are lost in my palm and I wipe them away as I lower my hand to look at my classmates.

“Well?” Fred asks when no one says anything. “Will you tell us if it’s true or not?”

I almost immediately deny the rumor. Almost, but I get an inspired idea. There is something I’ve been wanting to do for some time and this may be the perfect opportunity. I’m sure that the smile on my face is more than a little wicked as I give my answer. Well, my Noh, it’s your own words. “It’s true. I am promised to someone but we aren’t formally engaged yet.”

“Holy , dude!”

“OMG!”

“Really?!”

“I don’t know if I should congratulate you or give you my condolences.” Shaking his head, Fred smirks. “From the way you’re smiling, I guess it has to be congrats. You’ve been dating each other for a while now, if I’m not mistaken. When do we get to meet her?”

“Yes, we’ve been together since our 3^rd year of high school.” I confirm and can’t believe it’s been so long already. “Let me get the rings taken care of and then we can plan a meeting.”

A bit more good-natured teasing and several good wishes later, most of them head into the building for our next class. Only Della stays behind with her eyes on me thoughtfully. Curious about what she wants, I stay with her. She stays silent until everyone is out of earshot then pulls me by my shirt sleeve over to a semi-private space by the trees, a good distance from the entrance to the building.

“I know you have been keeping your relationship discreet and I respect your privacy so I didn’t want to say this in front of the others.” Della gives me a quick hug with a huge smile on her face. “Congratulations, Phun! I’m so happy for you and Khun Noh. Who asked who? I bet it was you. How did he react?”

“Slow down, Della.” This is the Della that is my friend, upbeat and adorable. The only one in our group that actually knows about Noh. The only one who can truly understand a bit of my situation. “You would be wrong. I didn’t ask Noh.”

“What?! No Way! Noh asked you?” Her eyes widen and a hand flies up to . “Seriously? I never would have guessed that he’d make the first move.”

“Then you really don’t understand Noh.” Laughing, I take a seat on the bench by the tree where we’re talking and she sits next to me. “Noh was the one who grabbed my hands and wouldn’t let me run away from our feelings when I realized that I thought of him as more than a friend. Later, he confessed to me first when I was being stupid jealous over another guy that liked him. He also was the first to call me his boyfriend in public when some aunty on the street complimented me and asked if I wanted meet her daughter.”

“Noh did all that? We are talking about the same person, aren’t we?” She asks, skepticism evident in her voice. “He’s always so reserved about showing his affection for you, always seems worried about people seeing you. I thought you always had to make the first move.”

“Yes, it’s the same person.” I grin over at her. A lot of people who know about us probably think the same way as Della. The only one who may know the whole truth is Noh’s best friend, Ohm. It’s nice to be able to tell someone else just how amazing Noh is, for once. “Noh isn’t worried about people seeing him. Noh is worried about people seeing me.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t that the same thing?”

“For Noh, it’s not. My family has money and social status and my Pa has a government position. Noh worries that my relationship with him will cause problems for myself and my family if it’s found out.”

“If he’s still so worried, why did he propose? That’s big news and you won’t be able to keep it out of the public eye for long, especially with the FB status you posted. With the way all those girls are reacting, you can bet they will be wanting to know who snatched you first.” Suddenly Della starts giggling and almost falls off the bench. “Imagine their faces when they find out that, not only is the handsome Prince Phun taken, but he belongs to their idol, Khun Noh! The two most sought after men on campus are engaged to each other.”

“Really, Della.” I roll my eyes at her and she just howls louder with laughter. Eventually, she calms down and wipes the tears out of her eyes.

“The good news is that no girl will have the confidence to try to steal you from your lover. Even I have to admit that there is no one who can compete with Khun Noh’s beauty. It’s weird because it’s not like he looks like a girl or anything, but he is most definitely the most beautiful.”

“Are you switching sides? This is why I always have to keep a close eye on Noh. Everybody falls for him at some point.” Crossing my arms, I glare at her suspiciously.

“I don’t want your boyfriend, Phun.” Waving away the thought with a distasteful frown, Della smacks my shoulder. “He’s all yours. I’m just agreeing that he’s beautiful.”

“He is very beautiful.” I can feel my smile creeping across my face like it always does when I think of my Noh.

“Yeah, Yeah. I hope you’re ready for the backlash when the masses find out.” Della shakes her head in mock pity until another thought strikes her. “You still haven’t told me about him proposing. You weren’t joking about that, were you? How did he do it?”

“My status.” Standing up, I put my backpack over my shoulder.

“Your FB status? What about it?” Della picks up her bag and stand up, too.

“Noh’s the one who changed it.” That said, I walk away towards the building to go to class. “Let’s go, Della. Class is gonna start any minute.”

“Wait!” Della chases after me in frustration and I laugh as I walk in the main door.