Gulf's POV

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I tried to finish my shift earlier today since we need to train a lot for tomorrow's meeting, when I got back it was 20 to 10 pm, Mew was on his laptop as soon as he saw me he quickly closed it which surprised me a little as he looked away

"you're back, go have a bath, I will be here" he said avoiding any kind of eye contact, he looked worried and nervous

"what's wrong?" I asked him

"no-nothing" I stared at him for a minute

"I know it' s none of my business but if you need any help let me know, I will do anything, after all I own you so much" he provided me with a place to stay, he let me use anything around even his laptop and even encourages me to finish my studies, I'll do anything to repay him.

"thanks but it's just... it's just smth about the training, I'll tell you the details when you come back" he finally looked to me while rubbing his hands, he showed me a faint smile as I nodded

"alright" I took a relaxing bath then headed to where he was, sitting next to the still worried professor, made me concerned too, is today's training that hard?

"so we held hands, he talked about each other, he hugged so what's next?" I asked as he handed me his phone looking away

"w-we need to at least be able to do this, if we do it once tomorrow in front of your friend it will assure him that we are real" I slowly took his phone sliding the shocking pictures as I hardly swallowed down the water I just drank, I glanced at him as he still looked away

"ki-ki-ki-ki... ki-kissing?!" I managed to say after too much stuttering, I never thought that we had to do that, I know that real couples kiss and all but doing it in public?! With a fake boyfriend?! Me?!

"I know it's hard" Mew said looking to me

"hard? It's almost impossible!!! I absolutely can't do this! Even if it's on the cheek"

"you don't have to, I will do it, you just stay still, once is enough, besides we also have to do it in front of my parents too since they are very observant and will keep starring at us when they visit, also we need another one for a photo too" he kept explaining how important it is, I understand but just thinking about it makes me feel so weird

"I understand but... for me it's something sacred, only done between real couples who truly love each other" I said looking down my lap still holding his phone

"I know, that's why we only will do it on the cheek, the pictures I chose just to show you how real lovers act but we won't do it, saying that we are shy about doing it in public" he said with a sincere imploring tone, when I gazed into his eyes I only saw that he was anxious and disheartened

"why are you sad?" I asked making him look away

"for forcing an innocent person to do this with me" I could tell that he was blaming himself for making me do all this

"it's fine P' Mew, we both agreed to do this, either way there is no going back now" he quickly faced me with concerned yet hopeful look

"yes, let's just start"

"first let's do what we did the past two days" he said holding my hand, at this point I became completely relaxed with his touch, then we held each other in a different positions and finally

"are you ready?"

"just do it" I looked ahead as I could feel him getting closer, the moment I felt his breath I shut my eyes so tight, I felt it, although it only lasted a few seconds I still felt his soft gentle kiss, it wasn't even a kiss, just a peck like the ones I got from my little sister when she was a kid, that's right, he is just a friend , like a big brother to me, a peck like this is normal but still since it's the first time, I tensed a little slowly opening my eyes

"is it disgusting?" he asked with a fearful apologetic voice, he must have felt me shiver, I quickly shook my head

"not at all, I just tensed since it's the first time" a tender happy smile formed on his face, he held my hand and leaned forward again planting another peck on my cheek again, when I couldn't feel his lips again I turned to face him.

My eyes were staring up ahead, my brain processing the image in front of me thus I still didn't know how to react, I couldn't move an inch like I was parallelized, I even stopped breathing, there he was, staring back at me in shock, he also stopped breathing, our lips came in contact, he still holding my hand, my mind felt blank, I didn't know what to do, suddenly my heart thumbed so loudly that returned some sense into me as I quickly pulled back covering my mouth with my free hand.

I could feel myself getting a little feverish; my heart was beating a little faster, my lips were burning a bit as I observed the man in front of me, he looked away leaning a little forwardly while his cheeks became pinkish each passing second also touching his lips, he slowly released my hand looking down his feet, it was for a minute but it felt like we stayed like that for hours, I know it's an accident, neither of us meant it to happen, but I'm still so conscious about it.

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Mew's POV

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I can't believe this just happened, I was going to kiss his other cheek but he suddenly turned around facing me and I couldn't stop in time, I didn't know what to do, my mind stopped working all of a sudden, I also held my breath and could just keep starring at him, it's just an accident, I wonder what is he feeling about this? Angry right? I peeked at him to find that he was gazing at me with his red cheeks up to his small ears, the back of his right hand was still covering his mouth.

As soon as he noticed that I looked to him he quickly averted his eyes, he turned around as his back was facing me now, I sit back gazing at his still-wet-hair, I can't let this awkward situation escalate farther or it will be impossible for us to behave well around each other in the future

"I'm sorry" I started after calming my beating heart

"I was going to kiss you other cheek but you suddenly faced me and I couldn't stop in time, well you also know that this is an accident" he turned around facing me but looking down his lap, he nodded

"I don't want this awkward situation to linger around us so let's both forget about it, behave like nothing happened"

"al-alright" I finally heard his voice that had a mix of understanding and embarrassing tones

"did it make you feel so awful and disgusted?" he weakly shook his head

"then look at me" I reached holding his face making his eyes rise up to look to me

"it's an accident so let' s throw it off of our heads alright?"

"okay"

"good" I could tell that he calmed down, I went to the kitchen and brought a small bowl of salad I prepared earlier with my dinner

"let's feed each other" I said handing his a fork

"it only has, tomato, cabbage and some radish" he nodded, I picked some vegetables and moved the fork slowly toward his mouth, he blinked once but he opened up as I fed him, he normally ate like it was nothing which made me relieved

"oh, it's delicious, the seasoning is perfect" he said

"I'm glad to know that you life it" he also did the same, feeding me without a hesitation, his phoned beeped, it was a message from his friend confirming the time and place, seeing him eating while replying being all relaxed gave me a chance.

I leaned closer stealing another cheek kiss then quickly backed away, he froze for a moment and looked to me with that angry half closed eyes yet soon sighed looking back to his phone, a small grin formed on my face without a permission as I found myself feeding him again and planting a kiss once in a while until we both got used to it.

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"are you ready?" I asked him as we stepped out of my car

"no!" he said looking so tense and worried

"calm down, he trained a lot for this, we will be fine, besides, we are supposedly a new couple"

"I may say something stupid so kick me if I do" I giggled while he pouted

"don't worry I'll cover for you, although I'm also a little nervous"

"don't forget that there is a little girl with them"

"Mali, right?"

"yes, she is 7 years old"

"alright, well let's go" I held his hand as he hesitantly started walking, once we got in, a familiar face waved to us, once we got closer

"hello, I'm glad to meet you, I'm Mew Suppasit" I introduced myself first

"finally we got to meet, I'm Earth Saetang, this my boyfriend Kiet and his lovely daughter Mali" we shook hands

"please to meet you P' Kiet, I'm Gulf Kanawut, Earth told me a lot about you"

"he talked about you too as his best friend" Gulf and the man shook hands, then we sat down ordering our lunch

"you know I still can't believe that you actually got a boyfriend" Earth said

"people change!" Gulf said

"of course, I'm so happy for you, you were always focusing on your studies and work, btw I still didn't hear how you both first met" Me and my student looked to each other then I smiled

"we met at the restaurant I always go to, that day I went then to drink a little after a boring blind date my parents arranged, I was feeling depressed, suddenly he came closer serving me and once I looked at him... I can't even express how I felt, I immediately knew he was the one I've been searching for" I said as I held Gulf closer to me as his friend watched us with shiny eyes

"I know it may sound surreal, but it's the truth Earth, I don't know how it happened but we quickly became closer and then suddenly he confessed to me and I found myself accepting him" Gulf continued touching my hand that was on his shoulder, so far so good

"wow! That's really romantic! Well it's no different from our story" Kiet said holding his lover

"yeah, I heard your story hundreds of times for Earth, well thanks to him I started to believe in having a fated partner and I'm glad I did" we glanced to each other smiling then back to them

"what is fated partner?" suddenly the little girl asked

"umm.... It's someone you will start loving very fast" her father explained

"you can't even imagine yourself living away from him right?" Earth said looking to us

"absolutely, even during work you want to call him to hear his voice" I said making them smile, I'm glad I read some romantic novels and watched some romantic Korean dramas. When our lunch was served, we watched Earth feeding Mali while he was being fed by his boyfriend, this is a real couple, they look like a real family and I can clearly see how truly they are happy together, I know that no matter how much acting we will do we will never look that, I looked to Gulf who was watching them with warm smile, he was happy for his friend.

"if you keep staring at him I will get jealous" I blurted out making them look at me, Kiet smiled as Gulf got a little shy looking to me

"oh don't worry P' Mew, Gulf have been worried about me since high school because I had some failed relationships so that he is assured that I'm happy he is just relieved"

"I see but still I'm a little possessive"

"now you know how I feel when you talk about your best friend Boat" he said playing along, he is really good at acting and improvising

"I can't deny that" we all laughed

"btw Gulf, do you have couple pictures together, I want to see!!!"

"I have a lot... Mew loves photography so he keep taking pictures wherever we go so I had to upload half of them to my PC to empty my phone storage"

"talking about pictures, let's have one now" I said taking my phone, taking a selfie

"see?" Earth giggled as he watched the photos on Gulf's phone with admiration eyes, it's like the photos assured him more of our relationship, suddenly Mali hit her spoon sending some white sauce on Gulf's shirt who was sitting next to her

"oh Mali I told you to be careful!!!" her father yelled

"it's fine P' Kiet, it was an accident" I quickly held a napkin and wiped it away, the stain was down close to his right side of his waist, he looked to me as I rubbed it a little

"I will go wash it with the water" he said standing up then going to the restroom

"lucky it wasn't a ketchup"

"don't worry about it, I will buy him a new shirt, I was already planning to buy him his favorite black & white hoodie anyway"

"you really know a lot about each other" Earth said

"of course we do, we even sat talking about everything, understanding each other is the key to a successful relationship"

"I totally agree, that's why we became close too, Earth understood me and supported me and I could understand everything about him" Kiet said. When Gulf came back, we continued eating talking about random stuff.

We walked to the parking lot where both of our cars were parked near each other, Mali jumped in first once the car was unlocked

"that you for this invitation, I'm so glad we got to meet" I said

"me too, we should meet again" Earth said

"a double date would be really good" Kiet said, me and Gulf looked to each other in surprise

"maybe, but not so soon, we are still a new couple" Gulf said being a little shy

"it will be fine, you are already very close so a double date will be a piece of cake" Earth said

"if you don't shut up now, I'm going to kick you, did you forget how embarrassed I am?" Gulf said

"no I didn't, I know it's a miracle that you accepted to go public"

"yes it is a miracle" I said making them laugh while my fake boyfriend pouted

"then we will wait for you, please call us when you know you can handle it" Kiet said

"sure, I will do my best to persuade him... again" they giggled again as Gulf tugged on my shirt still pouting, this is my chance, I held him planting a kiss on his cheek

"don't be angry baby, I'm joking" I said, he looked to me with slightly pinkish cheeks while the other couple was staring smiling, Earth looked so excited

"a day has come when I saw my friend being so lovey-dovey with his boyfriend, I will never forget it"

"with your fish memory, I doubt it" we laughed as Earth was the one pouting.

"well see you next time" Kiet said holding his lover and opening the car door for him, Gulf waved

"sure, bye bye" he waved as we walked to our car, once we saw them driving away, he both sighed relieved, the meeting went better than I expected

"we did it" he said

"our acting was perfect"

"yeah, Earth is completely convinced"

"well, Quest cleared" he chuckled

"now we should prepare for our next Quest"

"if we successfully clear my family Quest, we will win the game"

"we can do it" we looked to each other with determination. I'm sure my family is coming tomorrow, Gulf even took a day off, a little preparation and we will win.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Sorry for making this chapter a little long, I just couldn't stop writing !!!

Next chapter is Family meeting, will everything be alright?

See you tomorrow ;)