Wave drove off, heading directly along the road parallel to the bike path. When he spotted Dan on his bike just a few seconds later, he rolled down the window and shouted to the guy outside:

"Are you really going to ignore me like this? Think about it! I can take you there without you having to pedal; it’s really far!" He shouted as loud as he could, but Dan didn’t change his expression and pedaled even faster, as if trying to get away from the car.

When Wave was forced to stop at a red light, he saw Dan disappear from view as he turned left onto one of the cross streets ahead. This intrigued him, as it wasn’t the right way to where they needed to go.

"Could it be that..." Wave murmured, considering the possibilities, then smiled to himself as he came to a conclusion. "This is going to be even better!"

Wave continued to the city center, driving to the theater company's auditorium without any hurry. He didn’t see Dan at any point along the way, but that didn’t bother him, and he had a satisfied smile on his face the entire trip. When he arrived at his destination, he parked the car and leaned against the driver's door, waiting for the other person.

Less than ten minutes later, Dan arrived and his expression hardened again when he saw Wave. As he parked his bike, he didn’t look around and went straight to the auditorium’s entrance. He tried to open the door once and was puzzled when it didn’t work, then tried at least two more times before seeming convinced that it was locked.

"Need this?" Wave asked, almost teasingly, as he leaned against the car door. He was holding the keyring that gave access to the place.

For the first time, Dan turned his head towards Wave, his brow furrowed and eyes slightly narrowed, as if trying to solve a complicated mistery. He let out a deep sigh and rubbed his face, closing his eyes for a moment before nodding his head, clearly exasperated.

"Communication! The first step has been taken. You looked at me and even nodded your head; I feel honored!" Wave exaggerated with a wide smile and a sparkle in his eyes. "Don’t worry, I’ll open it for you."

After announcing this, he went to the entrance with the key and, while unlocking the door, began to chat:

"I'm finding your silent treatment quite amusing. I’ve met some freshmen in the past few days, and they’re so different from you—they’re more friendly, and you treat me like I'm a ghost." He laughed while opening the door. "Are you this serious with everyone?"

In response, he received a cold, intense stare. When he unlocked the door and opened it, Dan walked past him without so much as a thank you.

"See? I helped you out, and you still treat me like this! You're a pretty serious boy," Wave said, watching as Dan walked into the empty auditorium, his shoulders slumped and his brow furrowed as if trying to figure out what had happened. Dan's breathing quickened slightly as he hesitated, clearly debating whether to turn around and ask Wave about the situation. Meanwhile, Wave had settled into one of the seats at the back of the auditorium, enjoying the internal struggle Dan was experiencing.

"So... confused? Got any questions for me, serious boy?" Wave asked with a broad smile, leaning his arms on the back of the seat in front of him and resting his chin to get a better view of Dan.

Dan looked around, clearly confused by the empty auditorium. He glanced from side to side, frowning as he tried to figure out why the place was so empty. From where he sat, Wave watched with a pleased smile, enjoying the fact that he knew something Dan hadn’t yet figured out.

"Curious about what happened? I’ll tell you, but only if you ask. Let me make it a little easier for you." As he spoke, Wave pulled out his phone and quickly added Dan as a friend on Facebook. "If you don’t want to talk, at least you can type."

Hearing a sharp notification sound, Dan's eyebrows raised in surprise. He took out his phone and, seeing the friend request from Wave, stared at the screen, visibly weighing whether to accept it. Eventually, he gave in, accepted the request, and began typing.

Wave heard a ping from his phone and, with a wide smile, picked it up. His eyes lit up, and he almost jumped out of his seat when he read the message, his lips curling into a genuine, satisfied grin.

[Dan Zanon]

Where is everyone?

"Words! You actually used words with me! First a nod, and now this—I'm almost overwhelmed with excitement." Although genuinely pleased, Wave exaggerated his tone to see how Dan would react, who merely rolled his eyes impatiently. "So, you don’t know why the auditorium is empty and why no one is here?"

Dan gave a nearly imperceptible nod. Wave then clarified:

"You should have paid attention when Marco gave the instructions at the last meeting," Wave began. "Since we’re at the start of the season and there are new members, he mentioned that today’s meeting would be held in an open space to break the ice with the team. When I was... chasing you, I noticed you were heading here instead of the planned location."

Dan stared at Wave, absorbed in the new information, probably wondering why Wave had come all this way with him, unlocked the auditorium, and took so long to explain the misunderstanding. Wave, feeling satisfied, saw this as a small victory, thinking himself quite clever, though he was not fully aware of what he was setting up for himself.

Dan took out his phone again and began typing. Wave watched the screen, knowing a response was coming:

[Dan Zanon]

Where is the meeting?

"Well, I can tell you if you promise me one thing," Wave said after reading the message, giving Dan a clever look. "If I tell you, you need to let me give you a ride there."

Dan looked at Wave as if he were completely crazy, his lips curling into a disdainful expression as he sighed silently and crossed his arms, clearly tired of the conversation. However, Wave pretended not to notice and kept a friendly smile on his face, as if Dan’s scowls had no effect on him.

"So? You’ll come with me, right?"

Just when Wave thought he had won, he was surprised to see Dan speed up and start walking out of the auditorium, seemingly irritated. "What? Where are you going? You don’t know where the meeting will be held!" Wave called out, following Dan and trying to keep up while locking the auditorium door behind him.

"Where are you going?"

"…"

"Marco told me you need to attend all the theater meetings this season. I can’t believe you’re thinking of skipping," Wave continued, still arguing, as he moved away from the door and saw Dan approaching his bike.

To his surprise, Dan didn’t start pedaling; instead, he just grabbed the bike with one hand and brought it to the back of Wave's car, standing there as if waiting for his senior to understand the signal.

"What?" Wave asked, confused, and then, realizing what was happening, a broad smile spread across his face. "You're going to accept my ride?"

Dan stood still, staring at him in silence. Without waiting for a response, Wave opened the trunk and placed the bike inside. Then, he got into the vehicle, with Dan following suit from the other side. Once both were seated and buckled in, Wave felt extremely satisfied. He had broken down several barriers with the 'serious boy' that day and, thanks to his wit and persistence, achieved what he wanted.

Wave normally didn’t act this way with anyone; he was friendly, made conversation, and helped even the shyest people open up. But he had never used such tactics just to get a nod from someone. The problem was that he needed to get closer to Dan to do his job as Assistant Director properly, and these seemed to be the only possible ways.

"King Rama," Wave said once they were on the road, but seeing Dan’s confused look, he explained, "The theater group meeting is at King Rama Park. I said I’d tell you if you accepted my ride, and I keep my promises."

"..."

"Do you want to listen to some music?" he asked, showing the cable for Dan to connect his phone, but was ignored. "Come on, play something, something that’s your style. We’re still pretty far from the park."

In reality, they weren’t that far, but Wave had decided to believe that Dan’s foreign appearance meant he was unfamiliar with Bangkok, so he could take a few extra turns and delay their arrival. Why? He wanted to get closer to Dan and had no idea when he might get another chance like this.

"Put something on!" he insisted as he took the opposite route to the park for a longer drive.

Dan looked at him and seemed to give in once more. He then plugged in the cable, and after a few seconds of scrolling through his playlist, selected a song. To Wave's surprise, a slow song with a piano background started playing, blending Japanese with English lyrics. He couldn’t understand any of the Japanese words, but he could catch some of the English parts:

"'Cause there is no time to waste

I need you to know

'Cause I already know

That we're one step closer."

Those were some of the lyrics he could translate; it seemed like a deep song, even though he couldn’t grasp the rest of the words. It made him momentarily regret not pursuing his Japanese studies further. So, he continued to listen to the song with a gentle smile on his face while Dan maintained a serious expression, staring straight ahead. At the end of the song, Wave excitedly commented:

"Wow! That song seems pretty emotional, even though I couldn’t understand most of it. What does the Japanese part mean? Do you relate to it?" He took advantage of the red light to glance at Dan, who, upon hearing him, grabbed his phone and started typing something. Wave’s excitement grew as he heard the notification chime and quickly reached for his phone. Could it be that Dan was actually going to answer something so personal? He felt incredible for achieving this. However, to his surprise, the message read:

[Dan Zanon]

I know you're taking extra turns instead of heading to the park.

He had been caught.