Wave waited a few more minutes of the movie and, noticing that Dan was completely absorbed in the story, leaned in again, asking:

“If it were you, what would you do?” he whispered. Dan looked at him, somewhat confused. “If you found a baby on the street, what would you do? Raise it like the protagonist did?”

Dan didn’t answer and pointed to the screen, then made a gesture of silence over his own lips, directed at Wave, who ignored it completely.

“Huh? Huh? What would you do?” Wave whispered again, giving light taps on the other’s shoulder, who sighed loudly and grabbed his phone, typing something.

Wave was startled by the phone notification and mentally cursed himself for not putting the device on silent. Some complaints and signs of silence echoed through the theater. He swallowed hard, faced the guy’s glaring look, and silently apologized, almost melting into his seat to avoid drawing attention. He then took out his phone and opened the conversation with Dan.

[Dan Zanon]
Can you stop talking? And I don’t know what I would do if I found a baby on the street; I’d probably call the police.

“Call the police? But that’s so boring!” Wave replied, his voice a bit louder, drawing more complaints from the surrounding audience. Dan was already leaning on the armrest of his chair, hiding his face with his right hand.

Wave felt guilty; after all, he was the one who had brought Dan there and was now bothering him with his endless anxiety. So, he decided to stay quiet, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t keep observing Dan’s reactions.

‘He’s tense,’ Wave thought, noticing how Dan’s eyebrows knitted together, creating a deep crease on his forehead.

‘Now he’s impatient and nervous.’ At that moment, Dan was shifting in his seat, biting his lower lip.

‘He’s pretending to be calm, but his breathing gives him away.’ Wave smiled to himself, picking up on these details in Dan’s behavior during one of the final scenes of the movie.

‘Now he’s happy. I think he liked the ending.’ It would have been impossible for anyone else to understand how Wave came to that conclusion, given that Dan’s expression was completely neutral. But that’s what you and I would think. After all, we don’t have the sensitivity that our nature-loving boy possessed. Wave could pick up on every subtle change in the brightness of people’s eyes, especially Dan’s.

“I’m really glad you enjoyed it!” Wave said as the credits began to roll and the theater lights came on. Dan looked at him, confused. How had he figured that out?

“Did you enjoy it?” It was a woman’s voice behind them, asking the question to the man beside her, likely her husband.

“Yes... but it would have been better if those two girls in front of us hadn’t been flirting the whole time.”

There weren’t many people in the theater, and Wave and Dan were sitting right in front of the couple. The fact that the man looked directly at them as he spoke made it clear who the comment was aimed at. The woman lightly slapped her husband’s shoulder and told him to hush. Wave swallowed hard, his shoulders slumping slightly. Meanwhile, Dan, as he stood up, slammed his hand hard on the back of the chair, making a loud noise and glaring at the man behind him with fury. Wave noticed this and grabbed Dan by the arm.

“Dan, let’s go! Let’s go! It’s already really late, and this area isn’t safe. We shouldn’t stick around.” He wanted to calm the situation; after all, it was just a comment from a random stranger, and it definitely wasn’t worth losing his cool over.

“See what I mean?” the man said again to his wife. “Two girls, a couple.” He added with irony, and the woman scolded him once more.

In a flash, Dan grabbed the rest of his soda from the cupholder and threw it in the man’s face, crushing the cup in one hand as a threat. Wave had never seen him like this; his expressions were tense and filled with rage, the veins in his hand bulging as he squeezed the plastic. The man sat there, shocked, with dark liquid dripping from his hair onto his white shirt.

“We... we need to go now, Dan!” Wave grabbed him tighter and pulled him out of the theater, hearing the man’s curses and his wife’s soft voice trying to calm him down.

Wave didn’t understand why, but he pulled Dan not just out of the theater but dragged him by the arm all the way to the street corner, as if they’d be safer there, even though he didn’t really think the man would follow them. Slightly out of breath, Wave let go and leaned on his knees, taking deep breaths.

“Dan...” he said, still winded. “I really didn’t expect you to do that.”

Dan still seemed angry, but he was less on edge now and just stared at Wave.

“It was just a joke from some old stranger. You didn’t need to react like that.” Wave lifted his head to look at him, regaining his composure. “If I threw soda at everyone who made a joke about me, I’d have a lot of enemies in Bangkok by now.”

Dan didn’t respond and quickly pulled out his phone, typing something furiously. Wave opened the conversation as soon as he heard the notification.

[Dan Zanon]
It wasn’t just a joke, it was disrespectful.

“I didn’t think you’d get so mad about being called a ‘girl,’” Wave laughed and stepped closer, placing his right hand on Dan’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, you’re plenty masculine if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Dan closed his eyes momentarily, probably trying to take the comment as a simple compliment. Then, he started typing again, and Wave soon received the message:

[Dan Zanon]
That’s definitely not my concern.

Wave read the message and took a deep breath. He knew full well that wasn’t the real issue and had only said it to try to defuse the uncomfortable situation. However, he realized this wasn’t the time for jokes. So he said:

“I know that’s not what’s really bothering you. You don’t seem like that kind of guy,” he began. “That old man is just a homophobic jerk. It’s not the first time I’ve heard something like that, especially when I’m with the theater crew. Unfortunately, being an actor isn’t seen as masculine by people like him. We should definitely fight against that kind of talk with stricter punishments, I know,” Wave’s expression was firm, a rare sight for him, clearly showing how seriously he took the situation. He looked at Dan closely, not breaking eye contact. “But here and now, we’re just two students in a pretty sketchy part of Bangkok, and I can’t let anything bad happen to us, especially to my junior. That’s why it was best to just walk away.”

Dan stared at him, eyes wide open, not blinking since Wave had started speaking—probably shocked to see such seriousness on his face, something he likely thought was impossible. Seeing Dan’s reaction, Wave softened his expression and allowed a brief smile to cross his lips as he changed the subject.

“But that’s not the most important thing. I really want to know... you liked it, didn’t you?” Wave asked excitedly, already forgetting the little drama that had just happened. When he noticed Dan’s confusion, he clarified, “The movie... did you like it?”

Dan nodded, and with the softness of his expression and a faint hint of a smile, Wave couldn’t help but celebrate, pumping his fists in the air.

“Yes! I knew you’d like it.” His eyes almost sparkled as he looked at Dan. “It’s such a beautiful art form, right? I was inspired by you!” Realizing what he had just said, he quickly added, “I mean, your vibe reminded me of this kind of film, and I thought you might be interested.”

Dan nodded again, which made Wave mentally congratulate himself for being smart enough to suggest that kind of outing.

“Serious boy, so... shall we go? I can give you a ride home.” He was quickly met with a shake of Dan’s head. “Are you sure? It’s no trouble at all.”

Dan started typing something on his phone, and Wave waited for the message:

[Dan Zanon]

I live nearby, I’ll walk.

“Really? Good thing I picked a place close by without even knowing!” He smiled, energized. “Well then, Dan, we’d better head out, right? See you tomorrow! Don’t get into any more trouble with strangers on the street, okay?”

He smiled and waved goodbye. As he turned and began walking toward where he’d parked his car, a phrase echoed in his ears:

“Thanks for the movie.”

Wave stopped in his tracks, feeling his heart leap in a sudden, intense beat. The wind gently brushed through his hair, causing a few strands to fall in front of his eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to process exactly where the phrase had come from. But he didn’t need to think too hard; he’d heard that voice before. Slowly, he turned around and saw Dan walking away, heading towards his home.

A smile formed on Wave’s lips as he wondered if he would always feel his heart skip a beat and be overcome with an irresistible urge to smile whenever he heard Dan’s voice, no matter how simple the words.

The next day, at the theater company’s meeting, Wave quickly told Marco that he was getting closer to Dan and that from their conversations, he’d noticed Dan would feel much more integrated and comfortable working backstage or in production. That was all it took to make the director extremely happy; after all, he seemed eager for his nephew to find a place in the theater, no matter where.

“I talked to him, so you won’t need to take part in the casting selection today, okay? But you still have to watch,” Wave informed Dan, omitting the fact that the obligation to participate in the selection was something he made up.

Everyone had received a portion of the script at the last meeting to get a better understanding of the characters and the overall narrative. They were now there to decide who would play the two lead roles. After the first ten auditions, Wave began to feel his brain fry from information overload. He tried to be meticulous in his work, really studying the essence of each character to see if the person in front of him had what it took to embody that essence—or at least, could convincingly fake it.

“Alright, our next candidate for the role of Arthur... Jay,” Wave announced, a bit reluctantly.

Despite his lack of enthusiasm in calling Jay’s name, Wave was genuinely excited about the audition. Putting aside all the issues he had with Jay, he was undeniably the best actor in the company, tied only with Wave himself. And this was even more evident during the audition.

Jay had nothing in common with Arthur; the character was charismatic, friendly, talkative, enthusiastic, and very brave. Jay, on the other hand, was none of those things. Yet, on that stage, he managed to fully embody the necessary essence, conveying all the right signals and expressions. It was as if he had been born for the role. In that moment, Wave knew it would be impossible for anyone to outdo him.

After five more auditions, completely exhausted and slumped in the chair next to Marco, Wave decided to give his mind a break and not focus too much on the person in front of him. He used this brief pause to observe Dan, who was sitting in a more distant seat.

A huge smile spread across Wave’s lips as he noticed a different sparkle in Dan’s eyes while he watched the person auditioning, giving their all to bring a fictional character to life. Dan was clearly interested and absorbed in the energy that the theater brought.

This filled Wave’s heart with an inexplicable happiness, as if he had taken the first right step towards what he wanted. The goal seemed wonderful; after all, Dan was incredibly engaged, his attention completely captivated by something. It was something irresistible, almost magnetic.

Wave felt completely drawn to Dan at that moment.