Chapter 17

Pon is lying in Nom’s bedroom, probably resting after his classes today. With his parents living in the province, Nom has been renting a one-bedroom flat since his college days, and up to now when he is studying Medicine as a post-graduate course. His mother – Mrs. Vek Rabastan – pays the monthly rent in an agreement that Nom should be in the top ten of his class after every semester. Otherwise, Nom will have to pay it until he gets to the top ten again. However, her son does not disappoint as he never had to pay the rent of his room. His dad – Mr. Zan – pays for his car, which is a blue Camaro. It is a gift for him after graduating college with a major in Physical Therapy. Nom and his dad also have an agreement about the car: if ever it gets damaged due to his fault, Nom will be the one to pay for the repairs.

“Should I reheat now the food we bought, cupcake?” asked Nom – or cookie bunch – to Pon, whose eyes are closed but is not asleep. Cupcake is still in his school uniform – a university polo shirt, black trousers, and a pair of gray socks – while cookie bunch has just changed to his usual house clothes of a boxer and a sleeveless tee.

“Not yet, P’. Let me rest a little bit more,” said Pon lazily.

Nom stares at his boyfriend, admiring how peacefully and handsomely he looks while he lies on his bed with one hand behind his head and the other on his tummy.

“Why are you looking at me like that, cookie bunch?” asked Pon, peaking a bit in a squint.

Nom did not answer. He sits down on the bed beside his boyfriend. He holds Pon’s face and runs his thumb around the smooth cheeks. Pon responds by kissing his cookie bunch’s hands – one after the other – with his eyes still closed. Then, Nom stoops and kisses Pon in the lips, to which Pon kisses back. Cupcake grabs his cookie bunch by the nape using the hand in his tummy, and they kiss more – romantically rather than torridly. As they kiss, Nom starts to loosen Pon’s uniform – one button at a time.

“Phee’,” Pon moaned in a tone as if trying to tell Nom to stop. Cookie bunch, however, did not. Instead, he continues and stops only when the two sides of Pon’s uniform are apart. Afterwards, Nom lets himself loose from his boyfriend’s grasp on his nape. He, then, kisses his boyfriend’s chest, going first on the right then to the left, wetting each nipple upon reaching them.

“Noooooommm,” Pon said, this time, in somewhat like a gasp.

“Someone is getting angry here, cupcake,” Nom said when he feels that something stiff hits his midsection.

Pon did not answer. He lets Nom proceed in playing with his body.

“Cupcake, you’re getting hard,” said Nom, stroking his boyfriend’s rod from the inside with one hand, while the other is busy with Pon’s wet nipples.

“Let’s go, P’!” shouted a voice from the room, making Nom suddenly stop with what he is doing. “Make him scream your name, P’!” Nom heard again.

Pon opens his eyes when he feels that Nom is no longer doing the foreplay. Nom looks around, yet, to his surprise, no one else is in the room. Pon surveys the room too, then looks with concern at his boyfriend, whose head is drooping downwards like he lost a fight.

“You heard them again, didn’t you?” Pon asked, sitting on the bed.

“Yes, cupcake. Only one this time.”

“You must learn to live with that gift, cookie bunch.”

“This is more like a curse rather than a gift.”

Pon moves closer to his boyfriend, who is visibly disappointed. It is supposed to be their so-called “appetizer” – sex before a meal – but a spirit rudely interrupted them. Pon gives his boyfriend gentle strokes on the head as if saying that it’s okay.

“Don’t think of it like that, Nom. It’s a gift and not a curse,” said Pon firmly.

To this, Nom did not answer. Instead, he grabs Pon’s hand and puts them by his face. “I’m sorry if I had to stop, cupcake,” apologized Nom.

“That is okay. Try and adapt to it,” replied cupcake with a kiss on his cookie bunch’s lips.

“I’m trying,” said Nom, looking back to Pon.

“Nom, I’m here to help you with that fear, but that is all I can do – help. If you really want to get over them, it is up to you alone,” Pon said, trying to tell his cookie bunch that helping each other is a two-way street. “Remember last week when we were at the cinema, you went out even if the film was not over because you heard spirits,” he continued.

“I’m really sorry, cupcake,” said Nom. He hugs Pon as if to apologize further.

“You should learn how to simply shrug off their presence, cookie bunch.”

“I know, cupcake. I know. I’ll do it. I swear.”

“Okay. Let’s have dinner, cookie bunch,” said Pon. He kisses Nom again in the lips to assure him that it is okay if they are unable to make love today.

“Are you still in the mood, cupcake?”

“Maybe next time. I’m hungry now.”

They get up from the bed, and Pon sees a long scar on Nom’s leg, parallel to the middle of his shin.

“Is it still here?” asked Pon, still looking at the scar.

“I don’t think so; I can’t hear it anymore; maybe a Hukom has caught up with it, or it simply just went away.”

“I hope so. I don’t want it spying on us at dinner,” said Pon, fixing his clothes. “What happened to your leg cookie bunch?” he continued, pointing to where the scar is.

“An accident when I was young,” replied Nom simply. However, deep inside, he is starting to turn cold and uneasy. Pon holds his hand to walk with him to the dining area, and he slowly calms down.

Nom discovered his talent of being a Medium – someone who is able to hear spirits and be possessed by them – when he was six. While watching cartoons, he heard a woman’s voice telling him how cute he was. He thanked the woman with a Wai, but his dad saw him do it to no one.

“Nom, who are you greeting?” asked his father.

“Papa, I heard a lady saying that I am cute. Didn’t you hear it, papa?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Concerned, Mr. Zan immediately told this incident to his wife. According to Mrs. Vek, her mother – Nom’s grandma – had that gift as well. When she was still alive, her neighbors sought her help to eventually communicate with their dead loved ones.

“Isn’t that dangerous, Vek?” asked Mr. Zan to his wife.

“Not at all. It is a rare gift. Surprisingly, I did not acquire it even if my mother had it.”

Mrs. Vek’s mom used to tell her bedtime stories about Sentinels – dour yet benevolent beings who assist the souls of those who refused to enter the world of the dead until they have completed their last act or something unaccomplished up to their untimely death. She was also told about the dreaded Hukoms, who are unnerving and vindictive spirits that hunt down Wayward Souls that roam the Earth and return them to The Underworld to be sentenced worse than they were supposed to.

Despite having helped a lot of people, however, there were some who slandered Nom’s grandmother. Some said she was a fraud, and that her communing with the spirits was just a scene she made to milk money from others. Although, people gave her money as charity and not because she asked them for it. Even with that, there were still people who believed her.

Even if Nom can hear spirits, he is rarely possessed by them. Nom, according to his grandmother, has an incredibly powerful skill to resist spirits who want to use his body for their own doing: he can do it with just sheer will without any aid from exorcists or hymns.

At the dining table, Pon helps Nom feel at ease however he can, even feeding him at times.