Chapter 7 Things are looking up

"Is a bike race happening this weekend?" Anurak asked.

"I don't know. But we can ask my brother." New turned to Anurak with an expectant gaze. "Will you rather go racing if there is one?"

"Sure. I can always sightsee anytime. Bangkok isn't going anywhere." Anurak chuckled.

"Good! Once we are done here, we will go see my brother. He can get us into the race."

New was excited and didn't bother to hide it. He was like a kid with a lollipop in his mouth and a skateboard under his feet. "How good are you?" He suddenly grabbed Anurak's hand... again.

Anurak gave his hand a pointed look, then slowly tried to take it back. He started tugging gently...

"What do you mean?" Anurak asked as he waited for New to let go. But the guy was too excited to notice Anurak's discomfort.

"If my brother gets you into a race, can you win? I want to bet on you."

Anurak laughed out loud. Good? How good could he be? He was the champion back at home, but he knew that he was crap.

If I get into the races, it will be for fun and experience. Nothing more... He mused to himself... at least for now... And you need to drop my hand! Anurak was screaming in his head as he couldn't bring himself to upset New again. After all, the guy might get him into a race... Let him just hold it. His hand feels warm anyway.

"New, calm down. I am not good at racing that much. I am an amateur."

"Doesn't matter. There are races for amateurs too."

Wow! Wow! Does something that good really exist? If so, He was definitely in luck! This good news was too good to be true. If he could get into amateur races, Anurak was confident that he wouldn't do that badly and might even improve. But he doesn't dare bet on himself as of now.

"Okay. Why don't we study the other racers first? You know, know your enemy kind of thing. Thereafter, I can participate in solo races to see how I will do before we start placing bets. What do you think?" He smirked at New. He wasn't about to make promises he can't keep. At least not to some rich kid.

"Hmm!" New huffed in reproach. "You don't have a fighting spirit. I don't think you are made for the tracks." New continued with a dissatisfied look as he finally dropped Anurak's hand.

Anurak rolled his eyes and tucked his hands into his pockets. He was never one to worry about other people's opinions. He looked around and discovered that out of the five people they met, three had already left. One just entered the advisor's office, and the last person ahead of him was keeping busy with a novel.

It will soon be my turn. He thought to himself.

He glanced at New and found him pressing his phone. So Anurak also brought out his phone. He was sending an update text to Eshin when New spoke up. "My brother said we should meet him at the bar in the evening." He checked his time. "Evening for P'Smooth is like seven-ish and this is just past 5. We still have an hour. What should we do before then?" New asked then continued. "Let's go racing in my room. Dad just got me this awesome game box. It's a new product from Sony. I am yet to test it out."

"Okay." Anurak nodded.

Deep down, he was excited. Anurak loved gaming. Back at home, he has a friend who live-streams his gaming sessions on YouTube. It was the success of that friend that gave him faith that he will be able to do even better.

Soon enough, just like New said, the advisor only took a look at Anurak's elective courses, nodded a silent approval, then signed the form. Thereafter, he wished Anurak a good time in school. It didn't take 5 minutes. This made Anurak wonder why some of the folks he met here spent so much time before coming out. It didn't occur to him that If not for New who helped him out just now, he would probably have had a hard time selecting the right elective courses, and he would have taken up much of the advisor's time too.

Once they left that place, they returned to the hostel, driving side by side. Anurak was riding his power bike while New was driving a white Benz. New said, since they will be going to school together, it will be better if they always use his car, but Anurak said he preferred his bike. Not wanting to cause any tension, New nodded and just said, "We shall see."

Even though Anurak didn't know why New said that, he was determined not to own New anything.

New's room was two floors above Anurak's room. Except for the personal stuff New brought in which did a great job of making his room look homely and elegant, the school gave them the same provisions.

After settling down, New provided some raisins and peanuts with chilled beer to go with the snacks before booting his gaming system. Just like he said, he was yet to open the game box, so Anurak had to help him with it. They quickly set the whole thing up and started playing. That was when Anurak concluded that New was a gambler. For every game, New insisted that they bet something and before the end of the game, Anurak had won a pack of beer, 2 cakes from the fridge, 5,000 baht, and a bottle of champagne that New promised to buy for him once they got to the bar.

It was 8 pm before they remembered that they were supposed to go to the bar. In fact, Smooth, New's brother, had to call New since he was kept waiting. The boys quickly separated to get ready. They met at the hostel's car park and went in New's car.

Left for Anurak, he would have gone on his bike but New, who was ready for him, had snatched his keys just as Anurak was about to insert it into the ignition. He then got in his car, revving it while completely ignoring Anurak who was trying to talk him into releasing the key. Anurak later gave up and entered the car. Even though he was angry, it was too soon to start having misunderstandings.

Because the bar was outside the school, it took them 30 minutes to get there.

Moonlight, the bar they went to, was located in a business district close to Sunny-Uni Estate. New pointed out the Estate to Anurak while they were still on the road. The Estate wasn't that big, but all the houses were built in blocks. Each block had six flats and a rooftop loft. Each flat had 4 rooms, all self-contained and powered by solar.

There was an indoor gaming room, a swimming pool, and an open-air gym in each block. New said he heard that each loft had seven rooms, a swimming pool, a mini gym, and even a place where one could play mini golf.

"I would have loved to live there, but my father works for nobody." New sneered, slightly annoyed.

"What do you mean?"

"I told my Dad to rent one of the flats for me since all the lofts are designated. But he said only the staff of Sunny Groups can rent or buy the flats."

Anurak remembered what Eshin told him about the Estate and nodded his head in understanding.

"So your father is a CEO." Anurak nodded subconsciously.

"If he hears you call him a CEO, he will have fired you before remembering that you don't work for him." New snickered. "He hates tags and never wears ties. He said it takes the sexiness out of a dark suit." News chuckled, clearly his father's fan. "Who fucking thinks of sex while going to the office? Such a pervert."

The two boys chuckled at New's words. Anurak could see that New liked his father very much.

He couldn't relate.

"Okay. Remind me never to call him "Sir." If I see him." Anurak smiled as his gaze lingered on the towering buildings of Sunny-Uni Estate just before they drove past it.

The world of the rich is a bizarre thing. They want to have and control everything. Even the rent of their workers. Anurak mused inwardly.

"I forgot to tell you. The heir to Sunny Groups also lives there, in one of the lofts. His name is 'Tae' and he owns the racetrack we are going to. My brother works at the track as a mechanic. So he will be able to get us in. Once we get in, it's up to us to mingle and upgrade our connections. We can't fuck this up. Our rep depends on it." New explained excitedly. He couldn't wait to play with the people from Sunny Tracks.

Oh. The rich also cry. Anurak mused as he smiled absentmindedly. He never thought that a rich person would still need to kiss other rich people's asses.

But then another thing occurred to him... Even if he doesn't get to become a bike racer, he can always apply to become a mechanic at the track, just like New's brother.

For Anurak, things were really looking up.