***

"Uhm. . . excuse me?" Someone said softly behind me.

I turned around and faced the person. There, standing with a hesitant smile, was a petite young man. He looked fragile, though, but he had a very beautiful face. I was actually mesmerized by it.

"Oh. . . Ah. . . are you the one taking this spot?"

"Yeah." He said as he nodded.

"Great," I said and let out a sigh of relief. "Good thing you arrived. I saw a group of teenagers roaming around the place. They seemed to be eyeing your things, so I went to check."

"Oh. . . thank you so much." He smiled. "I just walked a little. Maybe I trusted the place and the people too much to leave my things."

"Don't be too comfortable with everything."

"Yeah. Will keep that in mind. Thanks again. . . Uhm. . . ?" He said and stretched his hand for a handshake.

"Ohm. My name is Ohm Thitiwat." I answered as I accepted the smaller man's hand. I smiled at him as I felt his soft hand in mine.

"Nice to meet you, Ohm. I'm Fluke Natouch." He said then he looked around and asked, "Where's your spot?"

"I haven't set up yet. I just arrived here when I saw the teenagers looking over your things, so I went straight here. . . but that's my van." I said and pointed to my wheels.

"Cool. Nice camper's van. I assume you often go camping."

"I love it. I find peace of mind when I camp. You?"

"Same here. I love being with nature. Hearing nature's sound calms me."

"I bet you do. By the way, would you mind if I set up next to yours?" I asked. I didn't know why I even asked that. I usually like it alone when I camp, but here I was asking this cute little creature if it was okay to stay near him.

Fluke shook his head, "That would be great, actually."

"Thanks." Then I turned towards my van.

"Oh. Wait." Fluke stopped me from walking. "Would you like some coffee? Just to thank you for your help."

I smiled widely and nodded. "I would love to."

***

I was almost done setting up my things as Fluke poured the hot water on the coffee he had just ground. I saw how he did everything - from how he ground the coffee beans using his handheld grinder to how he was pouring the water. I smiled as I found him adorable with his serious face while doing something. I suddenly felt happy by just looking at him.

As I finished what I was doing, I sat next to him as he was waiting for the coffee to drip.

"You like coffee, don't you?"

"I do." He smiled brightly, "I considered myself a coffee addict before, but I can't have as much coffee as I want to now. So sometimes, I make coffee just to smell it and ask others to drink it." He chuckled.

I was confused, so I asked, "Why?"

"Uhm. . . ah. . ."

"It's okay. You don't need to answer that." I immediately said. "I'm sorry."

"No. No worries. It's just that I don't want you to take pity on me." He said without even looking at me.

"Why? Is it that serious?"

"Yeah. Kinda." He said and gave me a bitter, sweet smile. "I've been dealing with cancer for quite some time now."

I was quiet. I was shocked alright. I didn't realize that such a bubbly and cheerful person like him was having such a terrible time in his life.

"I haven't realized that you are having such an incident in life. You look so positive and cheerful. I bet no one would notice what you've been going through."

"Aww. . . I appreciate that you see me more than what I've been through. I hope others would see that too." He said and smiled sincerely.

"Thank you for telling me." I smiled at him. "And if you need anything, just let me know. I'm quite a listener, too."

His eyes sparkled as he heard that, "For someone, I just met, I'm kinda comfortable with you. And I feel that you are kind and can be trusted. Friends?" He said and stretched his hand once again.

"Friends!" I said as I held his hand. I didn't want to release his hand though, but I also didn't want to scare him and make my "new" friend regret it.

"How do you like your coffee?" He asked me.

"Just black this time. I have some ice here." I told him as I pulled the ice box near us.

"Oh. . . Iced Americano." I just nodded. "I used to like it too, but. . . you know. . ." he said and shrugged.

"When did you stop?" I asked hesitantly.

"I stopped when I was diagnosed. . . about 5 years ago. . . But there is some research that coffee intake is still okay for cancer patients. I didn't want to risk it though, so I just have one cup sometimes, unlike before I had a few in a day. Everything actually turned 360 degrees, as everything changed after that."

"It must've been very hard for you."

"It was. Not only for me but for my dad as well. You know, I'm the only family he has."

"How old were you then?"

"I was twenty-one. I was in my third year of university. Just a year left, but then it happened. But don't worry, I still finished it little by little. After a year of fighting my illness, I took a few units until I got everything done. Good thing my school understood my situation." He said with a cheeky grin.

"How do you do it?" I asked. He just looked at me with confusion, so I continued. "I mean, how do you manage to be so positive with all these things happening to you? You know some people would already give up, but you still have this positivity in you."

"Well. You can't wait for everything to turn out alright before you decide to be happy. For me, happiness is my dad's. I don't want to see him sad because of what I've been going through. They say happiness is a choice. But for some reason, situations don't allow you to be happy. Just like in my case, because of my illness, my dad and I became devastated, but when I saw that both of us were going down, I decided that I should be the one to start it. If my dad sees that I am happy and I am not losing hope, he, too, will still have hope and be happy." Then he looked at me, "You know, life is short, especially mine. I know I won't last long, and I want to use the time I have left to do what I want and make my dad happy."

I couldn't control myself anymore, I reached for his face and leaned down to kiss his forehead. I lingered there for a while and looked into his eyes, "You are such a strong person, Fluke, and a beautiful soul." Then I asked, "Can I hug you?" He just looked at me for a while, but then he nodded. I smiled widely and hugged him tightly.

Right then, I felt that I wanted to protect him - from all the pain and hardship that he was going through. I wanted him to continue to be happy. . . with ME.

***