This was Nok, a young man I met in a gay chat room.
We had just met in the flesh for the first time, at my local shopping mall.
It's one of the first things he said, and made me feel awkward. I kept talking, so he wouldn't notice.
We had chatted a couple of nights before, when I took just a brief glimpse of his profile picture. He asked for my number, and called the same night. I liked the sound of his voice, so we agreed to meet.
I told Nok we could be friends, but no more, as I have my own boyfriend.
'How long have you been together?' he asked.
'About six years,' I said.
'I am envious!'
Nok works at a four-star hotel in Bangkok. I teased him, saying I was hoping he would turn up wearing traditional Thai costume, such as the doormen at some swish Bangkok hotels wear.
Nok likes farang. His boss, an Englishman, has taken a shine to him.
He would like Nok to leave home to live with him. Nok says no.
'I do not want my colleagues to think the boss is treating me in a special way, so I tell him I want to be just friends,' said Nok.
My friend has a sensible head on his shoulders.
'My family does not know I am gay, but they met my boss once. I told them he was helping me with English.'
Since then Nok's boss has taken to calling him at home.
'I think Mum might suspect I am gay,' he says.
The foreigner has bought Nok simple jewellery, calls him in the morning to wake him for work, and drives him home at night. In company, he refers to Nok as his 'boyfriend', which makes Nok feel embarrassed.
'My friends ask me why I don't get together with him,' he says.
I can see why farang might like Nok: he is personable, polite, and tall. However, he knows that mixing work and romance can backfire.
'Do farang lie to their boyfriends?' he asked.
'Of course,' I said.
'Are they faithful?' he asked.
'Many aren't. Young Thais are interested in westerners anyway, no matter how big the differences between them, so westerners are spoilt for choice.'
Actually, Nok knew the answer to these questions, because his last boyfriend - another Englishman - lied and cheated.
Perhaps Nok learnt from his last boyfriend: for he, too, has a wandering eye. Why else would he ask to meet me, a strange foreign man he met on the net?
Both of us, in fact, enjoy having the freedom to roam too much to let our boyfriends hold us back.
Nok and I are far too naughty to be boyfriends, we decided cheerfully - even if it were possible, which it isn't.
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