Chance meeting

I finished paying for a lunchtime bowl of noodles, which I took under a traffic overbridge in the market where I live. This market is old, and so are the people in it, at least at this hour of the day: mainly men in post-retirement. Occasionally I see bright young things dressed in office clothes, but not often. If I do, they are usually in groups.

After paying, I started walking towards the canal, where I spend my spare time watching the water pass by. In the distance, a young man whose shape looked familiar waved at me. I took a closer look: the boyfriend!

Maiyuu and I hardly ever see each other outside home, so the chance meeting in the market was something special - though not that hard to explain, really.

Half an hour earlier, I had sent him out to perform errands. Today is pay day, also the day when we pay the power bill. Yesterday the meter man dropped in for his customary end-of-month visit to our condo building, to turn off the electricity of all those tenants who had yet to discharge their bill. We are always on the list, because the due date falls just before pay day.

I was using the computer at the time, as I usually am, when he flicked the switch on the meter box out by the lift. Sometimes, I run out to confront him, but I rarely get there on time, as he scampers away to another floor, too fast for me to catch him.

The boyfriend was in the next room sleeping, as he usually is when the power is cut. However, he woke soon enough, as the fan by his bed stopped working.

Usually, a flick of the switch is all that is needed to get the power going again. Maiyuu offered to turn it back on himself.

'Well, get up then!' I said.

Today, as I headed out the door, I reminded him the bill had yet to be paid. I also asked him to transfer money to my account, as I had run out.

Reluctantly, he climbed out of bed.

I joined Maiyuu on his benchseat, which is next to a basketball court, and just 50 metres from the noodle shop. I don't often see my boyfriend in daylight. He was dressed in a T-shirt and sports shorts.

I ran my hand through his hair and kissed him. Lately, acne has broken out on both sides of his face, which is odd, as he is almost 30.

'I am waiting for Duck and Mai. We are going to Wang Lang,' he said.

This is a place close to Chinatown good for buying food and clothes. His friends Duck and Mai live in the same condo as us.

Both have foreign boyfriends who live overseas, and visit Thailand occasionally. Like the men in the market at lunchtime, they are in their 60s.

Duck is a gay boy, and Mai a straight girl, both aged about 30. As neither of their boyfriends is here at the moment, they have more freedom. Today, they decided to join Maiyuu - who, of course, has his own foreign boyfriend - on a trip to Wang Lang.

First, though, we had to pay the power bill. Maiyuu does not visit the power company himself, but pays a motorcycle taxi man to take our cash and the bill instead. He asks the same guy to go each time, because he knows the way, and believes he can trust him.

However, his usual guy was not there - perhaps because he was busy performing power-bill errands for someone else.

Maiyuu and I walked from the benchseat, at the tail end of the market, towards the centre, where the motorcycle taxi men wait. 'Are you going to Wang Lang dressed like this?' I asked. He had neither brushed his hair, nor applied make-up, which he usually does before going out. 'You used to get made up.'

'I can't be bothered.'

Still, he looked handsome, I thought. The motorcycle taxi stand is close to the railway tracks which pass through the market. While we waited, Maiyuu smoked a cigarette.

I took a closer look at him. My boyfriend is losing hair on his peak, just as his father once did, in the photographs I have seen of him. Maiyuu's parents died when he was a teenager.

'You have a donut on top,' I said.

'You bugger,' he replied, smiling.

I enjoy making Maiyuu smile. Like me, he is taciturn.

A few minutes later, his motorcycle taxi guy turned up. Maiyuu handed him the money. 'How much is it?' he asked.

Maiyuu told him, just as the railway signal went off. A train was pulling in to the station. The railway barrier came down.

The taxi guy turned his bike around, and edged his way around the barrier into the line of cars opposite.

'Okay...I'm going now,' Maiyuu said.

The last two days at work have been stressful. I get worked up over small incidents, because it's the way I am made.

Maiyuu can't understand why I react this way, but is sympathetic. Last night, he climbed into bed to massage my back. Earlier yesterday, he rubbed my head, and invited me to lie with him until I felt better.

Earlier at work, a disgruntled foreign colleague sent me a message.

'Isn't this place great?' he asked sarcastically.

'It's not good, but the alternatives are probably worse, short of going back overseas.'

When he opened the message, my foreign friend laughed.

In our next exchange, I wrote: 'I like the convenience of the food, and the easy-going, friendly nature of most Thais,' I said. 'You can keep the rest.'

Actually, that's not true. I also like Thai popular music, even if I can't sing it. I like Thai language, even if I can't remember many words.

But I am also in love. Without Maiyuu, I wouldn't be here. I view the world through our shared lens. When I fight battles, I am not alone.

Maiyuu gives my life meaning, which I could not get here alone - no matter how exotic and colourful this foreign land may be.