Chapter󾁦​9󾂦​Flash󾂦​back 0

By:󾁦​Chaoplanoy  0

Cr:󾂦​Panpan 0

 

9 0

Flash󾁦​back   0

 

 

I'm󾁦​standing󾁦​in󾁦​front󾁦​of󾂦​the󾂦​ICU󾂦​with󾂦​Khun󾂦​Nueng󾁦​and󾁦​P󾂦​Tee's󾂦​couple,󾁦​biting󾂦​my󾂦​nails.󾂦​All󾂦​that󾂦​came󾁦​back󾁦​from󾁦​visiting󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam,󾂦​two󾁦​at󾁦​a󾂦​time,󾁦​said󾂦​the󾁦​same󾁦​thing...  0

 

"E󾂦​Sam󾁦​remembers󾁦​everyone󾂦​but󾁦​Mon....󾁦​why?"  0

  

P󾂦​Tee󾁦​looks󾂦​worried󾂦​while󾁦​I󾂦​now󾁦​bite󾂦​my󾁦​lips󾂦​until󾂦​they󾁦​bruise.󾂦​I󾂦​don't󾁦​know󾂦​what's󾂦​happening,󾁦​but󾂦​I󾂦​feel󾁦​empty󾂦​inside.󾂦​Khun󾂦​Nueng󾂦​dashes󾁦​in󾁦​to󾁦​consult󾂦​the󾁦​doctor󾁦​who󾂦​happens󾂦​to󾁦​walk󾁦​this󾁦​way,󾂦​but󾁦​even󾁦​the󾁦​doctor󾂦​is󾁦​at󾂦​a󾁦​loss󾁦​because󾁦​the󾁦​operation󾁦​went󾁦​well. 0

 

"Maybe󾂦​this󾂦​is󾁦​the󾁦​effect󾂦​of󾁦​the󾂦​anesthesia.󾂦​After󾁦​she󾂦​recovers󾂦​from󾂦​it,󾁦​her󾂦​memories󾂦​will󾁦​gradually󾂦​return."  0

   

The󾁦​doctor󾂦​gave󾁦​a󾁦​vague󾁦​answer,󾁦​but󾂦​I'm󾂦​still󾁦​worried.󾁦​P󾂦​Jim󾁦​walks󾂦​over󾂦​to󾂦​give󾂦​me󾂦​a󾂦​gentle󾁦​pat󾂦​on󾁦​the󾂦​back󾁦​as󾂦​encouragement󾁦​when󾂦​she󾂦​sees󾂦​that󾂦​I'm󾂦​about󾁦​to󾂦​cry.󾁦​I've󾁦​been󾂦​very󾁦​sensitive󾂦​all󾂦​day󾂦​today,󾂦​since󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾁦​went󾂦​into󾁦​the󾂦​operating󾂦​room,󾁦​came󾁦​back󾂦​out󾁦​after󾁦​the󾂦​operation󾂦​was󾁦​done,󾂦​regained󾂦​her󾂦​consciousness,󾁦​and󾂦​remembered󾂦​everyone. 0

 

Everyone󾁦​but󾂦​me... 0

 

"Trust󾂦​the󾂦​doctor.󾁦​Mon󾂦​should󾂦​go󾂦​back󾁦​home󾁦​to󾂦​rest󾁦​and󾂦​come󾂦​back󾂦​after󾁦​E󾁦​Moi󾂦​is󾂦​in󾂦​better󾂦​condition.󾁦​She󾂦​will󾁦​remember󾁦​you󾂦​by󾂦​then."  0

  

"Yes.󾂦​You󾁦​staying󾂦​here󾂦​won't󾁦​help󾁦​with󾂦​anything.󾁦​You󾁦​can’󾂦t󾁦​stay󾂦​with󾁦​her󾁦​in󾁦​the󾂦​ICU󾁦​anyway.󾁦​She󾂦​needs󾂦​to󾁦​be󾁦​under󾂦​the󾁦​intensive󾂦​care󾂦​of󾁦​the󾂦​nurses."󾁦​P󾂦​Kate󾁦​agrees.󾂦​I󾂦​could󾂦​feel󾂦​my󾁦​voice󾁦​trembling󾂦​with󾂦​emotion󾂦​when󾁦​I󾁦​replied.󾁦​I󾂦​am󾁦​the󾁦​one󾁦​closest󾁦​to󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​but󾁦​I'm󾂦​the󾁦​only󾂦​one󾂦​she󾂦​can't󾁦​remember.󾂦​Something󾁦​must󾂦​be󾂦​wrong. 0

 

"I󾂦​won't󾁦​be󾂦​able󾂦​to󾂦​sleep󾁦​if󾂦​I󾁦​go󾁦​back󾂦​anyway.󾁦​I'm󾁦​worried󾁦​about󾂦​Khun󾁦​Sam."  0

   

"The󾁦​doctor󾁦​said󾂦​she's󾂦​not󾂦​in󾂦​any󾁦​danger.󾁦​How󾁦​about󾁦​this,󾂦​if󾁦​it's󾁦​too󾂦​lonely󾁦​to󾂦​be󾁦​alone,󾂦​we'll󾂦​all󾁦​go󾂦​sleepover󾂦​at󾁦​your󾁦​place."󾂦​P󾂦​Tee󾂦​suggests,󾂦​while󾂦​P󾂦​Jim󾁦​nods󾁦​happily󾁦​in󾁦​agreement. 0

 

"Good󾁦​idea.󾂦​A󾁦​sleepover󾂦​would󾁦​be󾁦​fun.󾁦​Let's󾁦​come󾂦​back󾂦​to󾂦​visit󾂦​her󾂦​tomorrow.󾁦​By󾁦​then,󾂦​she󾁦​will󾂦​remember󾂦​Mon.󾂦​Let's󾁦​make󾂦​her󾂦​house󾁦​a󾁦​mess󾂦​so󾂦​she󾂦​makes󾁦​a󾂦​big󾁦​fuss󾂦​when󾂦​she󾂦​goes󾂦​back.󾁦​She's󾁦​so󾁦​protective󾂦​of󾂦​her󾁦​house,󾂦​wahaha." 0

 

"I󾁦​can't󾁦​sleepover.󾁦​I󾂦​have󾁦​an󾂦​early󾂦​morning󾂦​magazine󾁦​tomorrow."󾂦​P󾂦​Kate󾂦​interrupts󾂦​regretfully󾂦​with󾁦​a󾁦​long󾂦​face.󾂦​But󾂦​P󾂦​Jim󾁦​rolls󾂦​her󾂦​eyes󾁦​like󾂦​󾂌,󾂦​looking󾁦​annoyed.  0

 

"Why󾂦​can't󾁦​you󾁦​sleep󾂦​over?󾁦​Is󾂦​the󾁦​shoot󾁦​in󾁦​Japan?󾁦​As󾂦​long󾂦​as󾁦​it󾂦​is󾂦​in󾂦​Bangkok,󾂦​you󾁦​can󾂦​drive󾁦​there󾂦​tomorrow.󾂦​Don't󾂦​you󾂦​want󾁦​to󾁦​make󾁦​a󾁦​mess󾁦​of󾂦​E󾁦​Moi's󾁦​house?󾁦​Can󾁦​you󾂦​really󾁦​stand󾁦​the󾂦​urge?" 0

  

"I󾂦​can't!󾁦​Ok,󾁦​I'll󾁦​sleepover.󾂦​So󾁦​what󾂦​if󾂦​it's󾂦​a󾁦​long󾂦​drive?󾁦​I󾂦​will󾂦​go󾁦​trash󾂦​her󾂦​place,󾁦​wahaha." 0

  

"Wahaha” 0

 

"What's󾂦​with󾂦​you󾁦​two?󾁦​Your󾁦​friend󾂦​is󾁦​lying󾁦​in󾁦​bed󾂦​recovering󾁦​from󾂦​surgery,󾂦​and󾂦​you󾁦​still󾂦​want󾂦​to󾁦​mess󾂦​with󾁦​her.”󾁦󾁦​P󾁦​Tee󾂦​shakes󾂦​her󾂦​head,󾁦​then󾂦​giggles.󾂦​"I󾂦​will󾁦​ransack󾁦​her󾂦​closet,󾂦​wahaha." 0

 

“Wahaha”  0

  

Phi󾁦​Phi󾂦​(Khun󾂦​Sam's󾁦​friends)󾁦​laughed󾂦​merrily󾁦​so󾁦​loudly󾁦​that󾁦​the󾂦​nurse󾁦​had󾁦​to󾁦​warn󾁦​them󾂦​not󾂦​to󾂦​disturb󾂦​others.󾁦​I󾁦​can't󾁦​help󾁦​but󾂦​laugh󾂦​at󾁦​their󾂦​mischievous󾂦​plan󾂦​to󾂦​shock󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾂦​by󾁦​trashing󾁦​her󾁦​place.󾂦​When󾁦​Yuki󾂦​sees󾁦​that󾂦​I󾁦​feel󾂦​a󾂦​bit󾂦​better,󾁦​she󾁦​comforts󾁦​me󾂦​by󾁦​walking󾁦​over󾂦​to󾂦​put󾂦​her󾁦​arm󾁦​around󾁦​mine󾁦​and󾁦​pat󾁦​me󾂦​on󾁦​my󾂦​shoulder.  0

 

"Don't󾂦​worry.󾂦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾂦​is󾁦​already󾁦​awake.󾂦​If󾂦​she󾂦​doesn't󾁦​remember󾂦​you󾁦​today,󾂦​she󾁦​will󾁦​tomorrow.󾂦​Give󾂦​her󾁦​some󾁦​time.󾁦​The󾂦​doctor󾂦​said󾁦​the󾁦​operation󾂦​went󾂦​smoothly.󾁦​Trust󾁦​that󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​loves󾂦​Mon󾂦​and󾂦​will󾂦​never󾂦​change." 0

   

"Yeah.󾂦​Mon󾂦​is󾁦​probably󾁦​just󾁦​too󾁦​worried." 0

  

"And󾂦​it's󾂦​not󾁦​only󾁦​Mon󾁦​that󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​can't󾁦​remember.󾂦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​said󾂦​she󾂦​doesn't󾂦​know󾂦​Yuki󾁦​either."  0

  

Hearing󾂦​that󾂦​I󾂦​feel󾁦​better....󾁦​slightly.󾁦​Probably󾁦​because󾁦​I󾁦​no󾁦​longer󾂦​feel󾁦​alone󾁦​in󾁦​this.󾁦​I'm󾁦​not󾁦​the󾂦​only󾁦​one󾁦​that󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​can't󾁦​remember.󾂦​It's󾁦​probably󾁦​the󾁦​effect󾁦​of󾂦​the󾂦​anesthesia󾂦​or󾁦​she󾂦​hasn't󾁦​fully󾂦​recovered.   0

  

I󾂦​hope󾁦​she󾂦​can󾂦​remember󾁦​me󾁦​tomorrow... 0

 

Or󾁦​will󾁦​she? 0

  

 

 

Nothing󾂦​is󾁦​as󾁦​easy󾁦​as󾁦​you󾂦​would󾂦​expect.󾁦​We󾁦​all,󾁦​except󾁦​P󾁦​Kate󾁦​who󾂦​has󾂦​a󾁦​photo󾁦​shoot,󾂦​come󾁦​back󾁦​to󾁦​visit󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​the󾁦​next󾁦​morning󾁦​and󾁦​try󾂦​our󾂦​best󾁦​to󾁦​help󾂦​her󾂦​remember,󾂦​but󾂦​she󾁦​still󾂦​can't.󾂦​It󾂦​seems󾁦​like󾂦​her󾁦​memory󾁦​stopped󾁦​five󾁦​years󾂦​ago,󾂦​before󾂦​we󾁦​met󾂦​again.󾁦​So󾂦​she󾁦​doesn't󾁦​remember󾂦​that󾂦​I'm󾂦​her󾁦​girlfriend. 0

  

"Are󾁦​you󾂦​playing󾁦​with󾂦​us?󾂦​Is󾂦​this󾁦​an󾁦​act?󾂦​Don't󾂦​be󾁦​like󾁦​E󾁦​Kate,󾂦​she's󾁦​an󾁦​actress.󾁦​But󾁦​you're󾁦​E󾂦​Moi󾁦​who󾁦​can't󾁦​act.󾁦​And󾁦​stop󾂦​making󾁦​a󾂦​straight󾂦​face󾂦​like󾁦​you󾁦​don't󾁦​care,󾁦​you󾂦​dog-faced󾂦​Moi."  0

 

P󾂦​Jim󾁦​bawls󾁦​immediately󾁦​after󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾁦​says󾁦​she󾂦​can't󾁦​remember󾂦​anything󾁦​and󾂦​is󾂦​very󾂦​surprised󾁦​to󾁦​see󾁦​Khun󾂦​Nueng󾂦​here.󾁦​It's󾂦​like󾂦​the󾂦​memories󾂦​of󾁦​the󾂦​past󾁦​five󾁦​years󾁦​have󾁦​disappeared. 0

  

"Why󾂦​would󾂦​I󾁦​lie?󾁦​I󾁦​really󾂦​can't󾁦​remember!" 0

  

"Did󾂦​the󾂦​doctor󾁦​take󾁦​out󾁦​the󾂦​smart󾂦​part󾂦​of󾁦​her󾁦​brain?󾁦​Why󾁦​is󾂦​she󾂦​so󾂦​stupid󾁦​after󾁦​she󾂦​woke󾂦​up?"󾁦​P󾂦Jim󾁦​continues󾁦​to󾁦​complain.󾂦​P󾂦​Tee󾁦​who󾁦​is󾂦​calmer,󾁦​looks󾁦​at󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾁦​and󾂦​shakes󾂦​her󾁦​head.  0

 

"You󾂦​can't󾂦​remember󾁦​anything?󾂦​What󾁦​do󾁦​you󾁦​remember?" 0

  

"I󾁦​remember󾂦​that󾁦​I󾁦​was󾂦​working.󾂦​Then󾂦​I󾂦​woke󾁦​up󾂦​in󾁦​a󾁦​hospital󾁦​with󾂦​something󾂦​wrapped󾁦​around󾁦​my󾂦​head.󾁦​What's󾂦​most󾂦​frustrating󾁦​is󾁦​that󾂦​I󾁦​no󾂦​longer󾁦​have󾁦​any󾁦​hair󾁦​left󾂦​on󾁦​my󾁦​head."  0

 

"Look󾂦​at󾁦​Mon󾂦​carefully;󾁦​don't󾁦​you󾁦​feel󾂦​anything?Doesn't󾁦​she󾂦​look󾁦​familiar?" 0

 

Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​does󾂦​as󾂦​her󾁦​friend󾁦​says󾂦​and󾂦​looks󾁦​at󾁦​me󾁦​before󾁦​shaking󾂦​her󾁦​head.󾁦​Her󾂦​eyes󾂦​look󾂦​empty,󾂦​and󾁦​that󾁦​is󾂦​like󾂦​having󾂦​1,000󾁦​knives󾁦​stabbing󾂦​at󾂦​my󾁦​heart. 0

  

"She󾁦​looks󾁦​familiar,󾂦​but󾁦​I󾁦​don't󾂦​know󾁦​who󾂦​she󾁦​is." 0

 

"Your󾁦​WIFE."󾂦​P󾂦​Jim󾂦​emphasizes󾁦​our󾁦​status,󾂦​but󾂦​that󾂦​has󾂦​no󾁦​impact󾂦​on󾂦​Khun󾁦​Sam.  0

 

"What󾂦​wife?󾂦​I'm󾂦​a󾁦​woman."  0

  

"Are󾂦​you󾂦​saying󾂦​that󾂦​you󾂦​like󾁦​men?" 0

 

"If󾂦​not󾁦​men,󾁦​then󾂦​what?󾂦​I'm󾁦​born󾁦​a󾂦​woman." 0

  

"You󾂦​can󾁦​only󾂦​like󾂦​men󾂦​just󾁦​because󾂦​you're󾁦​born󾂦​a󾁦​woman?󾂦​Herrr...󾁦​has󾁦​your󾁦​feeling󾂦​also󾁦​left󾁦​you󾂦​like󾁦​your󾂦​memories?󾂦​Mon,󾁦​come󾂦​here."󾂦​P󾂦​Jim󾁦​pulls󾂦​me󾁦​close󾂦​to󾂦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​and󾁦​forces󾂦​me󾁦​to󾁦​reach󾂦​my󾂦​hand󾁦​over󾁦​to󾂦​touch󾁦​the󾂦​person󾂦​in󾁦​bed.󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​pulls󾂦​her󾂦​arm󾂦​away󾁦​and󾂦​moves󾂦​away󾁦​from󾁦​me󾂦​as󾁦​soon󾁦​as󾁦​my󾂦​hand󾂦​touches󾂦​her.󾂦​"How󾂦​was󾂦​it?󾁦​Like󾂦​a󾁦​spark?󾁦​You󾁦​must󾁦​have󾁦​felt󾁦​something." 0

 

"I󾁦​didn't󾂦​feel󾁦​anything." 0

 

"Then󾁦​why󾁦​did󾂦​you󾁦​pull󾂦​your󾁦​arm󾁦​away?"   0

 

"I󾂦​don't󾁦​like󾂦​being󾁦​touched󾂦​by󾁦​strangers." 0

 

The󾁦​word󾂦​"strangers"󾁦​made󾁦​us󾁦​all󾁦​go󾂦​quiet.󾂦​My󾁦​tears󾁦​start󾂦​to󾁦​come󾂦​out,󾁦​but󾁦​I󾂦​try󾁦​my󾁦​best󾁦​not󾂦​to󾂦​let󾁦​them󾂦​flow.󾁦​The󾂦​sweet-faced󾂦​lady󾂦​squints󾁦​at󾂦​me󾂦​and󾁦​chews󾂦​on󾂦​her󾁦​inner󾁦​cheek.󾂦​She󾁦​tries󾂦​to󾂦​comfort󾂦​me󾁦​after󾂦​seeing󾂦​that󾂦​I󾂦​seem󾁦​depressed. 0

  

"I󾂦​don't󾂦​despise󾂦​you;󾁦​I󾁦​just󾂦​don't󾂦​like󾁦​being󾁦​touched󾂦​by󾁦​strangers." 0

 

"Kha." 0

 

"But󾁦​Mon󾁦​is󾁦​not󾁦​a󾂦​stranger󾂦​to󾁦​you.󾁦​Why󾁦​do󾂦​you󾁦​have󾁦​to󾁦​be󾁦​so󾁦​mean󾂦​wa!"󾂦​P󾂦​Jim󾂦​looks󾁦​like󾁦​she's󾁦​about󾁦​to󾂦​scream,󾁦​but󾂦​P󾁦​Tee󾂦​grabs󾁦​P󾂦​Jim's󾁦​blouse󾂦​and󾁦​shakes󾂦​her󾁦​head󾂦​to󾁦​tell󾂦​P󾂦​Jim󾁦​not󾂦​to.  0

 

"She󾁦​has󾂦​no󾁦​memory󾂦​of󾂦​it.󾂦​Her󾂦​memory󾂦​will󾁦​gradually󾁦​come󾁦​back.󾁦​She󾁦​just󾁦​recovered󾂦​from󾁦​her󾂦​surgery.󾁦​This󾂦​is󾂦​only󾂦​the󾁦​second󾂦​day.󾁦​How󾂦​about󾁦​this....󾁦​we'll󾂦​help󾁦​trigger󾁦​your󾁦​memory.󾂦​In󾂦​case󾂦​you󾁦​can󾂦​remember󾂦​something." 0

  

"Sounds󾁦​good.󾁦​Tell󾁦​me.󾁦​I󾁦​want󾁦​to󾂦​know󾁦​what󾂦​happened󾁦​while󾂦​I󾂦​slept󾂦​and󾂦​woke󾂦​up󾂦​with󾂦​no󾁦​memory.󾂦​What󾁦​did󾁦​I󾂦​miss?"󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​agrees,󾂦​while󾁦​P󾁦​Jim󾁦​looks󾂦​like󾁦​she󾂦​has󾁦​dog󾂦​poop󾂦​in󾁦​her󾁦​mouth󾂦​and󾂦​is󾁦​ready󾁦​to󾂦​spit󾁦​it󾁦​onto󾁦​her󾂦​friend's󾂦​face.  0

   

"You󾂦​slept󾂦​for󾁦​two󾁦​days.󾁦​Don't󾁦​act󾁦​like󾂦​you󾂦​slept󾂦​for󾁦​five󾂦​years.󾂦​I󾂦​think󾂦​she's󾁦​playing󾁦​with󾁦​us." 0

 

"Let's󾂦​see󾂦​how󾁦​long󾁦​she󾁦​can󾁦​keep󾁦​up󾁦​the󾂦​act."  0

  

"When󾂦​the󾂦​truth󾁦​reveals󾁦​that󾂦​you󾁦​are󾁦​lying󾂦​to󾂦​us,󾂦​I󾁦​will󾁦​bump󾁦​my󾂦​teeth󾂦​into󾂦​your󾁦​head.󾁦​What󾁦​a󾂦​foolish󾂦​act.󾁦​Mon󾂦​is󾂦​crying,󾂦​see?"󾂦​P󾁦​pJim󾁦​walks󾂦​over󾂦​and󾁦​comforts󾁦​me󾁦​with󾁦​a󾂦​hug.󾁦​I󾂦​give󾂦​P󾁦​Jim󾁦​a󾁦​smile󾁦​and󾁦​try󾂦​to󾁦​look󾁦​brave󾁦​as󾁦​I󾂦​reply.  0

  

"Let's󾁦​try󾁦​to󾂦​tell󾂦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​everything.󾁦​If󾁦​she's󾂦​not󾁦​pretending,󾂦​then󾁦​I󾂦​feel󾁦​bad󾁦​for󾂦​her󾁦​that󾁦​this󾁦​is󾂦​happening." 0

 

"But󾂦​you󾁦​look󾁦​very󾁦​familiar.󾁦​I󾂦​think󾂦​I've󾂦​seen󾁦​you󾁦​before,󾂦​but󾂦​I󾁦​can't󾂦​remember󾂦​where."󾂦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾁦​examines󾂦​me󾂦​attentively.  0

  

"Of󾁦​course󾂦​she󾁦​looks󾂦​familiar.󾂦​You󾂦​have󾂦​been󾁦​sleeping󾂦​in󾁦​the󾂦​same󾂦​bed󾂦​for󾂦​five󾂦​years.󾂦​And󾂦​you󾁦​say󾂦​you󾂦​can't󾂦​remember󾂦​her?󾂦​That󾁦​only󾁦​happens󾂦​in󾂦​a󾂦​novel." 0

  

"E󾁦​Jim,󾂦​stop󾂦​being󾂦​sacastic."  0

 

We󾁦​gathered󾁦​as󾂦​a󾁦​group󾁦​to󾂦​tell󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾁦​what's󾁦​happened󾂦​during󾂦​the󾁦​five󾂦​years󾂦​that󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam's󾂦​memories󾂦​are󾂦​gone.󾁦​Starting󾂦​from󾂦​we󾂦​met󾁦​again󾂦​and󾁦​fought󾁦​through󾁦​all󾂦​the󾁦​obstacles󾁦​to󾂦​be󾁦​together,󾂦​meeting󾂦​Khun󾁦​Nueng󾁦​and󾂦​her󾁦​grandma󾁦​passing󾁦​away.󾂦​All󾁦​that󾂦​makes󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​stun󾂦​and󾂦​look󾂦​around󾂦​at󾁦​her󾁦​friends󾁦​and󾁦​I,󾂦​not󾂦​wanting󾁦​to󾁦​believe󾂦​she󾂦​has󾁦​forgotten󾂦​all󾂦​that.   0

  

"Grandma󾂦​died?"󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam's󾁦​face󾂦​went󾁦​pale.󾁦​The󾂦​person󾁦​she󾂦​respects󾁦​the󾁦​most󾁦​is󾁦​no󾂦​longer󾁦​here.󾂦​She󾁦​wipes󾂦​away󾂦​her󾂦​tears󾂦​before󾂦​they󾁦​fall,󾁦​not󾁦​wanting󾂦​to󾂦​show󾁦​her󾁦​weakness󾁦​to󾁦​anyone.󾁦​"What󾁦​did󾁦​grandma󾂦​die󾂦​from?" 0

 

"Heart󾁦​attacked." 0

  

Khun󾁦​Nueng󾂦​answers.󾂦​The󾁦​guilt󾁦​has󾂦​been󾂦​eating󾁦​up󾂦​inside󾁦​her,󾁦​but󾂦​she󾂦​managed󾁦​to󾁦​say󾁦​that󾂦​out󾁦​loud.  0

  

"Grandma󾁦​had󾂦​a󾂦​heart󾁦​condition?" 0

  

"Yes,󾂦​she󾁦​was󾂦​not󾂦​well."   0

 

"Did󾁦​she󾂦​suffer󾂦​a󾂦​lot?" 0

  

"I󾁦​don't󾁦​know." 0

  

"Grandma...󾂦​Sam󾂦​didn't󾂦​have󾁦​a󾁦​clue."󾂦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾁦clenched󾁦​her󾁦​fist󾁦​tightly󾂦​and󾁦​released󾂦​it.󾁦​"Or󾂦​was󾁦​grandma󾂦​angry󾂦​that󾁦​Sam󾁦​was󾁦​in󾁦​a󾂦​relationship󾂦​with󾂦​a󾂦​woman." 0

 

"That󾁦​may󾁦​be󾁦​part󾂦​of󾂦​it.󾂦​But󾂦​grandma󾁦​let󾁦​you󾂦​do󾂦​what󾁦​you󾁦​want󾁦​because󾂦​she󾂦​loves󾂦​you󾂦​and󾁦​didn't󾁦​want󾁦​to󾁦​lose󾂦​you󾁦​like󾁦​she󾁦​lost󾁦​Khun󾁦​Song."  0

 

"Sam󾂦​is󾂦​still󾂦​surprised󾁦​that󾂦​Sam󾂦​is󾂦​in󾂦​a󾂦​relationship󾂦​with󾂦​a󾂦​woman.󾂦​That󾁦​shouldn't󾂦​be󾂦​possible...󾂦​Sam󾂦​was󾁦​engaged󾂦​to󾂦​Kirk.󾂦​Kirk󾁦​was󾁦​ok󾂦​with󾁦​that?"  0

  

"Do󾁦​you󾁦​love󾂦​Kirk?"󾂦​P󾁦​Jim󾂦​interrupts.󾂦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾂦​replies󾁦​with󾂦​silence󾁦​because,󾂦​no󾂦​matter󾂦​how󾁦​many󾁦​years󾂦​have󾁦​passed,󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​still󾁦​thinks󾁦​of󾂦​Khun󾂦​Kirk󾁦​as󾂦​just󾁦​a󾂦​friend.󾁦​This󾁦​has󾂦​never󾁦​changed. 0

  

"All󾁦​I󾂦​thought󾂦​was󾂦​that󾂦​if󾁦​not󾁦​Kirk,󾁦​then󾂦​I󾂦​wouldn't󾁦​marry󾁦​anyone.󾂦​Though󾁦​I󾁦​would󾂦​make󾂦​a󾂦​good󾂦​partner󾂦​to󾁦​many." 0

  

"Like󾁦​who?"󾁦​P󾁦​Tee󾂦​asks󾁦​curiously,󾂦​expecting󾁦​the󾁦​answer󾁦​to󾁦​be󾂦​what󾂦​I󾂦​wanted󾂦​to󾂦​hear󾂦​like󾁦​"Mon,󾂦​of󾂦​course." 0

  

"Prince󾂦​William." 0

 

"..."   0

 

"Tiger󾁦​Woods"  0

  

"..." 0

  

"A󾂦​sheikh󾂦​from󾂦​somewhere󾂦​who󾂦​come󾂦​pick󾂦​me󾁦​up󾂦​on󾁦​a󾁦​camel󾁦​to󾁦​go󾂦​to󾁦​our󾂦​wedding󾂦​ceremony." 0

 

"I󾁦​think󾁦​the󾂦​doctor󾁦​didn't󾂦​take󾁦​out󾂦​her󾂦​tumor󾁦​but󾁦​put󾂦​in󾁦​insanity.󾂦​Geez.󾁦​In󾁦​a󾂦​relationship󾁦​with󾁦​a󾂦​sheikh.󾁦​Get󾁦​married󾁦​on󾁦​a󾂦​camel.󾁦​I󾂦​can't󾁦​believe󾁦​her." 0

 

"I'm󾁦​an󾁦​M.L..󾂦​I󾂦​would󾁦​have󾁦​to󾂦​be󾁦​in󾂦​a󾂦​relationship󾂦​with󾂦​someone󾂦​of󾂦​such󾂦​wealth󾁦​or󾁦​high󾂦​status."󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​looks󾂦​away󾂦​quickly,󾂦​not󾂦​caring󾂦​that󾁦​her󾂦​friends󾂦​reject󾁦​the󾂦​idea,󾁦​while󾂦​her󾁦​friends󾂦​just󾂦​shake󾁦​their󾂦​heads.  0

 

"This󾁦​can󾁦​only󾂦​come󾁦​from󾁦​Sam."  0

 

"Phi󾂦​think..."󾂦​Khun󾂦​Nueng󾁦​cuts󾁦​the󾁦​conversation󾁦​short󾁦​when󾁦​she󾂦​sees󾂦​that󾂦​my󾁦​tears󾂦​are󾂦​falling.󾂦​From󾁦​the󾁦​conversation,󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​does󾂦​not󾁦​remember󾂦​me󾁦​at󾂦​all.󾂦​"Give󾂦​Sam󾂦​some󾂦​time.󾁦​She󾂦​will󾂦​regain󾂦​her󾂦​memories.󾂦​In󾂦​the󾁦​meantime,󾂦​let󾂦​Mon󾁦​take󾂦​care󾂦​of󾁦​Sam󾁦​closely.󾂦​The󾂦​bond󾁦​doesn't󾂦​fade󾂦​away󾁦​easily󾁦​like󾂦​memories.󾁦​Sam󾂦​will󾂦​remember󾁦​soon."  0

  

"What󾂦​does󾁦​taking󾂦​close󾂦​care󾂦​involve?" 0

  

"Wipe󾁦​your󾂦​body󾁦​clean.󾁦​Take󾂦​you󾁦​to󾁦​the󾁦​restroom.󾁦​Take󾁦​care󾁦​of󾁦​you󾁦​the󾂦​way󾁦​a󾁦​girlfriend󾂦​does."󾂦​P󾂦​Tee󾂦​signs󾁦​at󾂦​her󾂦​friend's󾂦​naïve󾁦​question.󾁦​"Stay󾂦​with󾂦​Mon󾁦​in󾂦​the󾁦​meantime."  0

 

"But󾁦​how󾂦​can󾂦​I󾁦​stay󾁦​with󾂦​a󾂦​stranger..."󾂦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​says.󾁦​Her󾂦​voice󾂦​tailed󾂦​off,󾂦​feeling󾂦​guilty.󾂦​"I'm󾁦​not󾁦​used󾂦​to󾂦​it."  0

 

"Mon󾁦​is󾂦​no󾂦​stranger󾂦​to󾂦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​kha...󾂦​Even󾂦​though󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​doesn't󾂦​remember󾂦​anything󾂦​about󾁦​us󾁦​this󾂦​past󾂦​five󾁦​years,󾂦​but󾂦​if󾂦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​thinks󾂦​further󾂦​back,󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾂦​will󾁦​remember...󾁦​Mon󾁦​is󾂦​Pah󾁦​(aunt)󾂦​Porn's󾂦​daughter,󾁦​the󾂦​janitor󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​asked󾂦​to󾁦​look󾁦​after󾂦​Suer󾂦​(tiger)󾁦​.󾁦​Remember󾁦​ka?" 0

  

"Ohhh?"󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​examined󾂦​me󾂦​closely󾁦​again.󾂦​"That's󾂦​it.󾂦​No󾂦​wonder󾁦​you󾂦​look󾁦​so󾂦​familiar.󾁦​So󾁦​you're󾁦​Pah󾁦​Porn's󾁦​daughter.  0

  

"So󾁦​Mon󾁦​is󾁦​no󾁦​longer󾁦​a󾂦​stranger󾂦​to󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam."  0

 

"But..." 0

 

"No󾂦​but󾁦​because󾁦​none󾂦​of󾂦​us󾂦​is󾁦​free󾁦​to󾂦​take󾁦​care󾂦​of󾂦​you󾁦​24󾁦​hours󾁦​a󾂦​day󾁦​like󾁦​Mon,󾁦​the󾂦​person󾁦​who󾁦​loves󾁦​and󾂦​cares󾁦​about󾁦​you󾂦​the󾂦​most󾁦​in󾂦​this󾂦​world."  0

 

Khun󾁦​Sam󾂦​doesn't󾂦​give󾂦​any󾁦​responses.󾂦​She󾂦​didn't󾁦​say󾁦​yes󾁦​or󾂦​no.󾂦​After󾁦​a󾁦​while,󾂦​everyone󾂦​went󾁦​back,󾁦​and󾁦​now󾂦​there󾂦​are󾁦​only󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾁦​and󾁦​I󾁦​left.󾁦​There󾁦​is󾂦​stress󾂦​in󾂦​the󾁦​air.󾁦​Like󾂦​two󾁦​strangers󾂦​having󾁦​to󾂦​spend󾁦​time󾁦​together󾁦​on󾂦​a󾂦​faraway󾁦​deserted󾂦​island. 0

 

"We󾂦​were󾁦​really󾁦​going󾂦​to󾂦​get󾁦​married?" 0

  

She󾂦​breaks󾂦​the󾂦​silence󾁦​and󾂦​asks.󾁦​I󾂦​look󾁦​her󾂦​in󾂦​the󾂦​eyes󾂦​and󾁦​nod󾂦​to󾂦​say󾁦​yes. 0

 

"Who󾂦​proposed?"  0

  

"Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​proposed󾁦​to󾁦​Mon."  0

  

"And󾂦​how󾁦​will󾁦​it󾂦​come󾂦​out?󾂦​You󾂦​wearing󾂦​a󾁦​tuxedo󾂦​and󾁦​me󾂦​dragging󾁦​a󾁦​long-tail󾂦​wedding󾂦​dress󾂦​into󾁦​the󾁦​chapel?󾂦​It󾁦​doesn't󾁦​sound󾁦​right."  0

 

"We󾁦​didn't󾂦​get󾁦​to󾁦​that󾁦​point󾁦​in󾂦​our󾂦​planning.󾁦​We󾁦​just󾁦​gave󾁦​each󾂦​other󾁦​our󾁦​word󾂦​that󾂦​we󾂦​would󾁦​get󾁦​married.󾂦​And󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾂦​gave󾂦​Mon󾂦​this󾂦​ring."󾁦​I󾂦​show󾁦​her󾁦​my󾂦​left󾁦​ring󾂦​finger.󾂦​Khun󾂦​Sam󾂦​looks󾂦​at󾂦​it󾁦​briefly󾂦​and󾂦​nods.

   

"I󾁦​have󾂦​taste." 0

  

"Yes󾁦​kha.󾂦​You󾂦​always󾂦​have󾂦​good󾂦​taste." 0

 

"I󾂦​like󾂦​listening󾂦​to󾂦​you󾂦​talk."󾁦​She󾁦​says󾁦​that󾂦​without󾁦​smiling.󾁦​It's󾁦​a󾂦​compliment,󾁦​Khun󾁦​Sam's󾁦​straight-faced󾁦​style.󾁦​It󾁦​makes󾂦​me󾁦​smile󾁦​a󾂦​bit.󾂦​"From󾂦​now󾂦​on,󾂦​I󾁦​have󾁦​to󾂦​be󾂦​with󾂦​you?"  0

 

“Kha."󾁦​I󾂦​reply󾁦​feeling󾁦​a󾂦​bit󾂦​strange.󾂦​"I'm󾂦​not󾂦​used󾂦​to󾂦​Khun󾁦​Sam󾁦​calling󾁦​me󾁦​"you."" 0

  

"What󾂦​do󾂦​I󾂦​normally󾂦​call󾂦​you?󾁦​Let's󾁦​try󾂦​again...󾂦​from󾁦​now󾂦​on,󾁦​I󾂦​have󾁦​to󾁦​be󾂦​with󾁦​you,󾂦​bitch?" 0

   

"erm...󾂦​not󾂦​that󾂦​kha." 0

 

"From󾁦​now󾂦​on,󾁦​this󾂦​bitch󾁦​has󾂦​to󾁦​be󾂦​with󾁦​you,󾂦​jerk?" 0

  

"That's󾁦​even󾂦​worse󾁦​kha!"󾂦​I󾁦​squeal󾂦​when󾂦​I󾁦​hear󾂦​"bitch-jerk."󾂦​Those󾂦​words󾁦​shouldn't󾁦​come󾁦​out󾂦​of󾁦​Khun󾂦​Sam's󾁦​mouth.󾁦​"Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​calls󾁦​Mon󾂦​"tua.""  0

  

"Yeah.󾁦​How󾁦​can󾁦​someone󾂦​like󾁦​me󾁦​say󾁦​"bitch-jerk"....󾁦​so󾁦​from󾂦​now󾁦​on,󾁦​I󾂦​have󾁦​to󾁦​stay󾁦​with󾂦​TUA󾂦​for󾁦​a󾁦​while.󾁦​Thank󾂦​you󾂦​in󾁦​advance󾂦​for󾂦​taking󾁦​care󾂦​of󾁦​me."  0

 

"No󾂦​need󾂦​kha.󾂦​I'm󾁦​happy󾁦​to󾁦​do󾂦​it." 0

  

"We're󾂦​really󾂦​girlfriends?"

  

"Kha."  0

 

Khun󾂦​Sam󾁦​is󾁦​curious.󾂦​She󾁦​goes󾁦​quiet󾂦​for󾂦​a󾂦​bit󾂦​and󾂦​clears󾁦​her󾁦​throat.  0

 

"We󾂦​were󾂦​just󾁦​talking,󾁦​getting󾂦​to󾂦​know󾁦​each󾂦​other?󾁦​We󾂦​didn't󾂦​do󾂦​anything..." 0

  

I󾁦​knew󾁦​what󾂦​she󾁦​was󾂦​thinking󾂦​immediately.󾁦​Curiosity󾁦​has󾁦​become󾁦​a󾁦​part󾁦​of󾂦​Khun󾁦​Sam,󾂦​especially󾂦​for󾂦​these󾂦​kinds󾁦​of󾁦​things.󾁦I󾁦​just󾁦​give󾂦​her󾂦​an󾂦​amused󾁦​smile󾁦​while󾁦​I󾁦​walk󾁦​over󾁦​to󾁦​pull󾂦​up󾂦​the󾂦​blanket󾂦​and󾂦​adjust󾁦​her󾂦​bed󾁦​without󾂦​saying󾁦​anything. 0

  

"Let's󾂦​take󾂦​it󾂦​one󾂦​step󾁦​at󾁦​a󾂦​time." 0

 

"What's󾂦​with󾁦​that󾁦​smile?󾂦​Why󾂦​not󾂦​say󾁦​anything?"  0

 

I󾁦​bend󾁦​down󾂦​until󾁦​my󾁦​nose󾁦​almost󾂦​touches󾁦​hers.󾁦​The󾁦​sweet-faced󾁦​lady's󾂦​eyes󾁦​widen󾁦​in󾁦​panic󾁦​from󾁦​my󾁦​attack.󾂦​This󾁦​doesn't󾁦​normally󾂦​happen,󾁦​as󾁦​she's󾂦​generally󾁦​the󾂦​one󾂦​who󾂦​makes󾂦​the󾂦​first󾂦​move.󾂦​But󾁦​this󾂦​time󾂦​it's󾁦​different.   0

 

"Let's󾁦​wait󾁦​until󾁦​you󾁦​remember󾂦​everything.󾂦​Then󾂦​we󾁦​can󾁦​talk." 0

  

To󾂦​be󾂦​continued  0