Priceless - A PeteKao Love Story

Chapter 2 - Accident

Kao looked lovingly at the elderly woman who was carefully crossing the road. He smiled as she glanced at him and mouthed a bless you. She appeared grateful, people never stopped for pedestrians like her anymore. Kao was checking if she had reached the other end safely when he suddenly heard a screech followed by a thud.

For a moment, he couldn't understand what was happening. He opened his eyes to see strange faces hovering above him. His ears were buzzing. He saw his bike down in the middle of the road and let out a yelp. 

Someone from the crowd helped him to his feet. He was trying to look over their shoulders at the bike that he bought a month ago with a year's savings, assessing the damage when a strong arm roughly shoved his body to the side.

"Who gave you license? Don't you know better than to put brake suddenly in the middle of the road? What the hell were you thinking? Do you know who I am? Do you know the cost of my car?" A tall, tan-skinned man yelled into his already buzzing ears.

He had shown the signal and slowed down. This man rammed into his bike and was now shouting at him? He was pretty sure that the car was going over the speed limit too. He wanted to say all this to the guy who was pointing fingers and continuing his tirade like a maniac, but Kao was still reeling from the impact of his fall. Words just refused to roll out of his mouth.

Even in his dazed state, Kao could see the ambers of fury in the man's eyes. Fleetingly, he felt sorry for the man who seemed to be bursting with all the anger and resentment in the world. But it quickly evaporated as he heard the berating rant.

The few people standing around realized that the man in the car was not an ordinary person. They took in the make of his luxury car and his commanding demeanor, slowly stepping back, not wanting to entangle themselves in any trouble. One or two took out their phones and started recording.

The man looked like an enraged bull as he spat profanities at the biker who looked too stunned to react. Pushing Kao aside, the man then walked away stopping to kick aside the pink helmet that lay near his front tire. He hopped back into the car and drove away leaving Kao with a bruised body and a broken bike.

Kao was trying to pull his bike up when he heard the two youngsters who were looking through the video they took remark "Is that Pete Vihokratana?" "You mean, THE Pete Vihokratana?" "Oh my god! Yes yes, I think it's him"....

He inhaled deeply, walked up to the boys, and asked them to share the video with him. Vihokratana or not, he needed it to make sure that the asshole paid for what he did. The indicator was broken and the handles felt a little loose. But thankfully, he was able to start the bike. He slowly made his way to the nearest police station. 

To the onlookers, Kao and Pete were just two of the 1500 odd people who got into accidents every day on the streets of Bangkok. Though they didn't know that then, for the two men involved, this was an ugly beginning to the most beautiful chapter of their lives.