AGAINST THE RULES

Chapter 37

He will punch his nose until it bends and breaks. He will not flinch at the blood. He will not feel any pity. He will not stop punching him until he is all curled up on the floor, begging for forgiveness.

Oh who the hell was Win kidding. He wasn't going to do any of that.

But he sure as hell was done chasing Bright Vachirawit.

How dare that complete ass proclaim love then once again disappear on him?

How stupid was Win to let Bright keep fucking doing this to him?

He did it once before when their show ended. Not being an on-screen couple suddenly meant they couldn't even be off-screen acquaintances. Suddenly, Bright acted like they never even knew each other.

He did it too after kissing him on that hotel balcony.

And he's doing it again!

Win was over it. Over it.

He didn't care anymore. He was never talking to that numbskull ever again.
Fuck him.

And so when his phone rings for the hundredth time he flings it across the room. He had no intention of explaining himself to Saetang. He could give a rat's ass about the network right now.

Win was full-on seething when a loud knock comes from outside his bedroom door. He planned to ignore it as well but the banging became louder and louder as if the person knocking intended to ram the door down.

Win unlocks the door and jumps out of the way as it suddenly and violently swings open.

One the other side is Wendy Opas-iamkajorn - red-faced and glowering.

"Mom I - "

Wendy cuts Win off. "No. Saetang is downstairs. He will come up in one minute and you will give him the time of day."

"But -"

"Win Metawin. Love, career, the truth - all of those things take work. You understand me? If it's important to you, you work for it."

"All I do is work!"

"And now is when you'll stop? When everything important to you is about to crumble into nothing?"

Win's breath hitches and he can feel his eyes water. But goddamnit he was not going to cry.

"He's avoiding me. Why do I have to work on us when he isn't?"

Wendy reaches out and pulls her son into a hug. "Because sometimes love means being strong for two."

God, Win hated how his mom was always right.

- - -

Saetang enters Win's studio room,
fully expecting to be greeted by an emotional outburst.

Bright has been missing since last night and no one has been able to reach him. The threat of the leak was happening in three hours and it was looking more and more like they couldn't preempt or stop it from happening. Not if they couldn't find Bright.

But what Saetang finds is a silent man who looks depleted.

"Any word from Bright?," Saetang asks tentatively.

Win just gives him a withering look.

"Right. Win, I know I have asked this before but is there really no other place you think Bright could have gone?"

Win remains silent.

"Win please, the leak may happen in three hours. I am desperate here."

"Maybe we should just let it happen."

Seatang rubs his temples so vigorously it's as if he believed if he did it hard enough, he'd be able to turn back time. "Look, I have thought of that but it will look disastrous if it leaks and Bright is missing."

"We can tell them we broke up."

Saetang stops in his tracks. "Let's say that it's true that you two are over, believe me when I tell you that will be a worse story to present to the press. And I can list down all the reasons why it's worse but we don't have time right now so please just believe me."

Win is rubbing his wrists raw in frustration. "I really don't know why you keep asking me for clues about Bright's whereabouts. He hasn't reached out to me at all. You should be hounding his mother."

Saetang sighs loudly, his panic slowly suffocating him. "Bright has not called or texted Junta either."

Win's face turns from defeated to extremely unsettled. "Bright hasn't contacted his mother?"
That man was willing to climb coconut trees with a broken arm just to call his mom. If there's one thing Bright did not do, it's to make his mom worry.

And that worried Win.

Here he was all angry for not receiving a text when the love of his goddamned life may be hurt in a ditch somewhere.

Think Metawin. Where could Bright be?
Where would he go?

"Tell me again," Win said to Saetang. "What happened last night? When you last saw him?"

Saetang goes through every detail he remembers.

"There's nothing you left out?," Win presses.

Saetang thinks for a moment then it hits him. "The folders."

"What?"

"I returned to the office and Bright was gone. But I saw two folders open on my desk.

Win, I am 98% sure that Bright saw the details of your screen test. The one with Chuck and - "

"Marvel," Win whispered.

Bright knew how much Win loves action movies. So much that he screen tests for every action movie script that comes his way. Bright knew his far-fetched dream of being part of a Hollywood superhero movie. And how he excited he was when Korean romcom star Park Seo Joon was announced as part of the Captain Marvel cast. It meant there was hope for him too.

'He's doing this because he thinks being together will destroy my dream,' Win realizes, tears threatening to well in his eyes again. 'That asshole. That complete and utterly ridiculous fuckwad.

He's done this before and...'

Win gasps. It was a day of revelations. Bright has done this before.

"Saetang, I know where he is. Let's go."

They run hurriedly to the garage.

"Oh! And let's call Bright's mom."