Wing of a Butterfly

Chapter 25

Pete's eyes slid over the countless flower arrangements around the casket lingering for a moment on the photograph in the middle, wondering if someone had edited the picture for the occasion or if his perspective was just this screwed about the man after everything that happened as he couldn't remember Khun Kan ever wearing such a friendly expression while he was alive.

Pete held himself back from grimacing then changed his stance once again as he realised that he automatically fell back to his bodyguard persona while they waited at the edge of the room for the family to arrive. Most of the guests already finished paying their respects and the air felt unbearably heavy from the smell of the incense, the chanting of the monks almost eerie in the background.

There was a sudden change in the air, like the tense silence between lightning and thunder. Pete turned towards the entrance, straightening as he saw Khun Korn slowly walk in with Vegas on his side. Normally it would have been Tankhun's place as the firstborn or Kinn's as the man's appointed heir but it was important to show to all the gathered that despite what happened with Khun Kan - and it was an open secret amongst the elites how he died - Vegas had Khun Korn's support. Without it, he and Macau would have been a free target for everyone who wanted to rise higher in the underground and didn't mind doing so by gathering favour from the oldest Theerapanyakun.

Not like Pete thought about any of this as he watched Vegas walk closer to the middle of the room where the seats were placed for the family. He could only see how devastatingly handsome Vegas was in his all-white suit, tall and strong, like a lord surveying his domain. Pete had to glance away from him to Tankhun and Kinn as they followed their father, both of them in black suits with white shirts though Pete could see the colourful inner lining of Tankhun's when the man turned to take his seat. Kim and Macau came in next, the latter in all white just like his brother. The youngest cousins walked next to each other, their steps almost perfectly in sync, both of them solemn as they sat in their chairs. Pete wondered what the gathered elites thought when they saw the sons of the family. Were they mesmerised by their appearance or humbled by the power they carried with their presence?

Pete looked to the side at the Kittisawat brothers, both of them wearing almost the same expression, their cheeks slightly flushed and eyes a little wide.

"I think I'm gathering bad karma..." muttered Porsche as he noticed Pete watching him. "But all I can think about is that our boyfriends are way too hot."

Pete bowed his head to hide his smile, then glanced to the side once again a little surprised when he noticed that Chay blushed even harder at his brother's words. Pete was slightly worried that the man started to feel dizzy from the combination of heat, humidity and incense. He wanted to comment on it but then hastily straightened as the ceremony started and Vegas stood up to walk closer to the casket. He kneeled before it and bowed as the tradition demanded.

He stayed down as Macau joined him, the two of them straightening together and waiting for their cousins to pay their respects before the five men stood at the same time and took their seats once again.

The hall attendants walked in, wearing expensive suits that Pete knew the first family supplied to them and lifted the casket to carry it out to the golden cart, so it could be carried around the temple's crematorium three times. The sons were expected to walk with the cart as were some members of the elites that had a tighter connection to the family but Khun Korn stayed at the stairs of the temple, silently watching the proceedings. Pete wondered what the man felt, attending his younger brother's funeral. Was there any grief or remorse in the man's heart or only satisfaction that their decades-long fight ended in his victory?

Whatever it was, nothing showed on Korn's face as the progression processed around the temple. Years spent as the head bodyguard for the firstborn of the family made Pete occasionally glance around the guests as they waited for the next part of the ceremony. Most of the gathered were standing around the entrance of the temple at a respectful distance from the head of the family but some of them were talking in low voices, likely gossiping about everything that happened in the last few days.