Eyes on me

003

"Phi." Porchay breathed as he stared at his brother with wide eyes.

"Porchay? What are you doing here?" Porsche asked, mirroring the expression on his brother's face as he too was shocked at Porchay's sudden appearance.

"You two know each other?" Mr Korn asked, his eyes shifting between the two.

"He's my brother, Khun Korn." Porsche replied, and everyone in the room including Kim and Tankhun were shocked at the revelation.

"Oh my god." Tankhun gasped, pointing his finger at Porchay. "No wonder I found you familiar. You are a splitting image of your brother."

Porchay smiled sheepishly as he rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"What a coincidence." Mr Korn marveled.

Porsche and Kinn sat down too, and finally, the family was complete. There was Tankhun, the oldest, followed by Kinn, and lastly, Kim. However, if anyone looked the most displeased within the family, it would have to be the youngest. Porchay could tell unlike the rest, Kim was not amused. On the contrary, he looked rather irritated because his plans just got derailed due to Porchay's newfound identity.

"Seems like you didn't know that Porchay was dating Kim either." Mr Korn noted by the surprised look on Porsche's face and his son in law nodded.

"Not a single clue." Porsche told Mr Korn, before shooting a glare at his brother's way, evidently upset that Porchay had kept such a big thing hidden from him. When Porchay said he had plans this Thursday, who would have thought it would be a 'meet the parents' session with his father-in-law.

Porchay mouthed a 'sorry' as he looked towards his brother with guilty eyes. It wasn't supposed to be such a big deal given that it was just a one off arrangement he had made with Kim. But things were a little different...now that Porsche was involved.

"You are living alone?" Mr Korn asked Porchay this time, to which the boy nodded. Porsche probably told Mr Korn about him so it wasn't a surprise to Porchay that Mr Korn knew a thing or two about him.

"Well...since fate brought you to Kim..." Mr Korn said as he brought his hands together in front of him. "Why don't you move in with us?"

"H-huh?" Porchay thought he had misheard Mr Korn initially but when Kim's father repeated himself seeing the confused look on the boy's face, Porchay wished he had.

"I-I don't think it's convenient, sir." Porchay stuttered, as he tried to think of reasons to decline. Unfortunately, not only was Mr Korn persistent, his brother was too except that he really shouldn't because now Porchay was stuck in a tough spot. He looked to Kim for help, but the latter only gave him the side glance.

"Come stay with us." Porsche persuaded his brother. "You know how worried I am with you living on your own."

"I know Phi." Porchay replied. "But we had this conversation before and I am well equipped to take care of myself."

"Nong Porchay, your brother loves you very much. I think if you could stay here with us, Porsche would be very happy." Kinn added on, as he stared earnestly at Porchay.

"And it's not an inconvenience at all." Mr Korn chimed in. "We have plenty of rooms in the house. The more the merrier."

Even Tankhun agreed as he nodded his head firmly. "Perhaps if you move in, I'll get to see my brother more often too." Then, he shot a chiding look at Kim's way to which his brother simply ignored.

At this point, with 4 people convincing him to stay, Porchay could only rely on Kim to say something. Yet, the young master never did. He only watched the commotion unfold wordlessly, but his eyes revealed his annoyance at the circumstance he was in so Porchay didn't dare ask for more.

"So I take it as it's settled then." Mr Korn let out a satisfied sigh, "You move in today. We'll have Big help you with the luggage."

"T-today...?" Porchay echoed as terror overtook his face.

However, Mr Korn was final on his decision so despite the uncertainty on Porchay's face, he instructed Big to help with the move to which the bodyguard was quick to comply. 

"And you...you're coming back to stay too?" Mr Korn turned to face Kim, who had a stoic look on his face all this time the discussion was happening.

Porchay glanced nervously at Kim. The latter had his poker face on, so it was hard to decipher what the brunette was thinking. But before Porchay could observe further, Kim just stood up to leave without even bidding his family goodbye or sparing Porchay a glance.

As Porchay watched Kim leave, the uneasy feeling in his stomach told him that this mess he was entangled with was just the beginning.

—

"Khun Kim, what should we do?" Big asked nervously as he watched the expression on the young master's face hardened. Kim has been looking all dull and bothered since they had returned from the main family's house and it is no surprise why.

"It's my oversight." Kim said bitterly, as his brows snapped together in frustration. That one time he overlooked his due diligence of checking someone, this happened. His pretend date was supposed to be a one off thing, but now it appears that he was stuck with Porchay whether he liked it or not.

"You can break off with him, Khun Kim. Then you will have no excuse to return home." Big suggested but the young master shook his head.

"Not an option." Kim responded. He had already thought over the possibility of calling things off with Porchay long before Big had proposed the idea, but...it just didn't seem feasible.

For one, it has barely been a day since he announced his relationship to his family so it definitely would not make sense for him to break off with Porchay now at such short notice. For two, he needed to be attached so his father would stop using his past as an excuse to manipulate him which means the pretense was necessary.

He could kill him, yes, then guise it under an accident Kim thinks lazily to himself. That way it would be a tragic loss and he figures his father would probably let him off the hook temporarily out of sympathy, that is, if he even has any. But then there was Porsche, his brother's husband, so murdering Porchay cannot be done either.

After exhausting what seemed like all possible solutions, Kim supposes there is only one left despite his great reluctance to accept it. The young master slumped back into his chair in resignation.

He could move back like what his father had hoped and keep the pretense that is, until he finds a suitable time to cut things off with Porchay which he hopes would be soon.

Kim closed his eyes, letting an exasperated sigh escape his lips.

He was going back to the dreaded place that he had so desperately tried to escape. He spent days, months, years plotting his exit from the Theerapanyakul family. The cause of his pain. Yet despite it all, here he was back again at square one.

You can never really run away, can you?