From Something To Everything (Bounprem)

52. Little Sister

Fu Xiaoman felt that it was the worst day of her life. Sitting on the airport chair in the lounge area, she felt like crying. There were people walking past her but she couldn’t ask any of them for help because of the language barrier nor was it something she could ask for help from strangers.

She was struggling when she saw a familiar face in the crowd, Prem. She was unsure if she could ask Prem for help. Other than talking a bit on her first day there, she hasn’t interacted with Prem, even though she had become close friends with his manager Sammy.

Prem noticed Fu Xiaoman from a distance. He could guess that there was something wrong with her today just by looking at her face. Soon he saw her looking at him with an awkward pitiful look. She was trying to get his attention.

He looked over. That was when he noticed the red patch on her skirt that she was trying to hide desperately. Only one thought popped up in his mind – she had gotten her period.

Prem immediately removed his jacket and offered to her. She was thankful that he understood what she wanted to say without her having to say that.

She awkwardly stood up to tie the jacket around her waist.

Prem saw the blood stain that was left on the portion of the chair she just sat on. He took out his handkerchief and gave it to her.

“There is a lady’s restroom over there,” Prem spoke in Mandarin while pointing in a direction.

Before Fu Xiaoman could thank him, he disappeared. She used the handkerchief to wipe off the blood stain from the chair without letting others notice anything before running to the washroom with the bloody piece of cloth.

Locking herself inside the restroom cubicle, Fu Xiaoman clenched her aching belly. The period cramps were killing her. She didn’t know what to do next.

She heard a knock on the cubicle door. She had been sitting in there for a while now. It was only natural that someone would knock. She slowly peeked out of the door.

The janitor lady who knocked on the door handed her a polythene bag and a paper bag and said something in Thai that she didn’t understand.

Feeling a little confused, Fu Xiaoman opened the polythene bag. The contents of the bag surprised her- Sanitary napkins, a disposable underwear, painkillers and a bottle of water. That was everything she needed at that point. She understood why Prem had left in a hurry after asking her to go to the washroom.

She then went ahead and checked out the contents of the paper bag. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the dress Prem had gotten her. She never thought that Prem would be considerate enough to get her a change of cloth as well.  

It was rare for men to understand what women went through while they were on their periods. Prem’s actions today had improved his image in Fu Xiaoman’s mind.

When she finally walked out of the washroom, she saw Prem waiting outside for her. She smiled nervously at him when he handed her a cup of coffee. She wanted to tell him that drinking coffee was not going to help with the cramps. But Prem spoke first.

“It’s ginger tea. You will feel better after drinking it.”

Fu Xiaoman’s eyes widened in realisation.

“Your Mandarin is quite smooth.” She remarked to break the awkward silence between the duo as they headed to their practice room.

“I stayed in Beijing for a while. Chuan is one of my close friends.” Prem glanced at the girl beside him. “I didn’t know that you were his Xiao Meimei [1] until yesterday.”

Fu Xiaoman was shocked to find that Prem was her elder cousin’s friend. They had a smooth conversation after that.

When they reached the practice room, others were yet to arrive. Prem got a plastic chair from somewhere and brought it to the room as there was no furniture in the room.

“Sit on the chair. The floor is cold.” He offered the chair to Fu Xiaoman sitting on the floor himself. The latter thanked him smiling warmly.

“Can I call you Xiaoman?” Prem felt that addressing her by her whole name was too formal.

“Sure. Then, can I call you Gege as well?” Prem agreed upon hearing the question.

“Gege, can I ask you something else?” she asked hesitantly.

Prem nodded in response.

“Are you mad at Boun Gege?”

Prem didn’t respond.

“Gege, Boun Gege really wants to reconcile with you. You two being like this makes the whole atmosphere of the room look weird. You know he actually….” Fu Xiaoman tried her best to put forward a good word for Boun.

Little did she know that the real reason Prem was staying away from Boun was her.

As he listened to the girl speaking up for Boun, justifying his actions, Prem was sure that Boun had told everything that happened between them to her.

This further angered him. He had wanted to keep the things between them private but Boun didn’t seem to think like him. He understood it when Boun disclosed the details of their ‘relationship’ to Bosston but disclosing it to Fu Xiaoman was another thing. He was upset and angered by the action.

“Xiaoman, I am not mad at him.” Prem was trying to hold back his emotions at that point. “I just want to keep a boundary between personal and professional lives. Nothing more. Nothing less. If your Gege thinks otherwise, it is his fault.”

“But Gege, he really cares for you.”

“I care for him too, Xiaoman. That is why I am keeping a distance from him. Or else he might run away again.” Prem scoffed.

“He didn’t mean to run away he…”

“Fu Xiaoman.” Prem interrupted her. “I think you are clear that you are in a position to justify him running away.” He paused as he watched her eyes go wide. “He ran off to you that night, right?” Prem snickered at the end of the sentence. “Please don’t take me for a fool. I might have fallen for his tricks a few times, but I am not a total idiot.”

Prem stood up from the floor and walked to the door.

“I hope you can keep it a secret that I know that he left me for you.” Prem paused on his heels and looked at Fu Xiaoman. “I would appreciate it.” He walked out of the room.

Fu Xiaoman was left utterly shocked by the fact that Prem knew that Boun had left him in Phuket because she called him in an emergency. She started getting the feeling that she was the actual reason why the two people were apart now.

[1] Xiao Meimei - little sister in Mandarin