The Red Thread of Destiny

Chapter 14: Shattered

"All I want to do right now is cry and scream and let it all out because it's killing me inside."

Kirigun house, Sunday evening –

"Dad! Pa! I am baaack!" Rain sang out, as he entered the house. Both his fathers came out of the study. He waiied and ran to hug them. "How are you lukchay?" Tharn asked, exchanging a worried look with Type above their son's head. "I am awesome! It was such a lovely break!" he said, grinning from ear to ear. "I am all set and raring to go to college tomorrow," he continued. "Rain? Have you spoken to Phayu lately?" Type asked him. Rain was extremely surprised by his Pa's question. Type was not one to ask about Phayu, but Rain readily replied, "No Pa. He did leave me a lot of messages to update me, but I was so busy and my phone died. I just charged it in the van, and tried calling him, but his phone is switched off now. It's okay though, I will see him tomorrow!" Rain continued.

"Rain? Are you very tired? Do you mind coming out with Dad and Pa?" Type asked. "Why would I be tired? I am of course ready to come with you. Where are we going though?" he asked. "Why don't we tell you on the way?" Tharn asked. "Okay Dad," Rain said, happily following his fathers out. Although, at home he had wanted to know where they were going, on the way, he was so full of stories from his trip, that where they were going didn't come up at all. Tharn and Type looked at each other, completely worried, but let Rain continue talking. Finally Tharn stopped. "We are here Rain," he said. They got down. "Hospital?" Rain asked puzzled. "Who is here? Dad? Granpa and granma are okay? Is it Uncle Thorn? Aunty Thanya?" Rain bombarded his fathers with questions. "They are all okay Rain," Type said. "Then? Who is it?" Rain asked. "Rain, lukchay, just come. We will tell you everything inside," Type put a reassuring hand on Rain's shoulder.

They all went towards the VIP wing of the ICU on the top floor of the hospital, and opened the door of the farthest room on it, and walked inside. "P'Phayu! Phi!" Rain ran to the bed, seeing the still figure of the man he adored, lying on the bed, machines connected all over. He looked everywhere and started to cry. "What happened to him?" Rain asked, tears flowing down his cheeks. Pete came forward and hugged Rain and stroked his hair. "They were in Ko Samui, taking care of the resort business. One of the culprits had a gun. He held a girl at gunpoint, and Phayu got shot, trying to save her.

Rain could not stop crying. He turned away from Pete's arms and sat next to Phayu's bed. He held Phayu's hand with both of his. "Phi? Phi, can you hear me? Wake up na? See, your Rain is here. Wake up please? Please na?" Rain cried. Everyone present in the room, could not stop their eyes from filling up. Pete and Type wept openly in their husband's arms. For Pete, the fact that his son was lying in bed, hurt, was bad enough, but seeing the boy he had chosen for his son, crying bitterly was worse than death. For Type, seeing tears in Rain's eyes was horrible, and he felt even worse that the boy his son loved was in so much pain, a pain that his son was also feeling. Kinn and Porche stood to the side, trying to console Pai, who was crying as well, as he saw his brother suffer.

"What exactly happened?" Tharn asked Pai. "Dad and Papa V told us that there was a problem of fake money at the casino of the resort. We started talking to the manager, and walked around the tables. We saw someone swapping the real notes, for fake. We immediately alerted the security and asked them to bring the culprits to the observation room. Obviously, they didn't want to come quietly. One of them pulled out a gun and captured a woman playing at the table nearby. There was utter panic. The observation deck was behind the table where the man was standing. Phayu was faster than I was. He tackled the man immediately, but in trying to wrest the gun from him, he got shot. The security got them all, but.." Pai trailed off, his voice completely broken.

"What did the doctor say?" Tharn asked. "The bullet just missed the heart, but there was some bleeding. They immediately transferred him through air support to Bangkok, to our hospital. We let you know as soon as he got out of surgery," Kinn said. "When did this happen?" Rain asked. "On Saturday, early morning," Pai said. "And you didn't bother to tell me?" Rain, who had never raised his voice till today, shouted at everyone. "You should have asked me to come back immediately," his voice trembled with unshed tears. Nobody dared to respond to Rain, because they all knew he was right!