The Red Thread of Destiny

Chapter 31: Method or madness?

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't. There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so."

"Well, well, well, see who is awake! The Slut is who!" a voice penetrated his reminiscing, followed by cackling laughter. Rain didn't say anything. Lhong had no idea what was coming for him, so Rain knew he had to just hold on to his temper as long as he could. 'God, I should ask Dad V to let me join them. Mafia possibilities endless,' he grinned to himself. "Too scared to talk?" Lhong hit him across his face. But Rain still didn't say a word. Suddenly Lhong spoke to someone behind him. "Bring him to the main room," he said in what he thought was a commanding tone. Rain wanted to laugh out loud. No wonder he and his father could never get a one up on the Theerpanayakuls.

Theerpanayakul resort, Chiang Mai, the night before –

"Me," Rain said. "No way in hell is that going to happen," Type said at the same time Pete said, "No chance, never!" Everyone started speaking at the same time. Rain calmly waited till everyone stopped speaking. "Are you all done?" he asked. "Now I request you to listen to me. I know that the necklaces that Dad V and Papa K gave us, contain trackers," he began, making everyone look at each other in surprise. "If we continue to live like this, in fear of P'Tawan and P'Lhong, we will never be able to live at all. P'Tawan tried his best to break your generation of the family, but he couldn't. So he decided to ensure that his son would continue his legacy. I don't know if P'Amy was part of the plan, but two things are for sure. One, she was aware of who P'Phayu was , and two, they didn't plan on her getting sick and dying," Rain said.

"So if we want to end this, they need to take me. If they are targeting P'Phayu, that means it's about Dad V, and therefore I will be an indirect target as long as I am with P'Phayu. So if we want to end this once and for all, I need to knowingly walk into their trap. They will use me as leverage, and that's how you will take them out, once and for all," Rain said. Everyone looked at each other. They could not believe it. Phayu had chosen a partner who was worthy of their family. And Rain's age made no difference, because he was seriously very intelligent. "So what do you want to do?" Kinn asked. "And what do you want us to do?" Sky asked. Rain laid out his plan. They considered every in and out, every loophole, and with the help of P'Singto, another trusted bodyguard, who closely worked with P'Arm in the cyber security area for the Theerpanayakuls, a solid and rather clever scheme was hatched.

Chiang Mai Gate Market, the next afternoon –

Phayu had still not returned, and in a way Rain was happy with these turn of events, knowing clearly that he would have never allowed Rain to take any unnecessary risk. But Rain was now fighting for his future, and he intended to emerge victorious, no matter what he had to go through. After knowing that Phayu was the one who had saved him from the kidnapping, he had also remembered the sensation of that long ago made promise, how he had felt his soul binding itself to that Phi's. it had been such a strange sensation, but now he understood what the monk had meant when he had said that his soul was tied to the one he was about to lose. Everything just made so much sense.

The gang of friends walked around the market, laughing and joking. Not a single expression of theirs gave away the fact that they were all participating in an elaborate plan that could not backfire, because their best friend's safety was at stake. They walked around and suddenly Rain said that he wanted to use the bathroom. Yihwa said that she would go with him, as she needed to use the restrooms as well. All of them locked eyes with each other and nodded. The two of them went off, talking and then split in front of the public facilities. Yihwa came out 5 minutes later and waited for Rain. 'What's taking him so long?' she wondered. After waiting for almost 10 minutes, Yihwa called up Sky. "Ai'Sky, is Rain with you?" she asked in a puzzled voice. "No ya, he went with you," Sky replied, equally puzzled. "And why would he leave you alone?" he added. "Then can you guys come and see where he is? I can't enter the male facilities dude," she cringed. "On our way," Sky said, as he hung up.