The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary (Part I)

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Living a life could be simple, hard, or sometimes complicated. It would probably depend on a person's approach to it. 

As for me, I left home, traveled to some countries, and eventually moved to a remote hillside village. I have been living how I wanted it for the past five years, and I guessed I made the right decision. I have learned a lot and met people with different stories and virtues. 

I owned a nature resort called The Sanctuary in Nan, a remote hillside village in northern Thailand. {1} The lush green and north fertile river valley was an important settlement during the Lanna Kingdom. The village is a picturesque mixture of ripe farming land and wild mountains. There are also some historic attractions in this place – the major one being the King of Nan's teak house. Some wooden houses are found lined along the river flowing beside this village. 

My original plan was to just visit the place and stay for just a week while I was still indecisive about what to do with my life then. However, a week turned into months, and months turned into years. I fell in love at first sight with this place, so I bought a piece of land from an old couple who happened to migrate to the States because their son wanted them to be with him and his family there. It was actually a good deal because the price was really the lowest among others I've seen since they wanted to sell it immediately.

I used the money I saved given by my parents whenever I did a great job at school or on special occasions. I wasn't a materialistic kind of person, so I didn't use up most of my money and I kept them for my future. I even took some part-time jobs while I was in university, and the money I earned from working went straight to my bank account because I was also lucky enough that those things I really needed were provided by my parents. 

It took me almost a year to finish developing the place. It was not as big as the other nature resorts in Thailand, but it was in a very nice location. I hired some of the villagers to construct a few huts that could be used as accommodations for tourists who wanted to stay and explore the province. Then, I decided to turn the old house situated on the highest part of the property that gave a great overlooking view of the whole place into a cafe. 

People thought my place was one of the calmest places they've ever been to. Some of the guests we'd had kept on coming back every year whenever they wanted to have a quiet place away from the busy city. They even called The Sanctuary as their home away from home. I must say I was so proud that I could give such a feeling to them as I also treated them as part of my life and most of them as family.

"Good morning!" I said as I heard the cafe's door open. "Welcome to Cafe on Top."

"Hi, N' Fluke. Good morning!" The customer said. "How are you?"

"I'm great. Have you settled everything to your hut, P' Off? If there's anything you need, just call Sara in the reception. You know the numbers, right?"

"Of course. You don't have to worry about us, N' Fluke. It's not like it's our first time here. We're here every year." He said with a chuckle.

I smiled at him, "Just making sure. You know we need to satisfy all our guests with our service."

"Cut it out. Do you really think we are not even satisfied? We keep coming back here and we even recommend your place to our friends. Just know that you are doing a great job, N' Fluke."

"That's good to hear then. Uhm. . . Where's P' Gun?"

"There." He said and looked outside the door to see Gun, his husband, sitting at one of the garden tables set up. "The weather is really nice today. He wanted to spend time there having his favorite tea."

"He looks so peaceful there," I said as I looked at P' Gun who was sitting quietly leaning his head on the backrest of his chair savoring the cool air outside. P' Off just nodded and smiled lovingly. "I'll prepare his favorite tea then. What about you? Do you want to try other drinks? And those pastries just came out of the oven. You better not miss it.

"Yes. I would like to have a cappuccino, please. And that cute bear muffin. Gun will be ecstatic to see that. It's so cute."

"Of course. Anything else?" 

He shook his head and smiled. "That would be all for now. Just put it in our tab, please. I'll pay everything when we check out."

"No problem. Join P' Gun now. We'll just serve them to you."

"Thanks a lot, N' Fluke." He hurriedly said and ran outside the cafe to go to P' Gun.

"They look so good together." I heard Peter, one of my staff, comment.

"For real. Look how sweet they are." I said as we both looked at the couple. P' Off was brushing P' Gun's hair away from his eyes. "They're always like that ever since the first time they visited here."

"So they always visit The Sanctuary?"

"Yes. They were one of the first guests I had on the first year I opened this place to the public. Maybe I did a great job then, that they kept on coming back every year and we've become friends since then." I said with a proud smile while fixing their drinks. 

"What's their story?"

"Huh? Why would you want to know?" I said and chuckled.

"Their story must be cute. The way they are right now, sweet and caring with each other. I'm just curious about their love story." He said. "Did they tell you?"

"Of course. And they love telling their stories as well. For now, work first. I'll tell you later. "

"Yes, Phi." He said with a salute and took the tray to serve to the couple outside.

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Hi there!

Thanks for dropping by.

The Sanctuary is a collection of fan fiction stories I made for some other couples I like. You would read some familiar names related to the main characters I used in the stories. However, other names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Hoping you would like these stories.

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Source: 

{1} https://traveltriangle.com/blog/villages-in-thailand/