A Vihokratana's tragedy

15. A manipulated love

"Don't worry. They seem to be good people. I talked to their parents. They will be joining their sons on the trip soon," Win informed his parents and Bright while carefully giving Bright his medicine.

"Do I really need to take that many?" Bright carped, looking at the pills in his hand.

"Take it, Bright. You aren't a child to whine about meds," Gun, who had been leaning against the doorframe of his eldest son's bedroom with his arms folded across his chest, spoke up in his usual, no-nonsense tone.

"And, Win, you put that mini first aid kit in Chi's bag, right?" Gun added, raising an eyebrow. 

Win gave a small thumbs-up in reply to his father's question.

Bright gave an exaggerated pout, clearly displeased with the situation, but when he realized there was no way around it, he reluctantly swallowed the medicine. If anything, it tasted far worse than he imagined—like something truly foul. Not that Gun would know what a rotten egg tastes like, but judging from the look on Bright's face as he grimaced through the bitterness, Gun figured it was at least close to that level of awful.

"They left in front of you, right?" Off asked, his voice carrying a note of concern as he looked over at Win, his eyes narrowing slightly in curiosity.

"Yep, they left in front of me," Win confirmed, his tone casual as he folded a few clothes. "We went to their house, talked with them for about ten minutes, and then their last trip mate showed up, so they left. The atmosphere was pretty lively there. I liked it."

Off nodded, taking in the information. He knew that Win had been talking about Chimon's friends and their upcoming trip. He trusted his son's judgment, and it seemed like everything was going well so far.

"Is he going to spend his whole holiday with them?" Bright asked, he sounded annoyed as he shifted in his seat. He wasn't one to hide his emotions, especially when it came to matters that irritated him. 

He'd been looking forward to this time with Win, maybe even a little selfishly. The rare opportunity to spend quality time with his husband and Chimon had felt like a chance to reconnect, something they hadn’t had in a while. But now, with Chimon gone off on a trip for god knows how long, Bright couldn't shake the feeling of frustration. 

His husband was right there, yet Chimon, that brat, had been swept away on an adventure with friends, leaving Bright to stew in a house that now felt a little emptier.

"Nah. Don't worry. He'll be spending some time with us too. With you. You know he loves you, right? After all, you two are the Vachirawit duo," Off reassured Bright with a warm smile, trying to ease the tension in the room. He always took a more optimistic approach when it came to family matters, believing that everything would eventually work itself out. "I’m just worried about him, though. This is the first time we're sending him away with people we don't know. It feels a bit odd to me, but I guess we need to get used to it." Off sighed, the protective father in him still not fully at ease with the situation. He was trying to push through his own concerns, but it wasn’t easy.

Gun wasn’t worried. He knew Chi was with Frank and Drake, and that was enough.

Drake mentioned that Frank had made a new friend recently — someone cute and full of energy. The description screamed brought Chi, but Gun hadn’t expected it to actually be him.

He figured he’d call them later to confirm—just to keep things clear—but that was something for another time. Right now, Chi was with people Gun trusted, and that was what mattered.

....

Nanon kept giving Drake, who was sitting with Frank opposite to him in the minibus, death glares. Tay and New didn’t want to tire their sons before the trip even started, so they had rented a minibus with a driver for their four-hour journey to the farmhouse. The rented bus wasn’t an ordinary one. It resembled a sleeper bus, but instead of being divided into sections, the entire bus was lined with something similar to bus beds, except for the aisle leading to the gate and the driver’s section. Tay wanted his sons and their friends to have a comfortable trip, after all. Tay and New would join them in a car in two to three days, once Pluem would be comfortable.