A Touching Of Lips (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 55. Conflict.

The journey home was pretty good and there were not that many hold ups which made me pleased for Ming. Although he could drive well, he was not that experienced to deal with heavy traffic.

I had read the emails and the results of the preliminary enquiries made by Uncle Film as I had saved them to be read offline. It was already clear that instructions had been issued to update the property Ming's family lived in, and then on completion to increase the rents for new tenants.

Uncle had also left reports on the company and personnel at our company in Khon Kaen charged with looking after the apartment complex, and his views made unpleasant reading. He advised me not to do anything yet but to wait for his further reports so I had a complete picture and we would discuss the best and most effective way to deal with it.

There weren't any emails or messages from Songpob, but I didn't really expect any as we had only spoken late afternoon.

It was getting on to 4:30 pm when we arrived back at the aquarium carpool centre. The car was checked and signed back in and we caught a Tuk-tuk back to college.

I sent a text to Karn saying we had dropped off the car and would be back shortly. His reply came back just as we entered the Campus. 'Meet us in Plaa ASAP'.

We quickly dropped our bags off in our rooms and rushed round to the restaurant. My heart was pounding and a feeling of apprehension and a sense of foreboding gnawed at me. I couldn't shake it off, not since the short uninformative text from Karn. I knew bad news was just around the corner.

The restaurant was closed and I tapped on the glass on the door.

Yacht answered. He had a nasty looking cut above one eye and a bruise on his cheekbone. He gave us a sad smile. "Good that you're back, Earth....., and you too Ming. Can I get you something to drink?"

We did what the twins usually did and said in unison, "Pomegranate juice please!"

We gave a half hearted chuckle aimed at ourselves. So did the twins, and we all greeted each other with hugs.

"Book is on his way," Karn advised. "He's just sent a text to say that he's been held up at the aquarium this afternoon."

I looked at Ming, "I wish we had known, as he could have travelled with us."

I read the look Karn gave me as that was not a good idea and it was then that I knew that there was indeed bad news.

While Yacht busied himself preparing drinks and, as we were to find out shortly, some food, I told the twins about our visit and about Ming coming out to his parents.

Just as Yacht brought out the food, Book arrived. Well! If I thought Yacht looked bad then Book looked like he had been dragged through a hedge backwards, not once but twice! He had cuts all over his head and hands. He was wearing dark glasses and, once he removed them, he sported two black eyes. He limped as he walked across to us and gingerly sat down.

Both Ming and myself were speechless and said nothing at first. Then Ming spoke.

He took the words right out of my mouth. "Is Pond okay?"

Book shook his head negatively.

I looked towards Karn. "You better start talking. You know something and you have kept it from us."

Karn gulped. "I didn't want to upset you before you drove home. I only found out last night when I actually met up with Book and Yacht."

Book nodded. "I told him not to. Pond was hurt badly and is being looked after by his sister."

"What happened?" I asked, as I put a comforting hand on his arm.

"It was the human mercenaries. We were well out in the ocean and were all caught by surprise. We had just beaten off Mongkut and his task force warriors that were out to capture Khun Chiang, when they came up behind us. They also then came from both sides as we tried to regroup. Some were in very fast boats on the surface dragging a big net. Big as in like we have seen human fishermen dragging through the water behind their boats. Other humans were in the water....., they were firing their spear guns at anyone caught in the net. It was hard to escape as most of us were tired and injured from the battle with Mongkut."