We are...คือเรารักกัน (We are... we are in love)

Chapter 6: Autobiograghy (Part 2)

"Nong Peem, I didn't cook breakfast for you. So order food yourself or go eat at our shop. I've already told P'Ning and P'Aom."

"Krapppppp"

I shouted, answering aunt Pui in a hoarse voice like a person who had just woken up. Soon I heard footsteps walking down the stairs. Then my consciousness flowed back into the dream world again, but some brain cells argued that I shouldn't sleep any longer. Anyway, I had free time now. I should take this opportunity to really introduce myself and get to know everyone, after having turned around so many times.

So let's get started!

Well, as everyone knows, how chaotic my life had been recently. My life had been messed up completely. It's like sailing through life smoothly, the wind and waves were calm, the sky had been clear for twenty years, and suddenly the sky suddenly turned dark. A tornado hit and caused the ship to sink in the middle of the ocean.

Once I got through the stormy period of life and had a moment where I could be calm down, be alone, be with myself and reflect on what had happened, I crystallized to myself that...

I'm sleepy, very sleepy, I'm so sleepy that I couldn't take it anymore. I'd like to continue the story in my dream.

Well, where should I start? Do I have to introduce my name? Probably not. Because if anyone hasn't know my name yet, we'll just have to stop with each other for now. Okay, let's get started. It's better to start from birth.

I was born in Bangkok. I'm a city person since birth. But I never felt like I am a Bangkoker. In fact, I don't feel like I belong anywhere. Because ever since I can remember, my parents took me to migrate to all over the country of Siam. Before I could remember the route, I had to move to a new place again.

My father says that moving frequently has its advantages, which I don't know if it's true or not. He says that I would be able to get along with others easily, always learn new things, love freedom, and not be attached to anything. It sounds like a message from an old entertainment magazine for horoscopes based on birth signs, right?

My father is from Bangkok, and my mother is from the North. Let's come together and we'll get it. It's more dramatic than a soap opera after the news. It's the story that my mother has told me since I was in kindergarten. Until today, it is still told. When I was a child, I believed everything. But later, when I grew older, I began to think analytically. I began to wonder if my mother was bragging.

But as much as I tried to ask aunt Pui, ask my grandmother, ask my father, my mother's story probably has some ninety percent truth in it. The other ten percent must be cut out because she praised herself as being drop-dead beautiful* that even Phaya Than falls in love with her. Because that probably wasn't her business, but Phaya Kankhak's business.

* ล่มเมือง (倾城) full version ล่มชาติล่มเมือง 倾国倾城 (idiom) extremely beautiful that causes the downfalls of cities and countries
**Refer two northern Thai folktales: "Pha Daeng Nang Ai" and "Phaya Khan Khak". Peem is probably comparing his mother to Nang Ai, known as the most beautiful human being 😅 Phaya Than is the greatest deity in heaven who control the weather. The story is long but let's say that if Phaya Than fell in love with Nang Ai, and if he can't win her heart, he will punish human by stop giving rain. Phaya Khan Khak, who is a king in human world will have to build an army to fight with him to ask him give favorable rains.

The story begins with my mother being arranged by my grandfather to marry the son of a rice mill owner. Arranged marriages were considered a common practice for people at that time. Especially if you're a woman, you absolutely have no right to have a voice. It's like being just a piece of property belonging to your parents. When you get married, you become your husband's property.