Every Single Thing I Touch || HeartLiming "Moonlight Chicken"

1. The Jacket

The doorbell rang loud and clear, announcing the arrival of a customer and Loetphong "Liming" Nueangna-Uam closed his mathematics textbook with a soft sigh. When the customer walked over to the counter, Liming sat up from his chair, scanned the barcode of the items sprawled on the table, inputted the amounts to the register, uttered a monotonous "Five hundred and ninety baht please", accepted the money with a small wai before dropping the items in a transparent plastic bag and handing over it the change money to the customer with without a single word. As the customer walked away with a silent 'thank you', Liming waied once again and sat back, listening to the doorbell ring once again, signaling the customer's departure.

Going to school and working at a convenience store part-time was habitual to the eighteen year old, and honestly, he didn't spare a single thought of doing something other than that, ever since last year. He barely talked to his mother anymore, barely had any friends left and knew the things people were saying about him behind his back even without paying any attention. He could feel eyes on him every single minute he was in school. Whenever he was cleaning the classroom, whenever he was at the school gym for compulsory basketball practice and whenever he was called over by a teacher to help them out. However, Liming concentrated on his homework now, unlike last year. Nobody bullied him and that was something Liming was grateful for. With everything that had happened during his seventeen years in this life, an additional pressure by his peers would be unbearable.

The doorbell rang once again, and Liming sighed, yet again. He grabbed the barcode scanner when the customer walked towards him and paused the moment they placed a single ginger candy on the table.

"Phi, buy me ginger candies please"

"No, get them yourself. Am I your servant?"

"Phi, please!"

Liming's throat closed up, as his eyes started getting glossy with sudden unshed tears. Something curled in his stomach and Liming had the urge to throw up as the memories started clouding his mind. Clutching the edge of the table, he knocked the barcode scanner onto the surface with a loud clang. He started to control his airflow intake and outtake but everything was starting to suffocate him. His throat was clogged and he couldn't breathe.

Was he about to die? It's better to end this way, right? Can he end everyone's sufferings and miseries just by his death? After all, who will miss him?

"Hey, are you okay?" A concerned voice pierced through his haze. Liming raised his gaze to see a worried girl gripping his shoulders.

Liming was hurting. His head was swimming, not only with pain but with memories tainted with pain as well. He grabbed his chest and started to lightly punch it with his closed fist. Breathe in, breathe out. You can do it, Liming. This is easy biology. You can do it.

"Hey... hey" the concerned customer was trying to calm him down as Liming finally started to breathe in.

It took a couple of seconds as Liming gathered his senses and stood upright. Someone was using his mathematics textbook to fan him. Beads and beads of sweat ran down his temples and Liming staggered a bit before sitting down on the chair. He ran the back of his hand across his sweaty forehead before grabbing the barcode scanner to scan the couple of other items that he didn't see before which were on the table along with the ginger candy.

"Are you okay?" The girl was asking and Liming ignored her completely to input the amounts into the register.

"Three hundred and sixty baht please" he said, as monotonously as ever.

"Phi, you just fainted. Did you not have lunch? Do you want wat—?"

Liming interrupted, "Three hundred and sixty baht please"