A Melody in the Twilight Sky

07 The City Boy

He led me around to the back of the house. Opening the door, we entered the kitchen area. Beyond the dining room was a staircase leading upstairs. Ignoring the stairs, he walked through a doorway to the next section.

This room was the living room, with a sofa set in the middle. But that wasn't what he wanted me to see. He pointed to a large cabinet against one wall. Behind the glass were numerous framed photos of both men and women. Before I could examine them, he spoke up.

"See? My photos are on the cabinet. If I weren't the real owner, would there be pictures of me?"

The largest photo frame there was of a little boy, probably around elementary school age. He was wearing a white Raj pattern shirt and blue chong kraben pants, his mouth open wide, singing into a microphone. The background looked like some kind of competition stage. The boy in the picture had a bright, happy face. Although his cheeks were still chubby from childhood, the shape of his face was somewhat familiar...

"Is that you?" I looked up and saw the owner of the chubby-cheeked face, now with only a sharp jawline remaining.

"If it's not me, then who is it?" He leaned in, mimicking my voice. "Now do you believe me?"

"Hmm..." I looked away, back at the other photos in the display cabinet, trying to find a baby who might be little Tony, but I still couldn't. Now I only found one strange thing. "Why are there only pictures of you as a child? There aren't any recent ones."

Hearing that, he raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "I told you I just came back from Bangkok. How could there be any here? Besides, nowadays everyone uses their phones to take pictures... Or does your family still use VHS tapes to watch movies?"

This guy... Why can't he speak nicely?

He continued, "Are you satisfied now? You see that I'm not some burglar, right? So please do as I say. Don't tell anyone about this."

Overall, I was somewhat convinced. But...

"Then why did you act so strangely that day, running away before anyone could see you? I almost got in trouble. I was almost accused of trespassing, even though you were the one who carried me in."

He hesitated for a moment, and I had to lean in to scrutinize him before he finally spoke with a straight face.

"Yeah, I ran away from home in Bangkok. Happy now?"

"What? You ran away from home? To your old house? Do you think the people at home won't find you?"

"They won't. No one would think of this place. Even I didn't think of it because I never come here..." He looked away.

"Even you didn't think of it?"

"Yeah, I haven't been back here since we moved... Usually, when I have a fight at home, I'd run away to my friend's. But that day, I was walking absentmindedly, and the next thing I knew, I was at the bus terminal. But it was good too, I wanted to see someone, so I bought a bus ticket and came back here."

"Sounds adventurous. Did you come alone?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah. I even came here empty-handed. I bought clothes and stuff later here. You still haven't promised me, you know. I've gone through all this trouble, if you tell anyone..."

This guy made me admire him. Even though I didn't quite agree with him running away from home across provinces like this, who am I to lecture him? I can't even handle my own life. So all I could do was hope he wouldn't die before he decided to go back home.

"Okay, okay, I won't tell anyone. Just make sure you stay safe until you decide to go back home."

"I almost didn't because of you. You were so loud that the caretaker heard. Who would have thought someone would come to clean this place? Good thing I hid in time. Otherwise, my mom would have found out, and I'd definitely be dragged back to Bangkok."