The situation around me begin to return to normal, just as before. I went back to living my life as Jao-Jom, with my chubby, listless cat, Viramarati, as my secretary. Everything went back to its usual orbit, as if the previous chaos had never happened.
Even my legal troubles disappeared with the amount of money used to bribe the judiciary.
“I remember being left on the side of the road by a taxi. I hadn’t eaten, so I was weak. It must have been when Miss In’s car passed by, and I fainted right there. If she hadn’t helped me, I would have been in trouble.”
There was no mention of the amount of alcohol Intuorn had consumed, and even if evidence had been needed, there was none to be found. In fact, that family should have been charged with unlawful detention for keeping me locked up in their farm.
But I said that they took good care of me because they didn’t know where to take me. It all turned into a positive story for Intuorn’s family, making the case easy to write about.
To make sure no one would talk about it again, Intuorn’s father bribed the careless taxi driver who got involved in the mess to stop talking about the case. The sooner it ended, the safer it would be for his daughter.
"Did you promise not to press charges against In?"
"Yes."
Actually, Mr. Anek intended to bribe me, calling it compensation, but I politely refused.
"The events of that day were not entirely In’s fault. I was the one who jumped in front of the car to make her stop, so that’s how it ended. Thank you for taking me back to the farm. Otherwise, I don’t know how I would have lived if I couldn’t remember anything.
I tried to make Mr. Anek understand that I was grateful for what he did, even though I could read his mind vividly. He took me back just to keep an enemy around. If I remembered anything, he could deal with it.
Or he could hide me far away from this country, simply make me disappear...
He was a businessman, but if his daughter had to suffer because of blackmail, he could end it. Luckily, I wasn’t the problem, so it ended well.
It was all over. What should have been a criminal case turned into a missing person case. It was so easy that my family thought it was wrong. The mental anguish everyone went through was too much for it to just be over. But no one could do anything when I insisted that I couldn’t remember anything. I only knew that I was well taken care of by Intuon’s family, and I asked everyone to stop talking about it because it hurt me.
Hurt… that I made someone sad without meaning to.
‘How are you, In? How are you…?’
Today was another day when I typed a message like this, but I didn’t dare send it to Intuorn. I didn’t know if reaching out would make things worse or more complicated.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and see Mom."
Dad, who was supporting Mom, waved for me to come and encourage her. Today, she would try to walk on her own without anyone holding her. I put away my phone and cheered her on as if we are at a sporting event.
"Go, Mom! You can do it! Yay!"
Dad slowly let go of Mom, unsure, then ran to the end to catch her and waved to her. Since I came back, Dad said that her condition had improved a lot. Her mouth started to return to normal, and her weak legs regained strength, surprising even the doctor who monitored her condition.
After letting go and watching Mom walk towards Dad step by step, each step filled with excitement, she finally reached him. Everyone clapped and cheered happily.
