Phinya kept her promise, picking up Busaya by car two hours later. Bua soon found herself sitting in a restaurant not far from the research institute building. Up until that moment, she had been sitting in silence and eating peacefully, she seemed much calmer than Phinya had imagined.
"Haven't you recovered from shock yet, Buakong? You're quieter than usual."
However, Phinya only received a nod in response.
"I don't know how I should feel."
Busaya replied ambiguously.
"Are you scared?"
"A little. I mean, it was the first time I’ve ever experienced something like this.”
Busaya paused, taking a deep breath to regain control.
“So, I really don’t know how I should feel.”
"Take a deep breath." Phinya advised.
"And you’ll be fine.”
"How do you deal with these things?"
This time, Bua was the one who asked.
"Or how do you accept these situations?”
The question make Phinya to smiles slightly, her eyes shining for a brief moment before quickly erasing the expression.
"When I first started doing fieldwork, there was a time when I was sleeping at the dig site, next to a campfire in Guatemala. Back then, we found fossils of Australopithecus (an ancient species of human). Suddenly, in the middle of the night, there was a big commotion, followed by the deafening sound of gunshots, like the ones we just heard."
"And what did you do?"
"My brain was telling me to find shelter,”
Phinya said.
“But you know, at that moment, I remember being completely paralyzed, like I was completely paralyzed. All I could do was turn over on my stomach and drag myself along the ground with my arms and legs. I was so terrified that I couldn’t even stand up. My breathing was labored, and after moving only a few meters, I became motionless. I thought my life would end there, in a foreign country. I only managed to survive because a friend came and dragged me to shelter."
This was the first time Phinya had spoken to Bua in such a simple way, as if they really knew each other, a conversation that seemed more like an exchange of words between old friends who hadn’t seen each other for a long time.
"You’ll be fine, Buakong. Trust me,”
Phinya said, with a softness that Bua had never heard before. At that moment, their eyes met, Phinya’s eyes shining with trust, while Bua’s were still full of fear. She bit her lip before nodding and looking away.
"When are you going back overseas?"
"Why? Are you tired of me yet?"
"I'm just asking." Busaya replied.
"I mean, when I want to treat you a dinner to thank you for helping me."
"I need to talk to them first."
After that, the meal continued with few words exchanged between the two. Bua only glanced discreetly at Phinya from time to time, with a mixture of admiration and surprise. Phinya, who was usually talkative, now seemed quite calm and ordinary. In fact, Bua thought that Phinya seemed much more mature, perhaps due to the many experiences she had during her time away.
"So, you're not really going to come back to work here, Phinya?"
"They've already reserved a position for me there."
