BLANK ซีรีส์ 2024 (Original Story)

CHAPTER 10: Grandmother

A-Nueng's small face slowly moved towards me with a gaze inviting eyes. It's a little serious and flirty. I watch her actions without any resistance. I want to see how far that kid will go. But as soon as our noses touched, I pushed forehead before squeezing her cheeks tightly until a loud "slap" was heard.

"Ouch."

"What are you doing?"

"You hit me. It hurts so much."

"I hit you until you got hurt.  What game are you playing?"

A-Nueng stepped back and rubbed her cheek.

"What is this? I'm not attractive at all? I remember from the series GL."

"You can't separate real life from the series, huh? And why don't you re-enact a better scene than that?"

I looked at her coldly and shook my head.

"Don't play around like this with other people either."

"So, I can only play like this with you?".

Not only she did have no regrets, she also seemed joyful at the moment she jumped up and down, twisting my words.

"Go play with your future lover."

"Then it's true that I'm playing you, because you're the one. Haha. By the way, is this all you have?  There's nothing more for me to explore?"

"Why are you exploring my room? Don't open my closet."

The petite girl didn't listen to my objections. She opened the closet and looked at my clothes which contained a black and white V Collar t-shirt. She then reached out her hand to take out the dress that Sam had just bought me for the school anniversary.

"Wow, you have something like this too."

"I told you not to open my closet."

I walked over and took the dress from her. A-Nueng was still smiling and tilted her head at me cutely.

"I scolded you endlessly, but you didn't regret it."

"Where have you worn this?"

"I will wear it if there is a special occasion. It's not for any particular event."

"If I guess, it's for a school anniversary. Are you going?"

l looked at the cheerful child, surprised. Is she a fortune teller? How could she come into my room and analyze everything as if she already knew? She knew what I wanted to use the dress for just by looking at it?

"I'm still thinking about in"

"Go. I want to see you dressed up."

"Are you going?"

"Yeah.  This is my last year. It would be fun to go to an event like that. My grandmother also went to that school."

A-Nueng immediately bowed as she mention of her grandmother's name.

"When I think about that, all the fun disappears."

"All the fun is gone just because your grandma will be there? Aren't you overreacting?"

"You do not understand."

If anyone understands what it means to fight with grandma, ask "me".  The noble gift of "fighting with older relatives" is definitely mine.

"Tell me what I don't understand."

"Never mind. If you were there, it would be fun. I'm very happy to see you looking beautiful. I'll dress up too."

"Then I won't go."

When I said that,  A-Nueng bent her back and immediately twisted her face.

"You're not cute at all."

"Then don't love me."

"I already did. I just can't stop loving you so much

Even though A-Nueng said this casually with a smile, I could feel from her eyes that she meant every word. So I could only look the other way and pretend not to see her.

"It's up to you then. Don't blame me if you break your heart."

"Why should I worry?  You will come up with me if I disappear."

This kid is really confident.

A-Nueng accompanied me at the market until 9 pm. I often wondered if the people waiting for her at home were worried about her being out so late.  When I was her age, my grandmother wouldn't even let me, I had a driver to drop me off and pick me up every day.

"Why are you going home late? Isn't your grandmother strict?"

I asked while walking towards the cheerful child's house.  A-Nueng glanced at me slightly when she heard that.

"Did I tell you that my grandmother is strict?"

"You didn't actually tell. But from our conversation and from your whip marks. I think your grandmother must be very protective of you. It's inconsistent for your grandmother to be protective and strict but she let you come home this late. This is too strange."

"You are very observant. It seems you're quite interested in my affairs."

That sly girl's smile made me look away tiredly. She's always playing around.

"That's enough."

"Oh my. Don't get annoyed easily. I'll tell you. I told my grandmother that I go to tutoring school every night. The harder I study, the happier my grandmother is. She's afraid I have no future."

"It's natural for adults to think like that. Still, your family seems rich, don't you have a driver?"

"I have it in the morning. My grandmother took me."

"Huh?"

"When I was in second grade, my classes ended very late, so my grandmother couldn't make it to come pick me up. Since then, after school is my free time.  And it was fun because it allowed me to meet you."

"But you didn't go to tutoring school. Oh, you're lying to your grandmother?"

A-Nueng laughed dryly.  There is a bit of a guilt in her voice. So I smiled too.

"Sort of. I wanted some time to breathe. I've been studying hard since second year. I got good grades on my tests.  What's important for kids my age is to have fun, have a social life, have friends and have time to relax."

"You don't have any friends?"

I nodded, understanding the silence that followed. How can someone live a life like me?

"Why don't you have any friends?"

"My grandmother didn't let me hang out with anyone. She said friends would lead me down the wrong path."

The trembling voice of the always cheerful person made my heart soften. But A-Nueng looked up and met my eyes, so I had to pretend I didn't feel anything.

"I have friends, but they are more like study buddies. I don't have any friends. Nobody wants to be my friend."

"Why is that? Are you a bad person?"

"Everyone was afraid of my grandmother. She went to school and created commotion when my grades dropped. She blamed all my friends and everyone around me for leading me down the wrong path."

"Everything has cause and effect.  What makes your grandmother have that confidence?"

"She's afraid that I will become like my mother. My grandmother said my mother had bad friends."

We finally arrived at A-Nueng's house. Our conversation seemed too short. I don't want to end it yet. Because the little girl seems too pitiful.

"You must be very lonely."

I reached out my hand to lift her chin to look me the eyes. It's like I met myself when I was young. Even though she was always cheerful and smiling she was under a lot of pressure.

"Why can't you do it?"

"Why don't you give your best?"

"This won't work."

"That's not enough."

Those were words my grandmother said I heard over and over again growing up. And in order not to appear weak or too like a loser, I hid all my sadness inside. No matter how harsh grandma was on me, I just smiled.

I can accept it.

I can handle it.

Just waiting until the day I cut ties with my grandmother.

"I'm not lonely anymore because I have you."

The little girl reached out my hand and put it on her face. She tilted her head and curled up in the palm of my hand.

"I have someone close to me now, and that's you."

"Why me?"

"I feel like I've met someone like me."

Dug... Dug...
Dug... Dug...

Suddenly, my heart beats fast. My whole body was shaking. It seemed like A-Nueng could read my mind.  We are the same.

As I stood stunned, the gate slowly opened, and I could see the figure of an old woman looking at us.  A-Nueng quickly backed away from me and clasped her hands in front of her in fear.  As for me, I stood still and stared into those light gray eyes. I could immediately recognize who she was.

"Good evening."

I raised my hand in a salute as best I could, using what my grandmother had instilled in me my entire life. But the old woman just looked at me without realizing it.

"Who are you?"

" She just asked me for directions, Grandma."

A-Nueng immediately gave me an excuse.  That made me glance over towards the little girl who had turned into a whipped puppy.

"Did I ask you, Nueng?  Who are you?"

That authoritative voice was not much different from my grandmother's voice.  That made me smile and reply casually. I didn't show any emotion, like I usually do with my grandmother.

"I'm Nueng's friend."

"Friend?"

Grandma looked at A-Nueng with pressing eyes before she looked back at me.

"From your appearance, it seems like you two aren't old enough to be friends?."

"Grandma,  Ar-Nueng is..."

"Aunt?"

"I'm a friend who happened to meet A-Nueng by chance."

"Nueng doesn't need friends.  That's not a necessity in her life."

The grandmother grabbed the little girl's arm and dragged her into the house. She turned to look me in the eye and left her final comment.

"Especially a lower class person like you."

And the two disappeared into the house, leaving me to look on towards the gate while sighing.

There is someone as bad as my grandmother in this world.