TO SHOU WITH LOVE

40 - FRESH AIR

The next evening, after the band finished rehearsal, Topten and Sammy left the bar, and Thanapon also came downstairs.

The first-floor bar hadn’t started its business for the day yet.

The duty manager was gathering the staff for a meeting, but Thanapon bypassed them and walked to the entrance of the bar.

He stood there for a moment, feeling the breeze clear his muddled mind a bit.

Then, he took out his phone, leaned against the door with his back, and looked down at the screen displaying a text message.

The message had been received during the afternoon rehearsal.

When he first saw the string of numbers on it, he even thought he was dreaming, and it was a rather absurd dream at that.

Sailub had transferred a sum of money to him that could be considered a huge amount, enough to clear his debts and still have plenty left over.

Didn’t he tell him last night that he was a bad person who had done countless evil deeds?

Thanapon stared at the text message, wondering if Sailub wasn’t afraid that he would take the money and run after his debts were paid off?

Thanapon turned off the phone screen, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out and put it in his mouth.

As he slid open the lighter’s lid, his hand hesitated when the flame approached the cigarette.

He didn’t remember when the thought of quitting smoking had started to emerge.

It seemed there was no clear intention, nor a specific moment.

But every time he lit the lighter, he would remember Sailub standing face to face with him at the bar entrance, furrowing his brow and saying, “Thanapon, stop smoking.”

After that, he had reduced the frequency of smoking.

But in the days since Tony’s death, the frequency had increased again.

He flicked open the lighter’s lid, extinguishing the faint blue flame, removed the cigarette from his mouth, and put it back into the pack.

He didn’t want the substantial sum of money Sailub had sent him.

If possible, he wanted to send it back as it was, without touching it.

But he didn’t know Sailub’s bank account number.

Even if he were to ask Sailub, given his temperament, he probably wouldn’t tell him.

Well, he could ask Jennie when they recorded the next match.

Since the program team paid Sailub, they must have his payment method.

Sailub had also obtained his bank account number this way, right?

He couldn’t understand it. How could there be someone like Sailub?

And how could someone like him encounter someone like Sailub?

Was he like this with everyone? This thought crossed Thanapon’s mind again.

A black sedan turned into the corner of Atsadang Slope Street.

Even from afar, Thanapon recognized it as Sailub’s Maybach.

When he returned from the graveyard and rehearsed with the band the next day, Topten had mentioned Sailub’s car several times, talking about how beautiful and expensive it was.

How much was it again? Four or five million, or five or six million?

He couldn’t remember, or maybe he hadn’t listened at the time.