Finally... Uncle Somkit called me one morning. His voice was so tense, he
woke me up immediately.
"Gen, it's time to go. I will send someone to pick you up to take you to the
airport."
"Can't I take Aoey with me?"
"We're on the run, Gen. How will your family feel if you take Aoey with
you? She was the reason our family is in this trouble."
Aoey, who was lying next to me, noticed that I was tense. She realized that
the time had come. She could read through my silence.
"Gen."
The soft eyes grabbed my arm tightly. She looked like she was about to cry.
I looked at her and tried to give her a smile to cheer her up.
"Don't make that face."
"You won't leave me, will you?"
I stayed quiet and she was able to read it again. It was a dilemma. My
family had now packed their bags and was ready to leave the country. I had
to choose between my family and Aoey. It was a turning point. I stopped at
the intersection where I had to make a decision.
"Let's run away."
I grabbed Aoey's hand and looked at her.
"If we are going to flee, we have to leave now. My dad's people are coming
to look for me. We have to go now."
Aoey looked at me and smiled. Her face was full of tears. Finally I made
the decision to follow our plan, to run away together. I wasn't sure if it was
the right decision, but I would do it anyway. My dad should be the one to
get away, not me. But recently I received confirmation that the reall
appeared on the hotel's CCTV. Thereason I had to run too. I would never
tell Aoey that I was involved in her stepfather's disappearance. I didn't see
the point in telling her. I didn't want to bother her with that detail. I just
wanted her to be by my side and I forgot about that bastard.
The bastard was gone now and I was one of the factors in it happening. The
police were now looking for the woman on CCTV... I was lucky that the
quality of the video was low. It was unclear who she was. But the biggest
part of the problem was that the tip-off was always from people they knew.
Even though my dad had already gotten rid of all the evidence, it wasn't
smart to take risks. Running away was the best option for me. My dad
doesn't care about himself at all. He only cares about my safety. I had to
go...
But what about Aoey, I could never leave her. She was my cute little
girlfriend who had nowhere else to go. So I had to stay and take that risk. I
had to leave my family. We both got dressed in 5 minutes or less. Aoey
didn't forget the bird. She didn't want him to die alone. I looked around my
apartment which was full of good memories; the corner where Aoey wrote
her novel, the bed we slept in together, and my college homework. My life
was about to change....
We both left the condominium as quickly as possible. We got into a taxi to
go to a bus station. We planned to take a bus to our destination. But the first
step had already been hard for me. I sat on a bus for 9 hours straight for the
first time.. I threw up the first time. Damn!
"If I had known that it would take 9 hours to arrive, I would have opposed
this province from the beginning. We should have chosen a place a little
closer to Bangkok."
I wiped my face after vomiting when I got off the bus. She rubbed my back
gently and laughed.
"If we stay close to Bangkok, it will be too easy for people to catch you.
This province is far enough away. It's good for us to take refuge here."
"Take refuge?"
She sounded like a prisoner... but yeah, we was close to that.
"And now that? It was so sudden. We have no place to stay tonight."
I looked at my watch. It was 10 at night.
"This province is very quiet. Are you sure we're still in Thailand?"
"There is a small hotel. A 2 star hotel for only 300 baht."
"Is there a room at that price?"
"It's cheap here. I have contacted them before but I didn't know the date.
The owner should let us stay.
"Have you already planned all this?"
"Umm... I'm well prepared. I paid the rental fee for 2 months. We are finally
here. Now our bird can stay outside. You no longer have to be inside all the
time."
"Why do we stay at the cheap hotel then? We should be at the rental house."
"It's too late. The owner of the house must be sleeping. Let's do it
tomorrow."
Aoey hugged my arm.
*Do not rush. The most important thing is that we are here together."
I looked at her and smiled. She looked so happy that she made me forget
why we ended up there. The situation was bad but I didn't feel that bad. It
was because she was with me.
"OK, let's do it. This is my first 2 star hotel."
"The first time again, huh?"
She said with a mocking tone.
"Yes, it is."
I smiled.
"Do you want to get dirty with me for the first time in a 2-star hotel?"
The soft eyes walked with their fingers on my arm and smiled.
"We are going to have a new experience here."
"If you don't mind, the whole smell of vomit in my mouth. I will do
anything adventurous with you."
"It seems like there are so many activities we can do together. Yes, yes, let's
do it."
Did I escape to that place for adventure activities? There was the serious
beginning of a newlife... I looked at the house she had rented in
amazement. A one-story wooden house without paint. The floor was
hardwood that squeaked when we walked. It sounded like a haunted house
(but I wasn't scared). There was no air purifier, nor air conditioning. There
was an old rustic bed. I looked at the condition and wondered how I ended
up there. My life changed so abruptly...the night before I was sleeping on
my expensive mattress at home. But Aoey lay next to me with her big smile
on the rustic bed, looking at me happily.
"It only costs 3000 baht a month and we have all the furniture we need.
This is the only place where we can get this good deal."
"Do we really have everything?"
My statement sounded like a complaint. Aoey looked at me, so I smiled at
her.
"It's great. You were good at finding the place."
"In Bangkok, we couldn't find a house like this at this price. We may be
here for a while. I like the bed."
Aoey crawled on the bed and pointed to the head of the bed.
"I like this."
"Was it that good? That rusty headboard..."
"It's so classic."
"I did not mean that."
"What do you mean?"
The girl jumped to the ground and walked towards her luggage looking for
something inside. She took out the handcuffs happily.
"Here is our toy. I can chain to the head of the bed. It will be fun."
"You're so dirty."
I laughed.
"The thing about this bed is that it makes a squeaky sound when we do
something. I'll get even hornier when I direct it.."
MY GOD... But when I saw that Aoey was happy, it made me happy too.
Although my life was not as easy as before. If other people could live like
this, I would too. I still had money in my savings account, I could only take
that money to buy what I needed. Buy an air conditioner... Buy a
television... Money can buy everything. I noticed that Aoey was happier
than in Bangkok. But I had to keep in mind that I was on the run. I escaped
from a police investigation. I ran away from my dad who wanted me to
leave the country. It was a quiet town. My dad's news was great, but not
enough to replace the evening's television drama. People still didn't know
who I was. I could still walk down the street. Aoey and I held hands and
walked like we were on vacation. The sun was setting, the sky turned dark
blue, smelled something strong, I smelled it in the air.
"It's the smell of the Slate tree.."
"Is strong."
"Some people like the smell. I like it. I feel close to nature. I never smelled
them when we lived in the condo."
"Eh."
I didn't say anything because I thought the smell wasn't pleasant. Aoey was
silent again. I turned to look at her. She was nervous.
"Everything is alright?"
I asked.
"Can I ask you something? I never asked you this before."
"What's that?"
"What really happened to your family?...if you really don't want to tell me,
that's fine too."
I was so nervous to ask about it. I reached out to take her hand and linked
our fingers together. I swung our hands up and down as we walked. There
was something I couldn't tell and something I couldn't say. I chose to skip
the murder case and talked about my father's problems.
"My dad is in trouble for his money laundering and some gray businesses."
I said openly because very soon everything would be in the news.
"His enemies are attacking him, including me and Great. Great left the
country. Only I stay here."
"AHA."
"How do you feel knowing that my dad has dirty business?"
"Do I have to feel something?"
"Well, if he is in politics, people will say that he betrayed his country. Now
it is known that my dad is a bad guy."
Even I was a bad person. I asked my dad to do something bad. Despite that,
the victim was a bastard. I had no place to convey my judgment to anyone.
What is sown is reaped. I was from a rich family, and now that I lived in the
country, I smelled this unpleasant tree.
"I love you for what you are. It has nothing to do with your family. Because
you also love me as I am, even you are a perfectionist and I am dirty..."
"You're not dirty. Never say that again,"
I said with a strong voice. She was now silent.
"I just wanted to tell you that we love each other. Anything else is
irrelevant."
"And if I'm poor, do you still love me?"
"If you are poor, you have me. I will keep you. I can work. We'll find
something. You can stay home and order me around like always."
"You are crazy? I can't stand that you have to support me. But do not worry.
I'm rich. I will take care of you."
We walked and tried to forget whatever our problem was. There was
nothing we were afraid of...Nobody knew us. This was our new world. I
was happy with her, nothing else mattered.. Or maybe if... I knew that this
was the province. But were there really no department stores? I would love
to go to a hair salon. But once I saw an aunt who owned the store whose
hair was like a bird's nest, I had to think again. If she couldn't handle her
own head, I wouldn't let her touch my hair. And it was so hard to find an
ATM. But this was a market, there should be an ATM somewhere.
Necessities such as pork, mushrooms, duck and chicken, but no other
luxury items. I felt like I took a time machine, I went back to an old market.
There were shops selling food and Damn! I was about to scream, but first I
needed to calm down and find an ATM. Where the hell was I?
"Hi gorgeous!"
I turned towards a source of the voice and saw a 7-8 year old boy looking at
me in admiration. I knew he liked me because I was beautiful. I pushed my
hair back playfully.
"Hello boy."
"I never saw you here. Are you new here?"
This place was truly one that would speak to a stranger. There should be no
serious crimes here for the people would just be good people.
"Yes, I moved here a week ago. I am looking for an ATM. Where can I find
it?"
"7/11 over there. A little walk. Let me walk with you but you have to go out
for coffee with me."
A boy from the interior acted like a womanizer from America. I shrugged
and walked along with the boy who introduced himself as. Nueng. His
womanizing showed in his eyes. He would grow up with many wives and
could get some pregnant.
"What is your name?"
"I'm Gen."
"Gen, you are very beautiful like a Wolk cover girl."
"What is Wolk?"
"The fashion magazine. My sister said I can congratulate a girl by telling
her that she was a Wolk cover girl."
"Do you mean Vogue?"
"Is it Vogue? That's such a weird name."
I thought Wolk was even weirder. But it didn't matter. Such a young boy
wouldn't know anything about foreign fashion magazines. In fact, he was
nice enough to mention it.
"I thought only the dentist Pam was beautiful. But now you are here too.
This is such a nice city."
"Dentist Pam? Which Pam?"
"A dentist named Pam. She is there. She is a very beautiful dentist."
"Compared to me?"
"You two are different. Dentist Pam is warm and beautiful. But you are
damn beautiful."
"What's damn beautiful?"
"You are so damn beautiful that the dead would want to be reborn again to
be near you."
That was such a strange encounter, but I would also remember the trick to
use on Aoey. My love would be surprised to hear this.
"You were probably trying it with Pam before me, right?"
"Yes, but I think she's a little strange."
The boy and I walked until we reached 7/11. We're still arguing about the
dentist whose name really caught my attention. She must be really beautiful
so I couldn't stop talking about her. I wanted to be in a beauty pageant with
her.
"Why is it strange?"
"She kissed a sister who owned a cafeteria."
I paused as I reached my hand to the ATM. Wait, this dentist Pam had to be
a woman because she was beautiful. The sister who owned a coffee shop
was obviously a woman as well. This caught my attention immediately.
"Are they both girls?"
"Yes, I saw them kiss in the cafeteria. Do women kiss? I am so confused."
"You don't have to know everything. You could grow up and make out with
a guy."
I laughed and stopped paying attention to the boy. I swiped my card and
tried to get some cash. 5,000 baht should be enough for a while because
there was no place to spend money in this city anyway. But.... I couldn't get
the money. What did it mean?
"What happened? You look like you've seen a ghost."
I thought about what my mom said earlier. She asked me to withdraw all
my cash to avoid having it confiscated. But it seemed like my money had
already been confiscated. I thought I would live an easy life here. I had
nothing left in my bank. I did not have money
