"It's just for one night, Orm. The customer is willing to pay a lot..."
Orm wished the ground would swallow her whole at that moment. Clad in a short skirt and a tight, sheer bra that left almost nothing to the imagination, she tried to shield herself with her hands. She struggled to pull her skirt down, but it wouldn't budge, it barely reached her mid-thighs, and her fishnet stockings did nothing to conceal her porcelain skin.
She wanted to back out..to quit. She truly did, yet she knew that every passing moment meant wasted time-time that could have been spent on the surgery that would save her brother, who was currently lying in a hospital bed.
Just yesterday, she had been busy washing dishes at a bar in the heart of Bangkok. It was a touristy area, the street was lined with tourists looking for fleeting amusement. In short, it was a red-light district famous for pleasure and everything that came with it.
She had just finished washing a mountain of stacked glasses when she saw her friend Susi, who works as a hostess at the bar and her housemate-running toward her in a rush.
"Utt... it's Utt..." Susi gasped, looking at her with fear and worry, it felt as though a massive elephant had suddenly crushed her chest.
"What happened?"
"Our neighbor called-Auntie Mew. She said Utt got hit by a vehicle on the way home and they rushed him to the hospital."
Upon hearing this, Orm instinctively dropped the glass-drying cloth, ignoring the fact that her clothes were wet from the splashing water, she immediately ran out of the kitchen toward the spot where her old scooter was parked.
She didn't need to ask what had happened. All she wanted at that very moment was to see her brother, the only family she had left, after being abandoned by her parents-who also met their end in an accident.
She wanted to curse the people who inadvertently blocked her path, even as a strange mix of emotions washed over her.
"I'll follow you right away-I just need to borrow some money!" Susi shouted after the departing Orm.
Upon arriving at the hospital, she was met by their neighbor with tear-swollen eyes. "Auntie Mew", as they affectionately called her, was one of the elders who looked after them in that shanty-filled corner of the city, a place where loiterers and gangs congregated in the alleys.
"It was a gang brawl at the corner, and he just happened to be passing by," the old woman told her tearfully. "They mistook him for an enemy, so he was stabbed with an ice pick. Til now, security still doesn't know who the culprit is."
She almost lost consciousness from what she heard.
Why did that have to happen to them? They were already orphaned. They are just living paycheck to paycheck, with her juggling two jobs at a time and some part time work as a tourist guide just to save money. Utt was going to college in just one year and she wanted him to get into at least a public college and take the course he wanted.
Why was it that when they were slowly getting better, fate played tricks on them?
"A stab wound to the stomach can cause severe internal bleeding, infection from leaked digestive contents and damage to the nearby organs," The doctor explained to her as soon as she was face to face with her, "The stomach holds acid and food bacteria and in your brother's case, the stomach wall was torn and this is called peritonitis. We need to perform a laparotomy and treat it."
She had been told that it had been hours since the doctor had been inside and was taking care of her brother earlier, it had also been hours since she could barely breathe, praying that her brother would be safe from any harm, she would not have noticed her muscles trembling from hunger and cold if Susi had not arrived with steam buns and the 5000 baht she borrowed from the bar owner to pay for any hospital expenses. In addition to the wages Orm had already gotten in advance to pay for house rent and electricity.
