Memories (ForthBeam fanfic)

Chapter 31 - Under The Moonlit Sky

A/N: As promised, here is a thank you to you all 😚😚. This update was supposed to be uploaded on Thursday, but we should celebrate!

Thank you everyone for showing your support and love for this book. I never expected this to get into the top1000 list, but as of today, Memories is on #235. Can you believe it? I am no less than surprised myself. Hurray!!! Thank you so much everyone 😍😍😍😚😚😚😚

Thank you! Khob Khun Krub! Salamat!

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Ming's POV

My long absence from home was not enough to keep Kit safe. I first heard reports from my youngest brother, then from my friend Singto, and then from my mother.

In twenty-three months, my brother's temper had deteriorated, as difficult as that was to imagine. My father died, and I mourned him and missed him terribly. My brother took over the butchery and managed to drive a profitable business into the ground.

I was horrified to discover he sold the family house and the rest of our smaller trades and sent my younger brothers out into the world before they were proper adults. He left Kit with my mother in a room of a public house for long stretches while he ran away from creditors or ran up more debts. Kit managed, mercifully, to survive.

When I got the message from my mother, I made another momentous decision. I borrowed a horse and rode to a remote cave where my stash was hidden similar to what I did a few lives back. I was born in a rich family then, I never thought I'd need to visit the cave much more use my own stash of wealth.

That night I put everything in my cave back to rights and took with me a bag of fairly recent and homogenous gold coins – I needed money more than treasures. I gathered supplies, made a few arrangements, bought a magnificent horse and rode back to my home the following afternoon.

I found Kit and my mother living in one room off an alley. My mother's spirits were in ruins. She was still trying to find a way to love my brother; her heart would not allow her to give up on him. Kit's face was bruised, but his pride was mostly intact.

"I knew you'd be back." He said, "But you should have come back sooner."

It was true. I could have returned sooner. I know the words to say, but I could not speak it out, there's not enough words to explain my selfish reasons. I feared for his safety, and my presence would only make my brother hurt him.

No words, instead, I pulled him close and enveloped him in my arms. He was cold and shivering but he welcomed my embrace and leaned his head to my chest, we held each other in an unspoken longing.

I set my mother up in a pretty village a few miles away. I tried to give her a little money outright as possible, knowing where it would end up. I made sure she was comfortable, and I promised her I would return and bring my younger brothers back to her house.

That night, I knew Kit would have to go with me. As much as I dreaded doing what we did when we were Tae and Tee, I knew I couldn't leave him again. Not again. Not this time.

I set off with Kit that night on the back of my horse. It was a selfish thrill to have him there so close, but that was not the point, I told myself. If I left him there, he would be killed, either by my brother's hands, or by the absence of mine.

Neither he nor my mother protested or asked a single question as we rode off. They knew this was his only chance.

The ride across the mountains with Kit on that fine horse was one of the happiest times in all my lives. I confess I've relived it so many times, I hardly remember it anymore.